Queensland PGA shapes as close tussle

BY Bruce Young | Von Nida Tour | 2005 Queensland PGA | Preview | 08 Nov 2005

The Greater Building Society Queensland PGA Championship gets underway on Thursday November 10th with a large number of players considered possibilities to take the title.

The event is being played for the third successive year at the Emerald Lakes Golf Club on the Gold Coast and praise is already being lavished on the immaculately prepared Graham Marsh re-designed layout.

The course is not long by modern day standards but the recent rains in South East Queensland have allowed the profiling of fairways to take shape and the course will peak for the first players out on Thursday morning.

This year the par for the course has been reduced to 71 with the par five second hole now playing as a par four. Defending champion Kurt Barnes’ amazing tournament winning score of 29 under par last year is likely well out of reach with most predicting a winning total of somewhere between 16 to 20 under.

Barnes is back from an Asian campaign and although he missed the cut last week in Thailand, he has played well in his first season in Asia. He was third at the Mercuries Taiwan Masters and earlier this year won his second Von Nida Tour event, the Mitsubishi Victorian Open. He is an immensely talented golfer who along with the likes of Brad McIntosh will entertain the galleries this week with his prodigious length from the tee in addition to a class all round game.

The undisputed crowd favourite is local golfer Peter Senior whose fast finishing second at last weekend’s Roadcon Queensland Open has him in the right form and right frame of mind to do well this week. Two years ago Senior finished third, just one behind the playoff between David Diaz and Aaron Townsend and the Australasian Tour’s greatest ever money earner appears ready to challenge again.

Western Australian Tony McFadyean currently heads the Von Nida Tour Order of Merit having won the South Australian PGA Championship earlier in the year and finishing third at the National Bank Victorian PGA. He commands respect here as a result of his consistency in 2005.

South Australian Adam Bland is chasing hard for that all important number one spot on the Von Nida tour Order of Merit which among other benefits includes a start at the US$5 million HSBC Champions event in China next year. Bland has been a professional for less than twelve months but he has shown considerable promise in that time having won the West Australian PGA Championship and finishing well in other events. He trails McFadyean by just $1,800 in the race for Order of Merit honours and their clash this week will be of interest.

Brad McIntosh further highlighted his significant potential when winning last week’s Roadcon Queensland Open to collect his second Von Nida Tour win in eighteen months. He is a golfer going places and while it is always difficult to back up a win with another, if he did so he would surprise no-one.

Nick Flanagan became an instant star two years ago when he won the US Amateur Championship but until recently the road that is professional golf has not been all that smooth for the Novacastrian. In recent months however the class that lead him to that historic win over Casey Wittenberg at Oakmont has resurfaced and he is now in third place on the Von Nida Tour Order of Merit. Flanagan played the Open Championship at St Andrews this year and finished 23rd and recently won the Minniecon and Burke Queensland Masters in Townsville. He was also runner up to Michael Wright at the Toyota Southern Golf Classic. At the completion of this event Flanagan will head to stage two of the USPGA Tour School looking to gain a place in the holy grail of professional golf, the USPGA Tour, in 2006.

2003 winner here at Emerald Lakes, David Diaz, went close last week in Ipswich and returning to a course of which he has fond memories will further enhance the chances of a rare win for the Victorian.

Cameron Percy is back from a season on the Nationwide Tour in the US where he recorded two top tens against strong fields there.

One player who might just do well this week is the tall Queenslander Adam Blyth who in one of his last events as an amateur here last year finished 4th. Since turning professional in December of last year he has done well. He has had a solid rookie season on the Asian Tour where amongst other finishes he was fifth behind Retief Goosen and Michael Campbell at the Volkswagen masters in China. Returning to Emerald Lakes he might be one to surprise.

Talented South Australian, Nigel Spence, finished third last year and has won a mini tour event in the US this year and has continued to advance his considerable game.

Rowan Beste warmed up for this event with a win in the Daikin Night Golf shootout on Monday night and coming off an outstanding season on the Sunshine Tour this year, he will be looking to improve on his 7th placing here last year.

Queenslander Gavin Flint played his first event as a professional here twelve months ago and since then he has recorded a Von Nida Tour win at the Bega Cheese NSW PGA Championship.

Another who played his first event as a professional here last year was Scott Draper who made the cut and has gone on to record one or two good finishes in Von Nida Tour events including his 7th place at the South Australian PGA Championship. In between those events he somehow managed to win a Grand Slam tennis title when teaming with Samantha Stosa to win the Australian Open Mixed Doubles. He brings a lot of interest to the event and although still recovering from rib injury which has seen an enforced layoff from tournament golf of late, his progress will be watched with interest.

Three amateurs are invited to the field including the last two Australian Junior Champions, Jason Day and Eagle Chang. Both are precocious talents with Day winning just about everything in junior golf in 2004 and although suffering a little from illness and injury in 2005, his good finish at last week’s Queensland Open suggests he is back.

Chang this year won the Australian Junior Championship at the age of fourteen and appears headed for a great future in the game.

The Greater Building Society Queensland PGA Championship is the fourth and last Von Nida Tour event in Queensland in 2005 but if past tournaments at Emerald Lakes and the lead-up up to this week are anything to go by, then many are predicting this will be the best.

Photo – Anthony Powter