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Career-best performances from Sarah Kemp and Jason Scrivener highlighted another week of strong performances from Aussie professionals around the world.
While the golf world was rapt in the US PGA Championship heroics of Phil Mickelson at Kiawah Island, Kemp and Scrivener set about creating their own pieces of personal history.
Tied for fifth at the Gainbridge LPGA earlier in the season, Kemp held the outright lead at the halfway mark of the Pure Silk Championship in Virginia as she pushed for a breakthrough LPGA Tour title.
Beginning the final round two shots off the lead, Kemp halved the deficit with a birdie at the first but dropped a shot at the ninth to make the turn even par.
Consecutive birdies at 11 and 12 kept the 35-year-old in the mix but she was unable to make any further progress on the closing holes, her total of 9-under good enough for outright fourth and her best result in a LPGA Tour event in the US.
Few tipped Scrivener to be the best of the eight Aussies at the conclusion of the PGA Championship but the West Australian fired a final day 3-under 69 to close out a very solid week and a tie for 23rd, his best result in a Major championship in his second appearance in golf’s showpiece events.
Honda Classic champion Matt Jones also made a Sunday surge with a 4-under 68 to climb into a tie for 30th while Jason Day can take heart from playing all four rounds in difficult conditions, finishing with a 1-under 71 and a tie for 44th.
In his second start for the year on the European Challenge Tour New South Welshman Dimi Papadatos finished tied for 12th alongside Kiwi Josh Geary at the Dormy Open in Sweden while there was another Australasian tie for highest finisher on the Japan Golf Tour, Dylan Perry and Michael Hendry tied for 16th at the Golf Partner Pro-Am Tournament.
Results
US PGA Championship
Kiawah Island Golf Resort (Ocean Cse), Kiawah Island, South Carolina
T23 Jason Scrivener 73-75-72-69—289 $US103,814
T30 Matt Jones 73-75-74-68—290 $59,750
T44 Jason Day 74-75-72-71—292 $31,300
T59 Cameron Davis 69-78-76-72—295 $21,400
T59 Cameron Smith 72-73-73-77—295 $21,400
MC Marc Leishman 74-76—150
MC Adam Scott 78-72—150
LPGA Tour
Pure Silk Championship
Kingsmill Resort Golf Course, Williamsburg, Virginia
4 Sarah Kemp 69-67-69-70—275 $US66,141
T25 Katherine Kirk 69-70-72-71—282 $11,207
T53 Sarah Jane Smith 70-73-71-72—286 $3,568
MC Gabriela Ruffels 75-73—148
MC Su Oh 71-77—148
Japan Golf Tour
Golf Partner Pro-Am Tournament
Toride Kokusai Golf Club, Ibaraki
T16 Michael Hendry 69-65-66-65—265 ¥633,333
T16 Dylan Perry 66-66-67-66—265 ¥633,333
T25 Anthony Quayle 71-65-64-66—266 ¥420,000
T36 Scott Strange 70-64-67-67—268 ¥240,000
T43 Brad Kennedy 69-66-69-65—269 ¥185,000
T55 Matthew Griffin 68-67-69-68—272 ¥120,000
68 Adam Bland 68-67-72-74—281 ¥109,500
MC David Bransdon 66-71—137
MC Andrew Evans 69-75—144
Korn Ferry Tour
AdventHealth Championship
Blue Hills Country Club, Kansas City, Missouri
T35 Aaron Baddeley 70-71-74-66—281 $US4,084
66 Mark Hensby 69-72-77-73—291 $2,700
MC Brett Drewitt 74-69—143
MC Rhein Gibson 70-74—144
MC Steven Alker 68-76—144
MC Nick Voke 72-72—144
MC Harrison Endycott 74-72—146
MC Jamie Arnold 73-79—152
Challenge Tour
Dormy Open
Österåkers Golfklubb, Åkersberga, Sweden
T12 Josh Geary 69-70-69-72—280 €3,300
T12 Dimitrios Papadatos 69-70-72-69—280 €3,300
T35 Blake Windred 72-67-74-71—284 €1,280
MC Jarryd Felton 73-74—147
MC Daniel Hillier 72-76—148
MC Deyen Lawson 74-77—151
Queensland’s Cameron Smith displayed all the hallmarks that make him a Major champion in waiting but it is 50-year-old Phil Mickelson who is chasing a slice of history at the US PGA Championship at Kiawah Island Resort.
On another difficult day for scoring at Kiawah’s brutal Ocean Course played in a different wind direction and where only six players broke 70, even-par rounds by Jason Scrivener and Jason Day were the best that the six Aussies who made the cut could manage, Smith fighting back late to post 1-over 73 and remain the highest-placed Australian with one round to play.
Starting the day in a tie for 25th, Smith made a steady start to his third round. He had birdie chances from long range at three, four and five without being able to get one to drop and then dropped a shot at the par-4 sixth after tangling with Kiawah’s gnarly rough on both sides of the fairway.
An uncharacteristic miss from inside five feet led to another dropped shot at the par-4 ninth but two late birdies rescued a round that could very easily have gotten away from him.
The 27-year-old made a putt from just inside 12 feet to pick up a birdie at the 215-yard par-3 14th and then played the par-5 16th to perfection, two spectacular shots to 55 feet followed by a pitch to four feet making the 606-yard journey seem a breeze.
As Smith held his round together Mickelson was extending his advantage at the top of the leaderboard as he seeks to become the oldest winner in Major championship history.
