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A Bernhard Langer bomb on the 72nd hole has denied Richard Green a maiden PGA TOUR Champions title at the season-ending Charles Schwab Cup Championship in Arizona.
One of only 10 players in the 36-player field still a mathematical chance of taking out the season-long Charles Schwab Cup, Green’s hopes looked dashed through two rounds at Phoenix Country Club.
He responded with weekend rounds of 63-65 capped by a 20-foot birdie putt on the 18th hole and a back nine of 5-under 30 to set the clubhouse mark at 17-under par.
Langer and Kiwi Steven Alker stood on the final tee both at 17-under, yet when Langer hit his tee shot left and Alker hit his approach shot long over the back of the green, Green was suddenly sitting pretty.
Richard Green is CLUTCH!
— PGA TOUR Champions (@ChampionsTour) November 10, 2024
A huge birdie on 18 to tie the lead @SchwabCupFinale 🔥
He can win the Schwab Cup if he wins outright. pic.twitter.com/C1BGNF6Tfi
Yet, as he had done 46 times previously on the Champions Tour, Langer poured in his birdie putt from long range to claim victory and relegate Green to a second-place finish for a fifth time this season.
His tie for second was enough for Green to lift three spots to third in the final Charles Schwab Cup standings, Alker the season champion for the second time in third years.
“It was a little hard getting going early, but once I sort of got the momentum on my side the back nine, it was just a matter of making the right decisions and playing my game as good as I possibly could and trying to execute the shots needed,” said Green, who finished the year with more than $US2 million in prize money.
“We had a couple opportunities that I even felt let slip, but still really nice to finish the way I did.”
As the PGA TOUR Champions season came to a close, Queenslander Scott Hend kept alive his hopes of winning the Legends Tour Order of Merit in Europe.
With two events left in the season, Hend’s third place finish at the Farmfoods European Senior Masters in Spain saw him bridge the gap to Order of Merit leader Adilson Da Silva.
Trailing Englishman Simon Griffiths by two after a bogey-free 7-under 66 in Round 2, Hend had drawn level with four birdies in the space of six holes to close out the front nine.
Dropped shots at 10 and 12 would prove costly, an eagle at the final hole enough to secure outright third three shots back of Griffiths.
The DP World Tour season finale will feature two Australians as Min Woo Lee and Adam Scott both maintained their position inside the top 50 in the Race to Dubai Rankings.
Lee produced four sub-70 rounds to finish tied for 23rd at the Abu Dhabi Championship with Scott closing with a round of 7-under 65 to finish tied for 46th and 16th entering the DP World Tour Championship.
Grace Kim’s tie for 11th was a strong result in defence of her LOTTE Championship title in Hawaii while Danny List leads the Aussie charge at the halfway mark of Final Stage of DP World Tour Qualifying School in Spain.
Photo: Christian Petersen/Getty Images
Results
PGA TOUR
World Wide Technology Championship
El Cardonal at Diamante Cabo San Lucas, Los Cabos, Mexico
1 Austin Eckroat 68-67-66-63—264 $US1.296m
T64 Aaron Baddeley 71-68-71-75—285 $15,408
MC Tim Wilkinson (NZ) 74-75—149
DP World Tour
Abu Dhabi HSBC Championship
Yas Links, Abu Dhabi, UAE
1 Paul Waring 64-61-73-66—264 €1,419,771.15
T23 Min Woo Lee 69-67-68-69—273 €88,109.33
T37 David Micheluzzi 69-68-70-69—276 €52,615.05
T46 Adam Scott 71-67-75-65—278 €38,417.34
Qualifying School – Final Stage
Infinitum Golf (Lakes & Hills Cses), Tarragona, Spain
Through three of six rounds
1 Edoardo Molinari 65-61-72—198
T4 Danny List 72-63-69—204
T22 Brett Coletta 66-74-66—206
T37 Sam Jones (NZ) 69-66-73—208
T44 Haydn Barron 77-61-71—209
