Kalgoorlie switched gold for golf this last week as the opening leg of the 2025 Challenger PGA tour of Australasia’s West Australian double began.
600km east of Perth, in the heart of Western Australia’s infamous gold mining town, the WA PGA Championship put some of Australia’s brightest talent on display, including one of the country’s most promising golfers after completing a remarkable comeback.
Jeffrey Guan, who suffered a freak on-course injury in 2024 after a wayward tee shot struck him in the face and caused him to become blind in his left eye, shot a final round 66 to claim a top-10 finish in just his second event since returning.
Guan, a two-time Australian amateur golf champion who turned pro in November 2023, was required to spend two weeks in intensive care to repair several fractures around the eye, and lost full vision in his left eye. He spoke of the incident on Instagram. The finish no doubt gives Guan confidence that he can return to his best golf, despite such a setback.
Austin Bautista took out the event at -14, with a final hole birdie cementing the one-stroke victory over close friend Jay Mackenzie at -13, who bogeyed the 72nd.
Bautista moved to 3rd in the 2025-2026 PGA Tour of Australasia Order of Merit, with Mackenzie sitting 4th.
The Kalgoorlie event, known as the CKB WA PGA Championship, was the third stop on the WA PGA tour, and first leg of the West Australian double-header which continues with event number four this Thursday at the Mount Lawley Golf Club.
The Nexus Advisernet Bowra & O’Dea WA Open will run from Thursday 16-Sunday 19 October and will feature plenty of Australian golf stars including six-time PGA tour winner and former world #12 Marc Leishman vying for the $200,000 prize.
The WA Open, now in its 101st iteration, has been an event on the PGA Tour of Australasia’s schedule since 2009, and fresh off its renovation by OCM Golf which included all green complexes, fairway bunkers and practice facilities, Mount Lawley Golf Club will host the event for the 11th time and the first since 2018.
Nine West Aussies made it through Monday’s open pre-qualifying event to compete for the title, while talented WA amateurs Josiah Edwards (South Australian Amateur Champion), Spencer Harrison and George Barclay will also be vying for the title.
Leishman, who also competes on the LIV golf tour, will tee off at 7:25am on Thursday alongside Webex Players Series Perth winner Jordan Doull and Harrison, while Guan and Ryan Peake, who we wrote about earlier this year after his storied NZ Open Championship win, will begin their rounds at 11:40 and 11:50am respectively.
The entire WA Open event will be available to stream Foxtel and Kayo, while admission to the course on all four days is free, with live scores available at golf.com.au.
Header Image Credit: Mount Lawley Golf Club
