Aussies on Tour: Scott, Day seek to extend their seasons - PGA of Australia

Aussies on Tour: Scott, Day seek to extend their seasons


Australia’s two most recent world No.1s, Adam Scott and Jason Day, will seek to extend their PGA TOUR seasons side by side at this week’s Wyndham Championship in North Carolina.

Sedgefield Country Club hosts the final event of the PGA TOUR regular season ahead of the start of the FedEx Cup Playoffs next week.

Led by Open champion Cameron Smith at No.2, there are currently six Australians inside the top 125 on the FedEx Cup Playoffs and Eligibility Points List who will play week one at the FedEx St Jude Championship.

Scott (73rd) and Day (106th) are the two currently sitting outside the top 70 who advance to the second week of the Playoffs but can enhance their chances with a strong showing this week.

And they can spur each other on in the process.

Scott and Day have been drawn together along with Korean Si Woo Kim for the opening two rounds of the Wyndham Championship, the tournament Scott let slip through his fingers 12 months ago with a missed putt from inside five feet at the first playoff hole.

A tie for fourth at what has become his pet event, the Genesis Invitational at Riviera Country Club, is the 42-year-old’s best result since but he has shown encouraging signs of late.

He was top 15 at both the US Open and The Open Championship and was in contention up until a third round of 78 in last week’s Rocket Mortgage Classic.

Despite falling to No.140 in the Official World Golf Rankings, there have also been signs of light for Day.

With a winning drought that has now stretched into its fifth year, the 34-year-old shot 66 in the final round of the Rocket Mortgage Classic to finish tied for 17th, just his third top-20 finish in the past 12 months.

Of the Aussies fighting to maintain status for the 2022-2023 season Cameron Percy (158th), Aaron Baddeley (180th) and Brett Drewitt (205th) would all need a victory to qualify for the Playoffs.

Smith, Lucas Herbert (43rd), Marc Leishman (59th) and Cam Davis (61st) have all guaranteed their place in week one of the Playoffs.

The women’s game celebrates their final major of the year at the AIG Women’s Open where five Aussies will tee it up.

World No.2 Minjee Lee, Hannah Green, Stephanie Kyriacou, Su Oh and Whitney Hillier can complete the Aussie Open double by matching Cam Smith’s St Andrews coronation, Hillier the first Aussie out at 3.41pm Thursday afternoon AEST.

Eleven Aussies are in action as the Asin Tour season resumes at the Mandiri Indonesian Open and there eight Australians teeing it up at the Epson Tour’s French Lick Charity Classic in Indiana.

Round 1 tee times AEST

AIG Women’s Open
Muirfield Golf Club, Gullane, Scotland
3.41pm Whitney Hillier, Aditi Ashok, Angela Stanford
5.09pm Hannah Green, Ayaka Furue, Jeongeun Lee6
6.31pm Stephanie Kyriacou, Albane Valenzuela, Emma Talley
7.15pm Su Oh, Jeongeun Lee5, Olivia Cowan
9.27pm Lydia Ko (NZ), Nasa Hataoka, Leona Maguire
9.38pm Minjee Lee, Jin Young Ko, Nelly Korda

Defending champion: Anna Nordqvist
Past Aussie winners: Corinne Dibnah (1988), Karen Lunn (1993), Karrie Webb (1995, 1997, 2002)
Top Aussie prediction: Minjee Lee
TV coverage: Live 8pm-3am Thursday, Friday; Live 11.15pm-5am Saturday; Live 10pm-5am Sunday on Fox Sports 503.

PGA TOUR
Wyndham Championship
Sedgefield Country Club, Greensboro, North Carolina
9.01pm*             Aaron Baddeley, Kevin Chappell, Kevin Streelman
10.18pm             Cameron Percy, Sam Ryder, Mark Hubbard
10.40pm             Danny Lee (NZ), Mackenzie Hughes, Matthias Schwab
3.11am Adam Scott, Jason Day, Si Woo Kim
4.17am Brett Drewitt, Justin Lower, Yannik Paul

Defending champion: Kevin Kisner
Past Aussie winners: Steve Elkington (1990)
Top Aussie prediction: Adam Scott
TV coverage: Live 4am-8am Friday, Saturday on Fox Sports 503; Live 3am-5am Sunday on Fox Sports 505; Live 5am-8am Sunday on Fox Sports 503; Live 3am-5am Monday on Fox Sports 505; Live 5am-8am Monday on Fox Sports 503.

