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When Adam Scott dropped out of the top 20 in the Official World Golf Ranking between the November Masters of 2020 and the 2021 Sentry Tournament of Champions, he was 40 years of age.
He’d won the Genesis Invitational less than 12 months earlier and a swing that makes grown men drool looked as fluid as ever, but time remains undefeated.
Yes, Jack Nicklaus won the 1986 Masters at 46 years of age and Vijay Singh rose to No.1 in the world for the first time at age 41 professional golf in the 21st century is very much a young man’s game.
You don’t get better after 40; it’s more a matter of who can delay the inevitable slide the longest.
Adam Scott playing his way back into the top 20 in the world at the Tour Championship at East Lake Golf Club deserved more fanfare.
As the golf year draws to its close, Scott remains embedded in the top 20; you have to go down to Justin Rose at No.46 in the world to find another 40-something inside the top 50.
To quote Ron Burgundy of ‘Anchorman’ fame, Scott’s season escalated quickly.
Top 10s at the Hero Dubai Desert Classic and WM Phoenix Open were a solid foundation yet in the lead-up to the US Open Scott’s streak of 91 consecutive majors was in danger as he hovered around 60th in the world.
He lost a playoff to Cam Davis at the US Open qualifier but was given a special exemption on the Monday to tee it up at Pinehurst No.2.
But it was a runner-up finish at the Genesis Scottish Open that sent Scott’s season into overdrive.
A tie for 10th at The Open Championship a week later was his first top-10 in a major since the 2019 US Open and then he played his way into the Tour Championship with a tie for 18th at the FedEx St Jude Championship and tie for second at the BMW Championship.
Having done enough to play his way into the DP World Tour Playoffs, Scott ended his year at the DP World Tour Championship where he finished third, his major streak set to reach 94 at the 2025 Masters.
Photo: Richard Heathcote/Getty Images
Ultimately, it took Elvis Smylie three years to become an overnight sensation but the manner of his BMW Australian PGA Championship win at Royal Queensland was proof enough that this is no flash in the pan.
Paired with three-time champion Cameron Smith – whose scholarship he won just five years earlier – Smylie played like a seasoned campaigner and not the 22-year-old who has already seen the struggle that professional golf can be.
Having burst onto the scene as an 18-year-old who very nearly won in his first professional start in Sydney, Smylie saw the golf world open up to the promise of his potential.
Sponsor invites to play a dozen DP World Tour events didn’t yield a single dollar won, quests at Qualifying School also coming up agonisingly short.
But when he turned up to play the WA PGA Championship at Kalgoorlie in October, there was a confident air about Smylie.
Almost 12 months into working with WA-based coach Ritchie Smith, strength and conditioning coach Luke Mackey, physiotherapist Martin McInnes and mental coach Michael Lloyd, the Smylie puzzle suddenly looked completely assembled,
If not for a wayward tee shot on 18 he’d have had the outright lead through 54 holes at the WA PGA; a week later he tamed cyclonic winds at Mandurah Country Club to edge Jak Carter in a playoff to win the WA Open.
It was tangible proof to everyone – including himself – that he has what it takes to win, his composure under immense pressure at RQ a month later an exclamation point that has propelled him instantly onto the DP World Tour with what is effectively a two-year exemption.
It took an eagle at the 72nd hole to deny Stephanie Kyriacou victory at The Amundi Evian Championship in France.
That’s how close the New South Wales star came to joining the exclusive club of Australian major champions in an enthralling final round at Evian Resort Golf Club.
Leading by one through 54 holes, Kyriacou spent much of the final day engaged in a tug-of-war with American Lauren Coughlin.
Yet as the pair went toe-to-toe and Thailand’s Patty Tavatanakit (63) posted 17-under in the clubhouse, it was Japan’s Ayaka Furue (65) who rode a hot putter over the final five holes to finish at 19-under and edge the Aussie by a shot.
Trailing Coughlin by three standing on the 14th tee, Furue dragged herself back into the mix with three straight birdies and then closed it out with an eagle at the 72nd hole, Kyriacou making birdie to claim outright second and her best finish in a major championship.
Read: https://www.golf.org.au/gallant-kyriacou-second-at-evian-championship/
As the back nine unfolded, Kyriacou was fighting to stay within range of Coughlin.
A steady stream of pars kept Kyriacou in contention until she joined Coughlin at 17-under with a silky pitch and birdie from six feet at the par-5 15th.
