City of Mackay Pro Am 2008 Story

After the First Round of the City of Mackay Pro-Am, three Professionals - Scott Hill, last year's runner-up Euan Walters and Paul Williamson were tied for the overnight lead at 6-under par.

Ninety Professionals started the event playing along side another 90 amateurs in a shotgun start format, half in the morning and half in the afternoon. All three of the leaders had an afternoon start, and tomorrow will start in the morning field at 6:50 am.

It is often said that the morning conditions are more conducive to low scoring, but today the good scoring conditions appeared to last for most of the day, with another six Professionals on -5, and half the field scoring even par or better.

Another beautiful Mackay day greeted players for Round 2, fine blue skies and a light breeze, and the Professionals took full advantage.

Overnight leaders Euan Waters and Scott Hill consolidated their position shooting 2-under today, but such was the competition that Williamson dropped from the lead to a tie for eighth after a steady even-par round.

Steven Jones and Andrew Martin moved to join the leaders, making a four-way tie at the top, but closely followed by Aaron Black, Adam Groom and Tony McNaughton (winner of the recent Runge Mining Town series) all at 7-under par. Overall, 35 professionals returned sub-par scores after the first two rounds, signaling that this tournament will be one of the hardest fought ever. PGA representative Broc Greenhalgh said that, with such a closely packed leader board, he could not even hazard a guess at who might be in the lead on Sunday.

The cut was made today at 50 players plus ties (51 in all), and anyone who finished worse than +2 will be spending the weekend working on their game on the practice fairway or relaxing before the next tournament. Some well-known names to miss the cut include Heath Reed, local and 2008 Champion Anthony Johnson, 2000 winner Andrew Bonhomme and last year's Amateur Champion Taylor Cooper.

Tony McNaughton - One
of the 10 players better
than 5-under par

The leading groups will be teeing-off on the first tee tomorrow from about 12 noon until 12:30 pm, but with the closeness of the field, almost anyone could leapfrog to the top with a good round tomorrow - Saturday is Moving Day, isn't it?

Amongst the amateurs playing a 72-hole tournament, scratch marker Sheree Hassan and 5-marker Calvin Buckton both shot 1-under off the stick, but they both lost ground today to Matt Spilsbury who shot a steady 71 & 72 to lead by 3 shots from Nathan Cole and Calvin Buckton (76 today). Hassan's 77 today moved her into fourth spot ahead of Elliot Beel.

Jarryn Hill leads the handicap event after shooting a nett 67 & 68, a shot ahead of Greg Coad and Calvin Buckton.

Round 3

Euan Walters

Conditions couldn't have been better for golf during the third round of the Meng Group City of Mackay Pro-Am, and the Professionals set out to take full advantage on moving day. Having just made the cut after the first two days, Kai McKay teed off first in the morning and shot a great 4-under to lift his ranking into the afternoon field for the final round, and showing what can be done in the conditions.

Gary Simpson, also playing in the morning, went one shot better to shoot the low score of the day, followed by David Bransdon and Marcus Cain also shooting 4-under.

However, few of the Professionals followed their lead, with less than half the field improving their score. Sadly, disaster of the day went to one of the overnight leaders, Scott Hill, who started the day at 8-under, but had one of those days so well known to golfers, finishing at 3-over.

The other overnight leaders Steven Jones, Euan Walters and Andrew Martin shot steady rounds to consolidate their positions at the top, Jones and Walters finishing at 10-under and Martin at 9-under. However, the leaders do not have the space to be complacent with 12 other players no more than 5 shots behind, and as we have seen before, a course-record 10-under is quite possible, having been shot last year by Eddie Barr and also by Simon Furneaux in 2008.

Andrew Martin

Steven Jones

One of the pursuers is Samuel Brazel, the first Australian to win four tournaments in a row in the last couple of months, and narrowly missing making the fifth at Pioneer Valley earlier this week. He is currently at 5-under, as is former champion and last year's runner-up Eddie Barr.

Kim Felton, after enjoying some success on the US Nationwide tour, recently won the 2010 Mack Hall Cottesloe Open in W.A. from one of our overnight leaders, Euan Walters, and is poised only four shots adrift of the lead. Victorian Adam Porker has also been showing some good form of late and is expected to challenge tomorrow.

In the amateur 72-hole competition, scratch marker Sheree Hassan attempted to blot out the previous day's 77 with a scorching 72 today, but 5-marker Calvin Buckton shot the amateur round-of-the-day 71 to take the amateur lead from Matt Spilsbury by one stroke. Hassan and Nathan Cole are tied for third place just one shot further behind. It would certainly appear that the battle between these four will be exciting to watch.

In the nett event, Jarryn Hill, playing off 8, has laid out a challenge to the rest of the field, with three nett sub-par rounds (67, 68 & 65) - 13-under. Hill is 2 shots clear of Ben Hilder and Calvin Buckton, with a further gap of 7 shots to the next players.

Highlight of Nick Harris's day was his hole-in-one on the 14th hole - Congratulation, Nick.

To start their final deciding round tomorrow, the leading Professionals and amateurs will be teeing-off the 1st tee at 10-minute intervals from 10:45 am, with the final group of the overnight leaders at 12:05 pm. After 5 hours of challenging golf, who will take the title this year?

