Cameron Smith and Marc Leishman both finished two shots back of Brooks Koepka at LIV Golf Singapore, their collective efforts elevating Ripper GC to a three-stroke win in the teams event at Sentosa Golf Club.

“I kind of knew all year that we were going to get the ball rolling at some point,” said Smith, who combined with Leishman to win the teams event in a playoff at LIV Adelaide.

“I think internally that we’re the best team out here, and we’re going to be tough to beat when we all have our best stuff.”

Smith and Leishman were not the only Aussies to come within a whisker of individual success.

Queenslander Scott Hend lost out to Englishman Peter Baker in a playoff at the Barbados Legends on the Legends Tour while Stuart Appleby was denied a shot at a maiden PGA TOUR Champions title by weather.

The self-proclaimed “new kid on the block” with a Legends Tour win already to his name, Hend started the final round tied with Baker at the top of the leaderboard.

He held a two-stroke lead after a birdie at the par-4 15th but fell one behind when he made double-bogey at the par-3 16th to Baker’s birdie.

A birdie at the par-5 18th for the third straight day saw Hend join Baker at 10-under to force the playoff, Baker’s birdie at the first extra hole enough to edge Hend.

Appleby was not afforded that opportunity after rain heavily disrupted play at the Insperity Invitational in Houston.

All 36 holes of the scheduled 54-hole event were played on Saturday, heavy rain preventing any play Sunday as Scott Dunlap was declared champion.

Bettering his previous best finish – a tie for third at 2022 Regions Tradition – Appleby said after play on Saturday that he was coming to terms with what it takes to contend again.

“You’d think as you get older you’d just let it come when it comes and whatever doesn’t, it doesn’t,” said Appleby.

“Just try to get out of my own way, just enjoy the playing, go through my routine.

“When I played my best golf I got stuck into one shot at a time and that is something I have not done well enough.

“If I can boil it down to what the top players out here do, which is that, they really isolate a shot a time or putt at a time.”

Min Woo Lee was the best-placed Australian at the PGA TOUR CJ Cup Byron Nelson in Texas, Junseok Lee finished just outside the top 10 at the Asian Tour event in Korea and Jason Scrivener’s tie for 23rd led the Aussies at the DP World Tour Volvo China Open.

Results

PGA TOUR
THE CJ CUP Byron Nelson
TPC Craig Ranch, McKinney, Texas
1          Taylor Pendrith             64-67-63-67—261       $US1.71 million
T24      Min Woo Lee                66-68-66-69—269       $77,425
T30      Adam Scott                  69-65-68-68—270       $52,293
T41      Aaron Baddeley           68-67-67-69—271       $33,725
T52      Harrison Endycott        67-66-71-70—274       $22,406
T59      Jason Day                    66-70-71-68—275       $21,375
MC       Ryan Fox (NZ)               68-72—140

DP World Tour
Volvo China Open
Hidden Grace GC, Shenzhen, China
Event reduced to 54 holes due to lightning storm
1          Adrian Otaegui            67-66-65—198 €356,293.78
T23      Jason Scrivener            70-70-68—208 €19,596.16
T23      Daniel Hillier (NZ)         67-69-72—208 €19,596.16
MC       George Worrall            81-65—146
MC       Kieran Muir (NZ)           72-80—152

Asian Tour
GS Caltex Maekyung Open
Namseoul Country Club, Korea
1          Hongtaek Kim              69-65-71-69—274       $US227,790.43
Won on the first hole of sudden-death playoff
T11      Junseok Lee                  72-67-70-72—281       $15,322.70
T44      Todd Sinnott                74-66-74-74—288       $5,618.83
T56      Brendan Jones             74-68-73-76—291       $4,403.95
T63      Jack Thompson            71-69-75-79—294       $3,416.86
66        Wonjoon Lee                70-69-78-80—297       $3,037.21
MC       Travis Smyth                72-72—144
MC       Kevin Chun (NZ)           72-72—144
MC       Andrew Dodt               74-71—145
MC       Justin Warren               74-71—145
MC       Kevin Yuan                   73-73—146
MC       Deyen Lawson             77-70—147
MC       Zach Murray                72-77—149
MC       Jed Morgan                 77-77—154

LIV Golf
LIV Golf Singapore
Sentosa Golf Club (Serapong Course), Sentosa, Singapore
1          Brooks Koepka             66-64-68—198 $US4 million
T2        Cameron Smith            71-65-64—200 $1.875 million
T2        Marc Leishman            67-67-66—200 $1.875 million
T27      Lucas Herbert               67-67-74—208 $180,000
T37      Matt Jones                   74-68-70—212 $140,333
T49      Danny Lee (NZ)            72-76-69—217 $60,000

Japan Golf Tour
Chunichi Crowns
Nagoya Golf Club (Wago Cse), Aichi
1          Ren Yonezawa              68-67-67-65—267       ¥22 million
T16      Michael Hendry           68-64-73-71—276       ¥1,622,500
T59      Anthony Quayle           72-70-71-75—288       ¥251,900
MC       Brad Kennedy              72-73—145

PGA TOUR Champions
Insperity Invitational
The Woodlands CC, The Woodlands, Texas
Event reduced to 36 holes due to rain
1          Scott Dunlap                65-70—135     $US405,000
T2        Stuart Appleby             69-67—136     $216,000
T4        Steven Alker (NZ)         68-69—137     $145,800
T10      Rod Pampling              67-73—140     $58,050
T19      Richard Green              72-70—142     $28,418
T19      Mark Hensby               72-70—142     $28,418
T31      John Senden                71-72—143     $18,225

Legends Tour
Barbados Legends hosted by Ian Woosnam
Apes Hill Barbados, Saint James, Barbados
1          Peter Baker                   67-67-69—203
Won on first hole of sudden-death playoff
2          Scott Hend                   68-66-69—203
T21      Michael Campbell (NZ) 69-68-76—213
T28      Michael Long (NZ)        77-68-71—216
T45      Peter Fowler                 71-73-76—220

Epson Tour
Casino Del Sol Golf Classic
Sewailo Golf Club, Tucson, Arizona
1          Madison Young            69-65-71—205 $37,500
T20      Fiona Xu (NZ)               69-70-71—210 $2,790
T37      Su Oh                          71-73-68—212 $1,541
MC       Cassie Porter                71-76—147
MC       Amelia Garvey              78-74—152

PGA TOUR Americas
KIA Open
Quito Tenis Y Golf Club, Quito, Ecuador
Event reduced to 54 holes due to inclement weather
1          Thomas Longbella       66-69-65—200 $US40,500
T3        Harry Hillier (NZ)          65-71-67—203
T60      Charlie Hillier (NZ)        72-69-72—213
T71      Jason Hong                 72-70-75—217