Starting the day tied with South African Louis Oosthuizen at 5-under par, Mickelson was 9-under by the turn thanks to birdies at two, three, six and seven.
He was 10-under and leading by five when he added a fifth birdie at the par-4 10th but a dropped shot at 12 and back-to-back birdies by Oosthuizen reduced the margin to two in the blink of an eye.
The tournament was turned on its head when both players found the water with their tee shots at No.13 as Mickelson made double and when the pair both missed birdie chances at 14 the five-time Major champion held a one-stroke advantage over Oosthuizen and Brooks Koepka.
As Mickelson faltered Koepka surged, picking up shots at 10, 12 and 16 to snare a share of the lead before bogeying the final hole to sit one back of Mickelson in his pursuit of a fifth Major since the 2017 US Open.
Playing the weekend of a Major for the first time, Jason Scrivener spent the majority of the opening hole in waste bunkers as he began his third round with a bogey but bounced back with consecutive birdies at two and three.
The West Australian two-putted for birdie from 33 feet at the par-5 second and then dropped a bomb from 44 feet to pick up another shot at the 376-yard third.
Bogeys at five, eight and nine meant that Scrivener went out in 2-over and was losing ground to the field but displayed impressive composure in just his second Major championship to play the difficult back nine in 2-under.
He made birdie for the third day in succession at the par-5 11th and then fired a wedge from 101 yards into seven feet at the 606-yard par-5 16th and made the putt.
In what has been a difficult period there were positive signs too for Jason Day.
Needing to finish inside the top-20 to rise up into the top 60 in the World Golf Rankings and qualify for next month’s US Open, Day’s short game was a feature in his round of even par 72, a lone bogey at the par-4 first offset by a birdie from 22 feet at the par-5 16th.
Hitting 10 of 18 greens in regulation, Day successfully got up-and-down seven times and made a number of crucial par saves from six and seven feet as he advanced 12 spots up the leaderboard on day three.
A double-bogey due to some misadventures in a waste bunker on the par-4 13th was the sour note in Matt Jones’ third round of 2-over 74 that saw him fall into a tie for 60th with one round to play.
After opening with six straight pars Jones fired a brilliant shot from 230 yards into seven feet for a two-putt birdie at the par-5 seventh but gave that shot back with a three-putt birdie from 56 feet at the par-4 ninth.
With the double at 13 and another dropped shot at 14 Jones dropped to 3-over on his round but a wedge from 116 yards to inside four feet set up a birdie at the par-5 16th and some positive momentum to take into Sunday.
A birdie from 12 feet at the first was the perfect start for Sydney’s Cameron Davis but a lost ball on the next tee and resulting double bogey took his trajectory in the opposite direction, struggling to hit fairways (seven of 14) and greens (eight of 18) in a third round of 4-over 76.
It was a difficult day too for Victorian Lucas Herbert, thanks in no small part to a double bogey at the first, the highlight a birdie from 35 feet at the par-4 third in his round of 5-over 77.
US PGA Championship
Through 54 holes
T33 Cameron Smith 72-73-73—218
T45 Jason Scrivener 73-75-72—220
T51 Jason Day 74-75-72—221
T58 Matt Jones 73-75-74—222
T68 Cam Davis 69-78-76—223
T75 Lucas Herbert 76-72-77—225
In the toughest conditions that Cameron Smith could recall, the eight-man Australian charge faltered at the PGA Championship at windy Kiawah Island resort in South Carolina today.
Smith is the leading Australian at one over par through two rounds of the season’s second major championship, just inside the top 30 after shooting 72-73.
Louis Oosthuizen of South Africa and legendary Phil Mickelson hold the lead at the halfway point, reaching five under par overall. Another major specialist, Brooks Koepka, is just a shot further back.
Taking advantage of the calmer morning conditions, the 50-year-old Mickelson shot a 69, with a 31 on the front nine, raising the notion of a sixth major championship win eight years after the previous one.
Oosthuizen, the 2010 Open champion, was superb today until he bogeyed the difficult final hole to post a 68.
High hopes were held for Sydney’s Cameron Davis, who shot an opening 69, but the 2017 Australian Open champion did not bring his best today.
The Seattle-based Aussie began with a double bogey at the par-four 10th, his first hole of the day, after hitting his tee shot way right. At the par-five second hole he found water off the tee then had a further penalty drop on his way to a triple bogey eight, and he carded a 78 for the day.
In context Smith’s 73 was solid, including a water ball at the long par-three 17th. “It’s probably the two hardest condition days I’ve seen, to be honest,” said the Queenslander. “Maybe a few days around Augusta here and there, the British Open can get windy and wet, as we all know, but no, pretty tough stuff.
“I mean, a score is still out there, which I love. I think the course has been set up really nice. It’s just that you’ve got to kind of get lucky with those longer putts going in.”
Six of the eight Australians made the cut which fell at five over par.
Adam Scott (72 today) and Marc Leishman, who dropped three shots on the last two holes, both missed out. But Sydney’s Matt Jones, Western Australian Jason Scrivener and Victorian Lucas Herbert are in at four over par, Herbert playing his way through with a nice 72 today after forgetting to bring his golf clothes.
“Yeah, I just feel like I’ve just gotten out of a fight and I’ve won,” said Herbert, whose warm-up was interrupted as he waited for a friend to drive back to his rental house and fetch his proper attire.
Herbert called coach Dom Azzopardi at home, so concerned was he as he prepared. “I got on the range straight back into the wind, and I think I hit about four 2-irons in a row over the left fence.