She took dead aim at the par-3 16th and converted from four feet to take the outright lead at 18-under, one clear of Furue as Coughlin dropped two back with her first bogey in 29 holes.
Kyriacou and Furue arrived at the 72nd tee tied with Tavatanakit at 17-under par.
Furue’s tee shot finished in the first cut just right of the fairway but Kyriacou was forced to lay up after missing in the deep rough left of the short grass.
There was an anxious moment as Furue’s second just cleared the water front of the green before settling 10 feet above the hole, sounding the death knell to Kyriacou’s major aspirations… for now.
As she continues to establish her presence on the LPGA Tour, it was a performance under pressure that confirmed Kyriacou has what it takes to convert the next opportunity that comes her way.
Photo: Olivier Chassignole/AFP via Getty Images
A dominant force on the senior amateur circuit domestically in 2023, Nadene Gole took her winning ways to the world in 2024.
Taking out all Australian state titles and then the Australian Senior Amateur title last year, the Victoria Golf Club member was the first Australian to win the R&A Senior Women’s Amateur Championship in July and then continued her trailblazing ways when she became the first Australian to claim the US Senior Women’s Amateur at Broadmoor Golf Club in Seattle.
Read: https://www.golf.org.au/gole-claims-randa-womens-senior-amateur-and-slice-of-history/
Facing 2022 champion Shelly Stouffer of Canada in the final, it was Gole who jumped out to a small early lead, taking a 1-up advantage with a par on the second hole.
Stouffer quickly levelled the match with a par on the third, but Gole responded by notching the first birdie of the day on the par-4 fourth to reclaim her advantage. A bogey from Stouffer on the seventh allowed Gole to stretch her lead to 2-up.
The match was all tied after ten holes, but after a birdie on the 12th hole to regain the lead, momentum would officially shift back to the Australian on the 13th, who followed up a tap-in par by Stouffer by pouring in an 18-foot slider for par to halve the hole.
Read: https://www.golf.org.au/gole-creates-history-at-the-us-senior-womens-amateur/
Hole wins on 14 and 15 would extend the lead to 3 up, the largest of the match, and one that would not be relinquished.
Kelsey Bennett has ended her year travelling the globe with just rewards by claiming playing rights on the Ladies European Tour (LET). Multiple Australians doing the same at the final stage of Asian Tour qualifying that concluded on the weekend.
Bennett spent the year chasing status through the European circuit’s feeder Tour the LET Access Series, where she won the Hauts de France Pas de Calais Golf Open in September to finish 10th on the Order of Merit.
Earning some LET starts via her finish on the Order of Merit, Bennett returned overseas for Qualifying School after contesting events at home, including the ISPS HANDA Australian Open, in the hope of securing full status and a more certain schedule in 2025.
Played over five rounds in Morrocco, players finishing inside the top-20 would earn status for next season, Bennett bouncing back from a third round of 76 with 67-69 on the final two days to share 19th and guaranteeing her place on the LET in 2025.
Fellow Australians Maddison Hinson-Tolchard (25th), Justice Bosio (57th) and Belinda Ji (101st) fell outside the top-20, while Kiwi Amelia Garvey finished fourth to earn her card on the Tour that will play three straight weeks in Australia starting at the 2025 Australian WPGA Championship held at Sanctuary Cove Golf and Country Club.
There was similar success at the final stage of Asian Tour Qualifying School in Thailand, where Jack Thompson finished in tied fourth and three of his compatriots claimed one of 35 cards available for the 2025 season.
A winner of the final stage two years ago, Thompson headed back to qualifying after playing the 2024 season in Asia and will be joined by the returning Todd Sinnott, who finished in tied 10th with new Asian Tour member Lawry Flynn from Queensland.
Queenslander Brett Rankin one shot ahead of the players earning the final spots with a closing 68 to be tied for 23rd on 11-under.
New Zealand’s Denzel Ieremia also earning status alongside Thompson, who managed four of five rounds in the 60s, including a closing 68.
“To get back is great. I would have liked to have finished today off a bit better, but at the end of the day I got my card back,” Thompson told the Asian Tour’s website.
“Everything’s just been really good. I’ve sort of ended the year playing decently, and I had eight days off just to relax before here because I just played so much. But I mean, it never really disappears like that, so yeah, I’m happy with that.”
