Want to recieve exclusive news, videos, tournament highlights, golf important tips and more ?
Want to recieve exclusive news, videos, tournament highlights, golf important tips and more ?
Minjee Lee has revealed how she almost missed brother Min Woo’s winning putt on Sunday as she returns to the LPGA Tour for this week’s T-Mobile Match Play in Las Vegas.
Min Woo’s Houston Open win on the weekend made he and Minjee just the third brother-sister duo with wins on both the PGA TOUR and LPGA Tour.
Big sister also has two major championships to her name, the pair now within sight of writing a new chapter in golf’s storied history if 26-year-old Min Woo can one day follow suit.
But as Min Woo was trying to hold off world No.1 Scottie Scheffler and a minor case of the shakes, Minjee was mid-air riding every one of her brother’s shots… until she couldn’t.
“It only cut out twice so that was great,” Minjee said of her in-flight viewing.
“It was just before his final putt from off the green. It kind of cut out then and I was like, Oh my God. But I just refreshed it and it worked again, so not too stressed.
“The guy sitting next to me, he was looking at me a little funny because I was fist pumping when he was making birdies and stuff.
“It was a different experience. I’ve not watched golf on a plane before. It was a first time for everything.
“It was quite fun. I really enjoyed it.”
Not only are Minjee and Min Woo the third brother-sister combination with wins on the major US tours but they now both have wins on four of the world’s seven continents.
Minjee has been without a win of her own since October 2023 but has made a bright start to her 2025 campaign.
Runner-up in her last start at the Blue Bay LPGA in China, the 28-year-old looks confident using a broomstick putter and she ranks eighth for final round scoring average (67.75).
Those numbers count for little however in the T-Mobile Match Play format where Lee will first face off against Thai Jasmine Suwannapura in Round 1 and then meet Patty Tavatanakit and Madelene Sagstrom in the remaining Group Stage matches.
Lee is one of five Aussies contesting the Match Play with Grace Kim to play former Gold Coast high schooler Amy Yang in Round 1.
There was little time for celebrating as Steve Allan backs up from his first PGA TOUR Champions as one of eight Aussies in the field for the James Hardie Pro Football Hall of Fame Invitational while the Ripper GC boys are back in action at LIV Golf Miami.
Round 1 tee times AEDT
PGA TOUR
Valero Texas Open
TPC San Antonio (Oaks Course), San Antonio, Texas
10:20pm Aaron Baddeley
3:41am Ryan Fox (NZ)
Recent champion: Akshay Bhatia
Past Aussie winners: Joe Kirkwood Snr (1924), Bruce Crampton (1964), Adam Scott (2010), Steven Bowditch (2014)
Prize money: $US9.5m
TV times: Live 10:15pm Thursday, Friday; Live 12am Sunday, Monday on Fox Sports 503 and Kayo.
LPGA Tour
T-Mobile Match Play
Shadow Creek Golf Course, North Las Vegas, Nevada
Round Robin Day 1
4:25am Grace Kim (Seed: 53) v Amy Yang (12)
4:55am Stephanie Kyriacou (37) v Nasa Hataoka (28)
7:45am Minjee Lee (14) v Jasmine Suwannapura (51)
8:05am Lydia Ko (3) v Hira Naveed (62)
8:15am Gabriela Ruffels (35) v Carlota Ciganda (30)
Recent champion: Nelly Korda
Past Aussie winners: Nil
Prize money: $US2m
TV times: Live 8am Thursday on Fox Sports 503; Live 8am Friday, Saturday on Fox Sports 505; Live 8am Sunday, Monday on Fox Sports 503 and Kayo.
LIV Golf
LIV Golf Miami
Trump National Doral, Florida
Australasians in the field: Cameron Smith, Lucas Herbert, Matt Jones, Marc Leishman, Ben Campbell (NZ), Danny Lee (NZ)
Recent champion: Dean Burmester
Past Aussie winners: Nil
Prize money: $US20m
TV times: Live 2am Saturday; Live 1am Sunday; Live 2am Monday on 7 Mate.
Ladies European Tour
Joburg Ladies Open
Modderfontein Golf Club, Johannesburg
5:03pm Kelsey Bennett
8:15pm* Maddison Hinson-Tolchard
9:32pm Momoka Kobori (NZ)
9:43pm* Amelia Garvey (NZ)
Recent champion: Chiara Tamburlini
Past Aussie winners: Nil
Prize money: €300,000
TV times: Live 9pm Saturday, Sunday on Fox Sports 503 and Kayo.
