By PGA of Australia
West Australian Daniel Fox has recorded his second ISPS HANDA PGA Tour of Australasia victory, taking out the Coca-Cola Queensland PGA Championship presented by Wippells Volkswagen.
Fox finished his tournament at City Golf Club with a round of 5-under 65 to move to 18-under the card, he faced a nervous wait as Canberra’s Matt Millar, playing in the same group, had an opportunity to make a birdie on the 18th hole and force a playoff.
However Millar could only manage par and finish second once again at City Golf Club.
Steven Jeffress, playing in the group behind, reached the 18th tee tied for the lead at 18-under the card, but his wayward tee set up what would eventually be a bogey on the last.
Aron Price was the last man able to make a run at a playoff, he required an eagle on the 18th hole but recorded a par making Fox the 2018 champion.
“I was just lucky this week, I navigated through a couple of dry spells through the course of each round and was the last man standing,” said Fox.
“I’m very surprised; I’ve always struggled coming here even though I’ve always said this course does suit my game, I like to hit driver a lot.
“Not to say that with any arrogance but I generally play courses like that because it gives me a shorter club in so I can get an advantage and get the ball in play.”
The City Golf Club always yields plenty of birdies and although Fox had reached 18-under the card, he was by no means comfortable playing his final few holes.
He made a strong charge home recording five birdies which eventually proved to be enough.
“You just never think you’ve got enough, it’s like playing a qualifier; you’ve just got to keep pushing and pushing all the time you’re just never sure,” added Fox.
“I turned in even par and I thought okay well the back-9 is where you can make your score you can shoot really low if you give yourself enough chances.”
After a tough season on the European Challenge Tour in 2017, Fox’s victory today goes a long way to restoring confidence in both himself and his game after he tweaked how he prepares for a round.
“I just got beat up playing over there, you always get pretty excited to go and play somewhere new, I just had a lot of holes in my game, more so in my attitude and my self belief,” an emotional Fox said.
“It was a big learning curve, there’s a lot of really good players outside of our own backyard and it was a wake up call to some things I needed to fix.
“But you’ve got to go through some of those hard times to sort of work out what you need to do. If you win once you sort of think can you do it again so you do get a drive to succeed again.”
For now, it’s on to the Horizon Golf NZ PGA Championship but Fox says he’ll definitely come back to Toowoomba to defend his title.
“I’ll definitely come back, for sure. The only thing better than winning is coming back to try and win again.”
Matthew Millar (ACT) and Steven Jeffress (NSW) finished tied for second at 17-under the card with Aron Price (NSW) in outright fourth at 16-under the card.
Maverick Antcliff (QLD), Callan O’Reilly (NSW), Jake McLeod (QLD), Brett Rankin (QLD) and Darren Beck round out the top-10 at 15-under the card.
The ISPS HANDA PGA Tour of Australasia now moves to Palmerston North for the Horizon Golf NZ PGA Championship.