On the DP World Tour, Daniel Gale was the lone Australian representative and flew the flag proudly with the new member finishing in a tie for 28th on 4-under-par at the AfrAsia Bank Mauritius Open.
The adidas PGA Pro-Am Series wrapped up for 2024 with six players finishing tied at the top to head to the festive break with some extra spending money after the Stockland The Gables 2024 Pro-Am.
A field featuring multiple Challenger PGA Tour of Australasia players descended on Lynwood Country Club in Sydney’s west for the two day event where Dillon Hart, Christopher Wood, Josh Armstrong, Samuel Slater, Scott Arnold and James Conran emerged victorious.
Somewhat remarkably, none of the six eventual winners had shared the lead after Round 1, before finishing on a 36-hole total of 3-under 141, with Hart authoring the biggest second round swing by improving his score by five shots for a 68.
HOW THE WINNING ROUNDS UNFOLDED
In windy conditions with penalising rough punishing wayward driving and greens rolling 11-feet on the stimpmeter, it was about minimising mistakes, with all six winners still having their moments during the final round.
For Hart, he mixed five birdies with one bogey, his most important birdie coming at the par-3 17th having dropped a shot two holes earlier, while Wood got off to an up and down start with back-to-back birdies to start the round negated by a double bogey at the fifth. The Queenslander making three birdies on the back nine, including at the 18th to join the winning group.
Armstrong’s length off the tee would have felt like a weapon as he reached the closing stretches, with two par-5s in the last three holes, but the Concord Golf Club member could only manage pars having also bogeyed the 15th.
Queenslander Slater is another with prodigious length, and used it on his way five birdies in his first 10 holes, but the par-5 16th saw him go from 5-under with victory on his own in his sights back to 3-under.
Now spending 40 hours a week in a Pro Shop, Arnold saved his best for last to get a share of the spoils having matched every one of his three birdies with a bogey throughout the final day. Arnold birdieing the 18th for a second day in a row to join the large winners’ picture.
Conran also needed birdie at the last to reach 3-under and victory, with the New South Welshman coming home strongest of the winning six. Double bogey at the sixth was mixed with eight pars on the front nine before Conran made four birdies in seven holes to finish his competitive year.
WHAT THE WINNERS SAID
Scott Arnold: “I think the course in great nick, and it’s set up pretty well for sort of an event like this, so it is pretty scoreable. There was a bit of wind yesterday and a bit of wind today and the pins are a bit tricky so it sort of made scoring a bit tough but I’m really pleased with how I played considering I’m spending 40 hours a week in a shop now and not really doing any practise.”
Josh Armstrong: “Very ready for a break. I feel like I’ve been playing okay. It’s sort of been frustrating because I’ve been making a lot of silly decisions, but definitely a little bit of that yesterday. But I did that up a little today and played pretty solidly all day. I’ve got good memories here. I spend a lot of time out here. I always enjoyed coming back.”
James Conran: “I mean, Lynwood is always enjoyable to play. It’s always in pretty good condition. The greens are pretty true. It’s just been a bit of a bother with the wind the last two days and the heat, but the course presented itself pretty good.”
Dillon Hart: “Just found some form in my swing. Made an adjustment with the coach and yeah, started to find ball striking, which sort of led into some putting stuff that’s come off as well and starting to build a conference with it.”
Samuel Slater: “The big goal for me is actually getting a Tour category for next year. That’s the main thing I’ve been focusing on. So playing these Pro-Ams and playing well in Tour events as well. So hopefully we can get a couple more decent results on the board.”
Christopher Wood: “Definitely nice to have a win in the last event of the year. To be honest, the year’s been a bit slow, but it was nice to sort of play well the last couple of weeks and finish it off here with a win.”
LEADERBOARD RUNDOWN
T1 Dillon Hart 141
T1 Christopher Wood 141
T1 Samuel Slater 141
T1 Josh Armstrong 141
T1 Scott Arnold 141
T1 James Conran 141
T7 Joseph Owen 142
T7 Nathan Barbieri 142
T7 Andrew Richards 142
NEXT UP
The adidas PGA Pro-Am Series is now in its Christmas and New Year break and returns to action on January 3 at Harcourts Langwarrin Pro-Am @ Settlers Run.
He was already a bona fide celebrity at Willunga Golf Club in Adelaide but the golf world couldn’t get enough of Steve Alderson following his emotional victory at a G4D Tour event in Spain.