“So I FaceTimed my coach with like nine minutes till my tee time going, how do I fix this? There’s something really, really wrong. How do I fix this? It was like, we just had a laugh because it can’t get any worse. This is going to be a fun day. We’re going to be shouting fore left a lot.”
Jason Day thought he had missed the cut after posting 74-75, but at five over par he scraped in despite troubles on the greens. “It’s funny, I feel really positive about my game,” said Day. “There’s a lot of good signs out there. I just somehow just got to get over the putting part.”
As for the others, Mickelson was the headline act, although he was at a loss to explain the resurgence.
“I don’t know if I have a great answer for you,” he said. “I think that I was patient even though things weren’t quite going well at the moment, and I had a few shaky strokes on 16, 17 and 18 where I was very tentative. I was able to make an adjustment on the front and ended up making some really good putts. I putted very well.”
Mickelson has been playing well on the senior tour, but this was unexpected. “Physically I feel like I’m able to perform and hit the shots that I’ve hit throughout my career, and I feel like I can do it every bit as well as I have, but I’ve got to have that clear picture and focus,” he said. “So these first two days have been much better.”
Cam Davis loves the big moments – and he’s put himself in position for another early at the US PGA Championship.
The lanky Sydneysider, in just his second major championship, showed poise well beyond his 26 years to card a three-under-par 69 at Kiawah Island’s tough Ocean Course and share second place on a tumultuous opening day.
Davis trails only Canadian Corey Conners, who caught fire late in his round and surged to a two-stroke advantage with his own breakout round, a five-under-par 67.
But it was Davis, already enjoying his best season on the US PGA Tour, who caught the eye late.
The 2017 Australian Open champion was well placed with two early birdies, but on a course renowned for penalising bad shots, was given a rude shock when his hooked drive up the sixth was unplayable.
The resultant penalty drop was taken in wasteland from where it took two more shots to reach the par-four green.
Three putts later and with the resultant triple-bogey on his card, Davis could have been excused for unravelling on his PGA Championship debut.
But he’s made of stern stuff and immediately began the rebuild with a birdie up the seventh.
An eagle on the seventh powered him back into the fray and another birdie on the par-three 14th put him back alongside major champions Brooks Koepka and Keegan Bradley in the group that now shares second.
He narrowly missed three subsequent birdie chances that would have him second alone, but Davis can be well pleased with both his form and his mindset.
“It helps when you’re hitting the ball in pretty good spots and not really having to stress too much,” Davis said.
“There was one hole where I was a little bit frazzled, I guess.
“But for the most part I was just doing my own thing and playing the golf course the way that I see fits my game.
“That’s all I can do … and chill out between shots.”
Of the other Australians, in-form Cam Smith looked set to take his place among the leaders when he almost casually loomed at two under through 13 holes.
But two makeable birdie putts and another for par from the 14th to 16th all burned the edge as he lost momentum.
A spectacular bunker blast singed the edge on the tough 17th, then a blocked drive into the wasteland right of 18th couldn’t be overcome and led to a closing bogey as he finished at even-par 72.
“I thought the ball-striking was really up there today,” said Smith, who was clearly satisfied with his overall game.
“The last five holes I played two over and basically didn’t really miss a shot. I hit a bad drive on 18 but it didn’t really feel bad, that’s just the way it is around here.
“I thought I putted well – a couple more putts go in and I’m right up there.
“Yeah, no work for me tonight. I’m just going to get a good rest and be here early in the morning.”
New South Welshman Matt Jones, in fine form all season long on the US PGA Tour and with an eye on possible Olympic selection, hit the lead momentarily during the morning phase of play.
Jones, already a career-best 24th on the Tour’s FedEx Cup money list, went top when he drilled his fourth birdie on the 13th.
But, like so many others on the brutal closing stretch of holes and playing at arguably the wind’s zenith for the day, the dual Australian Open champ came undone in a hurry.
A bogey on the 15th was followed by another on the 16th, a double on the 17th and a bogey on the final hole as he fell back to a one-over 73.
Jason Scrivener was also very impressive for a very long time.
The West Australian, in just his second major championship, fought back from two early bogeys to reach one under through the 11th.
He also bogeyed three of the closing five holes, but soothed the damage with a birdie on the long 16th to also card 73.
Marc Leishman and Jason Day each fired opening 74s, but they came in different fashions.
Victorian Leishman was square through 12 holes and mixed three bogeys with a late birdie from that point.
Queenslander Day, champion of this event six years ago, looked in early trouble with his third bogey by the sixth hole.
But he made a spectacular eagle on the seventh and fought hard to play the final eight holes square to pick up several shots on the majority of the field.
Lucas Herbert fought long and hard, but eventually stumbled and carded a 76.
The Victorian began the day with a drive blocked into the water right of the 10th fairway and a subsequent double-bogey.
In his sixth major championship appearance, Herbert hung tough for a long time and was still two over when he stood on the third tee.
A hat-trick of bogeys at that point was damaging, but he hit back with a late birdie on the seventh to give himself a chance tomorrow.
Queenslander Adam Scott also began the day on the wrong foot and, despite a couple of birdies, never really recovered.
Scott leaked his opening drive into the same pond that Herbert found, but went one worse with a triple-bogey en route to a flat 78.
Of the other big names, world No.1 Dustin Johnson endured two double-bogeys in a 76, while tournament favourite Rory McIlroy shot a rollercoaster 75.
