Jarryd Felton’s resurgence continues with Sydney win
Jarryd felton – photo Kirsty Wrice PGA Australia
West Australian Jarryd Felton today won his fourth PGA Tour of Australasia title but his first since the WAPGA Championship nearly eighteen months ago with a playoff victory over Canberra’s successful Japan Tour player Brendan Jones.
The final round of the TPS Sydney at the Bonnie Doon Golf Club in Sydney’s east was called off through three holes of the final round with Felton having established a two-shot lead early before a deluge caused play the be postponed then abandoned.
Scores reverted to those relevant through 54 holes and with both Jones and Felton tied at the top at 15 under par at the completion of round three, a break in the weather allowed a playoff to be held.
Felton birdied the first extra hole with a birdie putt from 18 feet or so and the title and the $36,000 was his.
While all this was going on Felton’s partner and his fellow West Australian, Hannah Green, was powering home to finish 6th in an LPGA Tour event in Singapore.
Felton was a high class amateur but despite his four PGA Tour of Australasia titles there have been times when he was questioning just what his future in the game held.
A recent decision to work with noted Queensland based mind guru Sean Lynch appears to have him back on track mentally and he voiced such following his win.
“I sat in hotel quarantine in Perth,” Felton said when referring to some of the issues he has had to face as a West Australian during these Covid times. “Two weeks in there will make you think about a lot of things.”
“I touched base with a good friend of mine, Jamie Glazier, and he helped me out for a little bit there.
“Coming out of hotel quarantine I was really motivated and driven to get better, there was just nothing to play.
“Now that we’ve got tournaments to play I’m more motivated to get better. “I’ve got a lot of good things going, I’ve just got to stick the path and just keep trying to get better each day.
“That’s what myself and Sean are working at and it happened to happen really quick this week.”
For 47 year old Jones it was also a resurgence given he has played only one tour sanctioned event event in the past two years after being the Japan Tour’s most successful foreign player in the last twenty years.
Some of his wins there have been against strong fields including events such as the Visa Taiheyo Masters and a win in Chicago on the Nationwide Tour along with a runner-up finish to Peter Senior at the 2012 Australian Open bearing testament to this talented player’s ability.
The leading woman in the combined gender event was Grace Kim who tied for 6th with Cassie Porter sharing 8th place.
