Words: Release/Paul Prendergast
Photo: Australian Golf Media
| Sydney’s Harrison Crowe believes he is now ready to take his game to the world after taking out The National Tournament in impressive style at The National Golf Club on Sunday. Harnessing the thousands of rounds he has played at Michael’s Golf Club on Sydney’s southern coastline, Crowe defied the 50km/h winds that whipped across the Gunnamatta Course to post the only bogey-free round of the final day of the 2024/2025 Challenger PGA Tour of Australasia season. Paired with Quinn Croker (71) and Denzel Ieremia (76) in the final group, Crowe shot a 4-under 68 to finish at 19-under for the tournament, two strokes clear of Queenslander Anthony Quayle (69), who produced the shot of his life – a 2-iron to eight feet from 215 metres – to make birdie at the par-4 18th and snare outright second. That result saw Quayle leapfrog South Australian Jack Buchanan (68) into fifth on the Order of Merit and secure a DP World Tour card for the 2026 season, a target he set himself when he turned his back on the Japan Golf Tour to play more on home soil late last year. A winner at the NZ Open and Sandbelt Invitational in recent months, PGA Tour of Australasia Rookie of the Year Ryan Peake’s 10th place finish also helped secure his place in Europe in 2026 with a third card still undetermined, depending on whether LIV golfer Lucas Herbert chooses to take up a card by finishing third on the Order of Merit. Should he decline, South Australian Jack Buchanan would be next in line to make his debut in Europe. There are Order of Merit rewards coming too for Crowe, who finishes the year in eighth position. That guarantees him a start at the Alfred Dunhill Links Championship on the DP World Tour in Scotland in October and will open the door to a host of major qualifying schools later in the year. For a 23-year-old who burst onto the scene by winning both the New South Wales Open and the Asia-Pacific Amateur in 2022, this latest win looms as the springboard he has been chasing ever since. “I’ve been hanging around for this win for quite some time,” said Crowe. “It just feels great to finally get it done and I feel like this could be the one that kind of kicks the door down a little bit more.” A message from coach John Serhan after Round 3 emphasised the need to stay present and be ready for whatever the conditions or other players might throw at him. Croker and Quayle both had brief stints in the outright lead as Todd Sinnott, Andrew Martin and Maverick Antcliff all joined the conversation. Crowe, Quayle, Martin, Croker and Antcliff were all tied at 17-under midway through the front nine, Antcliff the first to break out of the logjam and reach 18-under with birdie at the par-5 sixth. Peake was also in the mix until the birdie putts stopped dropping while fellow West Australian Curtis Luck surged after the turn thanks to birdies at 11, 12 and 16. His bogey-bogey finish had direct Order of Merit and DP World Tour card implications but as he and others dropped shots, Crowe remained resilient. A brilliant 5-iron to seven feet at the par-4 ninth went unrewarded but a par save on 13 and another superb 5-iron into the par-4 14th gave Crowe a three-shot buffer over the closing holes. “That was certainly one of the best shots I’ve hit,” said Crowe. “It was very testing out there and I just kind of had to keep bringing myself back and just stay really in the moment. It was easy to wander off – what the lead was, what the score was – and trying to look too far ahead but I think I did a really, really good job today of just being present and staying really, really patient.” Quayle’s second-place finish was his best result of the season and eighth top-five finish as Martin (67), Luck (68) and Croker (71) shared third. |