Korn Ferry Tour
Club Car Championship
The Landings Golf & Athletic Club (Deer Creek), Savannah, Georgia
11:10pm Harry Hillier (NZ)
3:35am Rhein Gibson
Recent champion: Steven Fisk
Past Aussie winners: Nil
Prize money: $US1m
TV times: Live 12:30am Friday; Live 11:30pm Friday; 11am Sunday; Live 6:30am Monday on Fox Sports 505 and Kayo.
PGA TOUR Champions
James Hardie Pro Football Hall of Fame Invitational
The Old Course at Broken Sound, Boca Raton, Florida
Australasians in the field: Steve Allan, Stuart Appleby, David Bransdon, Greg Chalmers, Brendan Jones, Cameron Percy, John Senden, Michael Wright.
Recent champion: Inaugural event
Past Aussie winners: Nil
Prize money: $US2.2m
TV times: Live 1:30am Saturday; 5:30am Sunday; Live 4:30am Monday on Fox Sports 505 and Kayo.
PGA TOUR Americas
70th Brazil Open
Rio Olympic Golf Course, Rio de Janeiro, Brazil
8:20pm Grant Booth
8:40pm* Charlie Hillier (NZ)
Recent champion: Matthew Anderson
Past Aussie winners: Nil
Prize money: $US225,000
Before he won the Texas Children’s Houston Open this past week, it’s fair to say Min Woo Lee didn’t live a life remotely similar to most 26-year-olds from Fremantle.
Despite a constant social media presence and video gaming that helped inspire his “Chef” moniker, Lee’s profession, network of friends and even home base in Las Vegas is vastly different from most Australian 20-somethings.
Yet, even with his jet-setting lifestyle, Lee remains the same personality from his amateur days, and his own reaction to the response over his first PGA TOUR win showcases his ability to stay true to himself.
Among the well-wishers was one of the biggest stars on the planet, Justin Bieber, who Lee claims to be the unofficial golf coach of.
Lee today revealed that the relationship is unique given both feel they are the one to be proud of the friendship.
“The thing is he fanboys kind of over me, but obviously I’m fanboying over him,” Lee said of Bieber.
“We haven’t played (golf) yet, but I got his phone number and we just texted and texted quite often. He would send me videos of his swing and I would critique it and yeah, it’s very cool.”
Proving Lee’s suggestion of the mutual respect over the friendship, it was Bieber who shared an image of their FaceTime following the Aussie’s breakthrough Houston victory to his social media channels.
“He asked me if he could post it and I was like, ‘Bro, do whatever you want. You’re Justin Bieber, I don’t care’,” was Lee’s humorous retelling of how the post came about.
Beyond Bieber, Lee mentioned multiple NBA players among those who congratulated him, including fellow Aussie Josh Giddey and Steph Curry, however, despite their ongoing sibling rivalry, no doubt the support of sister Minjee meant a great deal.
In Las Vegas ahead of this week’s LPGA Tour match play event at Shadow Creek, coincidental timing meant the Lee’s could share a celebratory dinner in Min Woo’s hometown with their shared agent, Brent Hamilton, and coach, Ritchie Smith.
The younger sibling not missing his chance to throw shade at his sister when asked who paid for the Japanese meal on the Vegas ‘Strip’.
“It was me. It was me. Of course it was me. I made a nice little cheque last couple days ago,” Min Woo said. “My sister could have been nice and she could have got it, but it’s all good.”
Family will also be a theme next week for Lee when he contests The Masters for a fourth straight year.
Mum Clara will be on site at Augusta National, where Lee will hope to improve on his already impressive record of T14-MC-T22, with last year’s result perhaps his most impressive giving the preparation.
Unlike this year when he enters the year’s first major as a last start winner, in 2024 Lee teed it up with a broken finger and suffering from illness Monday to Wednesday, a sickness he blames on giving up his jumper to a young fan when watching Minjee in the cold the week prior.
Breaking the digit in the gym, Min Woo plans to be much more careful as he prepares to challenge for his first major title having now accumulated five professional wins in his burgeoning career.
“First of all, obviously just to not drop a dumbbell on your finger. I think that’s priority one. I’ll probably be a bit safer when I’m in the gym right now this week,” he joked of his preparations for Augusta.
