Brett Coletta and Ashley Lau – Vic Open Champions
Ashely Lau and Brett Coletta – image Australian Golf Media
Victorian Brett Coletta and Malaysia’s Ashely Lau are the respective male and female Vic Open Champions following the completion of the dual event at 13th Beach on the Bellarine Peninsula today.
For 27-year-old Coletta, the win represents his second as a professional having also won an event in the Hunter Vally last year although in 2016 he won the Queensland Open as an amateur at the Brisbane Golf Club before turning to the paid ranks soon after.
A regular on the Korn ferry Tour during 2019 and 2020 Coletta got within two places of earning his PGA Tour playing rights for 2020 after recording three top-five finishes in 2019 but missed out, his career adversely affected by Covid issues in the following years.
After sharing 17th place at the halfway stage, Coletta added consecutive weekend rounds of 65 to take the title by two over Sydney’s Jordan Zunic, a former New Zealand Open Champion, who appears boosted by recent success in claiming his Asian Tour card for 2024, and recent DP World Tour graduate Andrew Martin.
Coletta earned A$75,600 for his win and moves into second place on the PGA Tour of Australasia Order of Merit behind Min Woo Lee and is on track for a DP World Tour card given to the leading three players at season’s end in two months.
The Women’s Vic Open was won by the very impressive Ashley Lau of who produced a brilliant final round of 66 to defeat two-time major winner and the defending champion, Jiyai Shin whose 30-foot putt at the 72nd hole to force a playoff lipped out.
Lau who plays the Futures Tour in the USA, has won and finished 4th in her previous two starts in Australia and more is expected of the talented Malaysian.
The next event for both the PGA Tour of Australasia and the WAPGA will be the mixed-gender Webex Player Series event in Sydney starting on Thursday.
