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Jasper Stubbs is on familiar territory, with family and friends on hand, and he is lapping up the ISPS HANDA Australian Open.
Not only that, he has put himself in contention with his third-round 68 at Kingston Heath, a chance of a win in his first few months as a professional.
Victorian Stubbs, 22, sits just two shots from the lead entering the final round on Sunday having turned pro only this season.
“I mean, my last event before this wasn’t the best, but I spent some time getting back to where I know my good golf is, and this for me around Sandbelt golf is just me playing my good golf,” he said. “So it’s not unusual. I don’t feel out place at all. So it’s a nice feeling this early on in my career.”
Stubbs plays out of nearby Peninsula Kingswood Country Golf Club, and has not wanted for support.
“I’ve got some of the guys from my golf course, PK out this week. My mum and my dad have been out this week. And yeah, golf coaches, friends, family, it’s been great to have them out and staying 10 minutes away with mum’s cooking is pretty nice as well.”
Another young Australian dreaming the dream is Elvis Smylie, last week’s BMW Australian PGA Championship victor who has backed up strongly and sits tied-third with Stubbs at 12-under par.
The 22-year-old started out hot – three birdies in the first six holes on Saturday – but then his tee shot plugged in a bunker at the par-3 eighth, and he double bogeyed the ninth to lose momentum.
But he never let it slide completely, which is a measure of his new maturity.
For the first time, he had his own mascot, an Elvis impersonator behind the green at the 15th.
“I mean, you can’t miss that outfit, so I ended up lagging my putt down from like 15, 20 feet and then I threw the ball right to him because it’s pretty cool seeing that stuff though,” he said. “That was probably one of the highlights of the day actually, besides the golf.”
Some commentary about his pace of play – Cameron Smith alluded to it on Friday – did not bother him either.
“I’m not putting too much emphasis on it,” he said. “I mean, I felt like I did a really good job today at making sure that I was always the first person to walk first off the tee box, and I did a good job with my pace today.”
Lucas Herbert has been here before, so to speak.
At the 2017 ISPS HANDA Australian Open in Sydney he played in the final group on the last day and faded, and last year at The Australian he hit the lead midway through his round but threw in a double bogey to extinguish his fire.
On Sunday, we will all find out exactly how much the Victorian has improved because in the whole world, there is no other tournament outside a major that he would rather win.
Especially at home, with family and friends in tow, on a course where he often played pennant for Commonwealth as a teenage prodigy from the provincial city of Bendigo.
Herbert shares the lead with American rookie pro Ryggs Johnston at 14-under through three rounds having cobbled a third-round 72, even-par, despite not bringing his best in wet conditions that encouraged low-scoring on soft greens.
“A little bit frustrating, but sort of no ground lost really,” he said. “I’m still in the lead, might just let a few more people back in the tournament, but still leading, still where I want to be.”
Melburnian Jasper Stubbs, Queenslander Elvis Smylie (who threw his golf ball to an Elvis impersonator behind the 15th green), defending champion Joaquin Niemann (64 today), China’s Wenyi Ding and Finland’s Oliver Lindell are all well-placed at 12 under, just two from the lead.
Another local favourite Marc Leishman (68 today) is in the group at 11-under who are also well within reach. There are 11 players within three shots at the top heading into what will be a pulsating Sunday at Kingston Heath.
Herbert begin with a four-shot lead and was quickly reeled in, then overtaken by Ryggs, the 24-year-old from upcountry Montana who’s hanging out to go back to America for a spot of fishing in a few weeks’ time.
Johnston, whose Christian name comes from Mel Gibson’s character in the Lethal Weapon movie, made five birdies in six holes from the fourth and held the lead outright for a stretch.
But Herbert made a great birdie on the par-4 ninth and parred the last nine holes. That was enough for a share of the lead thanks to the American’s meltdown double bogey at the 14th when he drove into the mulga.
He’s a different player now; more settled than he used to be, and physically stronger since he’s found the weight room for the first time in his life. His success on the PGA Tour and his switch to LIV Golf have made him wealthy; but an Australian Open win would be priceless for him.