“I mean going into it feeling good and yeah, it’s last week felt like an exhausting week, so I just relax and enjoy my time doing nothing really over the last couple days and the next day or so. And yeah, get ready for the big dance.
Adding of his new place as the highest ranked Australian men’s player in the Official World Golf Ranking heading into The Masters: “I mean, it’s crazy. I looked up to these guys and I still do and it’s awesome to be the No.1 ranked Aussie. I still feel like a little kid growing up and I don’t feel 26, I feel 18, 19, 20 as a youngster.
“But there’s youngsters that come out and are very young and you don’t feel as young anymore. But it is very cool. It’s cool to be there. I feel like I inspire kids and inspire people to love and play golf.
“So it’s quite cool to be the top spot, I guess in Australian golf and hopefully I can keep going.”
That attempt to keep going will be alongside major champions Cam Smith, Adam Scott and Jason Day, as well as Cameron Davis in a five-strong Australian contingent at Augusta.
Day continues to do his bit to help Lee become part of the Australian major winner club that his sister is already a member of as a two-time major champion.
“Jason’s been amazing help to me. I think he’s helped me the most out of any player and just advice just in general,” Min Woo said.
“I told him how I felt, really how I felt during THE PLAYERS and I just felt like I wasn’t myself and I was trying to be someone else and he just said just to trust the process and keep hitting good shots and if not, it’s okay.
“And funny, I did that and I won … it’s only love between us and it’s very cool to have a big brother out on Tour.”
The Masters is live and exclusive on Fox Sports, available via Foxtel and Kayo Sports.
After a successful first year for the concept in 2024, Queensland’s Asha Flynn has been awarded this year’s Karrie Webb Coaching Scholarship presented by Nippon Shaft.
Since completing the PGA of Australia Membership Pathway Program (MPP) in 2019, Flynn has been making waves not only in her home state of Queensland, but around the country.
Flynn was twice recognised as the PGA of Australia National Coach of the Year – Game Development in consecutive years (2023 and 2024), and has a significant impact on her regular students at Brisbane Golf Club and the Golf Australia High Performance athletes she mentors.
“I was a big Karrie Webb fan growing up,” Flynn said. “When I got the text message from her the other day saying, ‘Hey Asha, it’s Karrie’ … I was like, ‘Yep, that’s it, I can die happy now’.”
With more work with the Golf Australia High-Performance program on the horizon, like escorting the Australian team to this year’s Annika Invitational in Europe, Flynn is eager to develop her elite coaching through the scholarship.
“I feel like I’ll be able to dedicate more time to the high-performance area and grow my expertise in that,” she said.
“Seeing what the best coaches do at that level when you’re working with those elite high-performance players will be valuable.
“Then I can obviously use that for my own players, but also as a coach myself and see what I can improve on and include.”
Along with the mentoring opportunities, Flynn will also receive $7,500 to help enhance her high-performance coaching skills.
Proud that the coaching scholarship is building a legacy alongside the Karrie Webb Series players scholarship, Webb herself has no doubt this scholarship will enable Flynn to further develop and elevate her skillset through mentoring and shadowing opportunities and exposure to current world-class High-Performance coaches.
“I’m very excited that Asha has been awarded the coaching recipient for this year,” said Webb.
“Asha not only showed how passionate she is to continue to grow as a coach but has also impressed many of her peers in the industry.
“I hope this is a great year of growth for Asha.”
Previous scholars:
2024: Jenna Hunter
Two of Australian golf’s most feted young players delivered the goods when it mattered the most in a memorable week for Aussie golf at home and abroad.
The talent that had never been questioned was paired with a greater work ethic and mental strength to clinch Min Woo Lee his first PGA TOUR win as Harrison Crowe rode the ferocious winds of the Mornington Peninsula to go bogey-free in the final round and win The National Tournament.
The 2022 New South Wales Open champion as an amateur, it marked Crowe’s first win as a professional as Anthony Quayle was rewarded for an ultra-consistent season back on home soil with his best finish of the summer.
Major champions Hannah Green and Jason Day showed promising signs in their return to action as Kirsten Rudgeley closed out her run of events in Australia with a tie for fourth at the World Sand Greens Championship.
10. Harrison Crowe (New)
Re-established his status as a player for the big occasion with a thrilling victory at The National Tournament in Victoria to round out the Challenger PGA Tour of Australasia season. Completed a sneaky-good season to finish eighth on the Order of Merit with top-10 finishes at the Australian Open, BMW Australian PGA Championship and Ford NSW Open.