Affectionately known as ‘Spud’ for his love of chips, Alderson became the first person with autism to win a G4D Tour event, taking out the G4D Tour @ Estrella Damm N.A. Andalucía Masters by an incredible nine strokes.
Yet it was not so much his performance on the golf course that caused people to fall in love with his story, but his emotional post-round speech where he spoke about his struggles with bullying and was interviewed live on The Today Show just hours after finishing his round.
Winner of the Webex All Abilities Players Series event at Willunga in 2023, Alderson returned home to a hero’s welcome and interest from global media organisations.
As he prepared to defend his Willunga win in October, Alderson spoke with golf magazines, radio stations and CNN International, completing an extraordinary two-week period with a second Webex All Abilities Players Series victory at Willunga.
But it didn’t end there.
‘Spud’ won the net event at the G4D Tour Series Finale in Dubai and then made his debut at the Australian All Abilities Championship at Kingston Heath Golf Club in conjunction with the ISPS HANDA Australian Open.
It was hands down the best season by any Australian without a win in 2024.
In his second year as a full-time member of the PGA TOUR Champions, Victorian Richard Green was in the hunt for the season-long Charles Schwab Cup until the very last hole, despite not logging a single victory.
His year began with back-to-back top-10 finishes but it was at the KitchenAid Senior PGA Championship where Green’s season of near misses took flight.
Read: https://www.golf.org.au/aussies-on-tour-green-second-again-on-champions-tour/
That would be the first of five runner-up finishes on the year – two of which came in major championships and one in a playoff loss to Steve Stricker at the Sanford International.
Seventeen years after setting a new course record in the 2007 Open Championship, Green returned to Carnoustie for The Senior Open Championship and finished second to KJ Choi by two strokes.
Read: https://pga.org.au/news/aussies-on-tour-bennett-wins-green-second-again/
He was also third at the US Senior Open Championship, the 53-year-old amassing $US2,168,079 in prize money without any additions to the trophy cabinet.
Photo: Phil Inglis/Getty Images
Despite admitting his score could be substantially better, David Micheluzzi shares the lead at the 2024 Sandbelt Invitational on 3-under with amateur Kayun Mudadana ahead of the final round at The Royal Melbourne Golf Club.
Signing for a 2-under 69 at Woodlands Golf Club on Wednesday, 2022/2023 Challenger PGA Tour of Australasia Order of Merit winner Micheluzzi will be chasing a second triumph at Royal Melbourne after claiming the Master of the Amateurs at the famed course in 2018.
Micheluzzi admitting that if things were to go his way tomorrow it would be extra special due to his relationship with tournament host and 2006 US Open winner Geoff Ogilvy.
“It would also be really cool if I did, because Geoff has been a mentor, how he’s helped me out quite a bit, but he’s helped me out more than people know it with turning pro and what to expect,” Micheluzzi said.
“To have a major champion like him giving that advice. You can’t pay for that kind of stuff, that experience. So that would mean the world if I did get up … it would be sick.”
The Sandbelt Invitational itself is designed around the same concept of experienced players interacting with younger ones across men and women from both pro and amateur ranks.
Some, like Mudadana, clearly comfortable in the environment, where parts of the learning is through conversation while also visually from the likes of Richard Green, who fired the equal low round of the day.
The left hander’s 65 only matched by Cameron John, with Green at 1-under for the tournament and one shot back of fellow Victorian Matias Sanchez after his 1-under round at Woodlands.
Green continuing to knock the rust off his game after only playing nine holes with his dog for company since ending his tremendous 2024 PGA TOUR Champions campaign, where he came agonisingly close to a win.
“I’ve had good coaching over the last probably five or six years with Darrell Brown, and we’ve worked on a lot of things that have squared my golf swing up,” Green said of his impressive play despite a break.
“As opposed to prior to that I was all over the place. My game’s up and it’s down and it’s up and it’s down. Whereas my game’s more on an even keel and a lot closer to playing really well.
“To win would be great for my confidence going into next year and in some way wouldn’t surprise me with how I’ve played this year, to be honest.”
Perhaps surprising some as co-leader through 54-holes, Mudadana is certainly not planning on making way for Micheluzzi, Green or Sanchez, who as a Royal Melbourne member would love to lift the trophy on Thursday.
A New South Wales Golf Club member who has been spending his time on the driving range with the course closed for renovations, Mudadana looked likely to lead on his own with 18 holes to play until the closing stages of his 1-under 70.