Victorian professional Euan Walters went one better than his 2009 result by taking out the 2010 Meng Tyre & Mechanical City of Mackay Pro Am in a 2-way playoff against Marcus Cain. In 2009, Walters finished tied for first with Eddie Barr and eventual winner Leigh McKechnie, but this year he took his revenge.

After his win, Walters said “Looking at the list of winners of the tournament, I feel very privileged to win here at Mackay. After loosing to Leigh last year, I tried to draw upon some of the same feelings that got me there in the first place and lucky for me, this year I got over the line.”

The Playoff: Both players completed the regulation 72 holes at 10 under par, so proceeded back to the 18th Tee for a sudden death playoff. Cain teed off first finding trouble up the right, with Walters ripping his drive up the fairway. With trees preventing Cain from advancing his ball up the fairway, he was forced to chip out, leaving the door open for Walters who laid up short of the green. Cain then found the left trap with his long third shot while Walters had an easier short iron to land on the green. The pressure was now firmly on Cain to make the up and down to send the playoff into extra holes, but his bunker shot was long leaving a difficult put for par. Cain missed his first putt which allowed Walters the chance to two putt for victory. The crowds hearts were in there mouths as Walters’ first putt rolled three foot past, but he held his nerve to make the winning putt and become the 2010 Meng Tyre & Mechanical City of Mackay Pro Am Champion.

After the completion of two rounds, Steve Jones from Victoria was tied for the lead however his thoughts were certainly not thinking about winning the tournament come Sunday. During a practise round on Wednesday, Jones’ wife Kate collapsed on the course and had to be rushed to hospital where she has spent the past few days recovering. It’s only with Kate’s blessing that Steve continued to compete in the event. The two round cut was made at 2 over par with 51 professionals playing on the weekend. Household names like Scott Laycock, Andrew Bonhomme and Tristan Lambert were casualties of the Day Two cut.

Player’s were welcomed with perfect scoring conditions for the final round’s play where spectators were waiting with anticipation as to who the breakaway player would be. The group of the day would be the one spectator’s were waiting to watch, with Andrew Jones, regarded as the longest hitter on tour and Walters the shortest, being paired together for the final round, both holding the overnight lead at 10-under. Jones was also playing under an additional strain, as his wife collapsed on Wednesday and has spent the past few days recovering in hospital. It was only at her insistence that Jones continued to play in the tournament and be in the lead going into Round 4.

Jones Falters on the First: Jones’ start however would not go to script. After a monster drive down the first, he clipped a tree with his second shot - into the water - but managed to salvage a bogie with a good recovery shot. Then after a wayward tee shot on the par 3 second hole, Jones could not find his ball and was forced to return to the tee - a double bogey on this hole. Another bogie on 4 and his hopes seemed over, but an impressive tee shot and approach on 8 set up a birdie, turning three adrift of his overnight score. The back nine only gave up one birdie, for him to finish at -8.

Meanwhile, Walters played steadily through the front nine, matching two bogies with two birdies, then a birdie on the 9th had him turning one better at 11 under par. The back nine was a similar story. After a birdie on 12, Walters quickly gave back with bogies at 13 and 14 - back to 10-under. His lead, however, still looked safe, until Queenslander Marcus Cain, three groups ahead, posted the equal low round of the day, a 4 under par 67 which gave him the clubhouse lead at 10 under. Needing a birdie at the last, Walters missed a 10 foot putt to win and, as in previous years, another playoff to determine the City of Mackay Pro-Am winner.

Cain's Challenge: Meanwhile, Cain was quietly going about his business several groups ahead of the leaders, taking a bogie at the 5th, but birdies at 1, 6, 9, 10 and 16, and a lip-out for birdie on 18. Cain appeared to be one of the few players that didn't find the greens too difficult, reportedly being unlucky to lip out on a couple of birdie putts elsewhere in the round.

Although it was anticipated that challenges would appear from the Professionals in the earlier two groups, this did not eventuate. Andrew Martin started the day at 9-under, and while playing steadily, his three birdies were more than offset by 4 bogies. Adam Groom lifted his score from 8-under to 9-under with three birdies and two bogies, but both Paul Williamson and Aaron Black, in the third last group, found the going tough. Despite some excellent shots, bogies came more quickly than birdies, and both slipped quite a few places down the leader board.

The amateurs playing the 72-hole stroke competition also had a mixed day. Calvin Buckton, who had fought hard to push Matt Spilsbury out of first position with a splendid 71 in Round 3 (and a 70 in Round 1) found today's conditions another matter. His 81 today put paid to his chances of holding his lead, letting Spilsbury, Nathan Cole and Sheree Hassan through. Spilsbury consolidated his position with a 72 today, finishing with a 4-shot lead over Nathan Cole and Sheree Hassan tied on 294.

Hassan played some superb golf, recording a 70 and a 72, but a slip in the second round, shooting 77, made recovering the lead a difficult task.

In the associated Nett event, Jarryn Hill looked a good bet to take the title after three nett sub-par rounds. However, the flat stick let him down today, scoring a nett 76, and letting Ben Hilder through to take the title. Hilder finished with two nett sub-par rounds, and a steady 72 in the final round was enough to finish 2 shots ahead.

Nett score of the day was recorded by Bill Young, playing off 14 - a gross score of 76, nett 62, a score which was in fact the best nett score of the competition.