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Saturday of the Webex Players Series Sydney started with rain for the early groups, then wind whipping up, meaning the low scores on offer all week became rarer. That wasn’t the case for Harrison Crowe, however, who shares the lead on 18-under with Jenny Shin, Kerry Mountcastle and Kazuma Kobori with 18 holes to play.
After threatening to go exceptionally low on Saturday, Crowe signed for a second straight 64 that once again could have been better.
Turning in 30 after four birdies and an eagle, the former amateur star slipped up at the par-3 11th with one of only two shots in the round that were noticeably mis-cued, the other a flared right second shot with 3-wood at the 18th.
Crowe’s three birdie back nine, including at the par-5 18th, after standing bobbing his head to Taylor Swift from a nearby marquee, putting him in a good mood as he headed for the hour long drive home.
“I hit it short of the water on 11. I just didn’t think the tree was in play, but it has been really good tee to green the last two days,” Crowe said with a smile.
“I think off the tee it’s been exceptionally good, just putting myself in spots and obviously got hot that front nine, and kind of slowed up a little on the back with a couple of missed putts.”
Missed putts has been the story of the last two days for Crowe, but there was improvement after a quick putting lesson from coach John Serhan on Friday that has the former NSW Open winner in a good headspace, and final group alongside Shin.
“You can really get stuck in that mindset that you’re not holing anything,” he said. “I did my best today at reassuring myself before the putt that if it doesn’t go in, or missed, it wasn’t me.”
Similarly finding frustration at times when missing birdie opportunities, including at the driveable 16th where she wanted to “helicopter” her putter, Shin struggled early during round three at Castle Hill Country Club.
Battling her body and the pulls, Shin talked through the issue with caddie/boyfriend and former Osteopath Zoot, before birdieing the last for 68.
“We kind of figured it out, I had like seven swing thoughts the last fourteen holes, but yeah dropped some putts. Felt like I should have made birdie on 16, really sad about that, but overall, pretty decent considering how windy it was,” Shin said.
The wind was also a factor for Mountcastle, who had a very up and down day including two eagles, five birdies, three bogeys and one double bogey for four-under 68.
“That was a very interesting day, the good was good and the bad was bad,” Mountcastle said.
“To keep myself in contention obviously, it was a pretty tough with the wind out there, so just to keep myself there or thereabouts where anything can happen.”
Keeping himself in contention included a lipped in birdie putt from 12 feet at the last, while in the same group, Kobori headed straight for the putting green after his own birdie attempt to lead alone from five feet failed to drop.
Having three bogeys of his own against six birdies, Kobori noted how much he is enjoying his elevated status and attention as a two-time Webex Players Series winner already in 2024.
His reflections on the toughest day he has experienced on course for a while perhaps an ominous warning for his three fellow leaders. So too the chasing pack that starts with Brendan Jones and Justin Warren three back on 15-under.
“It’s always like you are never as far away or you are never as good as you think you are in this game,” Kobori said.
“So, all I can do is figure out what I did today and there were definitely some key learnings that I will be taking into tomorrow. And then play how I have been playing for the last month, I’ve got the job done twice, so I kind of know what it takes, then go out there and do it.”
Despite Kobori’s recent form, Mountcastle will know better golf is ahead of him on Sunday, while Shin is a proven LPGA Tour winner and Crowe has looked on the verge of a special round all week.
Meanwhile, Jones will be hoping for a better Sunday front nine, while Warren is known to make birdies in bunches, and the likes of Braden Becker and James Gibellini on 14-under have already thrown low rounds in this week.
The veteran Jones perhaps summing up how Sunday will look for all of the congested leaderboard.
“At the end of the day I can’t do anything about anyone else, I just got to do my own thing,” he said.
In the Junior section, Harry Whitelock was the lone player to break par (two-under) and leads by two from Rachel Lee on even par, while Cameron Pollard looks in line for more success in the All Abilities field. His six-over score good for a seven shot advantage over Lochie Smith.
The career of Justin Warren has always been fascinating to observe. The prodigious hitter coming to a realisation after a disappointing finish to 2024 that could dramatically alter his trajectory.
Hailing from Picton in south-west Sydney, Warren’s talent for the game has never been questioned.
