Gippsland Super 6: Ben Henkel secures first win on the PGA Tour of Australasia
Ben Henkel started the week wondering whether he should wear a glove for the first time in almost seven years - and the decision would land him his first win on the PGA Tour of Australasia.
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Ben Henkel started the week wondering whether he should wear a glove for the first time in almost seven years, and finished it surviving a day of playoff drama to score his first win as a touring professional at the Gippsland Super 6.
Henkel, 24, endured a marathon 28 holes at Warragul Country Club on Sunday to eventually beat good friend Dylan Gardner in the final of the quirky format. Having fired a 62-61 to begin the tournament in the stroke play component, Henkel needed three extra playoff holes to beat Corey Lamb in the semi-finals of the six-hole medal match play format, and then finally overcame Gardner on the first extra hole in the final.
Henkel stood over his ball sitting on the edge of the cup after a long birdie try on the first playoff hole, but it didn’t matter as Gardner pulled his tee shot left into the par-three closer and couldn’t get up and down to make three. Henkel was on the sidelines for more than a year after fracturing a vertebrae in his back in a serious car accident in 2019, and was understandably emotional after securing his first win on the PGA Tour of Australasia.
On breaking his policy this week of not wearing a glove when playing, he said: “Every time I looked down at the logo, I just thought, ‘let’s focus and hit the shot’. It settled me a bit.
“It started with a bit of grip pressure and trying to weaken off that left side a bit, and then first day I kind of found something with that routine and stuck with it. It showed.
“My mum and dad, they’ve done so much for me and helped me out. Words can’t describe how good I feel, and feel for my parents with everything they’ve been through to get here.”
Henkel trailed by one shot against Gardner with two holes to play, but clawed his way level with an up-and-down birdie on the par-five fifth, then watched Gardner’s putt to win the tournament on the final hole somehow skim the inside of the cup and stay out. It was then off to extra holes and he only needed one to notch a career breakthrough. But perhaps it wasn’t even his hardest win of the day.
The earlier drama came in the semi-finals when Henkel and Corey Lamb needed three extra playoff holes to decide the last spot in the decider. Lamb seemed destined to edge closer to a maiden win of an extraordinary season after making the first birdie on the par-five fifth, only to lip out from five feet for a par save from the bunker on the next. Henkel made six pars in the semi-final.
Henkel missed a birdie chance to win on the first playoff hole from the shortened par-three tee, then Lamb almost aced the hole on his second extra try, only to be matched by Henkel’s five-foot birdie putt. They were finally split when Henkel rolled in a 15-footer for birdie moments before Lamb’s shorter attempt sat on the edge of the hole and refused to drop.
“To get a future out of this game, this is massive for me,” Henkel said. “I didn’t have the most solid start to the year and it gets me into some bigger events. It helps advance my career.
“(The car crash) was a tough time. Getting healthy from that and into Covid. A few years went by in a blink and I was just fighting to get back into the game.”
Lamb later downed Andrew Evans on the first extra hole in the third place playoff.
The top four on the leaderboard after the 54-hole stroke play all raced through the knockout rounds, which started with 24 players on Sunday morning.
60-FOOT STUNNER HELPS DECIDE MATCH PLAY FINALS
An extraordinary seven playoff holes were required to finalise the rankings and full 24-player field for Sunday’s medal match play finals at the Gippsland Super 6 at Warragul Country Club while Dylan Gardner, Corey Lamb and Ben Henkel secured their safe passage as co-leaders.
The lead trio were safely in the clubhouse as 54-hole leaders at 17-under par but further down the field, seven players were tied in 22nd at 8-under par and needed to head back on course to see who would be included in the final round.
Tom Power Horan, a two-time Gippsland Super 6 champion, landed a massive birdie putt at the first playoff hole to secure his chance at a third title.
“Yeah, it was good, obviously 60-foot down the slope,” Power Horan said of his final putt. “Not really expecting it to go in, but yeah, the 18th has been good to me a couple of times here, which is really nice.
“It’s a bit strange. I just haven’t been playing that well. I wasn’t really thinking of, well you think of winning but you just want play, but yeah three times would be nice, wouldn’t it?”
James Conran birdied the second playoff hole to advance while Quinn Croker and Jarryd Felton duelled it out over the final spot for two holes before Felton finally prevailed with par after Croker found the left trap and failed to get up and down.
