A Victorian golfer in his third start on the Challenger PGA Tour of Australasia leads after the first round of the PNG Open at Royal Port Moresby Golf Club. Joel Mitchell, 23, secured a one-shot lead with a score of 5-under-par 67, finishing his round with two birdies.
Mitchell received an invitation to play after graduating from the PGA of Australia’s Membership Pathway Program. He previously won the WA PGA Associate Championship by eight strokes two years ago. In Thursday’s round, he made eagles on both the par-4 third and par-5 ninth holes, putting him ahead of five players tied at four-under.
The course’s three par-5s around holes eight to ten played especially easy for competitors, collectively scoring 84-under-par across the field. The average score for Round 1 was 75.85. Past champions Will Bruyeres (2024) and Peter Cooke (2019) finished two shots behind Mitchell. American Brock Healy led among debutants from his country with a score of 70.
Doug Klein, who recently won on the adidas PGA Pro-Am Series in Brisbane and also took victory at Windaroo Lakes Pro-Am last month, was first to post four-under in the morning group. Other players tied at that mark included Jordan Doull—winner earlier this year at Webex Players Series Perth—alongside Lincoln Tighe, Andrew Richards, and New Zealand rookie Mako Thompson.
Defending champion William Bruyeres and former winner Peter Cooke each carded rounds of three-under-par 69. Six more players finished another shot back at two under.
Mitchell is playing under an Associate category but also earned full member status by advancing through Final Qualifying School in April. “I need to take advantage of the ones I can get into on that Associate category but I did go to Q School early this year, so I got that Full Member tournament category,” said Mitchell. “Got two dips at it sort of thing, which is a bit of an advantage. Just got to take advantage of it for the first six months and see where it can take me.”
His front nine included bogeys on two par-5s but was balanced by his pair of eagles: “A couple of sixes on par-5s leaves a sour taste in my mouth, but a couple of eagles made it just a bit sweeter,” said Mitchell. “I knocked it on the third hole I think to about 25 feet and rolled that in. Then hit a short iron into nine and was able to hole the putt.”
Klein aims to build upon recent pro-am success: “I just wanted to sort of see that everything I was doing in practice was translating sort of across into my game play,” said Klein, who also tied second at Ford NSW Open Regional Qualifier in Lismore. “I’m really excited with the way it is.” He added: “I mean the game’s exactly where I want it, doing a lot of things right. Just got to stay healthy.”
Doull started poorly from his opening tee but recovered strongly: “I hit the ball quite well on the front nine,” Doull explained about his comeback after being three-over through five holes before turning things around with six birdies coming home. “I chipped in on the first, my 10th, and then from there everything just seemed to go in.”
Among local amateurs from Papua New Guinea competing this week is Cassie Koma who led her peers with an opening-round score of two-over-par 74.