9. Kirsten Rudgeley (8)
Tied for second at the Ford Women’s NSW Open, Rudgeley kept the competitive juices flowing with a tie for fourth at the World Sand Greens Championship at Binalong. Is now set up for her third season on the Ladies European Tour where a breakthrough win beckons.
8. Jason Day (6)
Solid return to play after Day was forced to withdraw from THE PLAYERS Championship with a stomach virus. Shot 66 in the final round of the Texas Children’s Houston Open to earn a share of 27th in a nice tune-up two weeks out from The Masters.
7. Anthony Quayle (10)
He described it as the best shot of his life and it will be a contender for shot of the season after Anthony Quayle blistered a 2-iron 215 metres at the 72nd hole for the birdie that clinched outright second at The National Tournament. It also clinched DP World Tour status for 2026 in what was his eighth top-five finish of the season.
6. Elvis Smylie (5)
The Challenger PGA Tour of Australasia Order of Merit winner had the luxury of taking the week off as he sets his sights on a comprehensive campaign on the DP World Tour.
5. Minjee Lee (4)
Embraced the role of cheerleader as little brother wrapped up his maiden PGA TOUR win in Houston. Returns to play this week at the T-Mobile Match Play in Las Vegas.
4. Karl Vilips (2)
It appears to be either feast or famine for Karl Vilips, the Puerto Rico Open winner missing his past three cuts including last week’s Texas Children’s Houston Open.
3. Lucas Herbert (3)
Managed to hold on to third on the Challenger PGA Tour of Australasia Order of Merit and now has a DP World Tour exemption category available to him at the end of the year should he need it. Has two top fives on LIV Golf this year along with a top 10 at the International Series Macau.
2. Hannah Green (1)
Sharpened her game for the long campaign ahead with a tie for 44th at the Ford Championship, just Green’s fourth tournament of the year. Already boasts two top-seven finishes as she seeks to follow up her three-win 2024 season.
1. Min Woo Lee (7)
The late urging from his manager to tee it up yielded Min Woo Lee’s first PGA TOUR win at the Texas Children’s Houston Open. The four-stroke lead he held at the start of the final round had been eaten into, necessitating a clutch up-and-down from the back fringe to win by one. Now Australia’s highest-ranked male player at No.22 in the world.
The Australian Golf Power Rankings is a subjective list developed with input from members of the Australian Golf media team.
It was a long-awaited PGA TOUR breakthrough for Min Woo Lee and the end to a 23-year drought for Steve Allan in a magnificent weekend for Australian golf in the US.
The 36-hole leader at THE PLAYERS Championship three weeks ago and a two-time runner-up last season, Lee’s status as a PGA TOUR winner was always a matter of when, not if.
That time is now after he produced two nerveless up-and-downs on the final two holes to complete a one-stroke victory at the Texas Children’s Houston Open.
A four-stroke leader at the start of the final day, Lee (67) held off charges from major winners Scottie Scheffler (63) and Gary Woodland (62) for his first win on US soil as a professional.
“Winning a tournament was one of those goals and I’m happy to check that off,” said Lee.
“It was tough. I mean, props to the guys that win week in, week out. I mean, it is very hard even though a four-shot lead is not safe, it is tough.
“Just so proud. Let’s keep doing it.”
The 2002 Australian Open champion, Allan has had to wait more than two decades to re-enter the winner’s circle.
Only a late admission into the field for the Galleri Classic when Steve Stricker withdrew on Monday, Allan took advantage in the best way possible.
Buoyed by a swing tip on the range from close friend Cameron Percy, a superb outward nine of 5-under 31 put Allan in prime position, an even-par back nine enough to close out a round of 5-under 67 and a one-stroke win from American Tag Ridings (67).
“I won the Australian Open in 2002 and it was my second year, four years after my first win,” Allan recalled.
“I told my girlfriend, now my wife, ‘It won’t be four years until I win again.’ Unfortunately, it’s been 23 years.
“It’s a big relief to get a win. I was close on the PGA TOUR a couple of times. Didn’t get over the line.
“Once it was completely my fault. The other time Kenny Perry had a hot finish and I didn’t.
“It was really good to hang in there and finish it off.”
