Perth’s Jason Scrivener takes morning lead on day two at Aust PGA
Jason Scrivener in action this morning – photo PGA of Australia
South African born, but West Australian raised, Jason Scrivener, completed his morning round at 10.45 on day two of the Fortinet Australian PGA Championship at Royal Queensland and when he had done so, he held a two shot lead over Victorian golfer, Cameron John and by three over Poland’s Adrian Meronk and New Zealand’s Denzel Ieremia,
John and Ieremia still had holes to play so the gap may close as the morning field finishes off their rounds but for Scrivener it was a near perfect start.
Later in the morning Japan’s Masahiro Kawamura birdied his last three holes to join John in a share of second place as the morning field completed their rounds.
“The two days have been quite different,” said Scrivener. “Yesterday was stress free and I hit the ball tee to green very well. Today was a little scrappier but got away with a few things and scrambled well so all in all pretty happy with it.
In hot calm conditions Scrivener put together a second round of 67 to go with his opening 65 and at 10 under par he had established a break before the likes of Adam Scott and Cameron Smith had even teed off.
Scrivener has just completed another year on the DP World Tour with the occasional trip to the US to play Korn Ferry Tour events and although his results fell short of previous seasons he still has full status in Europe and with this event jointly sanctioned by the DP World Tour an opportunity exists for a breakthrough win at this level.
Scrivener’s only previous win as a professional was when successful at the 2017 NSW Open at Twin Creeks and to some extent the win might have signalled further wins to come but to date they have not although he has made steady but impressive progress with his game.
“It just shows that it’s just hard to win really,” said Scrivener when asked why more wins had not come his way. “I definitely thought it was going to be kind of the start of something. But yeah, it’s difficult to win nowadays. You’ve got to play pretty flawless golf. The level of play is pretty high, but yeah, another opportunity this weekend, looking forward to it.”
This writer has always described Scrivener as a very professional, professional. He looks the part and his ever-improving game and apparent work ethic suggests that he might yet develop into one of Australia’s better players.
John has played in Canada and Australia for much of this year with several top tens in Australian events in particular. His best finish as a professional was when runner-up in the 2018 NSW Open but this fine start opens up even greater opportunities.
Kawamura is a player good enough to have played the DP World Tour this season with a best of 5th place at the European Open in Germany, comfortably retaining his playing privileges there.
The weather remains hot for those heading out in the afternoon side of the draw but the gentlest of early breezes strengthened as the morning turned into afternoon and there is a good chance that Scrivener’s winning score will lead into day three.