LEADERBOARD
Lucas Herbert’s coach Dominic Azzopardi shares his insight into how the team are preparing Herbert’s body and mind to put in a strong showing at this week’s US PGA Championship at Kiawah Island Resort.
Lucas has decided to base himself in Orlando, Florida this year and I went over midway through February and spent a month with him in the US. I was there for the WGC-Workday Championship that they played in Florida. Going into that event Lucas said that he’d never swung it so good, never hit it so good but he did a really, really poor job on that golf course of committing to hitting shots. It was a typical ‘big boy’ golf course; water down the left, bunkers, trees, lost ball right and you’ve just got to man up and hit a shot. He just wasn’t doing a good enough job of that.
The work he did on the range prior to the round was awesome, especially the first two rounds. But it’s different when you’re hitting a 6-iron to a 200-yard marker down the range with no water and no consequence. Second hole he had a 200-yard 6-iron with water right of the green and all of a sudden it’s going left into the trap short sided and he makes bogey or double. That’s where it’s having the courage to see the shot and committing to it wholeheartedly.
Lucas is coming to terms with the fact that the events that he is playing in America are around big boy golf courses and this week is going to be the same. He’s just got to do a better job of seeing a shot and committing to a shot wholeheartedly.
He’s done a good job the past six months working a lot on the mental side of the game with Jamie Glazier. Jamie was there that week of the WGC and they have done some really good work since then on that side of his game. That’s been a priority since that WGC.
An issue we are still dealing with is the fact that his body has been giving him a fair bit of trouble this year. It’s nothing major or specific but because he is such a feel player if his body is slightly different from day to day or week to week, he really struggles.
Simone Tozer has travelled with Lucas the past three years as his movement coach but Simi came back last year and did hotel quarantine, got engaged and the full-time travel was becoming too much, which is fair enough. The past six months he’s had so many different people treating him and his body has struggled with that.
We knew that a routine of hands-on treatment worked best for him but we’d gotten away from that a bit. He Monday qualified at Wells Fargo, shot 5-under, said his body felt good and then by Wednesday said his hips were in a different place, his right shoulder was different and he was struggling to swing it the way he wanted from day to day. If that’s the case, it’s difficult for him to make a score with the way he goes about it.
He’s got Luke Mackey from Golf Australia with him for the next two weeks doing hands-on treatment, very similar to what he’s had in the past, which is great. His body should be in good position and hopefully we won’t have issues there. We don’t like to have an excuse of that ever but the reality is that sometimes if your body’s not right, you can’t be doing what we want to be doing. That was certainly the case at Wells Fargo.
He can have a feel in his golf swing that lasts for three or four weeks and he takes that to the golf course each day. Every day on the range he’s creating that feel again and that feel is creating a ball flight. When his body’s changing from day to day, he’s trying to find a new feel every day, and that’s really hard. That’s when he’s not playing well.
Lucas puts so much emphasis into leaving no stone unturned when it comes to a Major and he drove three hours up to Kiawah last week to check it out. He wanted to have a look at the course, have a look at the surrounds, what he needs to work on in his game leading up to it so that when he arrived he knew exactly what to expect.
The voice message that he sent to the group after that trip was, ‘This place is awesome, love it, the surrounds are great, you’ve got to man up and hit shots off the tee but I feel like I can do that.’ It’s going to be really influenced by the wind and the weather but he liked it which is always a good thing to hear.
We’ve looked at the stats report that Tom Boys has produced for us. We know there are a lot of 175-225-yard approach shots so Lucas has been doing a lot of work on that side of the game. He knows the surrounds are tight and firm so he can practice that type of shot. That’s what Tiger did for years and Lucas finds this stuff out. What do the best in the world do to prepare? That’s what I should be looking to do if that’s going to work for me.
A PGA of Australia Member since 1996, Dominic Azzopardi runs the Performance Coaching Program at Peregian Golf on the Sunshine Coast. He is also available for online coaching via the Skillest app with various lesson subscriptions available.
Denis McDade, long-time coach of world No.37 Marc Leishman, reveals how an adjustment to his pre-shot routine turned the Victorian around and why he is excited to return to Kiawah Island for this week’s US PGA Championship.
Marc really struggled coming out of lockdown so I went over to the US and spent five weeks with him late last year to try and get to the bottom of what wasn’t working. Not being able to watch him practice and, more importantly, compete in tournaments live really restricts what a coach can pick up on but after a couple of days at the ZOZO Championship I could see something wasn’t quite right with his pre-shot routine.
In some ways I was intrigued as to why he wasn’t playing well because there was nothing in his swing mechanics that suggested we had a lot of work to do. In the first round it was obvious to me that all of his normal processes just weren’t there; he was doing some stuff around his routine and his approach to playing that I hadn’t seen him do before. Our task was to migrate back from what he was doing to what he does when he plays well. It sounds simple but it took a couple of weeks to get that happening.
Marc plays his best golf when he visualises a shot and then his routine is shaped around the shot he sees and the shot he wants to play. It’s not a rigid pre-shot routine that he repeats before every shot, his pre-shot routine is determined by the shot he has visualised hitting. He does work on improving and maintaining mechanics, but he leaves it on the range. If he ever starts thinking about things on the golf course, that’s when he starts to struggle. He was thinking far too much about what he was doing and wasn’t connected enough with the shots that he was playing.
The week before The Masters last November we played five days in a row doing the same thing over and over again. The last round we played before going to Augusta he shot a bogey-free 65 around his home course of Bayville in Virginia Beach. I thought if he continued with that process at Augusta National he would play well, and he did. Since then it’s just been making sure that he’s stayed in that mode.
