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West Australian Min Woo Lee believes he is a step closer to a major championship breakthrough after finishing as the leading Aussie at the US PGA Championship at Valhalla Golf Club.
American Xander Schauffele had to birdie the 72nd hole to earn his own maiden major victory with a record score of 21-under par, edging Bryson DeChambeau (64) by a single stroke.
Tied with two-time major champion Collin Morikawa entering the final round, Schauffele holed a birdie putt from 27 feet at the first to take the outright lead.
He would never trail from that point on, yet had to navigate a treacherous final hole to better DeChambeau’s clubhouse mark of 20-under par.
His tee shot at the par-5 18th came so close to the fairway bunker that he was forced to play his second shot with both feet in the sand. An awkward 7-iron from 247 yards hooked into the fairway 36 yards short of the green, his subsequent pitch coming up six feet short of the hole.
Raise it high, Xander Schauffele! You're a PGA Champion! 🏆#PGAChamp pic.twitter.com/onxnK4f0ZC
— PGA Championship (@PGAChampionship) May 19, 2024
As DeChambeau thundered driver swings on the practice range in preparation of a possible three-hole playoff, Schauffele stepped in and found enough of the left edge of the hole to make birdie and join the pantheon of major champions.
At 25 years of age, it is a place Lee wants to one day occupy and he left Valhalla feeling confident that he remains on the right path.
“Definitely trending in the right direction,” Lee told the PGA of America after a round of 4-under 67 that elevated him into a tie for 26th.
“I feel like I’m slowly becoming a better player.
“I left some out there but that’s just how it is. I think we can learn from that; solid week.”
A shot to just three feet at the first hole on Sunday set Lee up for a Sunday flurry.
He converted that birdie opportunity and a second from nine feet at the second to begin his final round in the best possible fashion.
There would be a dropped shot at the par-4 fifth but birdies at seven, nine and 10 had Lee 4-under on his round with eight holes to play.
He was unable to get up and down when he came up short of the green at the par-3 11th but got that back with a birdie from 17 feet at the 520-yard par-4 16th.
Thirteenth for the week in Strokes Gained: Putting, Lee was left to lament a 57% driving accuracy off the tee that restricted his birdie chances throughout the week.
“My driving wasn’t too good the last couple of days,” he admitted.
“If my driving’s up to scratch then I can definitely attack and make some more birdies. It didn’t feel comfortable the last two days so it was quite tough to make some birdies.
“I thought I did pretty good with my recovery the last few days, very happy.”
Tied for 16th through three rounds and chasing a first top-10 finish in a major, Lucas Herbert was on the back foot early with a double-bogey at the first, falling to a tie for 43rd with a closing 3-over 74 alongside fellow Aussie Jason Day (71).
Cameron Smith had six bogeys and four birdies in his round of 2-over 73 while Kiwi Ryan Fox shot 74 to finish 75th.
Photo: Michael Reaves/Getty Images
US PGA Championship
Valhalla Golf Club, Louisville, Kentucky
1 Xander Schauffele 62-68-68-65—263 $US3.3m
T26 Min Woo Lee 72-66-70-67—275 $113,962
T43 Jason Day 71-67-69-71—278 $48,969
T43 Lucas Herbert 69-67-68-74—278 $48,969
T63 Cameron Smith 68-70-70-73—281 $25,202
75 Ryan Fox (NZ) 72-68-72-74—286 $22,350
MC Adam Scott 72-73—145
MC Cam Davis 78-71—149
MC Kazuma Kobori (NZ) 73-77—150
West Australian Hannah Green has fallen just short in her quest to win for a third time this season in an epic showdown with world No.1 Nelly Korda at the Mizuho Americas Open.
Seeking to join Jan Stephenson and Karrie Webb as the only Australians to win three times in a single LPGA Tour season, Green began the final round two shot back at Liberty National Golf Club in New Jersey.
Green’s birdie at the opening hole and Korda’s bogey on two brought the two together at the top of the leaderboard and it quickly turned into a two-horse race.
The 27-year-old took the outright lead when Korda dropped a shot at the par-4 seventh but joined Korda again at 11-under when she made bogey at the par-5 eighth.
The pair made a trio of matching birdies at 10, 13 and 15 to move out to 14-under and four strokes clear of the field.
They are neck and neck! 🏃♀️@HannahGreenGolf birdies and @NellyKorda follows 🐥 pic.twitter.com/t5LAZvAdik
— LPGA (@LPGA) May 19, 2024
Each hole was an absorbing round of a heavyweight title fight.