T79 Hayden Hopewell 68-74-68—210
T79 Todd Sinnott 74-68-68—210
T111 Tom Power Horan 70-73-69—212
T132 Andrew Kelly 72-70-72—214
T141 Cameron John 71-71-74—216
T150 Matthew Griffin 72-77-69—218
LPGA Tour
LOTTE Championship
Hoakalei Country Club, Ewa Beach, Hawaii
1 A Lim Kim 66-69-67-68—270 $US450,000
T11 Grace Kim 72-68-68-71—279 $52,713
T35 Robyn Choi 70-72-71-72—285 $17,236
T43 Stephanie Kyriacou 70-73-70-73—286 $12,491
MC Hira Naveed 74-72—146
Japan Golf Tour
Mitsui Sumitomo VISA Taiheiyo Masters
Pacific Club (Gotemba Cse), Shizuoka
1 Ryo Ishikawa 66-71-65-67—269 ¥40m
T23 Brad Kennedy 72-69-68-69—278 ¥1.86m
T69 Michael Hendry (NZ) 73-73—146
Korean PGA Tour
KPGA Tour Championship
Cypress Golf & Resort, Korea
1 Daihan Lee 67-67-66-66—266
T49 Sungjin Yeo (NZ) 71-73-70-71—285
PGA TOUR Champions
Charles Schwab Cup Championship
Phoenix Country Club, Phoenix, Arizona
1 Bernhard Langer 69-64-67-66—266 $US528,000
T2 Richard Green 71-68-63-65—267 $276,000
T2 Steven Alker (NZ) 70-68-63-66—267 $276,000
5 Rod Pampling 69-72-65-68—274 $180,000
T15 Greg Chalmers 74-69-69-66—278 $61,500
T17 Mark Hensby 70-69-73-67—279 $55,500
T26 Cameron Percy 70-68-78-68—284 $22,950
33 Stuart Appleby 75-72-71-70—288 $18,750
Legends Tour
Farmfoods European Senior Masters
La Manga Club, Murcia, Spain
1 Simon Griffiths 64-70-68—202
3 Scott Hend 70-66-69—205
T15 Michael Campbell (NZ) 73-70-67—210
T38 Michael Long (NZ) 74-69-75—218
Reigning Challenger PGA Tour of Australasia Order of Merit champion Kazuma Kobori and DP World Tour winner Daniel Hillier are locked in to head the New Zealand challenge at the upcoming Australian golf majors.
The two Kiwis will take on the best of Australian golf, including Jason Day, Cam Smith, Min Woo Lee, Cam Davis, Lucas Herbert and Marc Leishman at the BMW Australian PGA Championship at Royal Queensland (November 21-24) and ISPS HANDA Australian Open at Kingston Heath and The Victoria (November 28-December 1).
Both tournaments are co-sanctioned by the Challenger PGA Tour of Australasia and DP World Tour.
Kobori will be making his first appearances as a full-time DP World Tour member, the reward he gained from a sensational Challenger PGA Tour of Australasia season in 2023/24. Three tournament victories, all in Webex Players Series events, helped him to top the Order of Merit in his first year as a professional.
Since then, the 23-year-old has played in two major championships, The Open at Royal Troon and US PGA Championship at Valhalla, as well as events on the DP World Tour, Korn Ferry Tour and Asian Tour.
Kobori said: “I’m really looking forward to getting started as a full-time DP World Tour member at Royal Queensland and then heading to the Sandbelt for the Australian Open.
“Last summer in Australia was huge for me with the three wins and winning the Order of Merit to earn my DP World Tour card. There’s some great memories there.
“I can’t wait to see some of my mates I haven’t seen on Tour for a while and playing well in these two big Aussie events would give me a great start to the 2024/25 season.”
Hillier had a career highlight in 2023 when he won the British Masters and this year finished 94th on the Race to Dubai.
“Australia is close to home so the PGA and Open are always events I’m keen to play,” he said.
“The fact they’re at the start of the DP World Tour season means it’s a fresh beginning, even though they come at the end of the year.”
The 2024 ISPS HANDA Australian Open and BMW Australian PGA Championship will be broadcast on Fox Sports and Kayo, as well as the NINE Network/9NOW.
For BMW Australian PGA Championship tickets, go to ticketek.com.au
The Australian PGA Championship is supported by the Queensland Government, through Tourism and Events Queensland’s Major Events Program and Brisbane City Council, through Brisbane Economic Development Agency.