Riggs is playing just his second pro tournament having graduated through DP World Tour school and said that the experience had helped him. “That final round (at tour school) is one of the most pressured. I mean, it’s a different type of pressure there and I did pretty well. So I just try to take that with me and use it as something we’ll look back on to kind tell myself that, ‘hey there, a lot of people watch it and a lot of pressure, but you can still do this’.”
Herbert, his playing partner, certainly noticed a certain freedom to the American’s play. “It looks so easy for Ryggs who doesn’t probably care about the Australian Open as much as I do, with no disrespect to him. It just means so much being my home national Open, I’d love to put one of these on my resume.”
One Australian who won’t lift the Stonehaven Trophy is Cameron Smith (76 today), who at one point on Friday was 11-under, but who from that point played 25 holes without a birdie.
PHOTO: Lucas Herbert drives during round three at Kingston Heath. Image: Daniel Pockett
Joaquin Niemann wasn’t in a good mood after he bogeyed his first hole of the third round of the 2024 ISPS HANDA Australian Open.
But his outlook had changed completely 17 holes later when he holed a lengthy par putt to sign off on an 8-under-par 64 at Kingston Heath that has kept his title defence well and truly alive.
After being eight back from overnight leader Lucas Herbert, the Chilean will start the final round just two shots adrift of joint leaders Herbert and Ryggs Johnston.
He says it would be “super nice” to put his name on the Stonehaven Cup for a second time to follow on from his playoff victory at The Australian last year.
“I knew I need to play well because I was way behind,” Niemann said.
“I think in the morning it was a little bit tougher so I took advantage of that. We’re back in it.”
The only bogey of Niemann’s round came at his opener, the par-4 10th. He then collected seven birdies to go with an eagle at the par-5 first.
“I got pretty pissed about that first bogey of the day. At the start of the day, you don’t really want to start with a bogey, especially if you want to move up on the leaderboard.
“Fortunately I made a great putt on 11 and that got me back into it.”
Among the other big movers were West Australian Curtis Luck who shot a 65 to claim to a share of eighth and Switzerland’s Joel Girrbach, who was out in the first group of the morning and carded a 65 of his own. They are both at 11-under, three back.
Victorian David Bransdon conjured six birdies in his final nine holes to match Adam Henwood’s 10-under total and share victory at the Gold Coast Senior PGA Championship.
The $40,000 two-day event sponsored by Pimpama City Shopping Centre again drew an exceptional field to Lakelands Golf Club.
In spite of all the recent wet weather, the course was in fantastic condition, the best of the PGA Legends Tour taking full advantage.
Henwood shot 7-under 65 on day one to take a one-stroke lead into Round 2 and followed it with a round of 3-under 69 in the morning wave to set the mark at 10-under.
It looked like holding up for most of the afternoon until Bransdon swooped late, including a birdie from 20 feet at his final hole, the par-4 10th, the toughest hole on the golf course.
“I was trying to hit it close. I had a good number,” Bransdon said of his approach into his final hole.
“I was in the middle of the fairway, 8-iron in, 139 metres, little head breeze and I thought little draw in there. Didn’t quite draw and it actually landed softly, which was unusual today because the greens were quite firm.”
Order of Merit leader Andre Stolz (67) also finished strongly on Friday but had to settle for a share of third alongside Brad Burns (67) with Derrin Morgan (70) and Peter Senior (69) tied for fifth.
HOW THE WINNING ROUNDS UNFOLDED
After eight birdies in Round 1, Henwood arrived at Lakelands on Friday with similar intent.
His putter failed to respond, however, and he was 1-over through 10 holes thanks to a double-bogey at the par-4 18th.
A birdie t the par-5 second got him back to square on his round and then he surged forward courtesy of an eagle at the par-5 fifth and final birdie at the par-4 eighth.
Bransdon also did his best work on the Lakelands front nine.
Starting from the par-5 11th, Bransdon was even par through nine holes before unleashing a run of four straight birdies from the par-3 second to instigate his final flurry.
WHAT THE WINNERS SAID
Bransdon: “I was even par after eight holes and went, Maybe we’re playing for second or third. Then I got on a bit of a run and reeled off six birdies in the next 10 holes. I hit 3-wood into that seventh hole that we were playing as a driveable par 4 and made par and went, Here we go. And then I birded eight and then hit a nice shot into nine and missed a bit of a short one. And then I hit an awesome 4-wood down 10, the hardest hole on the golf course, then hit 8-iron to about 20 feet and I popped it in and I went, Wow, there we go.”