Every time that Green landed a body blow, Korda countered with one of her own.
In a possible precursor to the US Women’s Open in two weeks’ time, two players with seven wins between them this season battled until the 72nd hole when Green’s fourth missed fairway of the day would prove costly.
The deep rough left of the fairway grabbed hold of her club as she played her second shot, the ball diving left and short of the putting surface.
The 2019 KPMG Women’s PGA champion showed great touch to give herself a par putt of some 10 feet but it missed on the low side as Korda clinched her sixth win in her past seven starts.
Although disappointed to come up agonisingly short, Green was proud of how she stood up against one of the greatest stretches by anyone in golf history.
“To lose to Nelly… it’s sad, but then it’s also Nelly Korda,” Green reflected.
“She’s obviously so dominant right now. To feel like second behind her is quite nice.”
Green is looking toward the US Women’s Open at Lancaster Country Club where she attended as a spectator in 2015 as a Karrie Webb scholarship holder.
“I’m super excited for the next stretch of events,” Green added.
“To go back to somewhere that I haven’t actually played but been outside the ropes, that was the thing that made me want to become a professional golfer, watching Karrie there.
“I’m really excited for Lancaster.”
Green wasn’t the only outstanding performance from an Australian woman this week.
Gabriela Ruffels continued her outstanding rookie season on the LPGA Tour with a third third-place finish to will propel her inside the top 50 in the Rolex Women’s World Golf Rankings while Kirsten Rudgeley shot 65 in the final round to finish tied for fourth at the Amundi German Masters on the Ladies European Tour.
Another very solid week at a major for @Minwoo27Lee.
— PGA of Australia (@PGAofAustralia) May 19, 2024
He breaks down his @PGAChampionship ⬇️
📹 @PGA pic.twitter.com/FhuUdsuOyA
A final round of 4-under 67 saw Min Woo Lee finish as the leading Australian at the US PGA Championship at Valhalla Golf Club.
Lee’s four-round total of 9-under earned the 25-year-old a tied for 26th as American Xander Schauffele (65) birdied the 72nd hole to win his maiden major championship by a single stroke from Bryson DeChambeau (64).
It was another winning week too for the Kiwis, with Harry Hillier shooting 59 on his way to an eight-shot win on the PGA TOUR Americas and Fiona Xu winning the Copper Rock Championship on the Epson Tour by seven.
Results
US PGA Championship
Valhalla Golf Club, Louisville, Kentucky
1 Xander Schauffele 62-68-68-65—263 $US3.3m
T26 Min Woo Lee 72-66-70-67—275 $113,962
T43 Jason Day 71-67-69-71—278 $48,969
T43 Lucas Herbert 69-67-68-74—278 $48,969
T63 Cameron Smith 68-70-70-73—281 $25,202
75 Ryan Fox (NZ) 72-68-72-74—286 $22,350
MC Adam Scott 72-73—145
MC Cam Davis 78-71—149
MC Kazuma Kobori (NZ) 73-77—150
LPGA Tour
Mizuho Americas Open
Liberty National Golf Club, Jersey City, New Jersey
1 Nelly Korda 70-68-65-71—274 $US450,000
2 Hannah Green 71-71-63-70—275 $277,738
T3 Gabriela Ruffels 68-70-68-72—278 $146,358
T21 Minjee Lee 69-72-71-69—281 $30,238
T51 Karis Davidson 71-70-71-77—289 $10,189
T51 Sarah Kemp 73-67-72-77—289 $10,189
T53 Stephanie Kyriacou 74-69-71-76—290 $9,427
MC Grace Kim 72-72—144
MC Robyn Choi 73-74—147
MC Lydia Ko (NZ) 72-77—149
Japan Golf Tour
Kansai Open Golf Championship
Meishin Yokaichi Country Club, Shiga
1 Takahiro Hatachi 69-65-65-67—266 ¥16m
T14 Michael Hendry 72-67-70-66—275 ¥1.376m
MC Brad Kennedy 77-67—144
MC Anthony Quayle 70-76—146
Korn Ferry Tour
AdventHealth Championship
Blue Hills Country Club, Kansas City, Missouri
1 Harry Higgs 71-67-65-66—269
Won in sudden-death playoff
MC Rhein Gibson 72-71—143
MC Dimi Papadatos 75-70—145
MC Brett Drewitt 75-70—145
MC Steven Bowditch 75-78—153
Ladies European Tour
Amundi German Masters
Golf and Country Club Seddiner See, Berlin, Germany
1 Alexandra Forsterling 70-70-69-67—276 €45,000