Not just a bomber off the tee, the 28-year-old is the type of player regularly described as having “great hands for a big man” yet results as a professional have been what could have been.
Personified by the New South Welshman’s missed putt from 18 inches to fall short of a spot at the 2021 Barracuda Championship on the PGA Tour.
Warren got redemption by qualifying into the same tournament the next year, however, once again it was a case of what could have been that kick started a new era as he finished 2023.
Right in the mix with Adam Scott at the Cathedral Invitational, Warren made a double bogey followed by a triple to drop out of the race for a career changing first place cheque.
“That’s golf, it’s just brutal,” he said at the time.
However, after a birdie chip bounced out of the hole for a 62 on Friday at the Webex Players Series Sydney, Warren reflected on the moment that saw him return in 2024 to earn playing rights on the Asian Tour last month.
“I think I just kind of realised that, obviously this is our profession, and this is what we do, and as much as we might say we don’t play for the money, at the end of the day, we play for money,” he said.
“I think a lot of those results like I had at Cathedral, not that I am choking or things like that, but it’s costing me a lot.
“I just kind of went ‘It’s just time to grow up and start being a professional and play some proper smart, professional golf’.”
Realising that minimising mistakes combined with taking opportunities is the key to success, Warren has certainly showed his new mindset at Castle Hill Country Club where he sits in a tie for fifth halfway.
The ‘new’ Warren even more clearly on display at qualifying for the Asian Tour where he was third and one of six Australians to earn their card for 2024 alongside Harrison Crowe, Sam Brazel, Lachlan Barker, Jordan Zunic and Maverick Antcliff.
“I just decided after the double-triple at cathedral, that it was time to mature and be a little bit smarter about the way I play and the way I handle myself on the golf course,” he said.
Where that attitude sees him finish in his home city before he departs for Asia as part of a seven week tournament run will play out over this weekend.
And if there is any doubt that the new mindset might curb Warren’s ability to go low, had his chip dropped for 62 on Friday, it would have been his third such score of 2024.
“I’ve had two 62s in the last four weeks, that would have been third,” he said with a wry smile on his face.
It was another day full of birdies at Castle Hill Country Club, as players threatened the 60 mark, but yet again it was the winner of the two previous 2024 Webex Players Series events, Kazuma Kobori, who will enter the weekend on top in Sydney.
After closing his opening round with seven straight birdies, the Kiwi was straight back into it with an eagle at the 1st hole on Friday. Kobori adding six more birdies to sign for a 64 and 15-under total.
The 22-year-old one clear of Kerry Mountcastle (65), Jenny Shin (67) and James Gibellini who had the round of the day, a 10-under 62, to make it a trio at 14-under.
“It was probably a better round of golf to be honest,” Kobori said.
“I stayed pretty patient for the most part out there, probably didn’t putt as good as yesterday on the stat sheet, but struck the ball really good. For most part had a pretty stress free round of golf.”
To watch the now three-time Challenger PGA Tour of Australasia winner go about his business of late has been something of a putting clinic, with Kobori believing his work with the flatstick could prove an advantage over the weekend.
A weekend when a shoot-out is anticipated on a layout Kobori fell in love with the moment he entered the gates.
“I really enjoy this course,” he said. “I walked up to the course I think it was Tuesday morning and you get courses where you just walk up and go ‘Okay, I kind of like this place’.”
Shin certainly had different feelings given she was unaware the Webex Players Series Sydney was a mixed event as she looks to prepare for her season on the LPGA Tour.
However, she was far more at ease in the format on Friday, even if she made her first bogeys of the week after what she described as a “brain fart” at 13.
“Way better, felt like riding a bike, I kind of knew exactly what to expect, which is why I think I started off pretty well,” Shin said comparing her 1st tee nerves from Thursday.
The Korean LPGA Tour winner chasing her first trophy since 2016 on Saturday and Sunday.
“I think a win is a win, and I’ve not won anything since 2016, so I don’t think it matters where I am, a win is always going to feel like the biggest accomplishment,” she said.
Mountcastle has far more recent memories of a win after his triumph late last year at the Gippsland Super 6.
“In a way it might have hindered me in terms of raising expectations, but then it also you know that you can go out and win,” Mountcastle reflected.
