Queensland’s Matthew Ballard has a two shot lead with one round to play at the Gateway Tour Championship in Iowa.

Ballard’s third round of 72 has him at 8 under par and two ahead of American Ryan Dillon. Ballard’s second round of 66 created a four shot lead but Dillon has closed the gap to just two.

Ballard played his role in allowing the field back into the event with a double bogey, bogey finish that could prove costly tomorrow. Two shots further back is the Gateway Tour’s Desert Summer Series leading money winner Chris Kamin.

Ballard won an event on the Gateway Tour’s Desert Summer Series earlier in the season by eight shots and finished 12th on the money list leading into this event.

In addition to the US$65,000 first place prize, the tournament offers the winner exemption into next year’s AT&T Pebble Beach Pro Am so tomorrow’s final round is a big day for those in contention.

http://www.iseekgolf.com/news/6656-queenslands-ballard-leads-gateway-tour-championship
By Bruce Young

Queensland golfer, Matt Ballard, has today won the Desert Summer Series tournament #11 on the “pay to play” Gateway Tour in Arizona, extending his third round lead of three to eventually win by eight over Colorado golfer, Dustin White.

Ballard’s winning total of 25 under par was the result of rounds of 69, 65, 64 and 64. He recorded 31 birdies in his 72 holes to take home the US$19,500 prizemoney.

The 72 hole event was played at the Jack Nicklaus designed Desert Mountain – Chiricahua course in Scottsdale and the David Graham designed Tonto Verde Peaks course in Rio Verde.

Ballard, who has played mainly on the Queensland Sunshine and Von Nida Tours in recent years, was competing in his fifth event of the season on the Gateway Desert Summer Series, finishing 5th in an earlier event in July.

Ballard’s best finish on the Australasian Tour was a 10th at the Australian Open in 2003 at Moonah Links.

Another Australian, Stephen Dartnall from Perth, finished 8th, a last round of 74 perhaps a disappointment. Dartnall was a member of the Australian Eisenhower Trophy team in South Africa last October and has been playing mini tours and the occasional Nationwide Tour event when able to secure a start.

http://www.iseekgolf.com/news/6535-matt-ballard-blitzes-gateway-field
By Bruce Young

2nd year Gateway Tour member, Matt Ballard, from Burleigh Heights, Queensland, Australia, shot rounds of 69/65/64/64-262 (25-under par) this week at Desert Mountain – Chiricahua and Tonto Verde – Peaks to utterly destroy the Desert Summer Series field in the 11th Summer Series event of the season. His first Gateway Tour title comes via an 8 shot cushion over Dustin White (66/67/68/69-270) with two closing rounds of 8-under par, 64, on Desert Mountain’s challenging Chiricahua layout.

“I learned a lot from last week after I let it slip in the last round,” said Ballard, who put himself in contention last week at Whirlwind, but closed with a final round, 2-over par, 74 (69/66/66/74-275) to finish in a tie for 27th. “I just kept doing the same things I was doing for the majority of last week, but I felt after I got into contention this week again, I was able to make better and smarter decisions because of my learning from last week’s mistakes…besides that, I would have to say the putter completely saved me this week, and now having 6 weeks to get used to the heat, didn’t hurt either.”

As a full-time member of the Australian Tour, Ballard split a half of a Summer Series season last year, and did the same again this year, buying into last week’s ‘good learning experience’ as an extra event, apart from his split season. Through 3 rounds at Desert Mountain – Chiricahua, he stood 3 shots ahead of Dustin White, ready for any and all challengers in the final round.

“I knew (White) was going to come at me today,” said Ballard of his final round expectations. “I played with him yesterday and I knew he was hitting it good, and to be honest, I never really thought I had it won until I made birdie on the (par 5) 17th, even though I had a big lead…you get to thinking, there’s no reason (White) couldn’t eagle that hole, and if I would happen to hit an errant shot and make double-bogey, then the lead’s down to 1 or 2 shots…I know everyone seems to say it, but I was really trying to take it one shot at a time all day, and I was also trying to concentrate on my breathing a lot…that seemed to help me get back to a good mind-frame a lot throughout the day.”

Ballard led the field in birdies for the week by 6, making 31, while only having 6 bogeys on two golf courses that penalize the slightest of errant shots. His first Gateway Tour title, worth $19,574, will get Ballard into The Gateway Tour Championship, October 7-13, at the Legacy G.C., in Norwalk, IA, and will also tempt him to stay over here for PGA Tour Qualifying.

“I’m not really sure what I’ll do for the rest of the year,” noted Ballard. “I’ll have to make a decision if I’ll play the last few Australian Tour events or come over to Q-school. Winning this week, which will get me into the Tour Championship however, might help make my decision, since I’ll come back over to play in that, so I’ll already be here in near PGA Tour Qualifying time.”

Whichever direction he sways, he’s pleased with his decision to play on The Gateway Tour the past two summers.

“It’s fantastic,” noted Ballard of The Gateway Tour. “The boys over here know how to go low, there’s no doubt. Back home you can get away with shooting even-par to make cuts, but out here, you know guys are going to come at you from everywhere…hopefully I can take that low scoring mindset back home to help me in the future.”

