FINE FORM: Tauranga professional golfer Jared Pender is enjoying a purple patch abroad. PHOTO/ BWMEDIA
A second consecutive top ten finish means the path to starts on the Asian Tour has opened up for Tauranga professional golfer Jared Pender.
Following rounds of 74, 74 and 70, the 31-year-old fired an impressive final round five-under par score of 67 at the South Pacific Papua New Guinea
Open on the PGA Tour of Australasia in tough conditions to jump into contention for his first title as a professional.
The former national amateur representative finished one shot back from Tasmanian Kalem Richarsdson, earning NZD$13,450 for the biggest payday of his career.
The result followed on from a sixth-placed finish in the first of two tournaments on the small island nation, but could have been even better had Pender not recorded a bogey five on the par four 17th hole.
Jared's father Jim said his son, who flew to Brisbane before a 10-hour drive north to compete in the Queensland Sunshine Tour's 2014 PCR Polywed Mining Town Series, would return home in early-June to plot his next move.
