Adelaide’s Jack Thompson another first time Australasian Tour winner
Jack Thompson with his breakthrough trophy – photo PGA of Australia
Just seven days after New South Wales’ Blake Windred broke through for his first PGA Tour of Australasia victory, another of this country’s emerging talents, Jack Thompson, has claimed his first title at this level with victory at the Gippsland Super 6 event east of Melbourne.
The 23 year old Thompson turned professional soon after the disappointment of leading into the final round of the Australian Amateur Championship at the Kooyonga Golf Club in his hometown of Adelaide in February.
There, Thompson succumbed to a final round of 81 to slip well back in the field but he has long been considered a significant talent and since taking to the paid ranks soon after he has now recorded four top tens including this win in six starts on the PGA Tour of Australasia.
The event carries only minimal world ranking points given the lack of strength in the field, but it will advance Thompson from his current 918th position to around 560th and importantly he has security of tenure on the PGA Tour of Australasia for at least the next two years, allowing him to advance his cause in the professional ranks.
Thompson defeated Wollongong’s Jordan Zunic, a former New Zealand and Queensland Open Champion and a Northern Territory PGA Championship winner, in the final of the series of medal match play encounters to determine the winner from the top 24 qualifiers at the completion of 54 holes on Saturday.
To reach the final Thompson was required to beat Jackson Bugdalski, Michael Sim, Brett Rankin and Rohan Blizard, recovering from a two shot deficit with two to play in his opening round match against Bugdalski.
The win was worth $24,750 to Thompson and sets him up for when the PGA Tour of Australasia returns at the Australian PGA Championship at Royal Queensland on January 13th.