The other thing that was affecting Marc was the lack of crowds at tournaments. It was amazing how quiet it was at the tournaments I attended and even the players were tempered in their reactions to good shots. These guys live to perform when the crowds are there, the energy is up and you’re in one of the leading groups but Marc also draws energy from the crowds when he’s not playing so well because there is always someone encouraging you, regardless of how you’re playing. He really missed that and I don’t think it’s any coincidence that as the crowds have returned he has looked happier out on course and his body language has been a lot better, along with his results.
I’m sure he’d be carrying some expectation of performing well this week at a golf course that he’s performed well around before. (Leishman was T27 at the 2012 PGA Championship at Kiawah Island.) I’m sure he’d be quietly confident.
These weeks of a Major can be really long and Marc has gotten a lot better at managing his time and energy levels for these weeks. You often see rookies or first-timers who put so much work in Monday, Tuesday, Wednesday that they’re all but cooked come Thursday morning but given his experience Marc has his routine for a Major week pretty much sorted out. When he’ll play, how much he’ll play and it will all be around being physically and mentally sharp come Sunday afternoon. Being right in the mix to win at Augusta just last month, by Sunday night he was spent. I don’t think people realise how much a golf tournament can take out of you mentally and physically. He was happy that he’d had a good week, upset that he hadn’t got the job done but he was just spent. He’s been in the hunt enough to know what it’s like at the end of a tournament and you’ve got to have a good amount of fuel in the tank come Sunday morning to get it done.
If there is a Major being played at a golf course that you haven’t performed well around, your job during that week is to work through that and work your way into the tournament to the point where you have a chance of winning. The fact of the matter is, regardless of where a Major is being played, you want to get yourself into contention because the more times you give yourself a chance, the more chance you’ve actually got of winning one.
Marc clearly has plenty of game on open, seaside golf courses. You throw wind into the mix and he’s comfortable. Regardless of the golf course or the conditions he’ll figure out a way to get it done but we know he has put in some great performances at British Opens where the conditions have been testing. If it’s firm, fast, windy and tough, he loves that. He loves the challenge and the competitive side of that. It’s what he lives for. It’s what all those guys live for. He was obviously brought up in Warrnambool where the ocean’s only a few hundred yards away. He’s really proven himself to be highly competent playing those open, exposed, links-style golf courses and I’m sure he’s looking forward to the week ahead. I look at that golf course, the open feel to the place, and I’m sure Marc’s licking his lips.
One of three principal directors at BannLynchMcDade based at Yarra Bend Golf in Melbourne, Denis McDade is a Senior Advisory Board Member of the Titleist Performance Institute and Head of TPI’s Junior Advisory Board. Denis was voted 2017’s Australian Coach of the Year, Victorian PGA Teacher of the Year in 2016 and 2001, and Australian Golf Digest Coach of the Year in 2008.
Sydney’s Harrison Endycott has taken an important step towards earning a PGA TOUR card in 2022 after finishing tied for fourth at the Korn Ferry Tour’s Visit Knoxville Open in Tennessee.
Endycott was the only Aussie to finish inside the top-10 on any of the world tours this week and as a result has moved up 16 spots on the Korn Ferry Tour moneylist to now sit 61st and in position to push for a promotion to the PGA TOUR next year.
Fifth in his first start of the year at the Chitimacha Louisiana Open in March, Endycott has logged two further top-20 results prior to the Knoxville Open where he sat near the top of the leaderboard from the opening round.
A second consecutive 5-under 65 on Friday and a Saturday 66 had Endycott five shots off the lead heading into the final round, his 2-under 68 not enough to keep pace with winner Greyson Sigg but good enough to be the best Aussie performer of the week.
Zurich Classic winner Marc Leishman tuned up for this week’s US PGA Championship with a solid performance at the AT&T Byron Nelson in Texas, Min Woo Lee made a strong return to the European Tour with a top-25 finish at the Betfred British Masters while Gabi Ruffels continued her progression towards the LPGA Tour with a tie for 17th at the Symetra Tour’s Symetra Classic in North Carolina.