But the real tense battle happened further up the leaderboard as the battle for the top eight, which has the added bonus of automatically advancing to round two of the Sunday matches, went down to the wire.
Ryan Peake secured the crucial last spot in the top eight qualifiers after a seven-hole playoff with Brett Drewitt after Ben Eccles and Tim Hart bowed on the first couple of holes.
But it is Gardner who looms as the man to watch on Sunday. His 8-under 62 on Saturday to Henkel and Lamb atop the leaderboard has him feeling confident for the match play rounds.
“Everything about the game was good. A little bit of an extra sleep in, which will be good tomorrow and yeah, see how it goes,” he said.
“Driver is one of my strengths, I tend to hit it pretty straight. That’s probably what I’ll play a lot tomorrow.
“I probably hit my driver straighter than I’ll hit my putter sometimes.”
The full list of those playing Sunday are: Dylan Gardner, Corey Lamb, Ben Henkel, Andrew Evans, Anthony Quayle, Jack Pountney, Connor McKinney, Ryan Peake, Brett Drewitt, Ben Eccles, Tim Hart, Matthew Stenson, Siddharth Nadimpalli, Blake Proverbs, Blake Windred, Lucas Higgins, Jason Hong, Jye Halls (a), Christopher Wood, Alex Edge, Gavin Fairfax, Tom Power Horan, James Conran, Jarryd Felton
MCKINNEY SHOOTS INTO RECORD BOOKS AT GIPPSLAND SUPER 6
Connor McKinney became just the second player to shoot a 59 on the PGA Tour of Australasia after the most remarkable round of his young career at the Gippsland Super 6.
The Scottish-born McKinney, 22, fired a scarcely believable nine-under 26 on the front nine – his inward nine after starting on the 10th tee – during the second round at Warragul Country Club. Par for the week is 70.
McKinney holed a 12-foot eagle putt on his last hole to sign for a 59, a feat only professional golfers’ dream about, as he surged his way up the leaderboard on Friday.
“I was like, ‘Oh wait, this is for 59’,” McKinney said of his final putt. “I tried to calm myself a bit and I rolled it straight in. I have had 59 [before], but it wasn’t in a comp.”
Brad McIntosh is the only other player to shoot a sub 60 round in the modern era in an Australian tour event, posting 59 during the Queensland PGA at Emerald Lakes in 2005.
That event was run as part of the old Von Nida Tour, but previous winners have now had their accomplishments recognised as official Australasian tour victories.
McKinney’s round was shaping as being solid, if not spectacular, after six straight pars to complement birdies on his second and third holes of the day.
But once he made the turn and headed for the first tee, the history-making round took off.
He had seven birdies in eight holes and then had a miracle eagle after driving the green on a 310-metre par four ninth.
He joked it was a “slight improvement” on his one-under 69 to open the tournament on Thursday.
It was all the sweeter after McKinney had a turbulent year playing predominantly on the European Challenge Tour, the feeder system for the DP World Tour.
He had missed 19 out of 25 cuts around the world in 2024 – including last week’s Victorian PGA, as well as the Australian PGA and Australian Open – and hasn’t finished inside the top 15 in any event.
“I guess it’s a mix of emotions,” McKinney said. “It hasn’t been an easy ride recently.
“It’s been tough. I’ve been juggling a lot of things and a lot of new experiences. You’d be flying from say Paris to Prague on a Sunday night and then you drive three hours to a course because nothing is really close to the airports.
“There’s all that stuff you’ve got to juggle. Different courses and there’s a lot going on. I just didn’t adjust good enough.
“[But] there were a lot of good signs [on Thursday], but to put it all together today and finish like I did, I’m pretty stoked.”
McKinney’s course record vaulted him into solo fourth at 12-under, five shots behind leader Ben Henkel (-17), who backed up his opening round 62 with a nine-under 61 in the second.
Told about McKinney’s 59, Henkel said: “That’s ridiculous. It’s a great round on any golf course, long or short. It’s playing mint and the course is in great nick. The course it set up for it.”
Henkel leads by three from Queensland’s Tim Hart and NSW’s Corey Lamb (-14), who carded a 62 and 63 respectively on Friday.
The top 24 players on the leaderboard will advance to Sunday’s medal match play, when scores are wiped and one-on-one six-hole match-ups will be played in a knockout format until the winner is crowned.
Originally published as Gippsland Super 6: Ben Henkel secures first win on the PGA Tour of Australasia
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