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Two of Australia’s most exciting young talents will take another significant step towards establishing their credentials in world golf when they make their debut appearances on two of the game’s biggest tours this week.
Queensland left-hander Elvis Smylie has been granted an invitation to make his European Tour debut at the BMW International Open in Germany while amateur Grace Kim will tee it up in the LPGA Tour’s secondary Symetra Tour event in Ohio, the Prasco Charity Championship.
Ranked as high as No.46 in the World Amateur Golf Ranking, Smylie put the golf world on notice by the way in which he finished second to Brad Kennedy at The Players Series Victoria in January and continued to impress as the summer progressed.
Shortly after his breakout performance at Rosebud Country Club the 18-year-old made the decision to turn professional, finishing tied for third in his first start as a pro at The Players Series Sydney at Bonnie Doon Golf Club.
He missed the cut in his home state at the Queensland Open but once again highlighted his enormous potential by finishing second behind Bryden Macpherson at the Golf Challenge NSW Open in March.
With his father Peter and Creative Artists Agency managing his affairs – a management company whose clients include Beyonce, Matthew McConaughey, David Beckham and US President Joe Biden – opportunities to play in Europe were sourced and Smylie jumped at the chance.
While he had Mike Clayton serve as caddy during the run of PGA Tour of Australasia events, Smylie has enlisted the services of experienced looper Mike ‘Sponge’ Waite for his entry into Europe, Waite having caddied for fellow Kiwi Michael Campbell at his 2005 US Open triumph along with Robert Allenby, KJ Choi and Lee Westwood.
Yet to take the plunge into the professional ranks, Grace Kim enters her maiden Symetra Tour event with winning form on her side.
The Australian Women’s Amateur champion in February, Kim played the Augusta National Women’s Amateur in April and chose to stay on in America, wasting little time in adding professional titles to her outstanding amateur resume.
She won on the Cactus Tour – by eight strokes no less – in May and then two weeks ago claimed the Oscar Williams Classic on the Women’s All Pro Tour, a victory that earned a place in the field this week on the Symetra Tour.
As Kim continues her progression towards professionalism six of her countrywomen are chasing major glory at the KPMG Women’s PGA Championship in Atlanta, headlined by 2019 champion and world No.15 Hannah Green.
Australia’s five highest-ranked male players are all in action at the PGA TOUR’s Travelers Championship in Connecticut along with Monday qualifier Lucas Herbert and Stephen Leaney, Rod Pampling, John Senden and David McKenzie are in the field for the Bridgestone SENIOR PLAYERS Championship at Firestone Country Club in Ohio.
Round 1 tee times AEST
European Tour
BMW International Open
Golfclub München Eichenried, Munich, Germany
4pm Deyen Lawson, Grégory Havret, Darren Fichardt
4.10pm Wade Ormsby, Ashley Chesters, Chris Wood
4.40pm Josh Geary, Ondrej Lieser, Niklas Lemke
4.50pm Dimitrios Papadatos, Šimon Zach, Carlos Pigem
5pm Elvis Smylie, Philipp Mejow, Aaron Cockerill
5.10pm Ryan Fox, Oliver Fisher, Ross Fisher
5.20pm* Scott Hend, Min Woo Lee, Adrian Otaegui
9pm* Jake McLeod, JC Ritchie, Daniel Young
10.20pm* Maverick Antcliff, Jean-Baptiste Gonnet, Thomas Rosenmuller
Defending champion: Andrea Pavan (2019)
Past Aussie winners: Peter Fowler (1993)
Top Aussie prediction:
TV schedule: Live 8.30pm-2am Thursday, Friday on Fox Sports 503; Live 9.30pm-2am Saturday on Fox Sports 505; Live 9.30am-2am Sunday on Fox Sports 503.
LPGA Tour
KPMG Women’s PGA Championship
Atlanta Athletic Club, Johns Creek, Georgia
9.21pm Su Oh, Tiffany Chan, Dana Finkelstein
9.43pm Sarah Kemp, Nicole Broch Larsen, Christina Kim
10.05pm Lydia Ko, Georgia Hall, Nelly Korda
2.43am Katherine Kirk, Eun-Hee Ji, Stephanie Meadow
3.38am Minjee Lee, Brittany Lang, Gaby Lopez
4.06am* Hannah Green, Jeongeun Lee6, Angela Stanford
4.17am* Gabriela Ruffels, Mirim Lee, Pernilla Lindberg
Defending champion: Sei Young Kim
Past Aussie winners: Karrie Webb (2001), Hannah Green (2019)
Top Aussie prediction: Hannah Green
TV schedule: Live 1am-5am Friday, Saturday on Fox Sports 505; Live 12am-3am Sunday on Fox Sports 503; Live 5am-8am Monday on Fox Sports 505
US PGA TOUR
Travelers Championship
TPC River Highlands, Cromwell, Connecticut
8.45pm Cameron Percy, Chris Kirk, Rory Sabbatini
9.15pm Matt Jones, KH Lee, Nate Lashley
9.25pm Cameron Smith, Sebastián Muñoz, Brice Garnett
9.35pm* Marc Leishman, Garrick Higgo, Patrick Cantlay
9.55pm* Adam Scott, Lanto Griffin, CT Pan
10.15pm Jason Day, Sam Burns, Brendon Todd
10.45pm Lucas Herbert, Rafael Campos, Ryan Brehm
3.30am* Danny Lee, Emiliano Grillo, DJ Trahan
Defending champion: Dustin Johnson
Past Aussie winners: Greg Norman (1995), Marc Leishman (2012)
