Jordie Garner successfully defends his battle title in Queensland.
Jordie Garner gets pretty good at holding his nerve.
And the New South Welshman did it today at the perfect time to defend his battle title in Queensland at Oxley Golf Club.
After starting the final round behind Jordan Woodall in New Zealand, the Central Coast ace looked nasty when he took a triple-bogey seven in the fourth hole to fall four shots out of the pace.
But relying on the invaluable experience of both paving their way to the recent American amateur playoff in Pinehurst – and the epic three-hour shoot-out itself – Garner came into its own.
The member of St. Michaels peeled off birdies in the fifth, sixth, eighth, ninth, 10th and 11th holes to storm the lead.
A pair of late Garner bogeys mixed with one of Goodall & # 39; s on the 15th to keep the pair knotted while the Kiwi played its approach to the latter.
Unfortunately for Woodall, his ball broke down and went out behind the 18th green and headed for a double bogey six, leaving Garner behind a two-stroke winner.
Reigning Australian Youth Champion Elvis Smylie continued his good form with an eagle two in the par-four 17 the culmination of a closing 73 that left him third, only one blow down sixth.
His colleague Gold Coaster Lewis Hoath finished fourth in fifth, while the best final lap came from the red-hot hand of new track record holder Jordan Ayre.
Ayre, a member of Royal Canberra, played college golf, but has returned home and is now an accountant – not that he had to count too high on the way to a spectacular seven-under-par 65.
The 16 best qualifying matches (in order) that took place at the start of the match game on Thursday are Garner, Woodall, Smylie, Hoath, Ayre, James Conran, Connor Fewkes, Ryan Mulvany, Will Florimo, Lachlan Coleborn, Jack Korotcoff, Bailey Arnott, Mako Thompson, Tyler Wood, Zach Maxwell and Lucas Higgins.
Mitchell Salmond, Ben Layton, Jose De Sousa and Joshua Gadd were the bad luck to miss after a play-off for berths 14-16.
Mirabel Ting joins some famous names on Mrs. N.G. Hatton Jug.
In the women's competition in Gailes, Cassie Porter from the Sunshine Coast had a stunning hole-in-one on the third third hole in her fourth round, but it wasn't enough to delay a budding teen sensation in Mirabel Ting.
Ting, who became the youngest winner of a Malaysian Golf Association event last year, was sometimes brilliant in carding a closing three-under-par 70 to beat Porter with three hits.
Ting, 14, has left her native Sarawak to study at the famous Hills International College south of Brisbane, and now joins names such as Karrie Webb, Su Oh and Karis Davidson on Mrs. N.G. Hatton Jug.
Remarkably, there were two other aces today, both in the third round – one from Shannon Tan on the 12th and another from the third at Hye Park.
The top 16 qualifying matches in the match play phase from Thursday (in order) are: Ting, Porter,
Steph Kyriacou, Grace Kim, Kathryn Norris, Tan, Lisa Edgar, Charley Jacobs, Park, Brittney Dryland, Kerri Bong, Kelsey Bennett, Sarah Wilson, Steffi Vogel, Momo Sugiyama and Hannah Reeves.
The match play phase of the tournaments for both men and women starts on Thursday in Gailes.
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