Players had to contend with slick greens and gusty conditions across both days of the 2023 Ray White Yamba Pro Am.
In the end it was congratulations to Michael Wright (75 and 66) and Andrew Campbell (73 and 68) who shared the spoils at 3 under par. Both players had started their final rounds well behind Lucas Higgins who led (66) after Day one. In the end, it was Wright’s putting skills on Yamba’s excellent greens and Campbell’s string of Birdies capped off with his Eagle on the 8th that launched them to the top of the table on Sunday afternoon.
Michael Wright, who is a regular player in this event, was tied 3rd in the recently held PNG Open while Andrew Campbell, who is based in Coffs Harbour, has played regularly on the PGA Tour of Australasia.
Tom Major won the longest professional drive (Saturday) and Amelia Mehmet-Grohn won the longest professional drive (Sunday). It was great to see our local favourite, Jamie Corkill, win the Saturday Shootout landing his ball 22cm from the hole.
In amateur news, local players Simon Birchall (39pts) and Kevin Lowe (38pts) had the best two results on Saturday while on Sunday, Colin Lake (37pts c/b) edged out Greig Little (37pts) to win. Richie Carter had the longest drive on the Sunday. In other local Saturday results, Phil McDougall (37pts) came in 3rd; Matt Mitchell (36pts c/b) Zane Lowe (36pts c/b) were placed 5th and 6th. Locals took out all of the remaining Sunday places – 3rd: Greg Laforest (36pts c/b); 4th: Zane Lowe (36pts); 5th: Simon Birchall (35pts c/b); 6th: Col Simmons (35pts c/b) and 7th: Steve Abbott (35pts).
The Yamba event continues to be one of the favourite stops on the Adidas PGA Pro-Am Series. Winner of Tournament of the Year (2020), the Yamba Golf & Country Club has made a number of upgrades to cart paths and course conditions as well as adding three indoor TrackMan Golf Simulators available for lessons and social play. Special thanks must go to Ray White Real Estate, Yamba, which was the major sponsor. The support provided by Daniel Kelly, Jim Kelly and their fabulous team, as well as the other generous sponsors, was greatly appreciated.