Top Aussie prediction: Adam Scott
TV schedule: Live 5am-8am Friday, Saturday on Fox Sports 503; Live 3am-8am Sunday, Monday on Fox Sports 503
Japan Golf Tour
Dunlop SRIXON Fukushima Open
Grandee Nasushirakawa Golf Club, Fukushima
9.25am* Scott Strange, Kakeru Ozeki, Kaigo Tamaki
12.10pm* Andrew Evans, Kazuhiro Yamashita
Defending champion: Rikuya Hoshino (2019)
Past Aussie winners: Nil
Top Aussie prediction: Scott Strange
KPGA Tour
Kolon Korea Open
Woo Jeong Hills Country Club, Cheonan, Korea
7.41am Kevin Chun
8.14am Junseok Lee
9.09am Wonjoon Lee
Defending champion: Jazz Janewattananond (2019)
Past Aussie winners: Nil
Top Aussie prediction: Wonjoon Lee
Korn Ferry Tour
Live and Work in Maine Open
Falmouth Country Club, Falmouth, Maine
8.30pm Mark Hensby, Ben Kohles, Brandon Harkins
1.50am* Jamie Arnold, Andres Gonzales, Will Wilcox
2.40am* Brett Drewitt, Curtis Thompson, Nicholas Thompson
2.50am Harrison Endycott, Max Greyserman, Lorens Chan
3.20am Nick Voke, Brian Richey, Garett Reband
Defending champion: Inaugural event
Past Aussie winners: Nil
Top Aussie prediction: Brett Drewitt
Challenge Tour
Open de Bretagne
Golf Bluegreen de Pléneuf Val André, Pleneuf, France
10.55pm* Daniel Hillier, Sébastien Gros, Enrico Di Nitto
11.06pm* Blake Windred, Borja Virto, Jarand Ekeland Arnoy
Defending champion: Sebastian Heisele (2019)
Past Aussie winners: Scott Arnold (2015)
Top Aussie prediction: Blake Windred
EuroProTour
The Eagle Orchid Scottish Masters
Montrose Golf Links, Angus, Scotland
6.12pm Ben Ferguson, Pavan Sagoo, David Houlding
9.03pm Josh Taylor, Dan Brown, David Dixon
Symetra Tour
Prasco Charity Championship
TPC River’s Bend, Cincinnati, Ohio
Aussies in the field: Grace Kim (a), Stephanie Na, Robyn Choi, Julienne Soo, Hira Naveed, Soo Jin Lee, Julianne Alvarez
Defending champion: Perrine Delacour (2019)
Past Aussie winners: Nil
Top Aussie prediction: Stephanie Na
Champions Tour
Bridgestone SENIOR PLAYERS Championship
Firestone Country Club, Akron, Ohio
11.50pm Stephen Leaney, Michael Allen, Dudley Hart
12.20am Rod Pampling, Tim Herron, Duffy Waldorf
12.45am* David McKenzie, Russ Cochran, Bob Estes
1.35am* John Senden, Paul Stankowski, David Eger
Defending champion: Jerry Kelly
Past Aussie winners: Nil
Top Aussie prediction: Stephen Leaney
TV schedule: 8.30am-10am Friday; 8am-10am Saturday on Fox Sports 503; Live 6am-8am Sunday on Fox Sports 505; Live 5am-8am Monday on Fox Sports 507
Ladies European Tour
Tipsport Czech Ladies Open
Golf Club Beroun, Beroun, Czech Republic
5.13pm Amy Walsh, Clara Pietri, Georgia Iziemgbe Oboh
9.20pm Victoria Fricot, Tiia Koivisto, Lauren Taylor
9.53pm Stephanie Kyriacou, Tereza Kozeluhova, Ursula Wikstrom
10.04pm Whitney Hillier, Sandra Gal, Patricie Mackova
Defending champion: Emily Kristine Pedersen
Past Aussie winners: Nil
Top Aussie prediction: Stephanie Kyriacou
It was a subtle shift as opposed to a major move but Adam Scott’s Saturday 71 has put him in position to push into the top 20 in the final round of the US Open at Torrey Pines Golf Course in California.
On a day in which the front-runners failed to separate themselves from the field, Scott had five birdies and five bogeys in an even par round that moved him up 10 spots on the leaderboard to be tied for 31st at 3-over par with one round to play.
Joint 36-hole leader Russell Henley also shot 71 on Saturday to maintain a share of top spot, level with Canadian Mackenzie Hughes (68) and South Africa’s Louis Oosthuizen (70) at 5-under par, two clear of Rory McIlroy (67) and Bryson DeChambeau (68).
Playing in his first US Open South Australian Wade Ormsby also made positive progression up the leaderboard in the third round, rising four spots thanks to a round of 2-over 73 to be tied for 54th.
Victorian Marc Leishman is also tied for 54th after dropping 24 spots with a round of 4-over 75 while Matt Jones, playing alongside McIlroy, fell to a share of 67th after posting 8-over 79 in his third round, a run of three bogeys from the 12th hole and a double bogey at the par-4 17th doing the lion’s share of the damage to his scorecard.
Playing in his 80th consecutive major championship and with 19 top-10 finishes during his career, Scott wrestled with the give-and-take of a US Open set-up at Torrey Pines, dropping shots at four, six, 10, 14 and 17 but picking them back up at seven, 12, 13, 15 and 18 to sit four shots outside the top 10.
A superb approach shot from 148 yards set up birdie from 14 feet at the par-4 seventh but better was to come at the 12th, running his second shot from deep rough 209 yards out through the front portion of the green up to seven feet, making the putt to get back to 4-over for the championship.
A perfect tee shot of 338 yards put Scott in position to attach the green with his second at the par-5 13th, the 40-year-old unlucky to see his second fly directly over the pin and roll into the back bunker.
He played an exquisite bunker shot down to four feet and made the putt for his second consecutive birdie.
