Aussies on Tour: Smith, Scott shine ahead of homecoming - PGA of Australia

Aussies on Tour: Smith, Scott shine ahead of homecoming


Major champions Cameron Smith and Adam Scott have set their sights on success on home soil following top-five finishes in their final international commitments for 2023.

A birdie at the 72nd hole saw Kiwi Ben Campbell edge Smith (68) by a shot at the Hong Kong Open on the Asian Tour while Scott was tied for fifth as old friend Camilo Villegas completed an emotional victory at the Butterfield Bermuda Championship on the PGA TOUR.

ISPS HANDA Australian Open drawcard Stephanie Kyriacou extended her LPGA Tour season by an extra week, her tie for fifth at The ANNIKA enough to squeeze inside the top 60 who qualify for the CME Globe Tour Championship in Florida.

Tied for the lead standing on the 18th tee, Smith’s struggles with his driver over the weekend forced him to lay up at the par-4 finishing hole.

He very nearly jarred his wedge shot for birdie but could only watch on as Campbell (66) drained his 15-footer for birdie to claim his first Asian Tour win and first anywhere since the 2018 NZ PGA Championship.

With the defence of his Fortinet Australian PGA Championship now just a week away, Smith will take the positives from his runner-up finish and tune up for Royal Queensland.

“Pretty poor over the weekend I guess but I hung in there so lots of positives,” said Smith, who struggled with his driver and long irons over the final two rounds.

“Definitely wasn’t the nicest golf to be played over last couple of days, still lots to work on.”

Scott made his return to Bermuda for the first time in a decade with his three-week schedule in Australia very much front of mind.

Scott will tee it up at the Australian PGA, Australian Open and Cathedral Invitational buoyed by his first top-five finish since the Wells Fargo Championship in May.

Scott, who introduced Villegas to the team at L.A.B. Golf who built the Colombian a new putter, shot 67 in difficult conditions in the final round to finish five back of Villegas.

A two-time winner of the Joe Kirkwood Cup and the 2009 Australian Open champion, Scott is heading home with winning on his mind.

“It was really one of the reasons for coming to play was to kind of make sure I’m not rusty when I play at home,” Scott said of his tournament debut in Bermuda.

“I want to play well down there. I want to play well every week, but if I didn’t play great this week, I would have known what to do when I got there and not just guessing.

“I really like where things are at. There’s a lot of good stuff to take out of my game this week and if I play in similar style down there, hopefully I can end up on top.”

Coming into the week 71st in the Race to the CME Globe standings, Kyriacou knew it would take something special to play her way into the $2 million season finale.

Not even after signing for a 3-under 67 was Kyriacou aware of her status but will now join fellow Aussies Minjee Lee (sixth), Hannah Green (28th), Grace Kim (30th) and Sarah Kemp (58th) in the final event of the season ready to let rip.

“You made it there, you’re there for a reason. You might as well go shoot the lights out,” said Kyriacou, who climbed from 71st to 56th with her second top-five finish of the season.

“Today I definitely found it pretty tough. Even before the round started I was quite nervous,” Kyriacou admitted.

“But my caddie kind of just said, ‘You know, it’s another round of golf. Yeah, there is more riding on it, but you’ve played good up until now not thinking about that, so let’s just try to go out there and do it again.’

“I’m pretty proud of myself. Definitely made some clutch pars coming in there.

“It’s great.”

Victorian Richard Green brought his rookie season on the PGA TOUR Champions to an impressive conclusion, tied for fourth at the Charles Schwab Cup Championship as Steven Alker completed a three-win weekend for the Kiwis.

A host of Aussies remain in the hunt for DP World Tour cards at the halfway mark of Final Stage of Q School in Spain.

With 25 cards to be handed out after six rounds, West Australian Hayden Hopewell is the best-placed Aussie through three rounds in a tie for 16th.

Fellow West Australian Haydn Barron is two shots further back in a tie for 34th with Connor McKinney, Elvis Smylie and Justin Warren also still in the hunt.