This week’s event at Desert Mountain – Chiricahua & Tonto Verde – Peaks marks the 11th Summer Series event of 12, and the Desert Summer Series will resume for its finale next week, September 4-7, at Raven @ Verrado & Wildfire – Faldo. Stay tuned for results…

http://thegatewaytour.com/home/newsdetail.aspx?n=155
By The Gateway Tour Website

Toowoomba has been blessed over the past month with better than average rain fall which has turned the City Golf Club into one of the best manicured courses on the Qld Sunshine Tour. The bent greens and the lush fairways were obviously to the liking of players like Aaron Snape, Nathan Goulding and home town hero Heath Garvey, who all carded a 1 under round of 69 to set the early pace.

The afternoon though was full of some of Australia’s up and coming stars and two of the tour’s best, rose to the top. Matt Ballard and Steven Jeffress showed their class, both shooting 6 under par rounds of 64 to claim victory.

“It has been a while since I have played at City Golf Club but the changes they have made to the course make it one of, if not the best in the area,” Ballard said in his speech.

Jeffress, who won the NAB Victorian PGA Championship at Sanctuary Lakes at the start of the year, has regained the form we know he is all capable of.

 “My game has slowly been getting better over the past few weeks and it is great to put finally put some runs on the board.”

The tour now moves into the biggest week of Pro-Am golf in Australia. The week includes Pro Ams at five of the biggest golf clubs in the metropolitan area. Tomorrow the players will head to Virginia Golf Club followed by a trip to the magnificent Brookwater Golf Club. Wednesday, professionals will play at Indooroopilly Golf Club, Thursday at the Brisbane Golf Club, who put up the largest prizemoney for the week and the week finishes with Royal Queensland where the players will get a sneak peak at the new developments taking place.

http://www.iseekgolf.com/news/5827-city-slickers-claim-toowoomba-pro-am
By Queensland PGA

Queenslander Matthew Ballard holds the outright lead after two rounds of the Bega Cheese NSW PGA Championship. Ballard sits at 14 under par, one shot clear of his nearest rival.

 Ballard trailed the overnight leaders by three shots after his first round of six under 67. In his second round however he would get the best of the docile morning conditions. Ballard took the advantage and posted a score early in the day that would prove out of reach for the rest of the field. His round of eight under 65 was the lowest round of the day at Both the Pambula Merimbula and Tura Beach courses.

Ballard’s focus is currently on the Australasian Tour where he finished 10th in the 2005 MFS Australian Open. Residing in Queensland Ballard spends much of his time practicing with his coach Gary Edwin out of the Glades Golf Club on the Gold Coast.

Michael Sim and Neven Basic are currently tied for second both of whom will be looking to breakthrough for their first Von Nida Tour win.

Sim made a slow transition to professional golf missing his first four cuts however he now seems to be finding his feet after his runner up finish in the Jacobs Creek Open. Sim is growing in confidence with every event and his first professional victory seems imminent.

Sim will play next week’s Toyota Southern Classic Von Nida Tour Event before heading home to Western Australia to fine tune is game in preparation for his US Nationwide Tour season.

In an unusual occurrence the first two rounds of the Bega Cheese NSW PGA Championship have produced three holes in one. David Diaz, Anthony Painter and Steven Jones all recorded aces, with Jones the lucky recipient of the $2,500 prize sponsored by Huon Personnel.

The Bega Cheese corporate event also included a charity dinner and auction after round one of the tournament and helped fundraise over $15,000 for local charity Canassist.

In a tournament highlighted by low scoring, 57 professionals will be playing on the weekend with the 36 hole cut being made at four under par.

http://www.iseekgolf.com/news/4689-ballard-holds-outright-lead-at-nsw-pga
By PGA Australia

Michael Sim finds himself one shot behind Matthew Ballard at the Bega Cheese NSW PGA Championship after shooting a second round of five under 68 at Pambula Merimbula. Ballard followed up his first round 67 with 65 around Tura Beach to be at 14 under par and one shot clear.

 Ballard’s focus is currently on the Australasian Tour where he finished 12th in the 2005 MFS Australian Open. Residing in Queensland, Ballard spends much of his time practicing with his coach Gary Edwin out of the Glades Golf Club on the Gold Coast.

Sim made a slow transition to professional golf missing his first four cuts however he now seems to be finding his feet after his runner up finish in the Jacobs Creek Open. Sim is growing in confidence with every event and his first professional victory is perhaps not too far away.

Sim is playing in next week’s Toyota Southern Classic Von Nida Tour Event before heading home to Western Australia to fine tune is game in preparation for his US Nationwide Tour season.

With the afternoon field still to complete their second round the leaderboard may still change with overnight leader Neven Basic still on course.

The final two rounds will be completed around the Pambula Merimbula course with the field being cut to the top 50 professionals plus ties after round two.

http://www.iseekgolf.com/news/4686-sim-trails-ballard-early-at-nsw-pga
By PGA Australia