Aussies on Tour: Green, Hend log top-five finishes - PGA of Australia

Aussies on Tour: Green, Hend log top-five finishes


It was Scott Hend’s best result since his Maybank Championship triumph more than two years ago while Hannah Green continued her outstanding 2021 form as the Aussie pair finished inside the top five on their respective tours this week.

In an event mirroring the format of the wildly successful ISPS HANDA Vic Open, the Scandinavian Mixed leaderboard was heavily populated by Australasian players leading into the final round highlighted by West Australian Jason Scrivener who was tied at the top.

Three birdies and an eagle on the front nine gave Scrivener a two-stroke advantage but back-to-back double bogeys at the 14th and 15th holes quickly sunk his hopes for victory, signing for a 1-over 73 and a share of seventh.

Hend was in a share of fifth at the start of the final round and Kiwi Ryan Fox and Steph Kyriacou both began the final day inside the top 20 and it was Hend, reunited with the golf clubs that had gone missing only a week earlier, who made the best impression on Sunday in typical style.

A bogey at the opening hole was less than ideal but the 47-year-old peeled off three birdies in succession from the fourth hole and added a fourth at the par-4 ninth, a double bogey at the par-3 eighth adding up to a front nine of 1-under par.

That soon became 3-under when Hend eagled the par-5 10th to thrust himself back into contention but bogeys and 15 and 16 saw him fall back into a tie for fourth at 13-under par.

Hend’s top-five finish saw him rise 47 spots to sit 79th in the Race to Dubai standings, a significant step towards retaining full playing rights in 2022.

Scrivener’s third top-10 of the season moved him up to sixth in the Race to Dubai points race but the West Australian will be ruing a lost opportunity for a breakthrough win.

Fox moved up four spots on the final day with a round of 2-under 70 to finish tied for 14th while Kyriacou was tied for 25th – and tied for seventh amongst the women to make the cut – following a round of 1-over 73.

Outside the top-20 at the start of the final round of the Mediheal Championship, Green dropped a shot at the par-4 fourth to fall further on the leaderboard before unleashing a stunning surge over her final 14 holes.

Green’s hot streak consisted of six birdies and an eagle at the par-5 15th, her final birdie at the par-5 18th rounding out a closing 6-under 66 and elevating her into a tie for third, her third top-10 of the season.

“I feel like my first two years I was just striving to make the cut and then golfing around on the weekend,” Green said post-round.

“It’s nice to have experience of being in contention, and obviously having a couple wins you’re never really out of it.

“Obviously that’s the goal, to have many weeks in the top 10 and keep putting myself around it.

“I’m hoping next week and KPMG I can put myself in a better position the first couple days and just keep going.”

Elsewhere this week Stephen Leaney tied for seventh at the American Family Insurance Championship on the Champions Tour, Junseok Lee was tied for 16th at the Sk Telecom Open in Korea and Jamie Arnold recorded his second top-20 finish of the Korn Ferry Tour season at the BMW Charity Pro-Am.

Veteran Mark Hensby made headlines for all the wrong reasons after receiving a late call-up to the PGA TOUR’s Palmetto Championship.

After discovering a ball with a marking that wasn’t his during his opening round, Hensby was assessed a two-stroke penalty for each hole in which the ball was in use, adding up to a total 10-stroke penalty in his opening round of 84.

Hensby later discovered that the ball had come to be in his bag after he and Pat Perez picked up the wrong balls on the practice putting green prior to the start of play.

Results

European Tour

Scandinavian Mixed Hosted by Henrik & Annika

Vallda G&CC, Gothenburg, Sweden

Winner Jonathan Caldwell           70-67-70-64—271        €145,160

T4          Scott Hend                         69-67-69-70—275        €40,177

T7          Jason Scrivener                70-68-66-73—277        €22,878

T14        Ryan Fox                            69-67-73-70—279        €13,465

T25        Stephanie Kyriacou         68-66-74-73—281        €9,692

MC         Maverick Antcliff             70-72—142

MC         Josh Geary                         69-74—143

MC         Whitney Hillier                 74-71—145

MC         Jake McLeod                     70-76—146

PGA TOUR

Palmetto Championship at Congaree

Congaree Golf Club, Ridgeland, South Carolina

Winner Garrick Higgo                    68-69-68-68—273        $US1.314m       

T19        Danny Lee                          67-73-67-71—278        $86,505

T25        Rhein Gibson                    70-71-68-70—279        $56,088

T44        Aaron Baddeley                70-73-68-71—282        $22,435

MC         Greg Chalmers                 74-82—156

WD        Cameron Percy                 77

WD        Mark Hensby                    84

LPGA Tour

LPGA Mediheal Championship

Lake Merced Golf Club, San Francisco, California

Winner Matilda Castren                71-69-69-65—274        $US225,000

T3          Hannah Green                  72-71-71-66—280        $88,070

T9          Lydia Ko                             72-70-70-70—282        $29,513

T40        Minjee Lee                        73-69-76-70—288        $7,058

T46        Katherine Kirk                   75-72-73-69—289        $5,596

T57        Su Oh                                  71-70-74-76—291       

T64        Sarah Jane Smith             73-73-72-74—292       

Korn Ferry Tour

BMW Charity Pro-Am

The Cliffs (Valley Cse), Greer, South Carolina

Winner Mito Pereira                      65-63-66-64—258        $US126,000

T20        Jamie Arnold                     66-68-69-67—270        $7,677

MC         Brett Drewitt                    68-70—138

MC         Brett Coletta                     68-71—139

MC         Curtis Luck                         68-72—140

MC         Steven Alker                      70-70—140

MC         Harrison Endycott           75-69—144

MC         Ryan Ruffels                      74-78—152

Challenge Tour

Challenge de Cadiz

Iberostar Real Club de Golf Novo Sancti Petri, Cadiz, Spain

Winner Kristof Ulenaers                65-65-67-72—269        €32,000

T18        Blake Windred                  69-73-71-67—280        €2,252

T57        Dimitrios Papadatos       70-68-78-71—287        €650

70          Jarryd Felton                     71-73-75-75—294        €420

MC         Deyen Lawson                  74-71—145

KPGA Tour

SK Telecom Open

Pinx GC, Seogwipo, South Korea

Winner Joo Kim-hyung                  67-70-65-68—270        W250,000,000

T16        Junseok Lee                       73-67-66-75—281        W17,280,000

T41        Wonjoon Lee                    77-67-67-75—286        W6,068,571

MC         Kevin Chun                        75-73—148

Symetra Tour

Island Resort Championship

Harris, Michigan

Winner Morgane Metraux           69-63-67—199              $US30,000

T25        Stephanie Na                    73-68-69—210              $2,049

T40        Julianne Alvarez                              70-70-73—213  $1,082

T49        Robyn Choi                        74-68-72—214              $807

68          Soo Jin Lee                         73-70-75—218              $602

MC         Julienne Soo                     75-70—145

MC         Hira Naveed                      70-76—146

Champions Tour

American Family Insurance Championship

University Ridge GC, Madison, Wisconsin

Winner Jerry Kelly                          67-69-66—202              $US360,000

T7          Stephen Leaney                70-67-70—207              $70,080

T15        Rod Pampling                   69-69-71—209              $39,600

T28        John Senden                      71-67-75—213              $19,920

T37        David McKenzie                72-71-73—216              $12,480


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