DP World Tour
Cazoo Open
The Celtic Manor Resort, City of Newport, Wales
5.10pm Josh Geary (NZ), Damien Perrier, David Dixon
5.40pm Jake McLeod, Jonathan Thomson, Bryce Easton
5.50pm*             Dimitrios Papadatos, Ashley Chesters, Daniel Hillier (NZ)
6.10pm Elvis Smylie, Raphaël Jacquelin, Renato Paratore
6.40pm Zach Murray, Andrew Wilson, James Morrison
11.05pm*           Austin Bautista, Robert Rock, Marc Warren
12.05am             Maverick Antcliff, David Drysdale, Dale Whitnell
12.15am*           Scott Hend, Greig Hutcheon, Sebastian Garcia Rodriguez

Defending champion: Nacho Elvira
Past Aussie winners: Scott Strange (2008)
Top Aussie prediction: Dimitrios Papadatos
TV coverage: Live 11.30pm-5am Thursday, Friday; Live 7.30pm-12.30am Saturday, Sunday on Fox Sports 505.

Asian Tour
Mandiri Indonesia Open
Pondok Indah Golf Course, Indonesia
9.20am*             Aaron Pike, Aqil Widyantoro, Jonathan Tanoto (a)
9.30am*             Cory Crawford, Jonathan Hartono (a), Robby Sugara
10.20am             Scott Strange, Thaworn Wiratchant, Indra Hermawan
10.20am*           Andrew Dodt, Jbe Kruger, Pavit Tangkamolprasert
10.40am             Josh Younger, Nicholas Fung, Viraj Madappa
10.50am             Ben Campbell (NZ), Jakraphan Premsirigorn, Yoseop Seo
11am    Jake Higginbottom, Chang Wei-lun, Jose Suryadinata (a)
11am*  Ben Eccles, Khalin Joshi, Hongtaek Kim
11.10am             Daniel Fox, Peter Gunawan, Kevin Akbar
11.10am*           Sam Brazel, Mathiam Keyser, Seung Park
2.10pm Gareth Paddison (NZ), Jamel Ondo, Luke Evan Moore (a)
2.20pm Kevin Yuan, Neil Schietekat, Ervin Chang
2.50pm Todd Sinnott, Prom Meesawat, Ajeetesh Sandhu

Defending champion: Miguel Carballo
Past Aussie winners: Nil
Top Aussie prediction: Andrew Dodt

Korn Ferry Tour
Utah Championship
Oakridge Country Club, Farmington, Utah
11.25pm*           Curtis Luck, Scott Harrington, Eric Cole
11.55pm             Rhein Gibson, Anders Albertson, Jamie Lovemark
12.55am*           Nick Voke (NZ), Pontus Nyholm, Jacob Bridgeman
5.30am Harrison Endycott, Seonghyeon Kim, Vincent Norrman
6.10am Ryan Ruffels, MJ Maguire, Clay Feagler

Defending champion: Joshua Creel (2020)
Past Aussie winners: Nil
Top Aussie prediction: Harrison Endycott
TV coverage: Live 8am-11am Friday, Saturday, Sunday, Monday on Fox Sports 503.

Epson Tour
French Lick Charity Classic
The Pete Dye Course at French Lick, French Lick, Indiana
9.30pm*             Julienne Soo, Becca Huffer, Jessica Welch
10.14pm*           Gabriela Ruffels, Laetitia Beck, Sophie Hausmann
10.25pm             Robyn Choi, Kum-Kang Park, Louise Ridderstrom
10.36pm             Amelia Garvey (NZ), Karen Chung, Linnea Strom
10.58pm             Soo Jin Lee, Lakareber Abe, Dorsey Addicks
10.58pm*           Emily Mahar, Kaitlin Milligan, Karen Fredgaard
3.25am*             Grace Kim, Lindy Duncan, Hyo Joon Jang
3.36am Sarah Jane Smith, Laura Restrepo, Daniela Iacobelli
3.47am*             Hira Naveed, Samantha Wagner, Gabriella Then

Defending champion: Casey Danielson
Past Aussie winners: Nil
Top Aussie prediction: Grace Kim

Champions Tour
Shaw Charity Classic
Canyon Meadows Golf and Country Club, Calgary, Canada
Australasians in the field: Mark Hensby, Stephen Leaney, David McKenzie

Defending champion: Doug Barron (2020)
Past Aussie winners: Nil
Top Aussie prediction: Mark Hensby
TV coverage: 11am-12.30pm Saturday on Fox Sports 503; Live 5am-8am Sunday, Monday on Fox Sports 505.


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