Won in sudden-death playoff
T4 Kirsten Rudgeley 73-74-68-65—280 €12,150
T24 Momoka Kobori (NZ) 74-73-68-72—287 €3,510
MC Amy Walsh 73-79—152
Korean PGA
SK Telecom Open
Pinx Golf Club, Seogwipo, South Korea
1 K.J. Choi 71-64-72-74—281
Won in sudden-death playoff
MC Wonjoon Lee 77-74—151
MC Junseok Lee 78-73—151
MC Kevin Chun (NZ) 84-73—157
PGA TOUR Americas
Inter Rapidisimo Golf Championship
Club El Rincón de Cajicá, Bogotá, Colombia
1 Harry Hillier (NZ) 68-59-68-67—262 $US40,500
T45 Jason Hong 70-70-76-69—285
Epson Tour
Copper Rock Championship
Copper Rock Golf Course, Hurricane, Utah
1 Fiona Xu (NZ) 67-63-64—194 $US37,500
T30 Cassie Porter 74-68-71—213 $2,166
MC Su Oh 74-72—146
MC Amelia Garvey (NZ) 77-72—149
An eagle on his final hole has pushed Brady Watt three strokes clear heading into the final round of the Mitchell and Brown Spalding Park Open in Geraldton.
A day after holing a gap wedge for albatross on the same hole, Watt had to be content with eagle at the par-5 ninth on Saturday to close out his round of 4-under 68 at Spalding Park Golf Club.
At 10-under par through two rounds Watt has a three-stroke lead from Ryan Peake (70), Scott Strange (69) and two-time Spalding Park Open champion Daniel Fox (69).
Kathryn Norris followed up her course record of 5-under 67 with a round of 1-under 71 to sit in outright fifth at 6-under, one clear of Cottesloe Open winner Nathan Barbieri (70) and Victorian Andrew Kelly (70).
Seeking his first adidas PGA Pro-Am Series win in close to a year, Watt began his second round with seven straight pars before trading a bogey with a birdie at 17 and 18 to complete his front nine.
Birdies at one and three continued that momentum into his back nine, momentum that he fully capitalised with his closing eagle on nine.
Three bogeys on his outward nine appeared to end Fox’s hopes of a third Spalding Park Open crown but after a birdie on nine lit up the back nine, keeping Watt within reach with four birdies in his final five holes as he played his final 10 holes in 6-under par.
To mark the 50th anniversary of the Spalding Park Open the inaugural Mitchell & Brown Spalding Park Legends Open is being played in conjunction.
PGA Legends Tour and adidas PGA Pro-Am Series players were paired together on Saturday and it was Order of Merit leader Chris Taylor who sits on top through two rounds.
One back of Terry Pilkadaris after Round 1, Taylor went bogey free in his second straight round of 3-under 69.
At 6-under par he is four strokes clear of Brendan Chant (69) with Jason Norris (74) and Pilkadaris (75) five shots off the lead in a tie for third.
Victorian Cameron John has topped one of the strongest fields ever assembled for a one-day event on the adidas PGA Pro-Am Series to claim the Toro Australia – TQUIP Pro-Am at The Western Australian Golf Club.
John’s bogey-free round of 7-under 63 was enough for a one-stroke win over Scott Strange (64) and Alex Simpson (64) with Deyen Lawson (65) outright third having won the 2022 Western Australian Open at the venue.
The 35-player field boasted current DP World Tour players in Jason Scrivener and Haydn Barron, former DP World Tour winners in Strange and Marcus Fraser, WPGA Tour of Australasia players in Whitney Hillier, Jess Whitting and Kathryn Norris and Challenger PGA Tour of Australasia winners in Lawson, Jarryd Felton, Rick Kulacz, Daniel Fox and Braden Becker.
John joined that list of PGA Tour of Australasia winners in March when he took out The National Tournament at The National Golf Club.
For the former 2017 Australian Junior champion who required wrist surgery little more than a year ago, it marked a major breakthrough that he has now backed up with wins at Kwinana and WA Golf Club in the past week.
“It was something that I have wanted to achieve for quite a long time,” said John, who won the 2017 Interstate Teams Matches in a Victorian team that also included David Micheluzzi and Zach Murray.