Results
PGA TOUR
Texas Children’s Houston Open
Memorial Park Golf Course, Houston, Texas
1 Min Woo Lee 66-64-63-67—260 $US1.71m
T15 Ryan Fox (NZ) 68-65-65-71—269 $163,875
T27 Jason Day 70-66-69-66—271 $67,925
MC Karl Vilips 68-73—141
MC Aaron Baddeley 70-74—144
LPGA Tour
Ford Championship
Whirlwind Golf Club (Cattail Cse), Chandler, Arizona
T6 Lydia Ko (NZ) 68-67-68-67—270
T13 Stephanie Kyriacou 67-68-69-68—272
T27 Cassie Porter 70-68-67-70—275
T44 Hannah Green 68-72-68-70—278
T62 Sarah Kemp 70-70-74-69—283
T64 Hira Naveed 71-67-75-71—284
MC Gabriela Ruffels 73-68—141
MC Karis Davidson 71-70—141
MC Grace Kim 72-71—143
MC Fiona Xu (NZ) 73-71—144
DP World Tour
Hero Indian Open
DLF G&CC, New Delhi, India
1 Eugenio Chacarra 70-70-73-71—284 €354,641.38
T31 Jason Scrivener 72-77-73-76—298 €15,576.41
T63 Daniel Gale 76-74-80-78—308 €5,423.93
MC Austin Bautista 76-76—152
MC Cameron John 83-72—155
MC Matthew Griffin 80-82—162
MC Lachlan Barker 82-83—165
PGA TOUR Champions
The Galleri Classic
Mission Hills Country Club, Rancho Mirage, California
1 Steve Allan 69-65-67—201 $US330,000
T3 Steven Alker (NZ) 71-65-67—203 $131,867
6 Cameron Percy 67-69-68—204 $88,000
T7 Stuart Appleby 70-71-64—205 $70,400
T7 Richard Green 68-72-65—205 $70,400
T15 Mark Hensby 71-69-68—208 $36,300
T29 David Bransdon 72-69-70—211 $15,934
T36 Rod Pampling 71-72-69—212 $12,144
T51 Greg Chalmers 73-72-70—215 $5,940
T54 Scott Barr 73-73-70—216 $4,510
T66 Brendan Jones 74-72-73—219 $2,253
PGA TOUR Americas
93 Abierto Telecom del Centro
Cordoba Golf Club, Cordoba, Argentina
1 Ryan Grider 65-66-68-69—268
T8 Grant Booth 70-67-64-70—271
MC Charlie Hillier (NZ) 73-69—142
Min Woo Lee’s PGA TOUR destiny has ben fulfilled after the West Australian held off world No.1 Scottie Scheffler and major champion Gary Woodland to win the Texas Children’s Houston Open by one stroke.
Feted as the most exciting prospect in Australian men’s golf since his early teenage years, Lee clinched his first PGA TOUR title in a pulsating finish at Memorial Park Golf Course.
He becomes the eighth Australian to win the Houston Open, his victory adding to three DP World Tour titles including the 2023 Australian PGA Championship.
Four strokes clear at the start of the final round, the 26-year-old went out in 2-under as Woodland first ate into the deficit and then Scheffler came with a late charge.
With Woodland first in the clubhouse at 19-under thanks in no small part to an eagle at 16 and birdie on 18, Scheffler applied further pressure with four straight birdies from the 13th hole.
When Lee hit his tee shot into the water on the way to a bogey at the par-5 16th, the lead had shrunk to just one with two holes left to play.
He two-putted from the fringe for par at the par-4 17th and was faced with another long putt from just off the green at the 72nd hole, Lee showing remarkable composure to putt down to inside a foot from 54 feet away.
Ever the showman, Lee then pretended to go through an AimPoint routine by straddling the line of his eight-inch putt, struggling to hold back tears as he tapped in to complete an ascension in world golf that shows no signs of slowing.
“They always say the six inches between your ears, I think that was a big part of this week,” Lee said of the mental capacity it takes to win on the PGA TOUR.
“I always felt like I had the assets to win, it was just can you do it mentally.
“Obviously a couple slip-ups, especially on 16, the drive. Played very wonderful golf all week and really, really solid.
“I only won by one, so it’s tough. Keep doing what I’m doing. These guys that win, they’re mentally strong.
“It was one of those where I think just everything aligned this week.
“I’m so proud to be the winner of the trophy.”
Photo: Jonathan Bachman/Getty Images
West Australian Ryan Peake capped his Rookie of the Year season with confirmation of a spot on the DP World Tour in 2026 as Anthony Quayle produced the shot of his life to also secure a pathway to Europe.