“It means that my good golf is good enough, it’s just being able to do it a bit more often.”
Gibellini’s expectations were also in an interesting place entering the week, having started 2024 with an optimistic mindset.
Missing the cut in two of three starts, Gibellini found magic on his back nine with five birdies in his last six holes for a career best 62 and share of second. A score perhaps more surprising given he is sleeping on the floor of a room packed with taxidermy.
“If you look at Vic Open, I think I was third last, so I was kind of a bit worried that I thought my game was good after Christmas, but I was bit worried. But this has shored it up a bit,” Gibellini said.
“I just thought, ‘Keep doing what you’re doing, keep giving yourself chances’. Never really tried to push.”
Perhaps less surprising was Justin Warren nearly matching the low round of the week. The New South Welshman signing for 63 after his birdie chip at his final hole of the day, the 9th, hit the pin and failed to drop and denied him a third 62 of the year.
Overnight co-leader Josh Armstrong is alongside Warren in a tie for fifth on 13-under, with home hope Daniel Gale lurking another shot back.
The low scores of the first two days giving the remainder of the chasing pack plenty of hope including Andrew Evans, Lincoln Tighe and Jeffrey Guan on 11-under, while Harrison Crowe was left with the unusual feeling of disappointment after an eight-under where he missed chances on his last five holes to sit in a six player group on 10-under.
Jenny Shin got something of a surprise when she arrived back in Australia for the Webex Players Series Sydney, however, neither she nor co-leader Josh Armstrong were shocked by their matching nine-under 63s on the opening day.
A winner on the LPGA Tour, Shin was in Australia for an extended holiday following the Australian Open before returning to America then coming back for what she thought was only a WPGA Tour of Australasia event.
“I didn’t even know it was a mixed event, and I didn’t even know I was playing against the men until I got here on Tuesday,” Shin said.
“My mindset went from it’s going to be fairly easy, to whoa, it’s actually going to be very difficult, I have to really focus.”
Focus she did, as the U.S. based Korean started with a birdie on the 10th, her first hole of the day.
Shin eventually signing for a bogey-free, nine-birdie round at Castle Hill Country Club, with playing partner Jake McLeod noting how easily Shin went about the score, so too tournament host Braith Anasta caddying for McLeod.
On the same side of the draw, Armstrong’s 63 featured more variation, with the long hitting New South Welshman making nine birdies, one eagle and two bogeys, including at the 9th, his final hole to fall back into a tie with Shin.
“To be fair, yes,” Armstrong said when asked if this sort of score was on the radar.
“Last week I had a bit of stomach bug, which didn’t help. But overall, the game’s feeling really good, I just haven’t really knocked on the door that much, so patience is a virtue I guess.”
Patience was also the name of the game for Kazuma Kobori.
The Kiwi sitting in a share of third on seven-under with compatriot Kerry Mountcastle after what could only be described as a tale of two nines.
Playing alongside Castle Hill’s own Daniel Gale and surround by a following of Gale’s fellow members, Kobori started his day with a double bogey, before turning in one-over on the course’s back nine. A nine holes where Gale recorded a four-under 32 that included two eagles and a triple bogey seven.
Kobori birdied the 1st to get back to even par, then closed his opening round with seven straight birdies, a feat the two-time Webex Players Series winner isn’t sure he has ever matched.
“I was pretty miserable, like great course, playing with Galey is always pretty fun, and I was like ‘You know what, let’s try a bit less, like 10 percent less, and have fun out there’,” Kobori said.
One back of Kobori and Mountcastle on six-under are four players, all of whom are playing with new feelings that helped their cause.
Jeffrey Guan and Andre Lautee put new drivers in play over the past week, while Brady Watt has a new putter and Jarryd Felton believes his wedding earlier this year to major champion Hannah Green has helped rediscover form.
“Maybe I got some of her golfing ability,” Felton joked. “But no, obviously the wedding was a few weeks ago now, it was an unbelievable day.
“It’s been really good, bit of weight of our shoulders for both of us, just kind of go with the flow.”
Behind Felton and Kobori sit 12 players on five-under, including Gale and the evergreen Peter Lonard who found some joy after adding loft to his driver on Wednesday afternoon to find more fairways.