Henwood: “I actually played great the first eight holes and then just made the dumbest double on the 18th. I didn’t do anything different. I holed a couple of six-footers and the rest were… I just kept playing. It was just all on putter today mate, and I just couldn’t get it done. But I holed a couple on the last four holes and the eagle putt was nice.”
LEADERBOARD RUNDOWN
T1 Adam Henwood 65-69—134
T1 David Bransdon 68-66—134
T3 Andre Stolz 68-67—135
T3 Brad Burns 68-67—135
T5 Derrin Morgan 66-70—136
T5 Peter Senior 67-69—136
7 Nigel Lane 67-70—137
NEXT UP
The PGA Legends Tour heads north to the Sunshine Coast on Monday for the NewGen Caravans Tin Can Bay Legends Pro-Am at Tin Can Bay Country Club, the start of the end-of-season run that concludes with the Queensland Senior PGA Championship on December 15.
Lucas Herbert has kept his foot on the pedal to extend his lead at the halfway mark of the ISPS HANDA Australian Open at Kingston Heath but remains very wary of the challenge coming from his Ripper GC captain Cam Smith.
Thanks to a 6-under-par 66 which followed his first day 63 at Victoria Golf Club, Herbert sits at 14-under with a four-shot lead over American Ryggs Johnston (65-68)
A healthy group of six players are tied third at 9-under, headlined by last week’s BMW Australian PGA Champion Elvis Smylie, who produced one of the shots of the day from a fairway bunker to just a few feet to grab a final birdie on 18 to close out an 8-under round of 64.
Tied with Smylie are a string of internationals, with Americans Harry Higgs (68) and Jordan Gumberg (69) continuing their love of the Sandbelt, while DP World Tour players Oliver Lindell (69), Lukas Nemecz (66) and Matthew Southgate (68) are all well placed to try chase down Herbert.
Cam Smith is T16 at 6-under after a 72 today where he shot 5-under on the front nine before slipping up with three bogeys and a double-bogey on his back nine.
Playing in the afternoon sunshine at Kingston Heath today though, the attention was largely on three men – Herbert, Smith, and Smylie, as the wind whipped through Melbourne’s bayside region.
Not wanting to relinquish his overnight lead, Herbert got about scoring fast and early. Eagle, birdie, birdie had the NSW Open champion reach 12-under for the championship before some of the afternoon groups had even started to walk to the first tee.
The scoring slowed from the fourth though, and 12-under is where he would remain as he made the turn.
“I thought it was funny. I played pretty good yesterday, just didn’t really putt that well and then felt like I putted really well today, scrambled really well and the rest of the game was sort of off,” Herbert said.
“So it was kind of funny. It was like two days of polar opposites to have good scores.”
In the group ahead Herbert, two men were making a charge in Smith and Smylie.
Like Smith, Smylie turned in 5-under, but unlike the 2022 Open champion, he was able to keep the foot on the pedal to get himself back in the Open after a modest 1-under 70 at Victoria on day one.
“It felt like the whole group did a really good job at feeding off each other, momentum wise,” said Smylie.
“We holed a lot of putts on the front nine and the course was playing quite scoreable, so I felt like we did a really good job at capitalising on some of those.”
A Herbert bogey on 10, his first of the week, looked as if he may be heading down the Smith route, however the Bendigo boy shook it off quickly with a string of three birdies 13 through 15.
The pin on The Heath’s famous 15th was treacherously tucked in the front funnel, but as Herbert’s tee shot danced around the pin and he tapped in for birdie, it was clear he is a class above this week so far.
“Some tricky tee shots on that back nine and just to stay really positive with the swings I was making, I’m really proud of those last three or four holes there,” Herbert said.
“16 tee shot, not an easy one. The 18 tee shot not an easy one under the circumstances and I thought I handed them really, really well.”
Two weeks ago it was Herbert chasing Smith to claim the NSW Open at Murray Downs, and while he will start Saturday’s round 8-shots clear of the 2022 Open champion, Herbert is not counting him out. After all, he did it to Rory at St Andrews.
