Discovery of some old footage propelled Terry Pilkadaris to his best result in more than 18 months while Ryan Ruffels took another important step towards a full card on the Korn Ferry Tour in 2020.
At the Asian Tour’s Panasonic Open India tournament at the Classic Golf and Country Club near Delhi, Pilkadaris shared the 36-hole lead along with fellow Aussie Adam Blyth, starting the final round seeking his first win in Asia in 14 years.
Reduced to 54 holes due to rain on day one, Pilkadaris bounced back from a dropped shot at the first in the third and final round with back-to-back bogeys to turn in 1-under.
He played the back nine in even par but was overrun by Korean Joohyung Kim who became the second-youngest winner in Asian Tour history with a closing 7-under 65.
In position to win after rounds of 66-68 to start the week, Pilkadaris credited some old putting footage for his best result since he was runner-up at the 2018 New Zealand Open.
“I putted nicely today which was my nemesis all year, really,” Pilkadaris said after his opening round of 6-under 66.
“I made a couple of changes in my putting this week. I found some footage back from 2010, studied it and managed to roll some nice putts.”
Ruffels charged to a tie for fourth at the 114 VISA Open de Argentina on the PGA TOUR-LatinoAmerica tour but it could have been even better.
Four birdies and an eagle on the closing nine saw Ruffels make a significant move up the leaderboard, blotted only by a triple-bogey six at the par-3 12th, ultimately finishing four shots out of the playoff won by Ricardo Celia at the third extra hole.
The fifth top-five finish of his year, Ruffels is now seventh on the Order of Merit with one event left to play, the top five earning full cards on the Korn Ferry Tour in 2020.
The PGA TOUR’s Mayakoba Golf Classic has been forced into a Monday finish in Mexico with Danny Lee the Australasian player yet to complete his fourth round.
The first-round leader following a superb 9-under 62, Lee dropped four shots in the cover of darkness, making a quadruple-bogey eight with two penalty strokes at the par-4 16th hole, his last before play was called for the day.
Asian Tour
Panasonic Open India
Classic Golf and Country Club
4 Terry Pilkadaris 66-68-71—205 $US20,000
T14 Travis Smyth 69-69-72—210 $4,908
T23 Adam Blyth 71-63-77—211 $3,760
T44 Jason Norris 75-67-72—214 $2,053
T44 Daniel Fox 70-73-71—214 $2,053
T61 Jake Higginbottom 68-75-74—217 $1,220
MC Kunal Bhasin 74-70—144
PGA TOUR-Latinoamerica
114 VISA Open de Argentina
Jockey Club, Buenos Aires, Argentina
T4 Ryan Ruffels 68-69-70-66—273 $US7,233
Japan Golf Tour
Mitsui Sumitomo VISA Taiheiyo Masters
Taiheiyo Club (Gotemba Cse), Shizuoka
T13 Matthew Griffin 72-67-71-68—278 ¥3,890,000
T13 Brad Kennedy 71-69-68-70—278 ¥3,890,000
T18 Anthony Quayle 69-73-70-67—279 ¥2,864,000
T24 Michael Hendry 71-69-71-69—280 ¥2,120,000
T24 David Bransdon 68-75-66-71—280 ¥2,120,000
T28 Brendan Jones 65-73-68-75—281 ¥1,680,000
T32 Dylan Perry 74-69-74-65—282 ¥1,365,000
T41 Adam Bland 75-69-67-73—284 ¥940,000
MC Won Joon Lee 77-71—148
PGA TOUR
Mayakoba Golf Classic
El Camaleon Golf Club, Playa del Carmen, Mexico
T26* Danny Lee 62-70-70
T26 Aaron Baddeley 70-67-72-67—276
T33 Matt Jones 71-69-70-67—277
MC Rhein Gibson 71-72—143
MC Jason Day 70-77—147
* Through 16 holes of final round
The Week Ahead
European Tour: DP World Tour Championship, Jumeirah Golf Estates, Dubai, UAE
PGA TOUR: RSM Classic, Sea Island Resort (Seaside), Sea Island, Georgia
Japan Golf Tour: Dunlop Phoenix, Phoenix Country Club, Miyazaki
Asian Tour: Sabah Masters, Sutera Harbour Golf and Country Club, Malaysia