“Obviously since we’re young and start playing the game, we all want to win at the professional level.
“To get my first Tour win was something special and definitely something that I will cherish for a long, long time.”
HOW THE WINNING ROUND UNFOLDED
Tied for sixth at the Sanwell Cottesloe Open on Sunday, John was out off the third tee on Monday afternoon.
A birdie at his opening hole was an ideal start which he followed up with a birdie at the par-5 sixth.
As the likes of Strange, Simpson and Lawson took front-running positions, John was forced to bide his time.
His third birdie didn’t come until the par-3 11th but then they came in a flurry, picking up shots at five of his next eight holes before closing out a blemish-free round with pars at one and two.
Strange had an eagle at the par-5 eighth in his round of 6-under 64 while Simpson had eight birdies and two bogeys to also earn a share of second.
WHAT THE WINNER SAID
“Really, really good,” John said when asked to sum up his round.
“I had seven birdies and no bogeys. It’s always good when you keep those bad ones off the scorecard.”
LEADERBOARD RUNDOWN
1 Cameron John 63
T2 Scott Strange 64
T2 Alexander Simpson 64
4 Deyen Lawson 65
5 Jess Whitting 66
6 Nathan Barbieri 67
T7 Haydn Barron 68
T7 James Marchesani 68
T7 Jarryd Felton 68
NEXT UP
The adidas PGA Pro-Am Series now begins the northern run of its WA swing with the 50th anniversary of the Mitchell and Brown Spalding Park Open over three rounds starting in Geraldton on Friday.
Jason Day has declared his “game is trending” ahead of this week’s US PGA Championship as Gabi Ruffels logged her best finish yet on the LPGA Tour.
Both Day and Ruffels finished inside the top five respectively on the PGA TOUR and LPGA Tour yet both were distant from the winning score.
Day closed out his Wells Fargo Championship campaign with a 1-under 70 to finish 11 shots back of Rory McIlroy (65) in a tie for fourth while Ruffels was part of one of the most unusual leaderboards ever seen at the Cognizant Founders Cup.
Obviously pleased with a career-best third place finish, at 9-under par Ruffels (71) was 13 shots behind runner-up Madelene Sagstrom (69) who finished two shots back of Rose Zhang (66) at 24-under par.
“Kind of an up-and-down week,” was Ruffels’ summation after a round in which she had five birdies and four bogeys.
“That golf course is kind of like that. Other than Rose and Madelene, everyone was kind of under 10-under.
“There were a lot of bogeys out there and a lot of birdies as well. Just had to hang tough mentally, and I was proud of myself that I did that.”
With the US Women’s Open just two weeks away, Ruffels said it was a strong week in combining her play with her mental game.
“A few things with my swing that I’m working on, I feel like I’m making strides with that with my coach,” she added.
“Just mentally on a golf course like this, just trying to hang tough and just seeing where at that puts you.”
A decade after finishing tied for 15th at the 2014 US PGA Championship, Day will return to Valhalla Golf Club buoyed by his most recent showing.
T4 in Charlotte and game is trending heading into the @pgachampionship 👊🏽 pic.twitter.com/fMiG18nyis
— Jason Day (@JDayGolf) May 13, 2024
A tie for fourth is his best finish since the Genesis Invitational in mid-February as he and coach Chris Como work to bring his ball-striking up to major championship level.
“I’ve had a run over the last month-and-a-half, two months where it’s just been kind of poor,” said Day.
“I’ve been losing a ton of strokes to the field approach to green. Not necessarily on the driver, for instance.
“It’s weird, it’s kind of strange to drive it decently well and to hit it poor coming into the greens. But I feel like some of the stuff we’re working on, I’ll see little snippets of really good stuff.”
It was a week of celebration for our Kiwi compatriots with Michael Hendry earning his first Japan Golf Tour title in nine years and Ryan Fox securing the first top-five finish of his career on the PGA TOUR.
Just 13 months after being hospitalised with leukaemia, Hendry completed one of golf’s most inspirational comebacks with a one-point win in the modified Stableford format of the For The Players By The Players tournament in Japan.
In his first season as a member of the PGA TOUR, Fox had four birdies in his final six holes to climb into a tie for fourth at the Myrtle Beach Classic in South Carolina.