Andre Stolz has won the Nova Employment Australian PGA Senior Championship for a second time after a final round 64 saw him finish five shots in front of the fast finishing Mat Goggin and defending champion Jason Norris.
Entering the final day with a two shot lead over Norris, and five stroke advantage of a pack including Goggin at 7-under, Stolz did his best to fulfil his stated mission to wife Katrina to “make it boring” on Sunday.
A couple of back nine hiccups overcome to lift the trophy for the second time after Stolz triumphed in 2020.
“I think obviously these last two weeks are our biggest two events of the year. I know I’ve won a lot of events on this Tour, and I’ve won the Order of Merit the last three years and leading again this year, and winning all those events is great, but these are the ones that we all want,” Stolz, who finished at 17-under, said.
“It’s like people talk about majors for the young guys and all that sort of stuff, but these are our biggest two events. So absolutely these are the two to win. And being the senior PGA champion is pretty special.”
Stolz continued the same formula of impressive chipping and putting that had been a feature all week at Richmond Golf Club during a front nine of 31 as Norris did his best to ruin the boring plan.
Birdieing four of six holes from the third, Stolz looked to be getting in the ideal preparation for PGA TOUR Champions qualifying school next month before back-to-back bogeys at the 12th and 13th.
Hooking both tee shots at the two par-4s, Stolz could feel the pressure of the reigning champ gaining momentum as Norris emerged as the most likely challenger with birdie at the 14th after turning in 1-under-par.
Stolz finding his putting touch again at the right time when the Queenslander followed Norris in for a birdie of his own at the par-3, before he pulled away with eagle at the par-5 15th following a “drop kick” second shot to within 15 feet.
“I like this golf course,” was Stolz simple assessment of a course he helped adjust the layout of ahead of this year’s event.
“I know it’s super demanding and you’ve got to drive the ball great, and if you do, you can make a ton of birdies.
“I’ve been telling everybody I talk to about it, just got to drive it well and you’re going to have plenty of opportunities to make some birdies.”
Noting how difficult it is “to match eagles”, Norris birdied the par-5 15th before a three putt at the short par-4 16th against Stolz’s par ensured the 2020 winner a more comfortable closing stretch. Goggin’s eagle-birdie-birdie run starting at the 15th a little too late for the Tasmanian to mount a challenge.
Stolz dropped another shot at the par-3 17th after arguably his worst chip of the week, but he finished things in style with a clinical birdie at the 54th hole.
The victory and pay cheque a helpful cash injection as Stolz prepares to head stateside to try and join the large contingent of Australians on world’s premier over-50s Tour.
“It’s just really good timing,” Stolz said.
“Obviously this time of the year is pretty much peak season for us. It’s a big expense to blow for a week, but we, we’ll go and roll the dice.”
Joining Stolz in Phoenix in the hope of securing playing rights will be Goggin, who will no doubt leave his tournament debut with plenty of positives after sharing runner-up honours with Norris.
Last week’s NSW Senior Open winner David McKenzie continuing his good form with a solo fourth on 11-under, with Peter Lonard a shot further back as the PGA Legends Tour prepares for a lucrative run of event in Sydney this week before Stolz potentially tees it up at the BMW Australian PGA Championship thanks to his win this week.
“I hadn’t really even looked at the schedule. I basically just had been in the zone all this week,” he said of potentially heading to Royal Queensland.
Another professional claiming the first win of his career featured in a three-way tie for top spot at The Middle of Everywhere Yarram Pro-Am today.
A day after Ed Donoghue broke through for his maiden success on the adidas PGA Pro-Am Series at Traralgon, this time it was Zinyo Garcia (NSW) earning his first title, shooting a 4-under-par to sit alongside Matt Millar (ACT) and Alex Edge (NSW).
The trio was two shots clear of their nearest rivals.
While it was victory No.1 for Garcia, Millar’s pro-am win count now sits in excess of 50 in the past 10 years alone.
Edge’s victory added to his Tasmanian Open title in April.
