Tasmanian Simon Hawkes is a two-time winner on the Challenger PGA Tour of Australasia thanks to a brilliant up-and-down on the 72nd hole of the Nexus Advisernet/Bowra & O’Dea WA Open.
Hawkes arrived at Joondalup Country Club yesterday with a four-stroke lead, an advantage that would be halved by the time the final group reached the third tee.
He and veteran Jason Norris went toe-to-toe for the next 14 holes before a dramatic two-shot swing at the par-4 16th.
As local hope Connor McKinney rode a wave of home-club support to put himself in the mix, the stalemate between Hawkes and Norris was broken on 16. On the toughest hole all week, Hawkes piloted home a 40-foot putt down the hill for birdie as Norris made bogey after missing the green with his approach.
A dropped shot by Hawkes at the par-3 17th gave McKinney a sniff with an eagle putt from just outside six feet on the 18th, the 21-year-old mystified when the ball stayed outside the left edge.
McKinney’s tap-in birdie was enough to set the mark in the clubhouse at 15-under but he could only watch as Hawkes navigated his way down the 18th.
A drive that trickled into the left rough gave Hawkes a daunting second with water all down the left side of the green.
The 34-year-old drilled a 4-iron down the right side but was faced with every amateur golfer’s worst nightmare when it trickled into the right-hand bunker some 40 metres short of the green.
In an eerily similar scenario to his 2018 Vic Open victory, Hawkes opened the face of a 9-iron, played an exquisite explosion shot and then watched on as his ball travelled down the tier to just inside five feet, sealing the deal with a closing birdie and for a round of 70 and a 17-under total.
“The weirdest thing for me is that it was identical to the Vic Open,” said Hawkes, who works full-time on the grounds crew in the construction of the new Seven Mile Beach golf course in Hobart.
“I had a driver and I had a 4-iron into the green. I hit into a greenside bunker and then got up-and-down from the greenside bunker to win the tournament.
“I don’t know if that’s my formula for winning golf tournaments but I said to my caddie, ‘I wish I could make it a little easier.’ Four-shot lead up the last next time, please.”
Queensland amateur Quinnton Croker claimed the Terry Gale Cup as leading amateur, finishing in a tie for ninth, his second consecutive top-10 finish on the Challenger PGA Tour of Australasia.
It was an enthralling finish to the WA All Abilities Open Championship also held on Sunday, Lachlan Wood holding off two-time champion Cameron Pollard for a two-stroke win.
Little separated the two most dominant All Abilities players in Australia until Pollard found trouble from the tee on the par-4 16th. With a three-stroke lead playing the final hole, Wood watched on as Pollard hit 4-iron from 180 metres to set up an eagle chance. That putt slid by the left edge and Wood was able to two-putt from the front of the green for a par and his first WA All Abilities crown.
“There was a lot of pressure, it was head-to-head, back and forth,” said Wood, who will travel cross country to tee it up in the Queensland PGA Associate Championship in Brisbane this morning.
“I’m just glad to be over here and playing this event. It’s a big event and thanks to a couple of really important sponsors back home in Enzo’s and Mark from Hervey Bay Hotel and Journal18 Golf.
“Without them I wouldn’t be here, that’s for sure.”