Photos: Andrew Redington/Getty Images (Day); Elsa/Getty Images (Ruffels)
Results
PGA TOUR
Wells Fargo Championship
Quail Hollow Club, Charlotte, North Carolina
1 Rory McIlroy 67-68-67-65—267 $US3.6m
T4 Jason Day 68-67-73-70—278 $880,000
T29 Adam Scott 71-71-73-71—286 $130,500
T38 Cam Davis 70-69-72-77—288 $88,500
Myrtle Beach Classic
The Dunes Golf and Beach Club, Myrtle Beach, South Carolina
1 Chris Gotterup 66-64-65-67—262 $US720,000
T4 Ryan Fox (NZ) 70-66-66-67—269 $147,000
MC Aaron Baddeley 71-70—141
MC Harrison Endycott 66-75—141
LPGA Tour
Cognizant Founders Cup
Upper Montclair Country Club, Clifton, New Jersey
1 Rose Zhang 63-68-67-66—264 $US450,000
3 Gabriela Ruffels 69-72-67-71—279 $201,479
T7 Minjee Lee 70-70-72-69—281 $69,492
T18 Hannah Green 69-71-72-71—283 $33,801
T18 Stephanie Kyriacou 66-79-66-72—283 $33,801
T35 Sarah Kemp 69-72-74-71—286 $15,966
T35 Lydia Ko (NZ) 69-71-75-71—286 $15,966
T46 Grace Kim 68-74-75-70—287 $11,784
MC Robyn Choi 72-75—147
MC Karis Davidson 78-71—149
MC Hira Naveed 75-78—153
Japan Golf Tour
For The Players By The Players
THE CLUB Golf Village, Gunma
Modified Stableford format
1 Michael Hendry (NZ) 14-5-13-6—38 ¥10m
T48 Brad Kennedy 3-6-2-3—14 ¥141,500
MC Anthony Quayle 6-(-3)— – 3
PGA TOUR Champions
Regions Tradition
Greystone G&CC, Birmingham, Alabama
1 Doug Barron 65-72-66-68—271 $390,000
2 Steven Alker (NZ) 69-71-70-63—273 $228,800
T11 Stuart Appleby 71-67-71-70—279 $59,800
T14 Richard Green 73-69-73-66—281 $45,500
T18 Mark Hensby 74-67-70-71—282 $35,555
T37 Rod Pampling 68-76-75-67—286 $14,560
T50 Michael Campbell (NZ) 70-75-75-70—290 $7,800
T52 John Senden 72-76-75-68—291 $6,292
T67 Steve Allan 69-84-69-73—295 $2,548
Ladies European Tour
Aramco Team Series Presented by PIF – Korea
New Korea Country Club, Korea
1 Hyo-Joo Kim 68-70-68—206 $US69,714.75
T27 Momoka Kobori (NZ) 76-71-74—221 $4,587.23
T45 Kirsten Rudgeley 75-74-75—224 $2,378.05
Korean PGA
KPGA Classic
Golf Zone County Yeongam 45
Modified Stableford format
1 Chanwoo Kim 15-8-2-8—33 KRW140,618,722
T7 Kevin Chun (NZ) 9-13-(-5)-11—28 KRW19,124,146
T13 Sungjin Yeo 8-5-1-11—25 KRW13,499,397
T35 Wonjoon Lee 12-6-(-6)-4—16 4,077,942
MC Junseok Lee 5-4—9
Epson Tour
Carlisle Arizona Women’s Golf Classic
TPC Scottsdale (Champions Cse), Scottsdale, Arizona
1 Ruixin Liu 64-72-70-64—270 $US60,000
T17 Su Oh 68-70-72-69—279 $5,302
T21 Fiona Xu (NZ) 70-69-70-71—280 $4,534
T26 Cassie Porter 67-73-75-66—281 $3,737
MC Amelia Garvey (NZ) 76-69—145
Two eagles in a new course record of 8-under 64 propelled New South Welshman Nathan Barbieri to a one-stroke win at the 2024 Sanwell Cottesloe Open at Cottesloe Golf Club.
Two shots back of the course record 7-under 65 set by Curtis Luck and Braden Becker on day one, Barbieri ignited his round with an eagle at the par-5 eighth and then claimed a second at the par-5 17th for a two-round total of 13-under.
Playing on his home course on a rare trip back to WA from the US, Luck (67) held on for outright second with Becker (68) a further shot back in third at 11-under.