HOW THE WINNER’S SCORE UNFOLDED
Garcia came into the event a bit under-prepared after making a late commitment to the final leg of the Gippsland swing.
However made a fast track with three birdies in his first four holes. He ended up with a tally of eight birdies for the day, including two to close out his round to claim a share of top spot.
Miller’s round featured five birdies, including going back-to-back twice at the third and fourth and eighth and ninth as he posted a front nine of 33. The back nine had just the one birdie at the par-4 13th.
Meanwhile Edge was 1-over through his first five holes before picking up shots on the fifth, eighth, ninth, 10th and 12th.
WHAT THE WINNERS SAID
Garcia said: “It feels pretty good because it’s been a bit tough of late. The game feels like it’s there but the scores haven’t been really showing it. The course is on a great bit of land, the land is really good and it’s a club that’s volunteer run. It’s absolutely amazing really. If anyone is down this way, I’d recommend playing it.”
Edge said: “I kept it in play all day and that gave me some chances. It was nice to come back and play here again. There’s a bit of emphasis on where you need to hit your next shot from and I enjoy that type of golf rather than trying to bludgeon it everywhere.”
Millar said: “It’s exciting to get a win again. It’s been a bit up and down the last few weeks or so. It’s always a pleasure to come back to Yarram. They do a wonderful job here. A lot of golf courses could take note of what they do here as a group of volunteers. It’s just amazing.”
LEADERBOARD RUNDOWN
68: Matthew Millar (ACT); Zinyo Garcia (NSW); Alex Edge (NSW)
70: Jack Chrystie (Vic); Toby Walker (Vic)
71: Rick Kulacz (WA)
72: Dean Mulley (NSW); Darren Bowman (Vic); Samuel Slater (Qld); Anthony Choat (Vic); Alexander Simpson (NSW); Tom Ryan (Vic)
NEXT UP
The adidas PGA Pro-Am Series welcomes a new event at Hidden Valley Golf and Country Club, north of Melbourne, on Sunday.
Victorian Ed Donoghue claimed his maiden professional title after successfully negotiating a Friday of difficult conditions at the Traralgon Latrobe City WIN Network Pro-Am Classic.
Rounds of 66-69 for a 9-under-par total at Traralgon Golf Club gave Donoghue a one-shot margin over first-round leader Andre Lautee (63-73) and Peninsula-Kingswood amateur Matthew Dahlsen (67-69).
The breakthrough victory on the adidas PGA Pro-Am Series is a nice confidence boost for the 27-year-old heading into the NSW Open on the Challenger PGA Tour of Australasia, starting at Murray Downs on Thursday.
Donoghue is currently sitting in 49th place on the Order of Merit after two top-30 finishes in his opening four events.
HOW THE WINNER’S SCORE UNFOLDED
Donoghue’s bogey-free 6-under round on day one featured a 5-under-par 32 on the front nine at Traralgon.
After starting a very windy day two at the second hole, he had five straight pars before a birdie arrived at the par-5 seventh.
His first bogey of the event came at the par-4 12th, but the fourth year pro seized the lead with consecutive birdies on 16, 17 and 18, his round of 3-under-par 69 matching the best score on Friday.
Meanwhile, Lautee was brought undone by four bogeys in the middle of his round.
WHAT THE WINNER SAID
“I’ve had a lot of seconds so I didn’t want to come second again,” Donoghue said.
“It’s nice to finally win and getting that monkey off the back definitely helps. It will give me some confidence I think.”
LEADERBOARD RUNDOWN
-9: Ed Donoghue (Vic) 66-69
-8: Andre Lautee (Vic) 63-73; Matthew Dahlsen (Vic) (a) 67-69
-7: Harry Goakes (Vic) 66-71; Matthew Stenson (Vic) 66-71; Caleb Bovalina (Vic) 66-71
-4: Kyle Michel (Vic) 69-71
-3: Samuel Slater (Qld) 72-69; Nathan Page (NSW) 68-73; Alexander Simpson (NSW) 69-72
NEXT UP
The Gippsland swing ends with The Middle of Everywhere Yarram Pro-Am on Saturday.
Australia’s golf venues have been given a new roadmap to help maximise the benefits that golf can bring to the community.