The bunched group at five-under and large group another shot adrift with plenty of ground to make up on the leading pair, with Armstrong a potentially dangerous competitor as he continues to learn the ropes of professional golf.
“It’s very easy to think, ‘Why am I not in that position’. But at the same time, you kind of just keep doing your own thing. And I think I am starting to finally understand that, but I don’t know if I have fully got it yet,” Armstrong said.
Shin also a threatening front runner as a winner on the premier women’s Tour in the world, in a country she enjoys, with boyfriend Zoot Sanders-Vaughan playing caddie this week and likely with significantly less nerves due to the format come Friday’s second round.
“1st hole my adrenaline was pumping, I was almost shaking. I just have played tournament golf in like two months. My adrenaline was through the roof, I was very nervous, I didn’t want to embarrass myself in front of the boys,” Shin said.
Australia’s Harrison Endycott is relishing the opportunity to play around the world and is taking inspiration from Dylan Frittelli’s recent success ahead of the Commercial Bank Qatar Masters.
The DP World Tour returns to Doha Golf Club this week just over 100 days since the last staging of the Commercial Bank Qatar Masters, as the event enters its 27th year on the schedule.
Frittelli triumphed at last week’s Bahrain Championship presented by Bapco Energies and Endycott, who has similar playing rights to his South African counterpart, is hoping to follow in his footsteps to secure full privileges on the DP World Tour.
The 27-year-old Sydney native won on the Korn Ferry Tour in 2022 to earn a PGA TOUR card and will split his time between America and the DP World Tour in the 2024 season, which started with a tie for 16th in Manama last week.
“It’s great to be able to play over here on the DP World Tour,” Endycott said.
“I haven’t had a load of chances to play over here on this tour, but every time I have, I’ve really enjoyed it.
“I’d like to play a bit of both on my schedule this year. The way golf is, the States does get to some players, especially me, a bit repetitive, and to mix it up with another schedule, this is a global game and to be able to play around the world, it’s all I dreamed of as a kid.
“Now I’m in that position where I get to play all around the world, see amazing places and play in all new cultures.
“I’m really excited for this year, I’m going to see all new places that I haven’t seen before and go back to some places that I have seen. That’s what’s really exciting about 2024.”
Photo courtesy of Getty Images
Rhein Gibson has been around long enough to know that you don’t want to be defending titles on the Korn Ferry Tour.
His first victory on the secondary circuit in the United States – the 2019 BMW Charity Pro-Am – led to a return to the PGA TOUR the following year.
Gibson’s 173rd Korn Ferry Tour start this week marks the first time he has defended a tournament win but admits he would rather be somewhere else.
As it did five years ago, his Astara Golf Championship win last year was meant to be the springboard to something better.
With top-10s in two of his three starts following a long-awaited return home to Australia, the New South Welshman seemed destined to earn one of the 25 PGA TOUR cards available on offer at the end of the regular season.
Yet just one top-10 in his last 17 starts saw the now 38-year-old fall to 40th on the moneylist… and with a title to defend the following season.
“It’s probably the one Tour where you don’t want to defend a title,” Gibson admitted.
“It’s the card I’ve been dealt and I’m happy to be here and looking forward to another good week.”
The perfect ending to a great week. 🏆@RheinGibson55 eagled the final hole of the 2023 @CountryBogota to win by four strokes, earning his second career win on the #KornFerryTour.#TOURVault pic.twitter.com/mPLmzjQguz
— Korn Ferry Tour (@KornFerryTour) February 7, 2024
The Country Club de Bogota in Colombia has proven to be a place of significant success for Gibson.
In addition to last year’s win, a tie for eighth formed part of his 2019 season that earned promotion to the PGA TOUR and he has made the cut in all six appearances.
With a season-opening tie for 50th his best result in three starts this year to date, Gibson knows it is a good opportunity to tap into that past success and kick-start his 2024 campaign.
“Wherever you have played good before I think you have good feelings,” said Gibson.
“This was a good springboard last year; I just didn’t play well the second half of the year.
“It would be nice to get off to a good start again and hopefully I can do it here where I’ve done it in the past.”