As Harrison Crowe completed a clinical final round of 4-under 68 to win The National Tournament by two strokes at The National Golf Club, the Order of Merit ramifications happening just below him on the leaderboard were frenetic.
A two-time winner this season, South Australian Jack Buchanan started the final round fifth on the Order of Merit and the man most likely to claim the card made available by Cameron Smith’s DP World Tour exemption as the 2022 Open champion.
The final nine holes of the season saw Quayle and West Australian Curtis Luck switch back and forth between sixth and seventh on the projected Order of Merit, each birdie opportunity and every dropped shot more significant than either could have anticipated.
When Luck made birdie at the par-3 16th in a howling wind he moved into outright second on the leaderboard and sixth on the live Order of Merit projections.
His bogey-bogey finish would prove costly not only for him, but for Buchanan.
Trailing Crowe by three strokes playing the final hole, Quayle hit a 2-iron from 215 metres to eight feet from a back-left pin at the 72nd hole for the birdie that secured second place alone in the tournament and the 107 points he needed to leapfrog Buchanan into fifth by just 10.3 points.
“It was 215-odd metres into a massive wind,” reflected Quayle, who quit the Japan Golf Tour late last year to dedicate himself to the Challenger PGA Tour of Australasia and the pathways it offers.
“Just the shot itself is hard, but I think the circumstance might make that the best shot I’ve ever hit.
“For the last few months, I’ve really not been allowing myself to get too far ahead of myself, which is difficult to do.
“I feel like I was able to have one goal in mind and that was just to win each week I teed it up. I didn’t achieve that, but I feel like I had a really good chance in more than half my starts.
“I’m just incredibly proud and happy with the way I kind of just stuck with it.
“I’ve had three top-fives to finish the year to just sneak past and secure this.
“It’s pretty awesome.”
Peake entered the week with No.2 on the Order of Merit guaranteed.
With Elvis Smylie earning DP World Tour exemption via his victory at the BMW Australian PGA Championship, it promises Peake an almost full schedule when he joins the DP World Tour as a member for the 2026 season.
Although his well-publicised past will make it challenging to maximise the Asian Tour card he earned by winning the NZ Open, he can now look forward to joining the best players on the planet on a major world tour later this year.
“It just solidified the fact of why I came back to the game and gave it another run,” Peake said of his future on the DP World Tour.
“Obviously with words of encouragement which everyone knows from certain people, (coach) Ritchie (Smith), my family and all that.
“It just shows that I’ve proved myself right in making the right decision to come back and play and give it another go.
“It will take a little while before I start getting on the road and start playing these events that it will kind of really sink in then.
“I’m just excited to get going.”
Buchanan was the hard luck story of Sunday’s season finale but there is still a chance he will join Peake and Quayle with a DP World Tour card for next season.
Lucas Herbert’s exemption as a DP World Tour winner runs out at the end of this season.
As the Ford NSW Open champion has now finished third on the Order of Merit, he would be entitled to that exemption if he chose to maintain his membership for the 2026 season.
If not, or if he becomes otherwise exempt, Buchanan is next in line.
Order of Merit final standings
1 Elvis Smylie 1,358.96 (9 events)
2 Ryan Peake 1,012.59 (19)
3 Lucas Herbert 758.47 (4)
4 Cameron Smith 735.68 (4)
5 Anthony Quayle 688.46 (15)
6 Jack Buchanan 678.16 (16)
7 Curtis Luck 594.12 (6)
8 Harrison Crowe 591.81 (12)
9 Corey Lamb 490.63 (17)
10 Jordan Doull 470.61 (18)
Sydney’s Harrison Crowe believes he is now ready to take his game to the world after taking out The National Tournament in impressive fashion at The National Golf Club on Sunday.
Harnessing the thousands of rounds he has played at Michael’s Golf Club on Sydney’s southern coastline, Crowe defied the 50km/h winds that whipped across the Gunnamatta Course to post the only bogey-free round of the final day of the 2024/2025 Challenger PGA Tour of Australasia season.
Paired with Quinn Croker (71) and Denzel Ieremia (76) in the final group, Crowe shot a 4-under 68 to finish at 19-under for the tournament, two strokes clear of Queenslander Anthony Quayle (69), who produced the shot of his life to make birdie at the par-4 18th and snare outright second.