Headlining this new report is a live dashboard, built for general managers, facility operators, and landowners, who can now enter their own data and generate their own venue’s community benefits report.
The report also includes 10 themes to help all of golf’s venues across the country become the best version of themselves, whether it be golf courses, short courses, driving ranges, indoor simulator venues, or mini golf.
Last year, the Australian Golf Industry Council (AGIC) unveiled a groundbreaking report that revealed golf provides $3.3 billion in total annual benefits to the Australian community, economy and environment.
In the year since, the AGIC, which comprises the key national bodies of the golf industry in Australia, including the PGA of Australia, Golf Australia and the WPGA Tour of Australasia, has worked hard to take the report to the next level.
The result is an in-depth new report, titled “Maximising the Community Benefits of Golf”, published today.
AGIC Chair Karen Lunn is excited for venues around the country to put the report’s findings into practice.
“This report builds what was outlined last year – that golf is making a huge contribution to Australians in a number of ways every year,” Lunn said.
“We are now focussing on helping our clubs, facilities, landowners and operators, to build that contribution to even higher levels.
“The report will help all golf venues around our country understand the benefits they contribute from their own venue and in doing so work on areas that will maximise these benefits even further to create a healthier, happier and more sustainable community.”
A key point of last year’s report is that golf is big, different from other sports in positive ways, and is changing with new venue types attracting a more diverse player demographic.
It also showed that golfers are healthier and happier than the average Australian.
Underpinning the new report are fact-finding interviews with 15 venue operators, across a variety of golf courses, short courses, driving ranges, indoor simulator venues, and mini golf.
“The 15 venues who contributed to this engaging report were invaluable. The knowledge and experience they shared is extremely important in our quest to achieve our shared goal of more Australians playing more golf,” said Lunn.
“Golf is in an extraordinary time of growth, and together we can maximise the benefits the game brings our community as a whole to build a strong and resounding future.”
The 10 themes to success presented include:
The themes to success apply to venues in varying degrees, but all have been identified as the most important factors for maximising community benefits.
To learn more about the report, and for access to the interactive dashboard CLICK HERE.
To look at the career of Peter Lonard, who perfectly embodies the over-50s circuit in Australia named the PGA Legends Tour, you would struggle to find many holes in the Sydneysider’s resumé.
Owner of two Australian Opens, a hat-trick of Australian PGA Championships, as well as winning the Australian Masters and on the PGA TOUR, when it comes to winning, one of multiple successful “Peters” of his generation has achieved a lot.
However, since continuing his career in the over-50s world, there is one title that has eluded Lonard, with this week’s Nova Employment Australian PGA Seniors Championship a trophy he admits he’d like to have his hands on.
“It’s a little different. In the old days I was playing every week. I was playing 30, 40 weeks a year,” Lonard said at host venue Richmond Golf Club today.
“All the Australian tournaments, I loved playing because normally the courses were firm and hard and bouncy and I just loved playing them.
“Obviously to add this to the PGAs that I won with the ‘flat bellies’, it’d be a nice little cherry on top moment, I suppose.
“It is not the end of the world if I don’t, but of course I’d like to. I think I’ve finished second here a couple of times, but you still feel as competitive as you did when you were a kid, you still get nerves trying to hit certain shots to win and all this sort of stuff.
“So it’s great to be able to still do it at 57 and still have that desire I suppose.”
That desire is evident to all, with Lonard constantly found on the range at The Australian Golf Club working on his game, in between teeing it up on the Legends Tour where he has three wins so far in 2024.
Known throughout his career as one of the best ball strikers in golf, it is a different area of the game that Lonard believes might prove the difference this week at Richmond, where he finished joint runner-up to Jason Norris last year.
“I think I’m playing reasonable. I’m probably not hitting it as good as I was, but my short game’s a lot better so that can hide a lot of mistakes, a lot of problems,” he said.
“I’m close to playing pretty good. Looking forward to the next couple of weeks, or the next four weeks really if counting the (ISPS HANDA Australian) Open and the (BMW Australian) PGA.”
Still dedicated to his craft, one that has led him all over the world after spending time as the head professional at Oatlands Golf Club following a bout with Ross River Fever in the early 1990s, Lonard doesn’t believe he has found a magic short game pill. Or at least not a new one.