Another superb approach from 219 yards set up a birdie putt from 14 feet at the par-4 15th that curled in on the left edge and after laying up with his second hit a wedge in tight at the par-5 18th for his fifth birdie of the day.
Ormsby made a bright start to his third round with birdies at two of his opening three holes but it was a smattering of bogeys from that point on.
He was unable to get up and down from left of the seventh green and after missing the green short and right at the par-3 11th – the hardest hole on the course on Saturday – was left with a par putt of some 35 feet that broke so savagely that he started his stroke with his back to the hole.
Ormsby dropped a shot at the next hole when his par putt broke across the face of the cup at the par-4 12th and missed a 10-footer for par at the 17th to finish at 2-over for the day and 6-over for the championship.
Following on from his 4-under 67 on Friday Mackenzie Hughes climbed into a share of the lead with a round of 3-under 68 and knows that playing in the final group of a US Open will bring with it a different level of energy, if not a change to his dinner plans Saturday night.
“I’ve had pizza the last two nights, so I’m probably going to have pizza again tonight,” Hughes said.
“There’s probably a strong chance I’ll eat pizza. I’m not that superstitious but I’m a little superstitious.
“You get goosebumps thinking about it, so I know I’m going to be nervous tomorrow.”
McIlroy’s round of 67 was matched only by Englishman Paul Casey on Saturday and puts him in prime position to pressure the leaders in search of a fifth major championship victory and second US Open crown, his first coming a decade ago at Congressional Country Club.
“I’m trying to think of the last time where I really felt like I had a chance,” McIlroy said of being two back and in the penultimate group.
“Carnoustie in ‘18 felt like I maybe had half a chance, going into the final day at Pebble in 2019.
“But apart from that, there’s been some good finishes but never felt like I was in the thick of things.
“I’m just excited for the opportunity to have a chance and be in one of the final groups.”
Matt Jones emerged as the leading Australian at the US Open today as the seven-man antipodean contingent sat off the pace.
Jones was steady and reliable in his second-round even-par 71 at Torrey Pines South to go into the weekend at one over par, six from the lead.
American Russell Henley sleeps with the lead for the second consecutive day at five under par after he posted a 69 to go with his opening 67, along with the 48-year-old Englishman Richard Bland, who is chasing fairytales again.
Bland made headlines recently when he won his first European Tour event at his 478th attempt, is close up as well after a superb 67 that puts him in the final group for Saturday.
A cluster of the Aussies were slightly off the pace, including world No. 28 Cameron Smith, who had two triple-bogey sevens on his card in a second-round 75. At five over par Smith signed his card and prepared to head home to his Florida base for the weekend.
“There was lots of good and just a few bad holes in there,” said Smith. “It was pretty disappointing, actually.”
Marc Leishman hit a gorgeous, spinning wedge and made a nice birdie from two metres at the 18th to shoot 70 and get himself to two over, ensuring he would make the cut at two over par overall.
Adam Scott struggled to a 75 but made the weekend at three over par, although he called his golf “terrible”.
Wade Ormsby (four over overall after a 74 today) sneaked back inside the cut-line late in the day as the scores edged higher. But Steve Allan (80-79) is going home to Arizona, while Brad Kennedy (78 today) could not extend his time in San Diego.
Meanwhile the veteran Bland continued to be the surprise packet following his remarkable win in the British Masters a few weeks ago, shooting a brilliant 67. The Englishman said that while he went 20 years without winning, he never seriously considered another career.
“Yeah, but golf is all I know,” he said. “When times got tough and I lost my card two or three times, I think, what am I going to do, go and get an office job? I’m not that intelligent, I’m afraid.
“So it was just, right, okay, I’ve always been someone that can get my head down and work hard, and I always knew I had the game to compete on the European Tour at the highest level. I’ve always known that.”
Henley was quiet for much of the day but a beautiful tee shot on the-par three eighth hole, his 17th of the day, gave him the birdie that he needed to get the outright lead. He had not made a bogey all day but out of nowhere at the par-five ninth he three-putted to drop a shot and fall back into joint leadership with Bland.
A bunch of major winners, including Louis Oosthuizen (-4) and Bubba Watson (-3) as well as recent world No. 1 Jon Rahm (-3) are in the mix.
Solid performers, but none on centre stage. That’s the summation of the Aussie assault on the 121st US Open at Torrey Pines today after an opening day of combined grind rather than dazzle.
Only qualifier Steve Allan is too far from the -4 pace of Russ Henley and Louis Oosthuizen (thru 16) to make a challenge, but his six compatriots – headed by a plucky Adam Scott – all remain within reach on a crowded leaderboard.
Both Cameron Smith and Matt Jones were forced from the course by darkness before their rounds were complete after almost 90 minutes were lost to morning fog earlier in the day.
But it was Scott who took advantage of still conditions late on day one with back-to-back closing birdies to post a one-under-par 70 to vault to a share of 11th.
The veteran Queenslander had been two over through the first three holes, but managed to claw a shot back with a superb trap shot to birdie range on the par-5 ninth.
He made a similar up-and-down for par on the long 13th which enabled him to cash in with a bomb for birdie on the 17th and then a last-roll special from the fringe on the 18th as the siren to end play sounded.
Smith has just one bogey and one birdie to date and will resume on the 17th, as will Jones who scrambled well to sit at one over.
Also at one over is South Australian Wade Ormsby who was extremely impressive in just his second major championship appearance.
Ormsby made his share of bogeys during his round, but never strayed from his attacking mantra and answered all bar the last one with a birdie to share 41st.
Brad Kennedy was largely solid en route to a 74, the same number as Marc Leishman who will be disappointed with his finish.