After missing out on retaining a full card by the narrowest of margins at The National Tournament in March, Barbieri went on to win Challenger PGA Tour of Australasia Qualifying School in April.
Last week he teamed up with Josh Greer to win the WA PGA Foursomes Championship at Nedlands and is relishing spending an extended period in the winner’s circle.
“I won Q School a couple of weeks ago and I guess that was a bit of a monkey off the back because I’d never really won anything,” Barbieri said.
“Little win the other day with Joshy which was good.
“I had a good feel this week and thought that the course suited me and the greens were awesome so I was able to put two good rounds together.”
HOW THE WINNING ROUND UNFOLDED
Early in Sunday’s second round it appeared Luck would canter towards what would have been a popular win amongst the Cottesloe members.
He began the day with a birdie at the first and an eagle on four to reach 10-under early but a dropped shot at six brought a whole host of challengers into the mix.
Greer birdied three of the first five holes to get to 8-under and was suddenly within one of the lead along with Becker, Barbieri, Jack Pountney and amateur Connor Fewkes.
A long putt for birdie on eight saw Fewkes slip past Luck and get to 10-under before Luck hit back with one of his own to be 10-under at the turn.
Birdies at 10 and 11 got Greer to 10-under where he was joined by Barbieri, the pair now part of a four-way tie at the top with Fewkes and Luck.
Greer’s birdie on 12 gave him a one-stroke edge but it would be Barbieri’s eagle on his penultimate hole that would seal the deal.
In the Lyndsay Stephen Invitational run for the over-50s in conjunction, Jason Norris had rounds of 68-71 to win by seven shots from Tim Elliott and Brendan Chant.
WHAT THE WINNER SAID
“I played the first 14 holes not knowing (the leaderboard) and then I noticed a couple of people watching Josh ahead of me and I always want to beat him,” said Barbieri.
“I looked on the 15th fairway and saw that I was one back of him and Curto was a couple back but with the par-5s still to play.
“I knew I had to push a little bit but not too much because I still had a couple of chances. I chipped it from the left of 16 and then holed a good putt and then eagled the 17th.
“I wasn’t planning on that. I thought a couple of birdies might have done it but that gave me less stress playing the last.
“I honestly didn’t think it would be enough. I thought I might be going down to a playoff with Curto but lucky I guess.”
LEADERBOARD RUNDOWN
1 Nathan Barbieri 67-64—131
2 Curtis Luck 65-67—132
3 Braden Becker 65-68—133
T4 Deyen Lawson 68-66—134
T4 Joshua Greer 67-67—134
T6 Josiah Edwards (a) 68-67—135
T6 Cameron John 66-69—135
NEXT UP
The WA swing of the adidas PGA Pro-Am Series stays in Perth on Monday for another new event, the Toro Australia – TQUIP Pro-Am at Western Australian Golf Club.
A double dose of practice rounds at Two Wells Golf Club in Adelaide paid off handsomely for Simon Pope who claimed the inaugural Cobar Legends Pro-Am on the sand scrapes of Cobar Bowling and Golf Club.
The heavens opened on the eve of the tournament and dumped 50mm of rain 700 kilometres west of Sydney, the equivalent of more than 12 per cent of Cobar’s average annual rainfall.
That forced the closure of the course and the cancellation of Round 1, PGA Legends Tour players conducting chipping competitions in the backyards of their accommodation and partaking in some of Cobar’s social offerings.
Players were able to get on course on Sunday with Pope’s 4-under 67 three strokes better than the rest of the field, Warren Legends winner Adam Henwood snaring second at 1-under 70.
For Pope, getting accustomed to sand greens before leaving Adelaide proved to be the difference on challenging surfaces.
“I had two practice rounds on sand scrapes last week at a course in Adelaide called Two Wells so I did a bit of preparation,” said Pope.
“It was hard trying to judge the speed of the scrapes. Some of them ran on, some of them stopped but I was surprised that I won by three. I was happy with that.”
HOW THE WINNING ROUND UNFOLDED
Drawn to start from the 11th tee on the more difficult part of the golf course, Pope defied convention and burst out to an early lead.
He birdied the 368-metre par-4 12th and the 386-metre par-4 14th before making eagle at the par-5 17th.
As the rest of the field wrestled with par, Pope moved out to 5-under with birdie at the short par-4 fifth, his only blemish coming on his final hole where he made bogey.
WHAT THE WINNER SAID
“I started on the tough part of the course and I thought to myself that if I could get through those holes in maybe 2-under, that’s going to be really, really good because the course gets a lot easier after the first and second hole, which was my 10th.