“Practising for 15 years and finally something clicked,” he said laughing when asked what the secret to his short game success has been.
“I went back to a lot of old stuff, it’s probably not rocket science. It probably got a bit too complicated with what I was trying to do and it seems to be working okay. Whether it works under pressure, I don’t know, but we’ll see.”
The pressure will come from the usual tournament nerves, that even an experienced major championship campaigner and Presidents Cup representative admits he still feels.
It will also come from the stellar field that again has assembled for the national title for the senior Tour in this country.
Lonard joined by Norris, as well as the likes of Peter Senior, Peter O’Malley, Order of Merit leader Andre Stolz, PGA TOUR Champions player David Bransdon, John Senden, Mat Goggin and frequent winner Adam Henwood.
Many of those beaten out by another of the names familiar to Aussie and global golf fans, David McKenzie, who claimed the NSW Senior Open in front of Goggin, Lonard and Scott Barr last Sunday.
The names as recognisable as the routine of Lonard, who after claiming the pre-tournament pro-am with his team was headed for a familiar route home ahead of tomorrow’s first round when he will tee off at 9am (AEDT) alongside Terry Pilkadaris and Scott Laycock.
“I’ll probably stop at a driving range or something and hit some drivers. Not driving it great, but everything else is pretty good so try and get the driver going straight tomorrow and we’re ready to go.”
Rounds two and three of the Nova Employment Australia PGA Senior Championship will be broadcast LIVE on Fox Sports and Kayo.
He once shot 57 at his home club but 6-under 64 was all Ben Murphy needed to take out the Community Bank Trafalgar and District Pro-Am at Trafalgar Golf Club.
The Assistant Professional at The National Golf Club’s Long Island course and a member at Peninsula-Kingswood, Murphy had an eagle and a birdie in his final three holes to finish one shot clear of Harrison Wills (65) with Matthew Millar (66) third.
An infrequent starter on the adidas PGA Pro-Am Series, Murphy believes not having visited Trafalgar previously actually helped in compiling his bogey-free round.
“First time I’m seeing the course so it’s probably a blessing in disguise really where you don’t know where the trouble is,” said Murphy.
“Drove it well, holed a few putts and turned out to be 64.”
HOW THE WINNING ROUND UNFOLDED
Playing in the morning move and starting from the ninth tee, Murphy began his round in positive fashion with birdies at 10 and 12.
He went 3-under on his round with birdie at the short par-4 16th but then had to play the waiting game in a run of seven straight pars.
He broke that streak with an eagle at the par-5 sixth and added a final birdie at the par-4 seventh to close out his round of 64.
WHAT THE WINNER SAID
“Phenomenal,” was how Murphy described the presentation of the Trafalgar layout in West Gippsland.
“Seriously, as a country course, this is as pure as it gets.
“Perfect fairways, perfect greens, cool layout. Great golf course.”
LEADERBOARD RUNDOWN
1 Ben Murphy 64
2 Harrison Wills 65
3 Matthew Millar 66
4 Andre Lautee 67
T5 Aiden Didone 69
T5 Caleb Bovalina 69
NEXT UP
The Gippsland swing of the adidas PGA Pro-Am Series continues on Thursday with day one of the $30,000 Traralgon Latrobe City WIN Network Pro-Am Classic at Traralgon Golf Club before moving on to Yarram Golf Club on Saturday.
He’s exhausted, battling his swing and barely hanging on yet David Micheluzzi can celebrate a major milestone simply by teeing it up in this week’s Abu Dhabi Championship in Abu Dhabi.
Micheluzzi is the only player in the 70-man field at Yas Links to be playing their first Rolex Series event, a remarkable achievement in his rookie season on the DP World Tour.
The Challenger PGA Tour of Australasia Order of Merit winner has scratched and clawed his way to the point where he finished as one of the top 70 players on the Race to Dubai rankings available for week one of the DP World Tour Playoffs.
He will now contest a penultimate event of the season worth $US9 million at a venue that the 28-year-old says is bring major championship vibes.
