 Brent 'Karnage' Kearney is a one-time international baseball player turned golfer who is committed to becoming World Long-Drive Champion and playing on the US circuit. A Queensland baseball representative from 1995 and an Australian baseball representative shortly thereafter, he didn't play golf seriously until 2005. But, looking for a new challenge in his post-baseball sporting phase and having watched and enjoyed the 2005 Remax Australian Long Drive Final, he decided hitting a golf ball as far as he possibly could "looked like a bit of fun". And so it has been. It's been a fairytale rise which began on 9 June 2006 when, two days before his first Queensland event, Coach Peter Shaw fitted Kearney for his first long driver. 
On 11 June 2006, in his first Long Drive event at Redland Bay Golf Club, Brisbane, he finished fourth. He drove the ball 316m to be just 18m behind winner Mark Bylsma, the current Australian Champion and Australian Record Holder, thereby qualifying for the Australian Championship.On 9 July 2006, in his second Long Drive event at Palm Meadows Golf Club, Gold Coast, he won. He clubbed the ball 325.6m, beating Australian Long Drive Tour Champion John Noble (318.9m). On 16 July 2006, in his third Long Drive event at Noosa Springs Golf Club, Sunshine Coast, he finished third with a drive of 296m - just 5.4m from the winner. On 1 September 2006 he was among 10 qualifiers for the Australian National Long Drive Championships, at Palm Meadows, and on 3 September 2006 he finished third with a long drive of 319.9m - just behind winner Noble (325.6m). The following day, 4 September 2006, he won the inaugural Pacific Islands Long Drive Final on the Gold Coast between the top 10 long-hitters from Australia and New Zealand. His winning drive was 326.5m. His first big-time 'win' guaranteed him a place in the 2006 Re/Max World Long Drive Finals, and on 26 October 2006 in Mesquite, Nevada, United States, he qualified for the top 24. And on 28 October 2006 he finished 18th in a final of 128.
He has also been successful in the Holden Scramble, one of the most popular pro-am events on the Australasian circuit. In 2005 his team from the Gold Coast Country Club reached the final from about 15,000 teams across Australia and New Zealand, finishing in the top 16. And in 2006 they won the national final, shooting 40 under par over a three-day Ambrose event at Twin Waters, Coolum. In his team was Coach Peter Shaw, his mother Kerrie, who had only been playing golf six months, plus Country Club member Kevin Loh and PGA touring professional David McKenzie. All that after a baseball career in which he represented Queensland and Australia from the 1995-96 season, played in the US Independent League in 1998, and from 1996-99 in the Australian National Baseball League. And the key? Kearney says he has only one man to thank - his Coach Peter Shaw, a former touring professional turned PGA teaching professional at Gold Coast Country Club and travelling partner to the world titles. "Peter has basically built what we have today ... he spends countless hours each week on my long drive game as well as my golf," he says. |
2007
2006
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 Born: 15 June 1978 in Sydney Resides: Nerang (Qld) His father Barry plays golf off a handicap of eight, mother Kerrie is a 28-marker after playing off 40 at the time of the Holden Scramble win, and Brother Blake is a baseball pitcher, presently playing with Missouri Baptist University, ranked top 10 on the US college circuit. |
