To paraphrase two-time Masters champion Bubba Watson, Guy Wall never got this far in his dreams yet he has triumphed over Peter Lonard in a five-hole playoff to win the Australian Senior PGA Championship.
The deluge that has inundated the eastern seaboard made Richmond Golf Club unplayable the past two days but tournament officials were able to conduct a playoff between Wall and Lonard, who ended day one tied at the top of the leaderboard with rounds of four-under 68.
The pair teed it up at the par-3 10th hole on five occasions before a winner could be decided, Wall holing a birdie putt from 20 feet to earn the most prestigious victory of his career on the SParms Legends Tour.
A career amateur whose highest level of competition was playing pennants for Pymble Golf Club, Wall turned professional only after topping Legends Tour qualifying school in 2015 and was thrilled to claim one of the Legends Tour’s most prestigious events against a player of Lonard’s calibre.
“Probably something that I didn’t dream of when I started out playing professional golf but given that it is around this golf course which suits me down to the ground I thought I could have had an opportunity,” Wall said.
“Just never knew what was going to happen and then got told at about 11 o’clock that I had to get here for a playoff with one of Australia’s best ball-strikers in Peter Lonard.
“Very, very happy.”
A two-time winner on the Legends Tour in his rookie season in 2015, Wall and Lonard [above] halved the first playoff hole in bogeys before making three consecutive pars.
“The first time both of us hit the wrong club,” Wall revealed. “We both hit 5-iron and the wind was obviously into us when we thought it was over our right shoulder.
“Both made bogey the first time around and thereafter new knew the club and just kept hitting the green but not making the putts. Eventually made one, which is great.”
Third in this event in 2015, the victory secures Wall a five-year exemption on the Legends Tour and the continuation of a dream that was hatched as his 50th birthday was approaching.
“I always wanted to do it. Kept an eye on it, watched it for quite a while. Saw some of my mates turn pro and got it done,” Wall said of his inspiration to join the Legends Tour.
“I actually got a hold of John Serhan and Greg Hohnen and told them that I wanted to do it when I was 48 years old and said, ‘What do I need to do to make this happen?’
“They were both awesome in helping get my game ready and my mind ready and since then I’ve had a couple of wins, been overseas a few times to try and qualify for some of the big events over there and just really enjoyed it.”
Wall will now tee it up in the Western Open at Dubbo Golf Club starting today with the Legends Tour now moving to the Gold Coast for the Gold Coast Senior PGA Championship at Lakelands Golf Club, starting on Thursday.