Having started on the 10th, the Victorian loomed late with a birdie on the fifth to be even par, but made three late bogeys in fading light to fall back to a share of 78th, albeit only seven off the pace.
Allan hung tough through the front nine, but it all came apart in a hurry with back-to-back double-bogeys on the 13th and 14th holes as he stumbled to nine over par.
Two icons of Australian golf have been recognised for their contribution to the game in this country by receiving the Order of Australia Medal in the Queen’s Birthday Honours list announced on Monday.
Revolutionary golf coach Gary Edwin and the late David Mercer were both recipients of OAMs for Services to Golf, due recognition for more than 120 years combined as PGA Professionals helping elite and amateur players to get the most out of their golf.
A PGA Professional since 1961, Edwin developed a methodology that became known as the Right Sided Swing and guided players to more than $100 million in career earnings… and counting.
Christened Gary Edwin Player, constant confusion and derision caused by the emergence of the South African great during the early days of his own playing career convinced the Australian to make his own name.
Taking inspiration from the swings of Peter Thomson, Kel Nagle and Ben Hogan, Edwin’s swing theory found success quickly, guiding the likes of Peter Lonard, Paul Gow, Rod Pampling, Nathan Green and Gavin Coles to the heights of the PGA TOUR and breathed new life into Peter Senior’s game when he considered quitting in the wake of his 1997 Canon Challenge win.
World Golf Hall of Famer Jan Stephenson is another Edwin disciple and the Gold Coast coach synonymous for his all-black attire has also worked with Major champions Ian Baker-Finch and Michael Campbell.
Pleasantly surprised by the nod – “They’ve been sending me e-mails for a couple of years but we never answered them because we thought they were hoaxes” – the 2006 Australian Teaching Professional of the Year said he has endeavoured to make not only players better but also fellow coaches.
“I got into teaching to make coaching better,” said Edwin, conceding that he was initially motivated to improve his own “horrendous” swing.
“I’ve had a little bit of influence on a lot of guys that now teach the game so that’s probably the biggest thrill that I get out of it.
“My two boys are good golfers and are in the industry with me so I’m very proud of that, too.
“Just generally trying to make coaching better and to help other coaches, because coaching golf isn’t easy.
“The game is so great for all of us. Socially, exercise-wise, the people we meet and seeing people get better.
“Coaches all feel better when they make people better and improve their golf. Improving people’s golf makes their life better, particularly if they play golf a lot.
“I’ve had a great life because of golf.”
Measuring the impact of David Mercer in his 68 years as a PGA of Australia Professional is next to impossible.
One of eight children – including brother Alex, another iconic figure in Australian golf – Mercer’s earliest introduction to golf was picking out balls to sell for pocket money at nearby North Ryde Golf Club and he began his traineeship in 1951.
In 1953 Mercer was appointed the Head Professional at Killara Golf Club and would spend the next 43 years endearing himself to every member who walked through his pro shop door.
While his putter would prove to be his Achilles heel, Mercer bested Open champions Peter Thomson and Kel Nagle to claim the Killara Cup shortly after becoming the club’s head professional, twice won the NSW PGA Foursomes Championship with close friend Len Woodward (1958 and 1967) and led the qualifying at Lundin Links to play his way into the 1973 Open Championship at Royal Troon.
After starting his traineeship under Alex Greg Hohnen completed his training under David and would become his business partner and ultimately successor at Killara, carrying forward his legacy of imparting a deep love of the game.
“He had incredible knowledge of the game, but lessons with Dave were centred around enjoying the game no matter what your handicap was,” Hohnen said on Mercer’s passing on September 12, 2020.
“He would tell people, ‘You’re going to get a lot of enjoyment out of the game, you’re going to meet a lot of great people and you’re going to have a lot of fun’.
“Not everyone is going to be a great player, but as long as they enjoy their game of golf, that’s the No.1 priority.”
Thick rough from the very edge of the fairway. Greens that instil the type of trepidation that comes with a downhill ski jump when viewed from the top side of the hole.
To quote NBC’s Dan Hicks’ immortal words following Tiger Woods’ 18th hole heroics at the 2008 US Open, “Expect anything different?”
The best female players on the planet have assembled at The Olympic Club in San Francisco and been confronted by a golf course that measures 6,486 yards (5,931 metres) and will play to a par of 71.
This is the US Women’s Open and Australia’s lone Major champion in the field is adopting the attitude that the tougher, the better.
West Australian Hannah Green shocked the world when she made a sand save at the 72nd hole to complete a wire-to-wire win at the KPMG Women’s PGA Championship in 2019.
That performance reinforced the grit necessary to turn talent into trophies and the 24-year-old knows she will need all of that mental toughness to be triumphant at The Olympic Club.
“This week is going to be a little different to what we’ve had the whole entire year,” says Green, who hasn’t finished worse than 14th in her past five strokeplay starts.
“This year pars are going to be great scores. I wouldn’t be surprised if you saw the winner at over par. That’s how tough it’s playing.
“The course is long, just because we are getting cooler temperatures, and the rough is really thick. Getting yourself around is going to be quite the tough task.
“Major championships are already a long week, but I think with having to concentrate with every shot on this golf course, it’s going to be quite gruelling.
“Every part of your game is going to be tested this week, so I’m ready for the task.”
Rising to a career high of No.13 in the world after finishing runner-up at the HSBC Women’s World Championship in Singapore in April, Green is benefiting from a program undertaken with coach Ritchie Smith to add more distance to her game.
She is 10th in average driving distance (274.77 yards) on the LPGA Tour and 21st in greens in regulation (74.77 per cent) but knows her putting (first in putts per GIR, fifth in putting average) may be this week’s most valuable weapon.
“Fairways and greens is key, but also giving yourself uphill putts,” said Green.