Results
Korn Ferry Tour
Visit Knoxville Open
Holston Hills Country Club, Knoxville, Tennessee
T4 Harrison Endycott 65-65-66-68—264 $US24,900
T51 Nick Voke 67-71-71-67—276 $2,521
T60 Curtis Luck 65-73-72-67—277 $2,442
T66 Brett Drewitt 69-69-74-67—279 $2,370
T70 Steven Alker 66-70-69-75—280 $2,328
MC Jamie Arnold 70-69—139
MC Brett Coletta 69-73—142
MC Ryan Ruffels 71-72—143
WD Robert Allenby 72
PGA TOUR
AT&T Byron Nelson
TPC at Craig Ranch, McKinney, Texas
T21 Marc Leishman 66-69-68-70—273 $US84,969
70 Cameron Percy 68-70-76-71—285 $16,605
MC Tim Wilkinson 68-71—139
MC Jason Day 70-69—139
MC Rhein Gibson 66-73—139
MC Danny Lee 71-69—140
MC Aaron Baddeley 72-68—140
MC Greg Chalmers 69-74—143
MC John Senden 70-73—143
MC John Lyras 73-77—150
Japan Golf Tour
Asia Pacific Diamond Cup Golf
Sagamihara Golf Club (East Cse), Kanagawa
T34 Dylan Perry 73-68-72-75—288 ¥640,000
T42 Scott Strange 72-70-74-74—290 ¥560,000
T42 David Bransdon 74-67-72-77—290 ¥560,000
MC Brad Kennedy 77-70—147
MC Matthew Griffin 72-75—147
MC Todd Sinnott 75-72—147
MC Adam Bland 74-74—148
MC Anthony Quayle 77-73—150
MC Michael Hendry 74-82—156
European Tour
Betfred British Masters hosted by Danny Willett
The Belfry, Sutton Coldfield, England
T21 Min Woo Lee 75-67-69-71—282 €21,739
T62 Josh Geary 70-72-70-77—289 €6,220
MC Maverick Antcliff 73-73—146
MC Jake McLeod 73-74—147
MC Wade Ormsby 74-73—147
MC Jason Scrivener 79-71—150
MC Scott Hend 78-73—151
Challenge Tour
Range Servant Challenge by Hinton Golf
Hinton Golf Club, Malmö, Sweden
T23 Dimitrios Papadatos 67-68-71-74—280 €1,760
T38 Daniel Hillier 67-70-73-73—283 €1,200
56 Blake Windred 68-66-73-79—286 €700
MC Deyen Lawson 70-72—142
MC Jarryd Felton 73-73—146
Ladies European Tour
South African Women’s Open
West Lake Golf Club, Cape Town, South Africa
66 Amy Walsh 75-81-83-80—319 €520
Symetra Tour
Symetra Classic
River Run Country Club, Davidson, North Carolina
T17 Gabriela Ruffels 70-72-74—216 $US2,348
T22 Julienne Soo 73-71-73—217 $1,877
T34 Robyn Choi 75-72-72—219 $1,243
MC Hira Naveed 74-75—149
MC Soo Jin Lee 77-75—152
MC Stephanie Na 74-80—154
Champions Tour
Mitsubishi Electric Classic
TPC Sugarloaf, Duluth, Georgia
T35 Rod Pampling 74-75-69—218
T42 Stephen Leaney 76-74-70—220
T69 David McKenzie 76-77-76—229
Former touring professional Dean Alaban has booked his place at the PGA Professionals Championship Final at Hamilton Island Golf Club after recording a one-stroke win at Mosman Park Golf Club in Perth on Friday.
Mosman Park GM and Head PGA Professional Tony Howell was on course to claim victory on home soil but Alaban used a birdie blitz in the middle of his round at the nine-hole layout to finish at 3-under 69, one clear of Howell with Glenn Joyner a further shot back in third place.
A regular on the Australasian and Asian tours in the early to mid-2000s, Alaban barely touched a golf club as he spent six years working on oil rigs in Malaysia and Australia but showed the benefits of devoting more time to playing and practising of late, his short game saving par on a number of occasions on the tricky Mosman Park course.
Currently based at Lakelands Country Club as the Assistant Golf Professional, the victory secures Alaban a debut appearance at Hamilton Island in September and perhaps the chance to treat his family to a long-awaited trip away.
“I dare say the wife will have a fair bit to say about that,” Alaban said when asked whether the family would be joining him.
“We go to Bali quite a bit but obviously we haven’t been able to go anywhere for quite a while now. It would be nice for us all to be able to go away together.”
Although he had never played the golf course previously, it was a somewhat familiar setting for Alaban who conducted some ladies and beginner clinics at Mosman Park shortly after completing his PGA of Australia Bridging Course.
He spent time at Royal Perth Golf Club, Joondalup Resort and worked in the retail area of the industry before landing at Lakelands under Damien Chatterley in November 2018.
With an eye on joining the seniors circuit when he turns 50, Alaban said he has been trying to squeeze in a game a week and some practise among his work and family commitments.
“I’ve got two kids who are 14 and 11 so there’s school drop off as well as shop hours and teaching so some days you don’t even get to touch a club,” Alaban conceded.
“If you work it well you might get two or three days of practise here and there. You could do more but you wouldn’t be giving any lessons and bringing in any income.
“We’re trying to play at least once a week and with a few of the local events try and get out a bit more to keep the body moving and the game sharp.
“I’ve got aspirations to go on the seniors tour so I’ve got a few more years to do that. Hopefully I can keep the body sharp. I really enjoy playing and I have a different perspective on playing now than what I used to.
“I went and worked on the oil rigs and got right away from the game and that was probably good. I realised how much I love it and enjoy it and want to be in that golfing world.
“Whether it’s professional, amateur or club just love being in that environment.”
PGA National Management Professional of the Year Josh Madden (Wembley Golf Course) was the early front-runner having reached 2-under through nine holes but four birdies in the space of five holes saw Alaban take control.
There was a dropped shot at the 16th hole but two closing pars were enough for Alaban to hold on to win, Howell’s consolation prize a spot in the 2021 Senior Australian PGA Championship.
The next of the state qualifiers is South-East Queensland at the Victoria Park Golf Complex in Brisbane on May 25 with the Victorian and North Queensland Championships to be held on May 31 at Commonwealth and Mackay golf clubs respectively.
Former world No.1 Jason Day has ruled out the possibility of qualifying for the US Open at Torrey Pines next month, instead insisting that he will play his way in via the world rankings or miss it completely.
Returning to the AT&T Byron Nelson this week, a tournament he won in 2010, Day currently sits 62nd in the Official World Golf Rankings, outside the top 60 who automatically qualify for the year’s third major.
To secure a spot at Torrey Pines – where he won the Callaway World Junior title and has twice won the Farmers Insurance Open – Day needs to be ranked inside the top 60 either after May 24 (following next week’s US PGA Championship) or June 7 (after the Memorial Tournament).