“It almost has that major feel to it,” Micheluzzi says of taking his place alongside fellow Aussies Adam Scott and Min Woo Lee and superstars the calibre of Rory McIlroy, Shane Lowry, Tommy Fleetwood and Robert MacIntyre.
“I’ve been fortunate to play a couple of majors and it just has that vibe to it.
“I couldn’t wait for Hero Dubai Desert Classic to be my first one (next season) and then obviously I got into this week.
“I’m stoked.”
In 23 starts this season Micheluzzi has four top-10 finishes, his best result a tie for second at the BMW International Open in Germany.
He has banked €556,761.72 in prize money, thanks in no small part to his proficiency with the putter.
“I’ve actually struggled quite a bit. Battled with my swing, battled off the tee, into greens and my putting and my short game have really saved me this year,” said Micheluzzi, who is ranked 10th in Average Putts Per Round and 12th in Putts Per Green In Regulation.
“The more tournaments I’ve played, the more comfortable I’ve become. But overall, to make Abu Dhabi is a massive achievement.
“I had one good result in Munich. I think I made the last four cuts at the end of the season which actually got me into the top 70. Overall, very happy.”
Grace Kim is also in a happy place as she returns to defend her LOTTE Championship in Hawaii.
A shift in tournament date has kept Kim waiting 18 months to put her title on the line, the 23-year-old unsure of the giant champion’s poster that greeted her upon arrival at Hoakalei Country Club.
“They probably chose a very terrible photo of me up on the banner, but that’s fine. My face is still up there,” said Kim.
“Someone said, ‘Welcome home’, so that’s really cool.”
Just a little putting perfection from 2023 @LPGALOTTE Champion @gracekimeyy 😮💨 #LPGALookback pic.twitter.com/JACT2CdOzl
— LPGA (@LPGA) November 5, 2024
Tied for 34th last week in Japan, Kim has three top-10 finishes in her second LPGA Tour season and is currently 47th in the Race to CME Globe standings.
Although she has had some disappointing finishes in 2024 after playing her way into contention, Kim believes the win in her rookie season will continue to help throughout her career.
“Obviously was still fresh into my rookie season, so very low expectations. No additional pressure was added,” Kim said of a win that came just three starts into her LPGA career.
“I think I had more pressure this year when I was in the two contending days. That’s just a learning experience itself. I probably got a little bit too ahead of myself or getting to the golf course a little bit too early.
“I still sometimes think when I’m down like might have been a fluke. Obviously it wasn’t, so try to use that as momentum into the rest of my career for sure.”
Although there are six Aussies in the field, Victorian Richard Green is the only Australian who can still win the Charles Schwab Cup on the PGA TOUR Champions and nine Aussies will contest the Final Stage of DP World Tour Qualifying School in Spain.
Photo: Andrew Redington/Getty Images
Round 1 tee times AEST
PGA TOUR
World Wide Technology Championship
El Cardonal at Diamante Cabo San Lucas, Los Cabos, Mexico
12:41am Aaron Baddeley
5:05am Tim Wilkinson (NZ)
Defending champion: Erik van Rooyen
Past Aussie winners: Nil
Prize money: $US7.2 million
TV times: Live 6am-9am Friday, Saturday, Sunday and Monday on Fox Sports 503 and Kayo.
DP World Tour
Abu Dhabi HSBC Championship
Yas Links, Abu Dhabi, UAE
2:28pm David Micheluzzi
3:01pm Adam Scott
5:28pm Min Woo Lee
Defending champion: Victor Perez
Past Aussie winners: Nil
Prize money: $US9 million
TV times: Live 3pm-12am Thursday, Friday; Live 6pm-12am Saturday; Live 6pm-11:30pm Sunday on Fox Sports 503 and Kayo.
