Golf Webex Player Series: Blake Proverbs prevails in play-off against Jason Norris
Queenslander Blake Proverbs has broken through for a professional win after taking out the Webex Players Series event on the Murray River. But he did need some luck in the play-off.
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It took him eight years, but an emotional Blake Proverbs can now call himself a winner of a professional event after outlasting 52-year-old veteran Jason Norris in a nerve-jangling Webex Players Series Murray River event on Sunday.
Queenslander Proverbs, who has worked with Cameron Smith’s coach Grant Field, ended a long drought in sweltering conditions at Cobram Barooga Golf Club after a three-hole play-off.
Proverbs, 28, needed to pull out all his reserves to beat Norris, who fired a sizzling eight-under 63 in his final round, which included an incredible par save on the 72nd hole, replete with a search party needed to find his tee shot after it swayed into long grass.
Proverbs and Norris traded birdies on the first play-off hole – Proverbs’ snuck in the side door thanks to a golfer’s greatest asset, gravity – and then on the second extra hole two pars followed.
But Proverbs’ big break came on the next.
Flying his approach long, it rebounded off a corporate hospitality hoarding and nestled on the back edge of the green. He made a steady two-putt par while Norris, whose tee shot again landed in the shin-high rough down the right, couldn’t scramble a 12-footer home for par.
“It’s unreal,” Proverbs said.
“I’ve been waiting a while for this.
“I’ve only had one previous play-off (as an amateur). It’s been a while since I’ve been in those shoes. I feel like I’ve been close to getting into a play-off and seeing what it’s like at a professional level. I felt more comfortable than the 72nd hole of the tournament.”
Proverbs (-23) would have lamented not winning in regulation, pulling short putts on the 70th and 71st holes before still carding a seven-under 64.
Earlier, Proverbs and Norris swapped keeping warm for trying to stay cool as they waited for their play-off in conditions which nudged 40 degrees on the Murray River.
Proverbs’ week started on a sour note with a one-over 72, but he reeled off 62-63-64 to charge up the leaderboard.
“There was some good golf played in there for sure,” he said.
Thai teenage whiz kid Cholcheva Wongras (-22) pushed a 10-footer for birdie on the last to force a three-way play-off after a 67, but she’s destined for a huge future.
Overnight leader Jack McLeod (-19) had a horrid day on the greens, burning a number of edges, to finish with an even-par 71 as his wait for his first professional win since the 2018 NSW Open goes on.
He’s led the last three tournaments at the 36-hole mark and came up a tad short.
Local flirts with history as McLeod edges closer to victory
Victoria’s Cameron John flirted with a magical 59 – the second time it would have been achieved during the PGA Tour of Australasia season – as Jake McLeod edged closer to a drought-breaking win.
John, who shot to global prominence when shared the half-way lead at the Alfred Dunhill Links Championship at St Andrews last year, missed a birdie putt on the last hole to record the golfing milestone at the Webex Players Series Murray River event.
Connor McKinney became the first player to shoot 59 in PGA Tour of Australasia history at the Gippsland Super 6 before Christmas, but John was on the cusp of the rare feat at Cobram Barooga on Saturday.
He ended up signing for an 11-under 60, featuring two eagles and seven birdies, as he soared up the leaderboard to be two strokes behind McLeod heading into the final round.
John, 25, secured his maiden professional victory at The National last year, and history could be repeating after he finished runner-up to McLeod in the 2018 NSW Open. It was McLead’s only professional win in Australia.
Asked about his brush with history, John joked: “I’ve never been more nervous on a Saturday - ever.
“Knowing that I needed to have a good day today to be in with a chance, I tried to do that. From the outset, the first tee shot was pretty good. I felt good and made eagle on one and thought, ‘nice’. I probably just hit an average shot on the eighth hole. It doesn’t happen often and you’ve got to capitalise on playing well.
“To be honest I’ve done the same thing the last couple of days but have rolled the putts around the edge.”
But he will have his work cut out reeling in Queenslander McLeod, who appears primed to capitalise on a sensational month where he’s been at the top of the leaderboard heading into the weekend at the last two events.
Playing alongside 17-year-old Thai whiz kid Cholcheva Wongras in sweltering conditions near the NSW-Victoria border, McLeod (-19) put his foot down on the back nine with an eagle and another three birdies in a six-hole stretch before dropping a shot with a three-putt bogey on his last.
He signed for a five-under 66 to open up a one-shot lead from Wongras (-18), who carded a composed 67 in the final group alongside McLeod. John and Jye Pickin (65) are a shot further back in third at 17-under.
“I did a good job again today,” McLeod said. “I felt like I did really nicely from hole 10 onwards.”
Wongras is hoping to become the third female to win the mixed The Players Series Murray River event after Hannah Green (2022) and Sarah Jane Smith (2023).