Sectional Qualifying takes place following Memorial but having already scheduled a corporate outing with sponsor NetJets the Monday after Memorial the 33-year-old confirmed that he won’t attend qualifying and faces the prospect of missing his first major since the 2010 US Open at Pebble Beach.
“I haven’t even thought about missing a major championship in a very long time,” Day conceded.
“I’m obviously on the border of missing that. I’ve got to play good the next two weeks.
“To be honest, if I don’t get in, I’m not qualifying. I’ve got a scheduled event for NetJets that I’ve got on Monday after the Memorial, so I’m planning on doing that instead of going to qualify.”
Complicating matters further is the imminent arrival of Day’s fourth child, wife Ellie reaching full term this Friday and her husband waiting for the phone call that will take him away from whatever tournament he is playing and whatever position he may be in on the leaderboard.
“If I’m playing golf, whatever, it doesn’t matter. I just want to make sure that I see the birth of our fourth child,” said Day, who is drawn to play with Charles Howell III and Patton Kizzire the first two rounds this week starting at 4.06am AEST Friday morning.
“I could get a call in the next four weeks or whenever, this week, next week, and I could be on a plane going home.
“If it happens to be on Sunday at a major championship where I’m in contention, it happens. You’ve got to do it.
“I’m not going to miss it because I’m in contention. It would be nice to win a golf tournament, but family is a forever. You’ve got to be very careful of that.
“Right now I don’t have anything distracting me other than the potential of a child coming in the next four weeks.
“Other than that, I’m just all golf. That’s all I am. Very motivated right now.”
Apart from a week at No.63 midway through last year, the last time Day was so far down the world rankings was in August 2010, reaching the game’s pinnacle of world No.1 in September 2015 following an extraordinary run of four wins in six starts, including the US PGA Championship.
He has been working diligently on building a swing that his troublesome body can sustain with Chris Como and Jason Goldsmith since late last year and although he has just one top-10 finish to his name in 2021 is growing in confidence that better results are close.
“I feel really good about my game,” Day said.
“I know I’ve got to keep persisting. If I don’t do it, it’s not going to be enjoyable for me. If it’s not enjoyable for me, I may as well retire.
“I can’t play the way that I’m doing and beat my head against a wall essentially.
“But, then on the other hand I’m like, No, you can’t quit. You’ve got to keep pushing, stay persistent, stay positive, patient, keep moving forward, and it’ll come back.
“So right now I’m trying to do that.
“It’s interesting to be in this situation. To be honest, I’m totally content where I am right now in regards… I’m here for a reason. What do I need to do to get out of it and push forward and get my ranking back where it needs to be?
“How do you get out of this position and try and come up with a plan?
“Because if you don’t come up with a plan to get out of this situation, I will just be walking around in circles.”
West Australian pair Jason Scrivener and Min Woo Lee and South Australian Wade Ormsby will make their return to tournament golf for the first time in more than two months when the Betfred British Masters commences at The Belfry in England tonight.
A week out from the US PGA Championship at Kiawah Island Resort, the European Tour has opted to start the British Masters a day early with Queenslander Scott Hend to lead the Aussie charge out from 5.10pm AEST this evening.
Making his first start since the Commercial Bank Qatar Masters in early March, Wade Ormsby will follow 30 minutes after Hend with Maverick Antcliff looking to build on his runner-up finish in Spain last week 10 minutes later.
Scrivener and Lee won’t tee off until later in the evening but it pales in comparison to the wait they have had to endure before pegging it up again.
Neither player has had a tournament start since the WGC-Workday Championship in Florida in late February, two weeks of quarantine and time at home in Perth the only option in preparation of a big second half of the year.
Tied for 41st at the Workday Championship, Scrivener returns to the European Tour sixth in the Race to Dubai rankings thanks largely to his runner-up finish at the Abu Dhabi HSBC Championship, tying Chris Di Marco’s low back-nine record of 29 in the process in the final round.
After four missed cuts to start the year across both the European Tour and PGA TOUR, Lee gave a glimpse into his abundant talent with a third round of 66 in his WGC debut in February, ultimately finishing tied for 28th.
Ormsby too played the WGC but squeezed in another tournament before he returned home to Adelaide for an extended period ahead of a busy nine-week stretch of events.
In another busy week for Australia’s touring pros there are eight players seeking to add their name to an impressive list of Aussie winners at the PGA TOUR’s AT&T Byron Nelson.
Originally slated to have six starters in a tournament won by Peter Thomson 65 years ago and Bruce Devlin in 1969, Australia’s representation in Texas has been bolstered by Greg Chalmers’ elevation into the field following the withdrawal of world No.1 Dustin Johnson and Sydney’s John Lyras grabbing one of the four spots at Monday qualifying.
The 54-hole leader at the Moonah Links PGA Classic, this week will mark Lyras’s second career PGA TOUR start, joining the professional ranks after qualifying to play in the 2019 Wyndham Championship.
The Ladies European Tour also returns for the first time in 2021 at the Investec South African Women’s Open where Gold Coaster Amy Walsh will fly the Aussie flag while Gabi Ruffels will seek her first win as a professional at the Symetra Tour’s Symetra Classic in North Carolina.