“I’m expecting him to make a run,” Herbert said. “I can’t shoot 72-72 this weekend and expect to win this golf tournament.
“There’s a lot of work still to be done, and I’m expecting these guys behind me to make a charge.”
American Matthew Siporin hopes to turn a win on the adidas PGA Pro-Am Series into better results on the Challenger PGA Tour of Australasia.
Earning his card at Q School at Moonah Links in April, Siporin shot even par 72 at Friday’s IK Harrison Pro-Am at Elanora Country Club to be declared joint winner with New South Welshman Jay Mackenzie (72).
In Australia since the WA PGA Championship at Kalgoorlie, Siporin has missed all five cuts to date but hopes to use his Elanora win as a springboard into the rest of the season.
“I’m hoping I’ve turned a little bit of a page here,” said the California native.
“What made me come down was just the chance to play on a tour somewhere else.
“I’d heard that the Australian tour is an up-and-coming and developmental tour with good players and decent purses. I just wanted to explore the world and see a new place and meet new people and played different tracks.
“I came out here and made the trip and making lasting memories. That’s what it’s about.”
Siporin had three birdies and three bogeys in his even-par round, Mackenzie’s round consisting of a lone birdie at two and a single bogey at the short par-3 17th.
The pair finished one stroke clear of a group of seven players at 1-over 73 including Monash Country Club Head Professional, Torie Blakemore.
HOW THE WINNING ROUNDS UNFOLDED
When Mackenzie began his round with a bogey on 17, a winning speech at presentations was the furthest thing from his mind.
It took just three holes to get back to square with the card courtesy of a birdie at the par-5 second and then Mackenzie peeled off 14 straight pars to close out his round.
Starting from the par-4 14th, Siporin was 2-under on his round after birdies at 16 and two but made bogeys at four, nine and 10 to drop to 1-over. The short par-4 13th would be Siporin’s final hole, successfully finding the birdie that would tie the lead.
WHAT THE WINNERS SAID
Siporin: “The course was just magnificent. I hadn’t seen it before teeing off today and it far exceeded all expectations that I had coming into it. It was great. It was challenging, it was fair. The pin locations were good, it’s a great track. Glad I came out here and played some good golf.”
Mackenzie: “It was a good day. I played with a couple of nice guys and Anthony Choat, which was nice. Chipped and putted well. Probably didn’t hit the ball the best, but chipped and putted good so that kept me in it.”
LEADERBOARD RUNDOWN
T1 Jay Mackenzie 72
T1 Matthew Siporin 72
T3 Andrew Richards 73
T3 James Grierson 73
T3 Torie Blakemore 73
T3 Joseph Owen 73
T3 Jayden Cripps 73
T3 Anthony Choat 73
T3 Aaron Maxwell 73
NEXT UP
The adidas PGA Pro-Am Series is at Pymble Golf Club on Monday for the NSW/ACT PGA Foursomes Championship and then heads to Melbourne on Tuesday for the Eastwood Golf Club Pro-Am.
PGA Professional Adrian Wickstein talks through the change Jack Buchanan made that has helped him to make more putts that matter.
At the 2023 Asia-Pacific Amateur at Royal Melbourne, I asked Jack’s parents to film every putt.
And there were plenty.
What we noticed was that there was no consistency in his routine before each putt. Sometimes he’d have four practise strokes. Sometimes it’d be next to the ball, sometimes it’d be behind the ball.
Making putts when it matters is a combination of process and skill competency and a lack of a pre-putt routine was holding Jack back.
When establishing any pre-shot routine it is important to tailor it to the individual’s personality. Jack is quite fast-paced and relaxed so we built a routine that was a little bit quicker than most others but enough time to soak in the information that’s required.
Green reading is an element of the routine but the actual process of hitting the shot consists of a practise stroke behind the ball, stepping in, right hand on the putter, left hand on his left thigh and then he takes the grip and goes for it.
He did that for every putt when he won both the WA PGA Championship and the Webex Players Series South Australia in October but there was one putt, in particular, that stood out to me.
It wasn’t the putt to win in Kalgoorlie (pictured), but the 12-footer Jack had to make at the first playoff hole.
