Coletta was the best performed Aussie in a busy week of tournament golf around the world with Minjee Lee making an impressive return with a tie for fifth at the LPGA Tour’s Kia Classic and Gabriela Ruffels fourth at the secondary Symetra Tour in California.

But it was Coletta who finished highest on the leaderboard and would have joined ultimate champion Adam Svensson and Max McGreevy in a playoff if not for a bogey on the par-3 17th, his tie for third resulting in a jump of 20 spots on the moneylist to 58th.

The 24-year-old had a best finish of a tie for 14th following the resumption of a season suspended due to COVID-19 last year but has returned in 2021 fully recharged and ready to take advantage of a game he can’t fault at present.

“The game’s good. I’m feeling really confident with it and the results are following which is always good as well,” said Coletta.

“I’m just in a good space with my game. There’s no real weakness at the moment so I’m trying to capitalise on playing well.

“The time off was good, really recharged my batteries. This is my third season out here and I know it gets pretty busy pretty quick and towards the end of the year you might be forced to play coming in.

“I just made sure I was 100 per cent fresh to start and it’s paying off.”

There was a slight stumble to start for Coletta in Sunday’s final round with a bogey at the opening hole but he soon recovered, rattling off three consecutive birdies from the third hole to remain in contention until the final hole.

A Saturday 65 put Ryan Ruffels in position also to push for a top-10 finish but his charge ran out of puff late, dropping five shots in his final five holes to fall to a tie for 55th.

Making her first appearance for the year on the LPGA Tour, Minjee Lee began the final round in second position but five shots adrift of Inbee Park.

Bogeys at the third and sixth holes on a challenging day for scoring prevented Lee from mounting any pressure on the front-running Park but birdies at the 16th and 17th holes will put Lee in a good frame of mind ahead of this week’s ANA Inspiration.

None of the three Aussies in the field made it out of the group stage of the WGC-Dell Technologies Match Play tournament and Aaron Baddeley’s tie for 48th was the best of those taking part in the PGA TOUR’s Corales Puntacana Resort and Club Championship.

Results

World Golf Championships
Dell Technologies Match Play
Austin Country Club, Austin, Texas

Group Play
Wednesday
Cameron Smith def. Lanto Griffin 1 up
Jason Day def. by Scottie Scheffler 2 up
Marc Leishman def. by Victor Perez 2 &1

Thursday
Marc Leishman def. Sungjae Im 2&1
Cameron Smith def. by Ian Poulter 1 up
Jason Day def. by Xander Schaueffle 2&1

Friday
Marc Leishman halved with Russell Henley
Cameron Smith halved with Rory McIlroy
Jason Day def. Andy Sullivan 2&1

PGA TOUR
Corales Puntacana Resort & Club Championship
Corales Puntacana GC, Punta Cana, Dominican Republic
T34        Tim Wilkinson     71-69-70-76—286            $US14,350
T48        Aaron Baddeley 70-70-74-74—288            $7,890
T63        Rhein Gibson      70-75-75-72—292            $6,480
MC         John Senden       73-75—148
MC         Greg Chalmers   75-74—149
MC         Lucas Herbert     75-76—151

LPGA Tour
Kia Classic
Aviara Golf Club, Carlsbad, California
T5           Minjee Lee          72-69-68-72—281           
T26        Lydia Ko               74-71-70-71—286           
T44        Sarah Kemp         72-75-69-72—288           
T61        Hannah Green    73-72-72-74—291           
MC         Sarah Jane Smith              75-74—149
MC         Su Oh     78-74—152
MC         Katherine Kirk     82-73—155

European Tour
Kenya Savannah Classic
Karen Country Club, Nairobi, Kenya
T42        Scott Hend          66-70-72-67—275            €5,595
T48        Maverick Antcliff              67-69-68-72—276            €4,347

Korn Ferry Tour
Club Car Championship
The Landings Club (Deer Creek Course), Savannah, Georgia
T3           Brett Coletta      67-67-69-69—272            $US28,600
T55        Ryan Ruffels       71-70-65-76—282            $2,496
T62        Harrison Endycott            70-72-72-70—284            $2,412
T67        Brett Drewitt      72-70-70-73—285            $2,346
MC         Steven Alker        73-71—144
MC         Curtis Luck          71-73—144
MC         Mark Hensby      72-74—146
MC         Nick Voke            78-73—151
MC         Jamie Arnold       76-76—152

PGA TOUR Latinoamerica
Mexico Open
Estrella del Mar Golf & Beach Resort, Mazatlan, Mexico
60           Danny List           70-71-79-76—296           

Symetra Tour
IOA Championship
Morongo Golf Club at Tukwet Canyon, Beaumont, California
4             Gabriela Ruffels 68-70-73—211   $US8,106
T11        Robyn Choi         73-69-72—214   $2,635
T34        Stephanie Na      74-68-76—218   $1,061