“If you get some downhill putts, it’s going to be defensive. You won’t be able to be aggressive and try to make it.
“They don’t actually have a first cut of rough here, so it’s going to be quite interesting.
“There are a few run-offs that we have to worry about with the slopes and making sure that, even if you have to hit 3-wood and have a longer shot in, it’s going to be quite a different way of playing golf compared to just hitting driver everywhere.
“The rough is quite thick around the greens, so whoever hits the most greens, I want to say, is probably who’s going to win the tournament.”
Green has been paired with fellow Major champions Danielle Kang and Jin-young Ko for the first two rounds and believes such a star-studded group will also help to bring out her best.
“I’ve got a great pairing, playing with Danielle Kang and Jin Young Ko,” said Green.
“That will be really fun to play with them. Obviously they’re both in quite some form this year.
“It’s always nice to have good playing partners to kind of carry on and vibe off each other.”
With her two best finishes on US soil coming already this season, seasoned LPGA Tour campaigner Sarah Kemp enters this week’s US Women’s Open at Olympic Club in San Francisco in the best physical and mental state of her career. With Tony Webeck
I’ve been to Olympic Club before and played the other course but I’ve got a feeling I’m going to love it. I would love to play well. Obviously it’s the US Open but if I can keep doing what I’ve been doing this year and stick to my game-plans and not put too much pressure on myself or the situation, I’d love to have a good week and I think it’s possible.
I played 18 holes on Monday morning, Tuesday and Wednesday I’m playing nine holes each day and then I’ll take Wednesday afternoon off. Sarah 10 years ago would have gone 18-18-18 which is silly. It’s about practising smarter. You don’t have to be at the golf course all day; you can get a lot done in three hours. I’m hitting the ball well so when you go to a new tournament like this it’s getting a feel for the place. Lines off the tee and do a lot of pace putting and get the speed of the greens, especially on Wednesday. I’m sure the rough’s going to be super-long but I won’t be doing anything too complicated to get ready.
I was talking to my coach John Serhan on Sunday night and while it would have been nice to make it out of the group stages at the Bank of Hope Match-Play last week, he was happy that I got a couple of days rest before such a big week. I feel like the older I get the more I appreciate recovery. When I was in my 20s I would just play week-in and week-out and now you realise that’s a bit silly. There are definitely off weeks where you can recharge and get back to the events a bit fresher. I’m trying to stick to no more than four in a row during this busy part of the season.
I got to come home to Australia and did hotel quarantine over Christmas and New Year and then had five weeks to see John. I’d been hitting the ball well for a couple of years now and we just worked really hard on my putting and in particular the pace of my putts and that has paid off.
I also worked with a sports psychologist by the name of John Crampton. I met him while I was home and we put in a couple of things that I was lacking in the mental department and added them into a routine I do on the course now. The combination of those two has been the key to the good start to the year.
I turned pro when I was 20. I’d won pretty much everything you needed to win in Australia and did some travelling overseas. I was labelled a little bit as the ‘next Karrie Webb’. I don’t remember the pressure but I’m sure there was some. I would have liked to have played this kind of golf 10 years ago but golf’s a sport that you can play for a really long time as long as you’re fit and healthy. It would have been nice to have this earlier on but it’s happening now and I’m still enjoying it.
I grew up when Karrie was No.1 in the world; that’s really hard to do. Even if you had a quarter of Karrie’s career that’s a really good career. Being Australian and coming out being talked about as the next Karrie Webb… That’s a once in a lifetime career. If I was to win a LPGA tournament, that would be a really good career. It would have been nice to win already but I feel like I’ve still got a long way to go with my career. I don’t see myself retiring anytime soon. I’m still motivated.
Winning is a really hard thing to do. There have been a lot of girls who have come out and done it first up but there are a lot of great stories of players who have been out here for 10-plus years and have had their wins after that. I’m just going to be one of those.
The last few years I’ve gotten into a really good place mentally. Off the golf course my life’s great. Not that it wasn’t before but I have taken pressure off the bigger picture. Earlier on golf was everything and I wanted it really quickly and it didn’t happen. I haven’t really done anything too differently this year and it’s hard to pinpoint exactly why I’m now getting the results. It’s just kind of come together. It’s been such a great start to the year and physically and mentally I feel great.
I’ve only been in contention a handful of times and it was fun to have the lead through 36 holes at the Pure Silk Championship a few weeks ago. I loved it and I would love to be in that position more often. That’s the plan. I was nervous going into the Saturday but if I wasn’t nervous there’d probably be something wrong with me. Just tried to embrace that. That’s what I play for. I don’t want to go out there and just have a top-30 finish. It definitely got the juices flowing and I realised that’s what I want to do. I want more of that.
We had an Aussie barbecue a couple of weeks ago in Orlando so just trying to be mates with the new girls on tour like Hannah Green and Minjee Lee. I don’t know that I can give them too much good advice but first and foremost being able to hear another Aussie accent out here is pretty nice.
I’m playing one practice round with Aussie amateur Emily Mahar. We both qualified at the Virginia site together and I know she’s doing great at Virginia Tech. I got the second spot and I saw her name in the playoff and it said ‘Australia’ next to it so I went up and gave her a fist bump and said, ‘Go and get that last spot’. She messaged me on Instagram a couple of weeks later and she said she’d put her name down next to mine on one of the practice days and said, ‘I’ll see you at Olympic.’