Jordan Doull made a 40-footer for birdie and Jack had to step in and match it to force a second playoff hole.
If you want consistency, you have to do things consistently. A pre-shot routine is a great step towards that.
Adrian Wickstein is the Golf Performance Manager at Kooyonga Golf Club in Adelaide and the State High Performance Manager – SA at Golf Australia.
He went toe-to-toe with superstars Cameron Smith and Lucas Herbert at the NSW Open and now Alex Simpson has earned a share of victory at the Tee’d Up Cart Insurance/Kohinor Scaffolding Asquith Pro-Am.
Asquith Golf Club welcomed a strong field on Thursday, Simpson’s form at the NSW Open where he finished tied for second behind Herbert and level with Smith holding up in a round of 6-under 64.
He was one of three players to post 64, joined on the winner’s podium by fellow New South Welshman Aaron Townsend and West Australian Joseph Owen.
As he eyes a return to the Challenger PGA Tour of Australasia at next week’s Victorian PGA Championship, Simpson was happy to see his Murray Downs form carry over.
“It’s definitely a massive boost of confidence, being able to hold my own in that company and have a nice result there,” said the 41-year-old.
“I felt that today. Just feeling good about my game and that things are heading in the right direction.
“Looking forward to playing the tour events for the remainder of the season and finishing as high up as I can there and see what happens.”
Victorian Aiden Didone (65) finished one shot back to grab solo fourth as five players returned scores of 3-under 67.
HOW THE WINNING ROUNDS UNFOLDED
Three-under through 10 holes, Simpson needed a late surge to join Townsend and Owen at the top of the leaderboard.
His round began with a par at the par-4 16th and with six birdies and a bogey, Simpson was 5-under with three holes to play.
Simpson made birdie at the par-5 13th but dropped a shot at the par-3 14th, an eighth and final birdie at the par-5 15th getting him to 6-under.
Owen, too, needed a final flurry to earn just his second adidas PGA Pro-Am Series win in his rookie season.
Owen had just one birdie in his first nine holes but had four birdies, a bogey and an eagle at the par-5 first to finish at 6-under.
There was just a lone bogey in Townsend’s round of 64, three successive birdies from the par-5 eighth crucial in joining Owen and Simpson at the top of the leaderboard.
WHAT THE WINNERS SAID
Simpson: “The conditions were pretty conducive to low scoring. I thought it was pretty soft and the greens were rolling nicely. Managed to roll a few in early and just kept it going.”
Owen: “I had never played here so I thought I was going to play it fairly conservative and just build my way into the round, which I did. “Got hot late where I made a few birdies in a row and eagled one, which was my third last hole. It was a slowish start and then got hot at the end, which got me up there leaderboard.”
Townsend: “It’s a fun golf course to play. I got off to a nice start, made a couple of birdies early, but I just hit the ball in play a lot. I made a couple of nice putts early and that’s what you need, to see the ball go in. The greens were fantastic. Tiny bit slow, but that’s probably expected for the hot weather we’ve had but they rolled incredibly well.”
LEADERBOARD RUNDOWN
T1 Aaron Townsend 64
T1 Joseph Owen 64
T1 Alex Simpson 64
4 Aiden Didone 65
T5 Alex Edge 67
T5 Andre Lautee 67
T5 Luke Malcolm 67
T5 Dean Mulley 67
T5 Jay Mackenzie 67
NEXT UP
The Sydney swing continues on Friday with the I.K. Harrison Elanora Pro-Am at Elanora Country Club and then on Monday Pymble Golf Club hosts the NSW/ACT Foursomes Championship.
With low scoring aplenty on day one of the ISPS HANDA Australian Open across both Kingston Heath and The Victorian golf clubs, it was Lucas Herbert who stood tall above the rest.
A blemish free 8-under 63 early today at Victoria was good enough to secure a one-shot day one lead over Japanese amateur Rintaro Nakano and American Ryggs Johnston, who were both at Kingston Heath for round one.
There are four players tied fourth at 6-under, all of whom played at Victoria on day one. The 2022 Open champion Cameron Smith and last season’s Challenger PGA Tour of Australasia Order of Merit winner Kazuma Kobori are joined by Finland’s Oliver Lindell and American Jordan Gumberg, who had the low afternoon round.
