KIWI golfer Ryan Fox has won the Coca-Cola Queensland PGA Championship after a final round that included consecutive eagles coming down the stretch at the City Golf Club in Toowoomba.
Fox finished with a tournament total of 17-under 263 to take his second PGA Tour of Australasia title by one shot from Matthew Millar (ACT) and Cameron Smith (QLD).
“I am pretty ecstatic right now to be honest,” said Fox. “I was around the lead all day. To do what I did on 16 and 17, just….I really can’t describe it.”
His phenomenal final round of 8-under 62 was highlighted by consecutive eagles on the par-4 16th and par-5.
“Sixteen is certainly not one, standing on the tee, that you think you are going to hit on the green. But I just figured I needed to do something,” Fox said. “I aimed at the green, and hit driver as hard as I could. I managed to hit it to eight feet and knock that one in.”
“I thought maybe at best I would get it 10 short of the green but a little bit of adrenaline helped.”
Walking to the 17th tee, Fox was one shot behind leader Matthew Millar.
“On 17 I hit two really good shots into the green and got a good read from Snow, a local guy who caddied for me over the weekend,” added Fox.
“About 10 foot out the putt never really looked like it was going to miss. I guess I went from two back to one in front after two holes, it was a bit surreal.”
A crowd favourite, Fox finished runner-up in Toowoomba last year after Anthony Summers also made eagle at the 16th.
“I love coming here; I have played here four times now, and had some really good results,” he said. “I guess I did the same to Matty (Millar) today to what [Anthony] Summers did to me last year. He made two on 16 too when I was one behind and then he won by three, I guess it’s nice to get a little bit of my own back.”
The win comes at a great time for Fox with the PGA Tour of Australasia heading to his home territory for the Holden New Zealand PGA Championship and BMW NZ Open in March.
Queensland young gun Cameron Smith also played a superb round of 7-under 63 to ensure his runner-up finish alongside Millar on 16-under the card.
Finishing with a tournament total 13-under 267 were Brad Kennedy (QLD) and Tim Hart (QLD).
Qualifying School winner Ed Stedman (NSW) fired 7-under the card today to finish outright 7th on 11-under 269. Brad Shilton (NZ), David Bransdon (VIC), Alex Hawley (NSW) and Aaron Pike (QLD) round out the top-10 on 10-under 270.
The PGA Tour of Australasia now has a week off before heading to Auckland for the New Zealand PGA Championship to be played at Remuera Golf Club from 5-8 March.
Queensland PGA Championship Leaderboard