US Women’s Open
Round 1 tee times AEST
12.11am* Sarah Jane Smith, Kim Metraux, Gurleen Kaur (a)
12.48am Amelia Garvey, Mi Hyang Lee, Da Yeon Lee
12.55am* Minjee Lee, Ariya Jutanugarn, Amy Olson
1.17am* Hannah Green, Danielle Kang, Jin Young Ko
5.30am* Emily Mahar (a), Ssu Chia Cheng, Elizabeth Szokol
6.03am* Sarah Kemp, Alison Lee, Aneka Seumanutafa (a)
As he reflects on 70 years as a Member of the PGA of Australia this year, Brian Huxtable reveals the twist of fate that led him to golf and the extraordinary people he has met along the way. With Tony Webeck
My first exposure to golf was as a caddie at Riversdale Golf Club when I was 10. It was during the War; in 1944 I started to caddie at Riversdale. I knew one other fella who used to go there sometimes and he said there was a bit of money in it. Nobody had any money so I went… and never stopped. I’d work Saturday afternoons and Sunday and earning nearly half of what Dad was.
I’d never seen a course anywhere else so I didn’t realise Riversdale was considered a hilly golf course. That was the only one I knew! It was 18 holes, I knew that. I knew you had to hit it up the right-hand side of 17; you couldn’t hit left.
When I was 12 I caddied for a guy regularly on Saturday afternoons and he won the Club Championship after I coached him around having never played golf. He told George Naismith that if I ever wanted to use his clubs over Christmas I could borrow them. So I started playing the odd nine holes using mens clubs at 12 years of age.
I went from no golf at 13 to comfortably breaking 80 at 15. All of us kids learnt by caddying. I’d never hit a golf shot and here I am clubbing the bloke who won the club championships. On the last hole he wanted to hit a certain club and I said, ‘No way!’ I gave him his 7-iron and said, ‘This is the club.’ I’d never played a game of golf in my life!
There were only two high schools in those days and because I lived in Mt Waverley, Dandenong High was impossible to get to so I’d catch the train into town to go to school. But they wouldn’t take me because I was under age so I had to go back and do Year 8 again. In March or April that year George offered me a job in the shop so I raced home on the bike and told Mum and Dad, ‘I’ve got a job!’ I was only 13 at that time and became probably the first assistant pro that had never played 18 holes. By the time I was 17 I was good enough to be in the PGA.
The biggest job I had when I started at 13 was buffing the clubs. In those days every set of clubs had to be buffed on a buffer after the play. Winter time you’d first have to wash the mud off and then buff them, and there were 250 sets in the shop. And I was it.
We would make clubs up. We’d start off with heads, shafts and leather grips, nothing else. George was a master clubmaker and I got the job of filing the head into shape. It was a real art. Pros in those days were very important to golf clubs because there weren’t any golf sports stores; the only place you could get a golf club in the first five years I was at Riversdale would have been through a pro shop.
George was from the wooden-shaft days and he could make a club feel real good. He was absolutely flat strap making up wooden-shafted clubs because you had to know where to shape the shaft itself. You had to make it so that it could move a bit so it was a real art. They were artists.
I had a stroke of luck. George played in Sydney and brought home another trainee by the name of Peter Thomson. I improved more by watching Peter than anything anybody told me.
I played in assistant pro tournaments and when I turned 14 I won my first money up at Heidelberg. We were handicapped at the start and I started off on 20-something and didn’t do very well. The second tournament my boss wrote that I had improved and couldn’t have the same handicap, which didn’t suit me at all. I then went to Heidelberg and was off 17 or something and we played nine holes in the morning and 18 in the afternoon. I shot par for the first nine and walked in and said, ‘Half of 17,’ and the bloke said, ‘You’re not getting that handicap son.’ And he dropped me back to about five. I didn’t even win the damn thing!
I was assistant pro at Riversdale until I was 20 and then went to Green Acres and stayed there for four years. Then I went to be the club pro at Yarrawonga, which was the first bush club up that way with grass greens. I had three years there and it was the right age for me to take some responsibility and do a bit of development.
I won quite a few pro-ams over the years and came second at the Vic PGA in 1966 at Huntingdale. It makes you think how close we were to being good golfers. Geoff Flanagan was the first person that ever broke 290 around Huntingdale over four rounds; my score in coming second would have won the first three Australian Masters tournaments.
Thommo came home to Melbourne to have a rest one year in the middle of the British season. They talked him into playing at Woodlands on Queen’s Birthday and he knocked me off there. I beat all the locals but Thommo was just a bit better.
After Yarrawonga I spent three years at Medway Golf Club and I was playing pretty well at that stage, playing in all the major events. I played in the same tournament that Jack Nicklaus played his first tournament in Australia at The Australian Golf Club. Alan Heil and I knew Gary Player who brought him out so we asked if we could walk around with him. We walked around for Nicklaus’s first nine in Australia. I realised then that I was never going to be a Jack Nicklaus. We’d never seen the ball go so far.
There was a hole at The Australian along the freeway – maybe the sixth or seventh – and it was two woods and a wedge for most players. Somebody might get up there on a helping day. Nicklaus had never used a small before and he hit a drive down to where God would have thought he was cheating. He hit a 3-iron that landed on the back of the green and bounded 40 yards over the back. He hit a 6-iron and cleared the green with that as well. So here’s a hole of some 575 yards and he’s cleared the green with a drive and a six.
Following Medway I was at the public course at Waverley for 16 or 17 years but the hours became too much and I got the job at Kingston Heath. My wife at the time wanted to go back to the Murray so I went up to Barham for quite a few years. Then my son became a pro and he was in Darwin and wanted some help with the teaching in the area. I couldn’t handle the heat so I got a job as the pro at Eden on the South Coast and spent about eight years there.
Golf was at its absolute peak during my time at Waverley. We had golfers every day and I was giving up to 100 lessons a week. All the pros were the same at the public courses, we were starting golfers off all the time. I can still walk down the street and someone will yell out, ‘Hey Huxtable! I started golf at Waverley with you.’ If a person started and then got going you would recommend they go and enter a private club and join up. We were the feeder grounds for the other clubs in the area.
