AMATEUR O'REILLY LEADS NSW PGA CHAMPIONSHIP
FROM THE PGA OF AUSTRALIA WEBSITE
Pennant Hills Golf Club amateur Callan O’Reilly has today upstaged his more experienced rivals at Mt Broughton Golf and Country Club to lead the NSW PGA Championship into the final round.
O’Reilly, who gained a spot in this week’s PGA Tour of Australasia field after pre-qualifying at Highlands Golf Club on Monday, shot a near flawless third round of 6-under 66 to take a one shot lead into the final day.
He leads rookie professionals Matthew Stieger (-11) and Daniel Nisbett (-9), while New Zealand’s Ryan Fox (71) sits in fourth position alongside Sweden’s Thomas Petersson (73) and Adam Stephens (71) at 8-under par.
Having previously played two NSW Opens, this week’s tournament is only O’Reilly’s third PGA Tour of Australasia tournament.
However with a spot in next week’s Emirates Australian Open and the successive Australian PGA Championship awaiting the victor, the 22-year-old says he’s hoping to focus on the job at hand, and hopefully follow in the footsteps of last week’s BMW NZ Open amateur winner, Jake Higginbottom.
“Jake’s a great player and I’ve played a lot of golf with him. Seeing a guy like him go out and win like that makes you think ‘why can’t I?’” said an ecstatic O’Reilly, trying not to think too much about what’s at stake.
“I think I’ll just go home and calm down a bit and try not to think about it. But with some of the players that are coming out to play next week – it would be absolutely unreal to get a start,”
Originally from Toronto, O’Reilly had his first look at the Mt Broughton course on Tuesday and has signed for rounds of 71, 67 and 66.
Having won the 2012 Avondale Amateur and contested the British Amateur, he says his focus this year has been solely on gaining experience.
“At the start of the year the first goal was to make the state team and the inter-state series, but since then it’s just been about trying to get to the next step, which is National Team level. Obviously it’s a long way to go to there, but you’ve got to set a goal.”
Overnight Round 2 leader Matthew Stieger rallied from a slow start through his front nine, to finish in second one shot behind O’Reilly.
Intending to pre-qualify for next week’s Emirates Australian Open, Stieger kept his hopes for an automatic start in his national title alive through his back nine, two birdies on 16 and 18 keeping him in touch.
In third position Daniel Nisbet struggled for consistency today, the 22 year old's round made up of two eagles, five birdies, three bogeys and a double bogey.
Finishing with a round of 4-under 68, the 2012 US Players Amateur Champion, sits only three back from O’Reilly.
TO VIEW ALL THE SCORES
CLICK HERE
Pennant Hills Golf Club amateur Callan O’Reilly has today upstaged his more experienced rivals at Mt Broughton Golf and Country Club to lead the NSW PGA Championship into the final round.
O’Reilly, who gained a spot in this week’s PGA Tour of Australasia field after pre-qualifying at Highlands Golf Club on Monday, shot a near flawless third round of 6-under 66 to take a one shot lead into the final day.
He leads rookie professionals Matthew Stieger (-11) and Daniel Nisbett (-9), while New Zealand’s Ryan Fox (71) sits in fourth position alongside Sweden’s Thomas Petersson (73) and Adam Stephens (71) at 8-under par.
Having previously played two NSW Opens, this week’s tournament is only O’Reilly’s third PGA Tour of Australasia tournament.
However with a spot in next week’s Emirates Australian Open and the successive Australian PGA Championship awaiting the victor, the 22-year-old says he’s hoping to focus on the job at hand, and hopefully follow in the footsteps of last week’s BMW NZ Open amateur winner, Jake Higginbottom.
“Jake’s a great player and I’ve played a lot of golf with him. Seeing a guy like him go out and win like that makes you think ‘why can’t I?’” said an ecstatic O’Reilly, trying not to think too much about what’s at stake.
“I think I’ll just go home and calm down a bit and try not to think about it. But with some of the players that are coming out to play next week – it would be absolutely unreal to get a start,”
Originally from Toronto, O’Reilly had his first look at the Mt Broughton course on Tuesday and has signed for rounds of 71, 67 and 66.
Having won the 2012 Avondale Amateur and contested the British Amateur, he says his focus this year has been solely on gaining experience.
“At the start of the year the first goal was to make the state team and the inter-state series, but since then it’s just been about trying to get to the next step, which is National Team level. Obviously it’s a long way to go to there, but you’ve got to set a goal.”
Overnight Round 2 leader Matthew Stieger rallied from a slow start through his front nine, to finish in second one shot behind O’Reilly.
Intending to pre-qualify for next week’s Emirates Australian Open, Stieger kept his hopes for an automatic start in his national title alive through his back nine, two birdies on 16 and 18 keeping him in touch.
In third position Daniel Nisbet struggled for consistency today, the 22 year old's round made up of two eagles, five birdies, three bogeys and a double bogey.
Finishing with a round of 4-under 68, the 2012 US Players Amateur Champion, sits only three back from O’Reilly.
TO VIEW ALL THE SCORES
CLICK HERE
Labels: Amateur Men, PRO GOLF
posted by Colin |
See story on its own page | Saturday, December 01, 2012
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