Hall at home in PGA comp

By Ben Hope
FOR Hampton Park golfer Ashley Hall the 2010 Cellarbrations Victorian PGA Championship at Sandhurst provided the rare opportunity to play a tournament close to home.
The 26-year old finished 20th with a 12-under par in the low-scoring competition, taking home just over $1200.
“I was fairly happy with my result. It is very rare you get to play a tournament and stay at home, I really like it,” Hall said.
“You can sleep in your own bed rather than a hotel.”
World-ranked 714, Hall previously won the PGA Victorian Championships at Sanctuary Lakes back in 2007. At the end of the first round, Hall was 26th with 4-under par before falling back to 31st with 5-under par on Friday. After round three he was 23rd with 9-under par before climbing to 20th and finishing 12-under par on the final day.
“After heavy rain on Thursday the greens were really soft for the rest of the week, it made things a bit easier for us and the greens were really smooth,” Hall said.
Fellow Victorian Alistair Presnell shot a 12-under par Sandhurst course record to claim the first prize, a score that also equalled the record for the lowest round in an Australasian Tour event. Fellow local Scott Laycock also finished well, coming 11th with 16-under par at the end of the fourth round and taking home just under $2600.
“I honestly couldn’t see that kind of score winning. I was expecting something a bit higher,” Hall said.
“It was a low-scoring week, it was amazing and I didn’t expect it,” Hall said.
This year the championship was played for the first time at Sandhurst and attracted local fans keen to watch some big names in action.
“I hung around until the end on Sunday and there was a good crowd,” Hall said.
“If they have it there for a few more years they will definitely get more people coming along.”
Nick Thornton, PGA Australia southern division executive officer, said the PGA was very happy with the tournament at Sandhurst.
“Being the first year on the course for a major championship event, we were well and truly satisfied and saw some tremendous scoring,” Thornton said.
“To have 12-odd players within four shots of the lead after the third round meant it was always going to be an exciting finish on the Sunday and we certainly got that.”
Playing professional golf since 2006, Hall was introduced to the game as a six year old at Berwick-Montuna golf club.
“I can’t remember what go me started but I have always liked it,” Hall said.
“Every-day I’m out there doing something different to get myself better. You have to take every opportunity to play different course and against different and better competition, you have to keep testing yourself.”
Hall will now take a few weeks off before heading to China in April where he will play in the $2.5 million China Open in Shanghai.