“I did look at the scoreboard and got a bit nervous so I didn’t really capitalise on the easier holes but a lot of the damage for me came on the harder holes where I made some birdies that were really helpful.
“I just thought that as long as I played good golf tee to green and keep it steady around the scrapes everything will be fine.
“My short game sometimes can be a little dicey so when you’re playing on scrapes you tend not to worry about being too fine with your chipping, you just belt it and get it around the hole.
“I putted well from about 10 feet today. I holed five or six putts from eight to 10 feet which I think would have been the difference.”
LEADERBOARD RUNDOWN
1 Simon Pope 67
2 Adam Henwood 70
T3 Tony Collier 72
T3 Simon Jagot 72
T3 Paul Powell 72
T3 Brad Burns 72
T3 Nigel Weldon 72
NEXT UP
The PGA Legends Tour heads west now for the two-day Mitchell & Brown Spalding Park Legends Open at Spalding Park Golf Club in Geraldton, played in conjunction with the 50th anniversary of the Spalding Park Pro-Am.
A free drop from a stubborn snake helped Curtis Luck set a new course record and earn a share of the lead on day one of the Sanwell Cottesloe Open at Cottesloe Golf Club in Perth.
Enjoying a rare trip home from his commitments on the Korn Ferry Tour in the US and at the course he called home as a junior, Luck and Braden Becker both established a new men’s benchmark as Kathryn Norris set a new women’s course record.
One of the most popular stops on the adidas PGA Pro-Am Series drew a star-laden field not only for the open event but for the Lyndsay Stephen Cottesloe Invitational, a PGA Legends Tour event played in conjunction.
South Australian Jason Norris leads the senior event with a round of 4-under 68 but is three strokes behind both Becker and Luck who set a new course record of 7-under 65 following design changes made by Graham Marsh Golf Design.
Luck had eight birdies in his round of 65 that was aided by an unusual ruling following a wayward tee shot.
“The one tee shot that was in a bit of trouble nestled right in close to a snake,” Luck revealed post-round.
“We tried to get it to move so I could play the shot and the thing was just not budging and ended up staying in the bush that I needed to pretty much stand on.
“Got a nice drop from that which was lucky.
“I haven’t spent a lot of time here over the past seven years which is weird considering I spent pretty much every day here for the first 20 years of my life.
“It’s really nice seeing a lot of familiar faces out there and the home crowds there to watch is awesome.”
In a field boasting current DP World Tour players in Jason Scrivener and Haydn Barron and former DP World Tour winners Brett Rumford, Marcus Fraser and Scott Strange, Becker went bogey-free having gleaned some insight from playing with close friend Cameron John at the WA PGA Foursomes mid-week.
John went on to win at Kwinana on Friday and Becker is hoping to turn their foursomes strategy into his own success on Sunday.
“Playing the Foursomes on Thursday, I learnt a bit of stuff playing with Cam John,” said Becker.
“Obviously we talked about a few things that we should be focusing on, going at flags or going for centre-greens so I kept that in the back of my head.
“I played away from the pins on a few of them and see if I can roll in a couple. I’m good with the putter so if I can give myself half a chance to get things going then we’ll do it that way.”
John is part of a four-way tie for third just one stroke back at 6-under followed by Foursomes champions Josh Greer and Nathan Barbieri and Brett Rumford and Zinyo Garcia, all at 5-under.
While pleased to plunder birdies on Saturday, Becker expects Cottesloe’s coastal setting to throw up some more challenging conditions in the final round.
“I think it might be a bit more like we normally play Cottesloe with the wind in the afternoon so that might be a bit more like we normally like to see it,” he added.
“If we can keep doing the same thing – keep hitting it on the fairway, hit it on the green and hole a couple of putts – we’ll be right back up there.”
Norris is in a tie for 16th after her course-record round of 3-under 69, a mark that could have been one better if not for a lone bogey on the par-4 18th.
Tied for 12th at Kwinana, Norris continued her outstanding recent play with birdies at one, eight, 11 and 16 to be level with Rick Kulacz, Marcus Fraser, Brady Watt, Jordan Doull and John Boulton.
Round 2 begins at 7am AWST with the final group of Becker, Luck and Lachlan Aylen to tee off at 12:40pm.