That result saw Quayle leapfrog South Australian Jack Buchanan (68) into fifth on the Order of Merit and secure a DP World Tour card for the 2026 season, a target he set himself when he turned his back on the Japan Golf Tour to play more on home soil late last year.
There are Order of Merit rewards coming too for Crowe, who finishes the year in eighth position. That guarantees him a start at the Alfred Dunhill Links Championship on the DP World Tour in Scotland in October and will open the door to a host of major qualifying schools later in the year.
For a 23-year-old who burst onto the scene by winning both the New South Wales Open and the Asia-Pacific Amateur in 2022, this latest win looms as the springboard he has been chasing ever since.
“I’ve been hanging around for this win for quite some time,” said Crowe.
“It just feels great to finally get it done and I feel like this could be the one that kind of kicks the door down a little bit more.”
A message from coach John Serhan after Round 3 emphasised the need to stay present and be ready for whatever the conditions or other players might throw at him.
Before he had even reached the first green there were seven players tied for the lead at 15-under, but what shaped as a Sunday sprint to the finish soon developed into a battle of attrition.
Croker and Quayle both had brief stints in the outright lead as Todd Sinnott, Andrew Martin and Maverick Antcliff all joined the conversation.
Crowe, Quayle, Martin, Croker and Antcliff were all tied at 17-under midway through the front nine, Antcliff the first to break out of the logjam and reach 18-under with birdie at the par-5 sixth.
NZ Open champion and Rookie of the Year Ryan Peake was in the mix until the birdie putts stopped dropping while Curtis Luck surged after the turn thanks to birdies at 11, 12 and 16.
His bogey-bogey finish would have Order of Merit implications but as he and others dropped shots, Crowe remained resilient.
A brilliant 5-iron to seven feet at the par-4 ninth went unrewarded but a par save on 13 and another superb 5-iron into the par-4 14th gave Crowe a three-shot buffer over the closing holes.
“That was certainly one of the best shots I’ve hit,” said Crowe.
“I think I had 175 (metres) to the pin and I just thought, I’m going to hit 5-iron and I’m going to really hit this thing low.
“To save par on the hole before and then to hit that that shot into there just calmed me down a little bit more.
“It was very testing out there and I just kind of had to keep bringing myself back and just stay really in the moment.
“It was easy to wander off – what the lead was, what the score was – and trying to look too far ahead but I think I did a really, really good job today of just being present and staying really, really patient.”
Quayle’s second-place finish was his best result of the season and eighth top-five finish as Martin (67), Luck (68) and Croker (71) shared third.
His career-low round on the PGA TOUR has given West Australian Min Woo Lee a four-stroke lead heading into the final round of the Texas Children’s Houston Open.
Paired with world No.1 Scottie Scheffler for the third round at Memorial Park Golf Course, Lee unleashed a blistering 7-under 63 to take the 54-hole lead at 17-under par. It surpasses his 64 from Round 2 as his best in the US.
He is four strokes clear of 2024 runner-up Alejandro Tosti (65) and five shots ahead of Scheffler (69), Kiwi Ryan Fox (65) and American Ryan Gerard (68), taking the 54-hole lead for the first time in his PGA TOUR career in his 56th start.
The 26-year-old was the 36-hole leader at THE PLAYERS Championship just three weeks ago and will call on that experience to try and close out his first PGA TOUR win.
“It was a very good learning curve the last PLAYERS just a few weeks ago, being in the lead,” said Lee.
“I don’t know, felt like I wasn’t myself.
“I want to be in this situation more and more, so I had to really look into it myself. Just keeping my head down really and try and hit one shot at a time.
“It’s a long day so you can’t get ahead of yourself, and you’ve just got to hit one shot at a time and keep trusting your game.”
Trust is a key word for Lee at present.
He and coach Ritchie Smith have worked hard in recent years to shallow out his angle of attack to deliver more consistent iron play.
The combination of hitting more than 72 per cent of greens in regulation and leading the field in Strokes Gained: Putting has proved to be a lethal one with 18 holes to play.
“It’s just a lot of trust,” added Lee, who can become the eighth Australian to win the Houston Open.
“We’ve been working on this for the last two, three years, but just the last couple weeks since PLAYERS it kind of clicked in.
“It’s kind of just like a little nugget that I figured out.
“Anytime into the wind I just want to get steep and hit it low, and normally it comes out hot off the face and becomes very hard to control the iron
“To shallow it out and have less spin I think definitely helps.