Results

PGA TOUR
Butterfield Bermuda Championship
Port Royal Golf Course, Southampton, Bermuda
1          Camilo Villegas            67-63-65-65—260       $US1.17m
T5        Adam Scott                  65-67-66-67—265       $251,063
T30      Lucas Herbert               66-71-64-70—271       $38,954
T72      Cameron Percy             72-64-73-70—279       $12,870
MC       Harrison Endycott        71-70—141
MC       Greg Chalmers             77-71—148

LPGA Tour
The ANNIKA
Pelican Golf Club, Belleair, Florida
1          Lilia Vu             67-66-62-66—261       $US487,500
T5        Stephanie Kyriacou      70-65-64-67—266       $124,827
T23      Grace Kim        71-67-69-64—271       $34,952
T31      Lydia Ko (NZ)    67-69-67-70—273       $23,205
T38      Gabriela Ruffels           69-67-71-67—274       $17,726
T57      Sarah Kemp     68-68-73-69—278       $9,653
MC       Su Oh              72-74—146

DP World Tour
Nedbank Golf Challenge
Gary Player CC, Sun City, South Africa
1          Max Homa       66-68-69-66—269       €961,124.05
T33      Daniel Hillier (NZ)         72-68-76-71—287       €42,852.07
T39      Jason Scrivener 71-74-76-69—290       €35,069.31
T51      Ryan Fox (NZ)   69-76-70-77—292       €21,566.69

DP World Tour
Qualifying School – Final Stage
Infinitum Golf, Spain
Through three of six rounds. The top 25 after six rounds earn 2024 DP World Tour cards
T16      Sam Jones (NZ)             68-69-70—207
T16      Hayden Hopewell        73-65-69—207
T34      Haydn Barron               67-72-70—209
T69      Connor McKInney        71-69-71—211
T73      Elvis Smylie                  73-70-67—210
T83      Justin Warren               78-68-65—211
T116    Matias Sanchez            72-67-76—215
T129    Andre Lautee               73-71-72—216
T129    James Marchesani        75-69-72—216
WD      Blake Windred             70-70—140

Asian Tour
Hong Kong Open
Hong Kong Golf Club, Hong Kong
1          Ben Campbell (NZ)       66-64-65-66—261       $US360,000
2          Cameron Smith            63-66-65-68—262       $220,000
T8        Harrison Crowe            65-65-69-67—266       $41,225
T30      Douglas Klein               69-69-69-65—272       $14,225
T42      Zach Murray                70-68-66-69—273       $10,036.36
T42      Scott Hend                   70-67-65-71—273       $10,036.36
T42      Travis Smyth                69-68-69-67—273       $10,036.36
T66      Jediah Morgan             67-71-70-69—277       $5,200
T69      Andrew Dodt               66-71-70-71—278       $4,600
MC       Todd Sinnott                69-70—139
MC       John Lyras                    68-71—139
MC       Kevin Yuan                   71-68—139
MC       Jack Thompson            67-73—140
MC       Terry Pilkadaris             73-67—140
MC       Wade Ormsby              70-71—141
MC       Sam Brazel                   74-68—142
MC       Tom Power Horan        69-74—143
MC       Marcus Fraser              73-71—144
MC       Shane Kuiti                   72-73—145

Japan Golf Tour
Sumitomo Mitsui VISA Pacific Masters
Pacific Club (Gotemba Cse), Shizuoka
1          Shugo Imahira             67-66-65-70—268       ¥40m
T29      Brad Kennedy              67-74-69-70—280       ¥1,252,500
T50      Brendan Jones             70-73-71-71—285       ¥554,666
MC       Anthony Quayle           75-75—150

PGA TOUR Champions
Charles Schwab Cup Championship
Phoenix Country Club, Phoenix, Arizona
1          Steven Alker     67-64-65-70—266      
T4        Richard Green  69-64-71-66—270      
T30      Mark Hensby   75-66-72-72—285
35        Rod Pampling  71-74-74-73—292      

Photos: Jason Butler/Getty Images (Smith); Gregory Shamus/Getty Images (Scott)


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