Gibson’s title defence begins at 12:55am AEDT Friday morning with fellow Aussies Brett Drewitt (11:45pm), Curtis Luck (11:55pm) and Dimi Papadatos (1:05am) also in the field.
Photo: Buda Mendes/Getty Images
West Australian Kirsten Rudgeley hopes to put the pain of a number of near misses to good use this year when she begins her 2024 Ladies European Tour campaign at the Magical Kenya Ladies Open.
A current member of the Golf Australia Rookie Squad, Rudgeley and Kiwi Momoka Kobori are the lone Australasians in action for the LET’s opening event of the season, a season in which sees the return of two co-sanctioned events in Australia (Women’s NSW Open and Australian Women’s Classic).
Rudgeley finished 30th on the moneylist in her rookie season in 2023 but let slip a golden opportunity to log a maiden win in the final event of the season.
Although that missed chance still smarts, the 22-year-old knows it is all part of the process of becoming accustomed to life on tour.
“It’s not great when you miss opportunities like that, but it’s a learning experience,” Rudgeley told the GolfWA website.
“My coach, Craig Bishop, told me to just go out on my first year and take it all in, and I feel like that’s what I did.
“That was good advice, because it’s hard being a rookie, especially all the travel.”
Although reluctant to set specific goals preferring to focus on each week as it comes, Rudgeley does believe that should she be in position to win again, she can finish the job.
“Can I win this year? I hope so,” said Rudgeley, whose amateur wins include the Scottish Women’s Open Championship and the English Women’s Amateur Championship.
“I’ve put myself in the position a couple of times and haven’t quite made it over the line.
“I’m happy with where my game is and my schedule for the year ahead, so if I’m in that position again I’ll be ready for it.”
As Rudgeley chases a first professional win, Rhein Gibson returns to Colombia this week to defend his Astara Golf Championship title.
It sparked the start of a stretch that looked to have the New South Welshman headed back to the PGA TOUR but he had just one top-10 in his last 17 events to finish 40th on the moneylist.
On the PGA TOUR this week, Min Woo Lee and New Zealand’s Ryan Fox make their debuts at the WM Phoenix Open in Scottsdale while David Micheluzzi and Harrison Endycott will be out to build on their top-20 finishes of a week ago at the DP World Tour’s Commercial Bank Qatar Masters.
Cameron Smith and the Ripper GC boys back up this week too, in action at Liv Golf Las Vegas at Las Vegas Country Club.
Photo: Tristan Jones/LET
Round 1 tee times AEDT
PGA TOUR
WM Phoenix Open
TPC Scottsdale (Stadium Cse), Scottsdale, Arizona
1:42am* Aaron Baddeley, Eric Cole, Joseph Bramlett
6:22am* Keith Mitchell, Ben Martin, Min Woo Lee
6:44am Justin Thomas, Adam Scott, Cameron Young
7:39am Mark Hubbard, Robby Shelton, Ryan Fox (NZ)
Prize money: $US8,800,000
Defending champion: Scottie Scheffler
Past Aussie winners: Bruce Crampton (1973), Aaron Baddeley (2007)
TV times: Live 2am-12pm Friday, Saturday; Live 5am-10am Sunday, Monday on Fox Sports 503 and Kayo.
DP World Tour
Commercial Bank Qatar Masters
Doha GC, Doha, Qatar
2:15pm Jaco Prinsloo, Kristian Krogh Johannessen, Sam Jones (NZ)
2:15pm* Marcus Helligkilde, Harrison Endycott, Marcus Kinhult
2:25pm* David Micheluzzi, Ashun Wu, Manuel Elvira
7pm* Jens Dantorp, Alvaro Quiros, Jason Scrivener
8:10pm Daniel Brown, Haotong Li, Daniel Hillier (NZ)
8:30pm* Haydn Barron, Jacques Kruyswijk, Jonas Blixt
Prize money: $US2,500,000
Defending champion: Sami Valimaki
Past Aussie winners: Adam Scott (2002, 2008)
TV times: Live 8pm-1am Thursday, Friday; Live 8:30pm-1am Saturday; Live 7:30pm-12:30am Sunday on Fox Sports 503 and Kayo.