“At first it doesn’t feel amazing because you think you’re going to flip it left all the time, but
after a couple times I trusted it and I could really see the shot.”
Sunday’s final round is an opportunity, too, for Ryan Fox.
Making his 63rd start on the PGA TOUR, the four-time DP World Tour winner can join Bob Charles as the only Kiwi winners of the Houston Open but knows it will take something special.
“It’s go out, take some flags on, hope the putter gets hot basically, and see if you can put some pressure on early,” said Fox.
“I’ve certainly been in the situation Min’s been in the other way on the DP World Tour. I think I had a six-shot lead and it was down to one after about five holes after a bad start and a good start from others.
“Obviously he’s a great player and I can’t control what he does. I’ve just got to go out tomorrow and put some good swings on it and hope I can put some pressure on him and be up there come the last few holes tomorrow afternoon.”
Lee is not the only Australian entering the final round at the top of the leaderboard.
Victorian Steve Allan has a one-stroke lead at the Galleri Classic on the PGA TOUR Champions, good mate Cameron Percy just two shots back as he also chases a first win on the seniors circuit.
Photo: Jonathan Bachman/Getty Images
New South Welshman Harrison Crowe has vowed to tap into a ‘big game’ mentality as he chases a breakthrough win as a professional at the season-ending The National Tournament on Sunday.
Crowe will start the final round at The National Golf Club’s Gunnamatta Course in a three-way tie for the lead at 15-under-par with Queenslander Quinn Croker (63) and New Zealand’s Denzel Ieremia (66), the trio one clear of Maverick Antcliff (67), Ryan Peake (67), Jason Norris (68) and Anthony Quayle (69).
Twenty players will start the final round of the season within four strokes of the lead and with a variety of Challenger PGA Tour of Australasia Order of Merit rewards at stake.
Peake cannot be unseated as the No.2 behind Elvis Smylie, Croker is all but guaranteed of retaining his card for next season while Quayle can secure a DP World Tour card for the 2026 season with a third win on Tour.
Entering the week 10th on the Order of Merit, Crowe could move as high as seventh with a first professional win to go with the 2022 New South Wales Open that he won as an amateur.
With top 10 finishes at the Australian Open, BMW Australian PGA Championship and Ford NSW Open and a tie for 15th at the New Zealand Open, Crowe’s best performances have come in the season’s biggest events.
The 23-year-old intends to tap into that mindset to finish the season by hoisting a trophy.
“Obviously it’s a good problem to have, saving my best golf for the big events,” said Crowe.
“The challenge for me was to really switch on in some of the smaller events.
“I’ve tried my best to do that this week and it’s a little easier to do that being the last event of the season.
“There’s a certain kind of fire in my belly for those big events.
“I’ll be going out there with guns blazing.”
At 44th and 56th respectively at the start of the week, Croker and Ieremia are all but assured of finishing inside the all-important top 50 to keep their cards for next year.
It has given Croker, in particular, a sense of freedom as he chases a breakthrough win.
Staying with 36-hole leader and great mate Billy Dowling, Croker matched Declan O’Donovan’s course record of 9-under 63 set on Thursday to climb 26 spots and into a share of the lead.
“I don’t know the exact math but once I played solid yesterday and was inside the cut I thought, I’m good now,” Croker said of a potential Order of Merit tightrope.
“It was a little bit like what it felt like last year when I was playing as an amateur.
“You’re a little bit like, well I can just do whatever I want. I can swing a lot freer and you make things happen and then all of a sudden, obviously a good score came out of it.”
Ieremia has also adopted a more relaxed approach that has yielded a strong run of form.
The 29-year-old had seven birdies in his round of 6-under 66 on Saturday and with strong winds expected on Sunday, will tap into the experience of playing in horrendous conditions at the Vic Open last month.
“I played really good on the front nine and I might’ve been close to the lead,” said Ieremia, who is aiming to become the fourth Kiwi winner in the last six tournaments.
“I didn’t know it at the time but I just fell off on the back nine.
“I’d like to have a week where I finish it off.”
Needing to win to leapfrog both Lucas Herbert and Cameron Smith on the Order of Merit, Quayle was denied joining the group at 15-under by a birdie putt that was spat out by a wicked horseshoe at the par-4 17th.
Currently fifth on the Order of Merit, South Australian Jack Buchanan will start Sunday four strokes off the lead and in a tie for 14th, also needing to win to wrap up a DP World Tour card.
