Night Golf Shootout gets QLD PGA underway

BY Bruce Young | Von Nida Tour | 2006 Queensland PGA | Preview | 31 Oct 2006

The Gold Coast’s Emerald Lakes Golf Club hosts its fourth consecutive Queensland PGA Championship when the 2006 Greater Building Society Queensland PGA Championship gets underway on Thursday November 2nd.

As has now become the tradition at Emerald Lakes, the tournament will be preceded on Tuesday evening by the popular Daikin Night Golf Shootout where nine of the leading players in the PGA Championship later in the week will be joined by teenage golfing sensation Amy Yang in a contest over nine holes under lights.

The back nine of Emerald Lakes is fully floodlit and that facility has provided a unique opportunity to promote and stage an event that has become one of the annual features of golf on the Gold Coast.

Yang arrived back on the Gold Coast on Monday night after a brilliant debut as a professional golfer when she finished in a share of fourth behind Annika Sorenstam, Helen Alfredsson and Karrie Webb at the Dubai Ladies Masters last week. At any age, the performance was an impressive start to a professional career, but when it is considered that Yang has only recently turned 17, it highlights the future the Robina High School student has. Yang will mix a career on the Ladies European Tour in 2007 with her continued schooling at Robina but on Tuesday evening she will be very much part of the action at Emerald Lakes.

She will be joined in the shootout by Peter Senior, Terry Price, recent Minniecon and Burke Queensland Masters winner, Cameron Percy, defending Daikin Night Golf Shootout winner Rowan Beste, ex USPGA Tour player and 2004 Jacobs Creek Open winner, Euan Walters, 2004 Queensland PGA Championship winner, Kurt Barnes, Lucas Parsons, Michael Wright and recently graduated Emerald Lakes trainee Nick Teague.

The format sees one played per hole being eliminated either by recording the highest score or by being the greatest distance from the hole in regulation until just two players are left at the 9th hole of the evening to decide the winner of the $5000 first prize.

The Greater Building Society Queensland PGA Championship itself gets underway on Thursday with a field of high class emerging and established golfers looking to join the previous list of winners at Emerald Lakes. First held at the redeveloped course in 2003, the winners to date have been David Diaz (2003), Kurt Barnes (2004) and Scott Gardiner, who twelve months ago defeated Jason Day at the fourth extra hole.

The golf course layout is an integral feature of the rapidly developing Emerald Lakes residential project and was redesigned in recent years by the team at Graham Marsh Golf Design, initially to accommodate the integration of real estate into the development but then to take the existing standard of the golf course to a new level.

While not a long golf course by modern standards, the team at Emerald Lakes each season produce a layout of the highest standards in terms of its presentation and it regularly receives accolades from competitors in the event.

The pre-tournament favourite may well be last week’s unlucky loser at the Roadcon Group Queensland Open, Brad Kennedy who produced a brilliant 63 on the final day in Ipswich to force a playoff with eventual winner Ricky Schmidt and professional debutante, Tristan Lambert. Earlier this year Kennedy finished third behind Adam Scott and Ernie Els in Singapore and in doing so earned US$183,000. He is at home on Bermuda grass greens and as a Gold Coast resident he will have many locals looking for him to go one better than last week.

Kurt Barnes knows his way around Emerald Lakes having recorded a winning score of 29 under par when winning in 2003. He played well at the recent Cairns Classic and could do well again this week. Barnes can be a day to day proposition but when on song he can blow a field away as was seen here in 2004. His capacity to hit the ball a long way will again attract its fair share of attention this week.

Peter Senior finished third in this event in 2003 behind David Diaz and Aaron Townsend and is playing well enough to contend once more this week. He was third at the recent event in Cairns. He missed the cut last year and, as a favour, fulfilled a promise to caddy for his good friend Ricky Schmidt in the final round but much more is expected of one of Australia’s greatest this year.

Terry Price probably needed last week to get readjusted after rushing back from Mallorca where he had made the cut in just his second European Tour event of 2006. He will be better prepared this week and an improved showing is expected.

Brad McIntosh set the golfing world alight in this event last year when he became the first Australian to break 60 in an official event by recording a 59 in the second round. The 2005 Roadcon Group Queensland Open Champion has returned from narrowly and agonisingly missing out at the first stage of the USPGA Tour School last week and will be keen to atone this week on a golf course that has special memories for him.

Cameron Percy returns from a week off last week after having beaten the exciting youngster Marc Leishman in a playoff in Townsville and on that form alone must be respected.

Ricky Schmidt won last week and had played well in the weeks leading into the Ipswich tournament. He has been working with USPGA Tour winner and previous Queensland PGA winner, Andre Stolz, in recent months in an endeavour to improve every aspect of his game and it appears to be having a positive affect. He has played well at Emerald Lakes previously and is clearly a much improved player now and will be buoyed by his win last week.

There are many young players who could do well this week and one who was particularly impressive in his very first event as a professional last week was the 23 year old from Casula in New South Wales, Tristan Lambert. Lambert had the tournament won everywhere but where it counted last week but with that experience behind him he will be better prepared if he was to get into a similar position this week at Emerald Lakes. Clearly Lambert is an exciting talent and gave every indication last week that the elevation to professional events holds no fears for him.

Adam Blyth has played well at Emerald Lakes in the past and now with two years on the professional road he is emerging as a player more than capable of winning this week. He finished 4th in this event two years ago and an even better showing would hardly surprise.

There are several young amateurs who have been given their chance to play in such a significant event including the Capricorn Coast’s Boyd Watts who earlier this year became the Australian Junior Champion. Kevin Lee and local golfer Ray Beaufils have also been given starts by the Queensland PGA.

The tournament starts Thursday and finishes on Sunday.