THAI TEEN HOLDS STEADY AS MCLEOD’S FORM SURGES
Jake McLeod is near the top of a leaderboard heading into the weekend, like he was last week, and the fortnight before that. And when they play again next week, if you were a betting man, you’d say there’s a good chance he might do it again.
But they don’t write the cheques on Friday. Knock-off time for everyone else is only when the race for the real money starts in golf. And the last couple of weekends haven’t been overly kind to McLeod, who has fought himself, his wedge, his putter, his rivals, the golf courses and a little voice in the back of his head which chirps he hasn’t won a professional tournament since 2018.
You could spend an entire career and not win, and still make a fortune. What other sport allows you to do that? In most sports, don’t win enough, don’t last long.
But only one in more than 100 plus gets a trophy after each golf tournament. The chances are slim each week, but still ending a career without winning enough will still leave a hollow feeling. McLeod has already won, albeit a long time ago. And the law of averages says, the more times he goes into the weekend of a tournament setting the pace, the more likely he will jag a win.
So, what did he actually do over the holidays to have this surge of form in January?
“I put on about four kilos,” he laughed. “Of fat, not muscle. I just enjoyed myself.
“(But) I still worked on my game a fair bit. Because we’re in the middle of our season, I couldn’t have too much time off really.”
This time at the Webex Players Series Murray River event, he has another obstacle: a 17-year-old Thai star who needs a legal guardian to travel with her on tour. Her guardian just happens to also be her caddie.
McLeod and Cholcheva Wongras (both -14) will tee off in the final group at Cobram Barooga with a one-shot cushion from 52-year-old Jason Norris (-13), with McLeod posting an eight-under 63 on Friday to Wongras’ 64. But as McLeod found out at Royal Fremantle and Rosebud already this month, the screws tighten on the weekend, and no lead is really safe.
Wongras won’t have any expectation. Who really thinks she will win? And if she doesn’t, she’s got so much more of her career ahead of her. For McLeod, when he first won as a professional in his early 20s, he would have reasonably expected more to follow in the coming years.
“The whole game at the moment feels very sharp,” he said. “I’ve learned a fair bit over the last couple of tournaments as well. Hopefully I can capitalise on that and do a better job.”
Anthony Quayle, Jye Pickin and Brady Watt lead the chasers at 11-under in a tie for fourth.
THAI TEEN SURGES TO EARLY LEAD IN WEBEX PLAYER SERIES
A Thai teenager is threatening to continue a trend started by Australia’s major winner Hannah Green, as Cholcheva Wongras surged to a share of the early lead at the Webex Players Series event on the Murray River.
Cobram Barooga was the scene of Green’s world-first win against the men three years ago as she became the first female to triumph in a co-ed 72-hole event on a major tour.
Men and women play against each other but from their respective tees in every Players Series event in Australia.
Sarah Jane Smith then backed it up the following year on the Murray River and Wongras hopes to be the third woman to achieve the feat in a tournament which has drawn players from all around Australia and Asia.
“I think the wind was pretty calm and not having too much wind helps,” the 17-year-old said after her opening round seven-under 64 on Thursday in the afternoon wave.
“My putting was working today. I played here last year. This year, the ground is so nice and it’s so pure.”
Wongras has already jumped inside the world’s top 350 on the female rankings despite not turning 18, and is destined for further increases on the basis of a sublime performance which featured seven birdies on her first 10 holes after starting on the back nine.
She will spend the majority of her year playing on the Taiwanese tour, but has committed to next week’s Victorian Open, which was only saved late in 2024.
Wongras was joined in a share of the first round lead with New Zealand’s Michael Hendry, who returned to professional golf less than 18 months ago after being diagnosed with cancer, and Western Australia’s Ryan Peake, who both signed for 64s.
Peake is closing in on the top 10 on the PGA Tour of Australasia’s order of merit heading into the final months of the season, while Hendry is sharpening his game for a crack at the New Zealand Open.
Asked if he was surprised with his start at Cobram Barooga, Hendry joked: “The way I’ve been putting, yes.
“My putter has been uncooperative and I actually put a new one in today. I’ve been working with a friend of mine back home on customising it and it really worked nicely today. Hopefully it stays nice and hot.”
Peake burst out of the blocks with an eagle on his opening hole and had another seven birdies by the time he finished the 10th, before cooling slightly in the final stages of his round.
It’s the second time Peake has played the event after being an 11th-hour alternate for Marcus Fraser last year.
“You can’t expect to play like that for all 18 holes,” he said. “I was seeing the lines perfectly and rolled them all in.
“Obviously on the back nine the wind started to pick up a little bit and I got a few wedge numbers wrong. (But) I’m very satisfied with that start.”
Jake McLeod continued his hot run of recent form without winning to be just one shot back after a six-under 65, heading a quartet which includes Anthony Quayle, trying to push his case for a top three on the order of merit and a DP World Tour card.
Todd Sinnott was bogey free in his opening 65 to be joined by Brad Kennedy, who narrowly missed making the playoff in last week’s Webex Players Series event on the Mornington Peninsula.
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