Ladies European Tour
Magical Kenya Ladies Open
Vipingo Ridge, Kenya
4:40pm* Kirsten Rudgeley, Madelene Stavnar, Naomi Wafula (a)
9:27pm* Lauren Walsh, Hayley Davis, Momoka Kobori (NZ)
Prize money: €300,000
Defending champion: Aditi Ashok
Past Aussie winners: Nil
TV times: Live 11pm-2am Thursday on Fox Sports 507 and Kayo.
LIV Golf
LIV Golf Las Vegas
Las Vegas Country Club, Las Vegas, Nevada
Australasians in the field: Cameron Smith, Lucas Herbert, Marc Leishman, Matt Jones, Danny Lee (NZ)
Prize money: $US25,000,000
Defending champion: Inaugural event
Past Aussie winners: Nil
TV times: Live from 4:15am Saturday, Sunday, Monday on 7 Plus.
Korn Ferry Tour
Astara Golf Championship
Country Club de Bogota (Lagos Cse), Bogota, Colombia
11:45pm* Brett Drewitt, Richy Werenski, Wil Bateman
11:55pm* Jorge Fernández Valdés, Curtis Luck, Jackson Suber
12:35am* Dawson Armstrong, Bryson Nimmer, Charlie Hillier (NZ)
12:55am Rhein Gibson, Roberto Díaz, Thomas Rosenmueller
1:05am* Dimi Papadatos, Van Holmgren, Alistair Docherty
Prize money: $US1,000,000
Defending champion: Rhein Gibson
Past Aussie winners: Rhein Gibson (2023)
Challenge Tour
Bain’s Whisky Cape Town Open
Royal Cape Golf Club, Cape Town, South Africa
Aussies in the field: Hayden Hopewell
Prize money: $US350,000
Defending champion: Ben Follett-Smith
Past Aussie winners: Nil
Brendan Jones has plenty of reasons to rest on his laurels and reflect on a marvellous career. Instead, the Canberra based 48-year-old is teeing it up this week at the Webex Players Series Sydney after a T34 last week in the Vic Open as he prepares for a whole new experience as a member of the Asian Tour.
A winner of more than one billion Yen on the Japan Golf Tour, where he won 15 times, Jones has teed it up in majors, played the World Match Play against Tiger Woods, and yet he says his achievements aren’t something he regularly ponders.
“No I don’t think about it, maybe when my time is up, that’ll be the time to think about it,” Jones said Wednesday.
“But while I’m still out playing, and it’s nice to come out here and see the photo of me 20-odd years ago is still there, that sort of brings back a few memories.”
The photo Jones refers to is of a fresh faced member of Castle Hill holding the adidas Australian Amateur trophy aloft in 1999.
“It’s good to see a lot of people I haven’t seen for a long time. The golf course, the holes are still going in the same directions, there’s a few minor changes,” he said.
The local knowledge of Castle Hill will combine with fond memories of the Webex Players Series Sydney for Jones, who after taking up a job as a landscaper during COVID returned to competitive golf at this event in 2022, only to lose in a play-off to Jarryd Felton.
Jones admitting his time away slightly fuelled his competitive fires, although finding himself mostly content with how life after golf looked.
“I was happy, I wasn’t missing golf at all. The only thing I missed about golf was the big cheques every now and then. Forty hours a week landscaping and seeing the cheque I was getting at the end of each week was not cutting the mustard,” he joked.
Jones’ return to his regular day job did indeed yield one of those larger cheques, with his win at the 2023 New Zealand Open not only delivering prizemoney and another trophy, but also his playing rights on the Asian Tour. An experience he is looking forward to immensely.
“Looking forward to it because I’m going to be going to places that I haven’t been before.
“Playing on the Japanese Tour for 20 years, you get used to playing the same courses, going to the same places, eating the same food, sitting at the same chair in a pub, going to the same restaurant and sitting at the same table.
“Seeing some new things before my game goes away from me. It’s quite exciting to be honest.”
The game leaving Jones might be on his mind, but recent form suggests he might be in for a long wait. And with his experience around his former home course and success starting the year in the past, his younger competitors might see just that this week.