Despite grabbing the lead, Herbert, a Victorian who played much of his teenage golf on the Sandbelt, still felt like he could have got more out of his day.
“I felt like there was a lot of shots left out there, I feel like that with every round of golf, to be fair,” Herbert said with a smile.
“I didn’t really think I holed that many putts, just hit it quite nicely. Got it into the right spots.
“Probably got a couple of lucky breaks here and there where shots that maybe weren’t the best didn’t get punished the way they could have.
“Look, if that’s the worst round of the week, I’d be pretty happy.”
Starting on Victoria’s 10th hole, in the shadow of the Peter Thomson statue, Herbert opened his account with three pars but was quickly able to take advantage of his length with birdies at 13, and the famous short par-4 15th.
Back-to-back birdies at the 17th and 18th, both par-5s, had the NSW Open champion turn in 4-under, keeping up with Smith ahead of him who was making birdies for fun around the turn.
Herbert kept the foot on the pedal on his second nine, making yet another birdie on the short first, before the scoring finally paused.
Not for long though, with a further birdie at six, before a stunning eagle at the par-5 ninth put an exclamation mark on a near-perfect opening day.
“Slightly pulled my tee shot there, just down the left. Kind of got a little lucky it didn’t bounce and get into that thicker stuff,” Herbert said of his finishing hole.
“To put it up there pretty close and then to roll it in for the eagle, just put a nice finish on the end of that round.”
Having held him off at Murray Downs two weeks ago, Herbert knows that Smith will be the one to watch out for in the chasing pack.
“He will be the guy to beat this week I’d imagine,” Herbert said. “He’s been in some great form, he’s obviously finished, I think third, second, second in the last three events.
“I’ll be shocked if he’s not pushing me pretty hard on the weekend or I’m pushing him pretty hard on the weekend to win the Stonehaven Cup.”
Smith is keen to get one back on his Ripper GC teammate after the NSW Open, but says it’s going to be no easy feat, and isn’t counting out another Victorian either.
“I know he (Herbert) is playing really good golf and there’s a ton of other guys as well,” said Smith
“Leish is playing really good. His caddie Matty was saying how good he’s hitting it, so it’s going to be a good weekend.”
Leishman started with a 3-under 68 at Victoria. Meanwhile American Harry Higgs is well in touch after a 5-under 66, with the PGA TOUR player happy to find the consistency that was lacking in Brisbane.
A surprise bolter on day one is the 21-year-old Japanese amateur Nakano, who won the 2023 Japanese Amateur Championship and has played one US PGA TOUR event.
He was at -8 before bogeying the par-4 final hole at Kingston Heath.
Last week’s BMW Australian PGA champion Elvis Smylie opened his Open account with a 1-under 70, after fighting back from being 3-over early.
With a first-round of 65 in the bank, and facing soft conditions on the Sandbelt, Cameron Smith has his sights on accumulating a 20-under-par total at the ISPS HANDA Australian Open.
The former Open champion has made no secret of his desire to win his national open and he made a strong start at The Victoria Golf Club today, ending two shots behind leader Lucas Herbert.
His second round will be at Kingston Heath on Friday afternoon where a huge crowd is expected to see how low Smith can go.
“I mean if it stays like this, it probably would be close to 20-under if there’s no wind, which is crazy,” Smith said when asked post-round what score might win this week.
“Usually around here if you get off to a nice start, anywhere in those kind of high singles to maybe 10 or 11 under is a really good score.
“Hopefully it firms up a little bit and it’s a bit of a tougher test.”
After a sluggish start, Smith was +1 through his first four holes but he rattled off six straight birdies either side of the turn to move up the leaderboard.
Back-to-back birdies on his last two holes, the eighth and ninth at Victoria, left the Ripper GC captain in a good mood.
“I didn’t do really much wrong today,” he said.
“It was a bit of a slow start, obviously being so early, getting up so early.
“I think just a bit draggy there at the start and then finally woke up, the coffee worked and I got on a good roll there through the turn.
“I didn’t do too much wrong from probably the second or third hole.”
Playing with Smith, new BMW Australian PGA champion Elvis Smylie slipped to +3 after seven holes before fighting back to post a 1-under 70.