You had a process for beginners and they had to learn not to sway. Most people used to go sideways and try and lift the ball; you had to teach them to stay in between their feet and rotate. I think I was one of the first people to ever use that word in relation to the golf swing. I got sick of the word ‘pivot’. When I’m teaching now I still use the word ‘rotate’. It’s the best way to get people going.
I shot 69 around Southern one day and there was an 80mph wind blowing. Johnny Kennedy was the bloke I played with and he said it was the best round of golf he’d ever seen. I won it by about eight shots and they reckon I’d cheated. It was just one of those days when everything fell into place.
The average person who lasts at golf is usually a pretty nice person. I’ve got thousands of friends all through golf. We’ve got that mateship because it was a smaller pro game back then and the PGA pros were the top of the tree. There were very few tour players. If I was 22, 23 I could have been tempted to go away and have a go of being a tour player but I enjoyed the club life, the actual life I was leading in a pro shop.
Image: Yarrawonga Mulwala Golf Club Resort
Twelve months after receiving the “gut-wrenching” news that his Champions Tour debut had been cancelled for a second time Brad Burns will this week join golf’s greatest names at the KitchenAid Senior PGA Championship at Southern Hills Country Club in Oklahoma.
As the world still comes to terms with 50-year-old Phil Mickelson’s US PGA Championship triumph, his fellow senior tour alumni have assembled for their second Major of the year, the field headlined by Major champions including Ernie Els, Retief Goosen, Jim Furyk, Vijay Singh and Darren Clarke.
There are six Australians in the field and while the usual names such as Rod Pampling, Peter Fowler, Stephen Leaney, John Senden and David McKenzie are all present, it is the inclusion of Burns that represents the realisation of a lifelong dream.
A three-time winner of the PGA of Australia Professionals Championship from 2003-2005, Burns has topped the PGA Tour of Australasia Legends Tour Order of Merit in each of the past four seasons.
His victory in 2017 earned him a place at the $US2 million Insperity Invitational in Texas in 2018 only to be denied two months out from the tournament due to a late change to the qualifying criteria, money invested in flights and accommodation all lost.
When he won the 2019 Legends Tour Order of Merit it guaranteed Burns a place in the 2020 KitchenAid Senior PGA Championship, only for the COVID-19 pandemic to force its cancellation 12 months ago.
“I’d already paid for the accommodation and the airfares so that’s two years running,” Burns said at the time.
But now his time has arrived and he will spend the first two rounds playing alongside 2002 AT&T Pebble Beach Pro-Am winner Matt Gogel and Brown Deer Golf Club Professional Jeff Schmid.
Close friends Rod Pampling and John Senden have been drawn together for the opening two rounds with McKenzie to play alongside Jeff Maggert and Bob Sowards and Leaney with Thai legend Thongchai Jaidee and Mark Mielke.
The first of the 47 Aussies in action this weekend are the women on the LPGA Tour in the early hours of Thursday morning at the Bank of Hope LPGA Match-Play.
In the round robin format Hannah Green has drawn Gerina Piller in the opening round, Minjee Lee is up against Jaye Marie Green, in-form Sarah Kemp faces 2020 major champion Patty Tavatanakit and Su Oh has been drawn to play two-time Major champion Sung Hyun Park.
Round 1 tee times AEST
Champions Tour
KitchenAid Senior PGA Championship
Southern Hills Country Club, Tulsa, Oklahoma
12.16am* Peter Fowler, Paul Claxton, Bill Breen
3.25am* David McKenzie, Bob Sowards, Jeff Maggert
3.36am* Brad Burns, Matt Gogel, Jeff Schmid
3.58am* Stephen Leaney, Thongchai Jaidee, Mark Mielke
4.09am* Rod Pampling, John Senden, John Pillar
Defending champion: Ken Tanigawa (2019)
Past Aussie winners: Nil
Top Aussie prediction: Rod Pampling
TV schedule: Live 3am-6am Friday, Saturday on Fox Sports 503
PGA TOUR
Charles Schwab Challenge
Colonial Country Club, Fort Worth, Texas
10.54pm Matt Jones, Corey Conners, Patton Kizzire
11.38pm* Cam Davis, Peter Malnati, Will Zalatoris
3.22am Danny Lee, Jhonattan Vegas, Denny McCarthy
4.28am* Cameron Percy, Charley Hoffman, Scott Brown
Defending champion: Daniel Berger
Past Aussie winners: Bruce Crampton (1965), Bruce Devlin (1966), Ian Baker-Finch (1989), Adam Scott (2014)
Top Aussie prediction: Matt Jones
TV schedule: Live 6am-9am Friday, Saturday; Live 4am-9am Sunday; Live 3am-8.30am Monday on Fox Sports 503
European Tour
Made in HimmerLand
HimmerLand, Farsø, Denmark
4.50pm Scott Hend, Morten Ørum Madsen, Adrian Otaegui
5pm* Jason Scrivener, Joost Luiten, Pablo Larrazabal
6pm Maverick Antcliff, Pep Angles, Joakim Lagergren
9.40pm* Jake McLeod, Oliver Farr, Ben Evans
10pm* Wade Ormsby, Matt Ford, Jordan Smith
11pm* Ryan Fox, David Howell, Alvaro Quiros
11.10pm* Min Woo Lee, Richard Mansell, Sean Crocker