“Generally, for me, when I start a season, I’m fresh, I feel quite good and I’ve forgotten about the rubbish that I was dealing with the year before, it seems like this year’s no different.
“I felt like I played quite well last week down in Victoria, and hopefully building to something and with the added excitement of going to new places and playing new golf courses, who knows what can happen.”
The road ahead has not always been clear for Brett Coletta, who was a brilliant junior golfer whose progress stalled when he turned professional and almost utterly halted by the pandemic.
But after he tapped in a par putt for a closing 65 at 13th Beach on Sunday to win the Vic Open, the biggest triumph of his career and his third tour win, Coletta’s journey is becoming more evident.
With double points for the Vic Open, Melburnian Coletta leapt to second on the Challenger PGA Tour of Australasia Order of Merit behind Min Woo Lee.
When he tees it up in the Webex Players Series Sydney at Castle Hill from this Thursday, he will know that when you factor in that PGA TOUR member Lee is on the road and unlikely to play another event on the domestic tour – and that only players who compete in a minimum four events are eligible for Order of Merit status – he’s notionally on top.
With just four tournaments remaining – Sydney, Webex Hunter Valley, the New Zealand Open (with stacked points as well) and The National Tournament Presented by BMW – Coletta is in position to lock in a top-three position which will hand him a DP World Tour card for 2024-25.
If he can finish first, he gets his first-ever major championship start at the Open Championship this July at Royal Troon.
Which is one of the reasons why he is grinding at Castle Hill this week. There’s so much for him to play for.
“Four events left,” he said. “I want to play really well in New Zealand. This helps with the Order Of Merit stuff. But I’m not resting. I want to nestle down and play well in one of those big ones. I want to show myself that I can play well in one of those big ones.”
Coletta is just 27.
His career has not been a straight line. As an amateur at the Victorian Institute of Sport, he won the 2016 Queensland Open against the professionals, was runner-up in the NSW Open the same year and tied-sixth in the Australian PGA Championship.
They were results that had good judges predicting greatness for him.
But until he beat Lincoln Tighe in a playoff at the Webex Players Series Hunter Valley in February last year, he had not won an event playing for money.
He’d spent time on the Korn Ferry Tour in the United States, coming close to qualifying for the PGA TOUR in 2020 but just missing out.
Then came the pandemic, and the travel restrictions.
“I feel like I’m a different person, for sure,” he said.
“I’m 27 now, I was only 23 at the time (when he played so well on the KFT). Definitely some sort of maturing goes on and Covid exacerbates that as well. I was stuck over there, I couldn’t get back, it was just a brutal time.
“I’ve been focusing on my golf full stop, and I’ve been playing really well, something like this (Vic Open) solidifies it for myself.”
PHOTO: Brett Coletta on his way to victory at 13th Beach. Image: Rob Prezioso
ORDER OF MERIT TOP 10
Rank Name Points Played
1 Min Woo Lee 1044 2*
2 Brett Coletta 544.85 11
3 Kazuma Kobori 536.93 8
4 David Micheluzzi 359.40 5
5 Ben Eccles 353.30 13
6 Adam Scott 326.67 2*
7 Jak Carter 321.59 13
8 Marc Leishman 314.93 2*
9 Lachlan Barker 303.74 13
10 Kerry Mountcastle 290.86 14
The WA Open, which will celebrate its 100th staging in 2024, has been locked in for October 17-20.
The WA Open will take place the week after the WA PGA Championship in Kalgoorlie and forms part of the Challenger PGA Tour of Australasia’s Summer of Golf, which builds up to the Australian PGA Championship and Australian Open in November and December.
Mandurah Country Club will host the championship for the first time after GolfWA reached an agreement with Visit Mandurah and the City of Mandurah to bring the event to the Peel region after a 29-year hiatus. Meadow Springs Golf Club was the last club in the region to host the championship back in 1995.
This year’s event will offer a prize fund in excess of $175,000 and will be free for spectators to attend. Tasmanian Simon Hawkes is the defending champion after his thrilling victory at the 2023 WA Open at Joondalup Resort in October.
The WA Open was first staged in 1913 and has a star-studded roll of honour that includes Greg Norman, Gary Player, Terry Gale, Brett Rumford, Stephen Leaney and Curtis Luck.
