Denzel Ieremia – one of three who topped the Tour School
While the focus of world golf is on Augusta National this week, at the other end of the scale is a field of golfers just trying to gain access to the PGA Tour of Australasia to either reboot their careers or begin the journey that is professional golf.
Played over 72 holes at Moonah Links on the Mornington Peninsula, a field of 66 players were competing for full exemption on the PGA Tour of Australasia available to the leading 30 and ties with lesser categories available beyond that milestone.
The eventual leading three players after 72 holes were Nathan Barbiera, New Zealand’s Denzel Ieremia and Victorian Max Charles who tied at 16 under, five shots ahead of the fourth place Adam Brady of West Australia.
27-year-old Barbiera, a former NSW Amateur Champion, had a bad finish to his 2023/2024 season and finished 54th on the Order of Merit necessitating his return to Q School.
Ieremia, a former student at Iowa State University, has been a professional for several years, perhaps the highlight of his career to date when finishing 5th at the 2019 Australian Open and 4th in a Japan Tour event that same year but he too had a tough season last year but now regains full status.
Charles played collegiate golf in the US until last year but in just a few events on the Australasian Tour he failed to flatter but now gets the all-important right to play the tour starting with events over the next few months.