Victorian Cameron John is starting to make winning a habit, taking out the DJ Di Stasio Transport Kwinana Pro-Am at Kwinana Golf Club on Friday.
Champion at the season-ending National Tournament on the Challenger PGA Tour of Australasia, John led after Round 1 before finishing third at the South West Isuzu South West Open a week ago.
He and close friend Braden Becker were tied for second at the WA PGA Foursomes Championship at Nedlands and he carried that form into Kwinana, posting 6-under 66 to win by two in his fourth appearance at Kwinana Golf Club.
West Australian Ben Ferguson built his 4-under 68 on a run of four-straight birdies to snare second, one clear of James Marchesani (69), Scott Strange (69) and Jordan Doull (69), making his professional debut after representing WA at the Australian Interstate Teams Matches earlier in the week.
HOW THE WINNING ROUND UNFOLDED
Paired with fellow professionals Caleb Bovalina and Jose De Sousa and starting from the par-4 eighth, John took just two holes to get into red figures.
He cashed in a birdie at the 505-metre par-5 ninth and then picked up three birdies in the space of four holes from the par-5 12th.
He continued to take advantage of the three-shotters with birdies at 18 and one and, despite a dropped shot at the par-3 third, got back to 6-under on his round with a birdie at the par-3 sixth.
WHAT THE WINNER SAID
“Obviously had a great day with the boys. I was fortunate to play in an all-pro group with guys that I have known for a long time.
“There weren’t too many tricky situations that I got myself into, which was nice. I managed to hit most of the greens and holed a few putts as well.”
LEADERBOARD RUNDOWN
1 Cameron John 66
2 Ben Ferguson 68
T3 James Marchesani 69
T3 Scott Strange 69
T3 Jordan Doull 69
T6 Marcus Fraser 70
T6 Jarryd Felton 70
T6 Brady Watt 70
T6 Andrew Kelly 70
T6 Jason Norris 70
NEXT UP
The adidas PGA Pro-Am Series continues its WA swing at the ever-popular Sanwell Cottesloe Open this weekend at Cottesloe Golf Club.
Cooma’s David Crawford has credited his country upbringing for earning a share of victory at the Warren Golf Club Legends Pro-Am in the New South Wales Central West.
Likely the first professional golf event ever staged on a golf course with 12 grass greens and six sand greens, Warren Golf Club presented the PGA Legends Tour players with a unique playing experience.
Crawford and Victorian Adam Henwood handled the test best, finishing tied at the top with rounds of 1-under 69, one clear of PGA TOUR winner Peter Lonard (70) and Tony Collier (70).
In his second year on the Legends Tour, it served as a reminder of Crawford’s earliest days playing the game.
“It’s a long time ago since I played sand greens; I thought I might have lost the touch,” said Crawford.
“But as soon as I got back onto them it was quite easy to bring back the memories and play them how they’re supposed to be played.
“It was fantastic.”
HOW THE WINNING ROUNDS UNFOLDED
Although they started on opposite sides of the golf course, both Crawford and Henwood did the bulk of their scoring on the front nine.
Henwood was quick out of the blocks with birdies at both one and two, adding a third at the par-5 sixth to be 3-under early in his round.
Bogeys at nine and 10 were offset somewhat by a birdie on 11, a dropped shot at the short par-4 17th dropping Henwood to a 1-under total.
Crawford had to fight back late after starting his round from the 10th tee.
A bogey on 11 and 10 pars in his opening 11 holes had Crawford at 1-over but three birdies in the space of five holes vaulted him to the top of the leaderboard.
The outright win was there for the taking only for Crawford to bogey his final hole, the tough 423-metre par-4 ninth.
WHAT THE WINNER SAID
“It was a great experience,” said Crawford.
“It’s certainly a different golf course to some of the other golf courses that we tend to play on this tour.
“Certainly the back nine was very testing. I basically treated that as though if I could get pars around there and not too damage and then get onto the open paddocks at the back end and pick up a few shots.
“Overall the club and the area was absolutely fantastic.”
LEADERBOARD RUNDOWN
T1 Adam Henwood 69
T1 David Crawford 69
T3 Tony Collier 70
T3 Peter Lonard 70
T5 Peter Jones 71
T5 Guy Wall 71
T5 Brad Burns 71
NEXT UP
The PGA Legends Tour continues its ground-breaking run in western New South Wales with the two-day Cobar Legends Pro-Am on the sand greens of the Cobar Bowls and Golf Club starting Saturday.