11.20pm Jarryd Felton, Josh Geary, Garrick Porteous
Defending champion: Bernd Wiesberger (2019)
Past Aussie winners: Nil
Top Aussie prediction: Jason Scrivener
TV schedule: Live 9pm-2am Thursday, Friday; Live 10.30pm-2am Saturday; Live 9.30pm-2am Sunday on Fox Sports 503
LPGA Tour
Bank of Hope LPGA Match-Play
Shadow Creek, Las Vegas, Nevada
Round 1
12.30am Hannah Green v Gerina Piller
12.50am Minjee Lee v Jaye Marie Green
3.30am Sarah Kemp v Patty Tavatanakit
4am Su Oh v Sung Hyun Park
Defending champion: Inaugural event
Past Aussie winners: Nil
Top Aussie prediction: Minjee Lee
TV schedule: Live 4am-7am Thursday; Live 9am-12pm Friday, Saturday on Fox Sports 503; Live 7.30am-10.30am Sunday on Fox Sports 505; 8.30am-11.30am Monday on Fox Sports 505
Japan Golf Tour
Gate Way To The Open Mizuno Open
JFE Setonaikai Golf Club, Okayama
8.20am Todd Sinnott, Panuphol Pittayarat, Kunihiro Kamii
9am* Adam Bland, Toru Taniguchi, Yosuke Tsukada
9.20am* David Bransdon, Scott Vincent, Hiroyuki Fujita
9.40am* Andrew Evans, Naoto Takayanagi, Shun Murayama
12.55pm Scott Strange, Yusuke Sakamoto, David Oh
1.25pm Brad Kennedy, Yoshitaka Takeya, Shingo Katayama
1.35pm Anthony Quayle, Yoshinori Fujimoto, Taihei Sato
1.45pm Matthew Griffin, Hyun-Woo Ryu, Akio Sadakata
1.05pm* Dylan Perry, Tomohiro Kondo, Min-Gyu Cho
1.45pm* Michael Hendry, Koki Shiomi, Juvic Pagunsan
Defending champion: Yuta Ikeda (2019)
Past Aussie winners: Brian Jones (1990), Roger Mackay (1991), Brendan Jones (2004, 2013), Chris Campbell (2005), Brad Kennedy (2012)
Top Aussie prediction: David Bransdon
Korn Ferry Tour
Evans Scholars Invitational
The Glen Club, Glenview, Illinois
10.06pm Brett Drewitt, Rob Oppenheim, Brett Stegmaier
11.30pm Nick Voke, Conrad Shindler, Alex Chiarella
11.40pm Ryan Ruffels, Mark Blakefield, John VanDerLaan
3.10am Curtis Luck, Brandon Crick, Jim Knous
3.20am* Aaron Baddeley, Austin Smotherman, John Chin
3.31am Mark Hensby, Dawie van der Walt, Jimmy Stanger
4.55am Harrison Endycott, Trevor Cone, Shad Tuten
Defending champion: Curtis Thompson
Past Aussie winners: Nil
Top Aussie prediction: Aaron Baddeley
KPGA Tour
KB Financial Live Championship
Black Stone Icheon GC, Icheon-si, South Korea
08.20am Kevin Chun
1pm Wonjoon Lee
1pm* Junseok Lee
Defending champion: Seo Hyeong-seok
Past Aussie winners: Nil
Top Aussie prediction: Wonjoon Lee
Challenge Tour
Irish Challenge
Portmarnock Links, Co. Dublin, Ireland
Aussies in the field: Blake Windred, Deyen Lawson
Defending champion: Emilio Cuartero Blanco (2019)
Past Aussie winners: Nil
Top Aussie prediction: Blake Windred
Symetra Tour
Mission Inn Resort and Club Championship
Mission Inn Resort and Club, Howey-In-The-Hills, Florida
Aussies in the field: Stephanie Na, Robyn Choi, Julienne Soo, Soo Jin Lee, Hira Naveed
Defending champion: Matilda Castren
Past Aussie winners: Nil
Top Aussie prediction: Robyn Choi
Ladies European Tour
Ladies Italian Open
Golf Club Margara, Piemonte, Italy
Aussies in the field: Stephanie Kyriacou, Whitney Hillier, Amy Walsh
Defending champion: Florentyna Parker (2014)
Past Aussie winners: Corinne Dibnah (1991, 1994), Denise Booker (1995)
Top Aussie prediction: Whitney Hillier
* Starting from 10th tee
Australia’s representation at next month’s US Open at Torrey Pines has received a sizeable boost but Jason Day remains on the outside looking in.
The United States Golf Association announced on Monday that an additional 27 players had achieved the qualification parameters necessary to tee it up from June 17-20 with four more Aussies now exempt.
Marc Leishman and Cameron Smith had already qualified by virtue of playing in last year’s PGA TOUR Tour Championship and have now been joined by Adam Scott, Matt Jones, Brad Kennedy and Wade Ormsby.
Scott (39th) and Jones (55th) have qualified as a result of being inside the top 60 in the Official World Golf Rankings following the US PGA Championship while Kennedy and Ormsby have been rewarded for their 2020 Order of Merit wins on the PGA Tour of Australasia and Asian Tour respectively.
The first of 10 qualifying tournaments was played in the US on Monday but 2015 US PGA champion Jason Day has already stated that he won’t attend qualifying.
That now means that to play his way in Day must progress from his current position of No.67 in the world rankings into the top 60 following The Memorial tournament next week where he finished fourth last year.
There are opportunities for the likes of Jason Scrivener, Scott Hend and Min Woo Lee to still play their way into the field in a three-event qualifying series being conducted on the European Tour.
Starting with the Betfred British Masters two weeks ago and concluding over the next two weeks at the Made in HimmerLand and Porsche European Open tournaments, 10 places will be awarded to those with the highest aggregate points total.
Other notable additions to a US Open field that now stands at 76 were two-time Masters champion Bubba Watson, Englishman Tommy Fleetwood, Patrick Cantlay, Paul Casey, Si Woo Kim and Lee Westwood.