Qualifying School – Final Stage
Infinitum Golf (Lakes & Hills Cses), Tarragona, Spain
Australasians in the field: Sam Jones (NZ), Hayden Hopewell, Haydn Barron, Todd Sinnott, Danny List, Tom Power Horan, Matthew Griffin, Brett Coletta, Cameron John, Andrew Kelly
Defending champion: Freddy Schott
Past Aussie winners: Nil
LPGA Tour
LOTTE Championship
Hoakalei Country Club, Ewa Beach, Hawaii
4:40am Stephanie Kyriacou
8:53am Grace Kim
9:15am* Hira Naveed
9:37am* Robyn Choi
Defending champion: Grace Kim
Past Aussie winners: Minjee Lee (2016), Grace Kim (2023)
Prize money: $US3 million
TV times: Live 11am-2pm Thursday, Friday and Saturday on Fox Sports 503 and Kayo.
Japan Golf Tour
Mitsui Sumitomo VISA Taiheiyo Masters
Pacific Club (Gotemba Cse), Shizuoka
11:05am Michael Hendry (NZ)
12:15pm Brad Kennedy
Defending champion: Shugo Imahira
Past Aussie winners: Graham Marsh (1987), Roger Mackay (1991), Greg Norman (1993), Brendan Jones (2007)
Prize money: ¥200,000,000
Korean PGA Tour
KPGA Tour Championship
Cypress Golf & Resort, Korea
1:35pm* Sungjin Yeo (NZ)
Defending champion:
Past Aussie winners: Nil
Prize money: KRW1.1 billion
PGA TOUR Champions
Charles Schwab Cup Championship
Phoenix Country Club, Phoenix, Arizona
Australasians in the field: Steven Alker (NZ), Stuart Appleby, Greg Chalmers, Richard Green, Mark Hensby, Rod Pampling, Cameron Percy.
Defending champion: Steven Alker
Past Aussie winners: Nil
Prize money: $US3 million
TV times: Live 9am-11am Friday, Saturday, Sunday and Monday on Fox Sports 503 and Kayo.
Legends Tour
Farmfoods European Senior Masters
La Manga Club, Murcia, Spain
Australasians in the field: Michael Campbell (NZ), Michael Long (NZ), Scott Hend
Defending champion: Patrik Sjöland
Past Aussie winners: Nil
Legendary coach Steve Bann and course architect Vern Morcom were inducted into the Victorian Golf Hall of Fame at the Victorian Golf Industry Awards.
Bann, a former touring PGA Professional who made his name coaching Stuart Appleby and Robert Allenby during his time as head coach of the Victorian Institute of Sport, remains a significant figure in the game.
He is a director of BannLynchMcDade working out of Yarra Bend in Melbourne and also is a teaching professional at Kingston Heath Golf Club.
Morcom, who died in 1976, is one of Australia’s greatest architects and was also the head greenkeeper at Kingston Heath for many years.
His work on Dr Alister Mackenzie’s bunkering plan for Kingston Heath from 1928 was his legacy project, but he also designed Spring Valley and dozens of golf courses around the country.
The awards were presented at Southern Golf Club, with Michael Moore from Rossdale Golf Club winning the Club Professional of the Year award and Metropolitan’s Brandon Rave the High Performance Coach of the Year. Scott McDermott from the PGA Academy was the Coach of the Year.
PHOTO: Steve Bann (left) has worked with many of Australia’s greats including Stuart Appleby. Image: Getty
Full list of award winners:
PGA Awards
PGA Victorian Club Professional of the Year: Michael Moore (Rossdale GC)
PGA Victorian Coach of the Year – High Performance: Brandon Rave (Metropolitan GC)
PGA Victorian Coach of the Year – Game Development: Scott McDermott (PGA Academy)
PGA Victorian Management Professional of the Year: Jeff Graham (Bairnsdale GC)
Golf Australia Awards:
Victorian Volunteer of the Year: David Smith (Ocean Grove & South Western Golf Association.
Victorian Inclusion Initiative of the Year: Yarrambat Golf Course/Belgravia Leisure
Victorian Golf Club of the Year: Lonsdale Links
Female Amateur of the Year: Jazy Roberts (Belvoir Park GC)
Male Amateur of the Year: Phoenix Campbell (Yarra Yarra GC)
Golf Management Victoria – GMV (GMA):
GMV Excellence in Management Award: Peter Busch (Green Acres GC)
Victorian Golf Course Superintendents Association – VGCSA awards:
VGCSA Superintendents Recognition Award: Colin Foster (Barwon Valley Golf)