Round 1 tee times AEST
European Tour
Betfred British Masters hosted by Danny Willett
The Belfry, Sutton Coldfield, England
5.10pm Scott Hend, Ashley Chesters, Grant Forrest
5.40pm Wade Ormsby, Scott Jamieson, Richard Mansell
5.50pm* Maverick Antcliff, Justin Walters, Chris Paisley
6.30pm* Josh Geary, Johannes Veerman, Ben Evans
10pm Jason Scrivener, Mike Lorenzo-Vera, David Drysdale
11.10pm Min Woo Lee, Benjamin Hebert, Sean Crocker
11.20pm Jake McLeod, Rikard Karlberg, Francesco Laporta
Defending champion: Renato Paratore
Past Aussie winners: Graham Marsh (1979), Greg Norman (1981, 1982) Robert Allenby (1996)
Top Aussie prediction: Jason Scrivener
TV schedule: Live 10.30pm-2.30am Wednesday, Thursday; Live 10.30pm-2am Friday on Fox Sports 503; Live 9.30pm-2am Saturday on Fox Sports 505
PGA TOUR
AT&T Byron Nelson
TPC Craig Ranch, McKinney, Texas
9.50pm Danny Lee, Ben Martin, Seamus Power
10.34pm* Marc Leishman, Sam Burns, Bryson DeChambeau
10.45pm Greg Chalmers, Andrew Putnam, Russell Knox
11.18pm John Senden, DJ Trahan, Mark Hubbard
11.51pm John Lyras, Wes Roach, Ben Taylor
3.11am* Tim Wilkinson, Nick Watney, Josh Teater
3.22am* Cameron Percy, Ricky Barnes, Roberto Castro
4.06am Jason Day, Charles Howell III, Patton Kizzire
4.39am* Aaron Baddeley, Anirban Lahiri, Kelly Kraft
4.50am* Rhein Gibson, Joseph Bramlett, Ryan Lumsden
Defending champion: Sung Kang (2019)
Past Aussie winners: Peter Thomson (1956), Bruce Devlin (1969), Adam Scott (2008), Jason Day (2010), Steven Bowditch (2015)
Top Aussie prediction: Marc Leishman
TV schedule: Live 5.30am-8.30am Friday, Saturday; Live 3am-8am Sunday, Monday on Fox Sports 503
Japan Golf Tour
Asia Pacific Diamond Cup Golf
Sagamihara Golf Club (East Cse), Kanagawa
8.20am Adam Bland, Yusaku Miyazato, Shunsuke Sonoda
8.50am Michael Hendry, Ryutaro Nagano, Taisei Yamada
9.10am* Todd Sinnott, Kosei Takeyama (a), Katsumasa Miyamoto
12.30pm* Anthony Quayle, Norihiko Furusho, Michio Matsumura
1pm Brad Kennedy, Taisei Shimizu, Tomoharu Otsuki
1.20pm* David Bransdon, Shintaro Kobayashi, Yuta Kinoshita
1.30pm* Matthew Griffin, Kenichi Kuboya, Toshinori Muto
1.50pm* Dylan Perry, Yoshitaka Takeya, Naoto Takayanagi
2.10pm Scott Strange, Taiga Iwata (a), Daisuke Matsubara
Defending champion: Yosuke Asaji (2019)
Past Aussie winners: Graham Marsh (1974, 1982), Brian Jones (1985, 1987, 1988)
Top Aussie prediction: Dylan Perry
Korn Ferry Tour
Visit Knoxville Open
Holston Hills CC, Knoxville, Tennessee
9.45pm* Robert Allenby, Anders Albertson, James Driscoll
9.55pm* Brett Drewitt, Brett Coletta, Whee Kim
10.05pm Jamie Arnold, Stephan Jaeger, David Lipsky
11.05pm* Harrison Endycott, Trevor Cone, Taylor Dickson
2.15am Curtis Luck, Adam Svensson, Martin Piller
2.25am Steven Alker, Mito Pereira, Billy Kennerly
3.45am* Nick Voke, Max Greyserman, Kevin Roy
3.55am* Ryan Ruffels, Theo Humphrey, James Nicholas
Defending champion: Robby Shelton (2019)
Past Aussie winners: Kim Felton (2005), Jarrod Lyle (2008)
Top Aussie prediction: Brett Drewitt
Challenge Tour
Range Servant Challenge by Hinton Golf
Hinton Golf Club, Malmö, Sweden
5pm Daniel Hillier, Jérôme Lando Casanova, Ryan Evans
6pm Deyen Lawson, Björn Akesson, Samuel Del Val
10.10pm Dimitrios Papadatos, Daniel Young, Edouard Dubois
10.10pm* Jarryd Felton, Lucas Vacarisas, Sébastien Gros
11.30pm Blake Windred, Harry Ellis, Felix Palson
Defending champion: Inaugural event
Past Aussie winners: Nil
Top Aussie prediction: Deyen Lawson
Ladies European Tour
Investec South African Women’s Open
Westlake Golf Club, Cape Town, South Africa
5pm Amy Walsh, Tina Mazarino, Yolanda Duma
Symetra Tour
Symetra Classic
River Run Country Club, Davidson, North Carolina
Aussies in the field: Gabriela Ruffels, Stephanie Na, Robyn Choi, Julienne Soo, Soo Jin Lee, Hira Naveed
Defending champion: Peiyun Chien
Past Aussie winners: Nil
Top Aussie prediction: Gabriela Ruffels
Champions Tour
Mitsubishi Electric Classic
TPC Sugarloaf, Duluth, Georgia
Aussies in the field: Stephen Leaney, David McKenzie, Rod Pampling
Defending champion: Scott McCarron
Past Aussie winners: Nil
Top Aussie prediction: David McKenzie