“I was playing good. I was 5-under through 15 and hit a bit of a shocking tee shot of 16 and made triple,” Mudadana said.
“Just worrying about playing good golf and sort of enjoying the course. It’s been a lot of fun when you’re just not really worrying about it and yeah, just that’s how I sort of play it,” he added when asked about the names he sits ahead of that includes a congested group behind Green.
Sandbelt local Matt Griffin, 36-hole leader Ryan Peake and NSW Amateur winner Declan O’Donovan, who was tied for the lead until a triple-bogey at the 18th, all at even par and sharing fifth.
Cam John the next best at 1-over and one in front of American-based amateur Niall Shiels Donegan and one of Woodlands’ favourite sons Steve Allan.
Amateur Annika Rathbone in a share of 11th at 4-over and leading the women’s contingent, with Amelia Harris and Shyla Singh two shots back and Tour player Karis Davidson on 7-over trying to claim the women’s trophies.
Harris getting a good window into what the field faces tomorrow as they attempt to deny Micheluzzi another win after playing the third round with the man who shot 59 in preparation for this event.
Preparation that alongside Micheluzzi’s assessment of his week so far provides an ominous warning for his competition.
“I really, almost every day this week, felt like I should have been five or six (shots) better every round, which speaks volumes of all the swings, changes and the confidence I’ve got in all my swing changes.”
Full scores available at www.sandbeltinvitational.com
Perth will welcome its strongest women’s professional field in more than a decade and showcase Australia’s up-and-coming male players when Royal Fremantle Golf Club hosts the Webex Players Series Perth from January 9-12.
Hosted by superstar siblings Minjee and Min Woo Lee, Webex Players Series Perth brings men and women together on the same golf course playing for the same prize purse, the inaugural Perth edition worth $250,000.
It is the second of five Webex Players Series events on the 2024/2025 Challenger PGA Tour of Australasia with confirmed entries including home-grown West Australian stars and a host of internationals with impressive credentials.
WA trio Haydn Barron, Hayden Hopewell and Kirsten Rudgeley all spent 2024 playing in Europe, Rudgeley narrowly missing out on an LPGA Tour card in finishing 12th on the Ladies European Tour Order of Merit.
Joining Rudgeley in the women’s field will be LPGA Tour-bound Queenslander Cassie Porter, 2024 LPGA Tour rookie Yue Ren of China, Vic Open and Malaysian Olympic representative in Paris, Ashley Lau, and West Australians Maddison Hinson-Tolchard, Jess Whitting and Kathryn Norris.
Whitting and Norris both have top-10 finishes in previous Webex Players Series events while Porter graduates to the LPGA Tour next year after finishing 10th on the Epson Tour points list.
The last time WA was witness to such high-quality women’s golf was when Dame Laura Davies, World Golf Hall of Famer Jan Stephenson and current WPGA Tour of Australasia CEO Karen Lunn played the Handa Australia Cup at Nedlands Golf Club in 2011.
Given the quality of golfers WA has produced in the 13 years since, Lunn is thrilled to see top-class women’s golf back in the west.
“With the likes of Minjee Lee, Hannah Green and Kirsten Rudgeley, the production line coming out of Western Australia in recent years is extremely impressive,” said Lunn.
“I have fond memories of playing the Handa Australia Cup at Nedlands, although I can’t believe it’s now 13 years ago!
“The depth of talent we have in the women’s game here in Australia at present is as good as I have ever seen it, and with the influx of international players that we saw last year I’m confident the girls will give the boys a run for their money at Royal Fremantle.”
The first event of the 2025 WPGA Tour schedule, Webex Players Series Perth marks the start to the second half of the Challenger PGA Tour of Australasia season.
A two-time winner already this season and fourth on the Order of Merit, South Australian Jack Buchanan will continue his push towards one of three DP World Tour cards in Perth, as will Queensland PGA champion Phoenix Campbell.
Other notables in the men’s field include 2021 Australian PGA champion Jed Morgan, 2022 WA Open winner Deyen Lawson, six-time European Tour winner Brett Rumford and four-time PGA Tour of Australasia winner and Perth local, Jarryd Felton.
Webex Players Series Perth hosted by Minjee and Min Woo Lee will be played at Royal Fremantle Golf Club from January 9-12. The final two rounds will be broadcast live on Fox Sports and Kayo from 4pm-7pm Saturday and 2pm-7pm Sunday AEDT.
