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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
Greg Chalmers has taken a typically self-deprecating approach to his elevation into the field for this week’s AT&T Byron Nelson in his home state of Texas.
The 47-year-old has made just three appearances on the PGA TOUR thus far in 2021 but is the beneficiary of the misfortune to have fallen Dustin Johnson, the world No.1 announcing his withdrawal due to ongoing knee “discomfort”.
Johnson’s place in the field has been taken by Chalmers, who greeted the news of his role as a high-profile replacement on Twitter in deadpan fashion.
“The parallels are uncanny,” Chalmers said.
The inclusion of Chalmers takes the Aussie presence at TPC Craig Ranch to seven, joining Aaron Baddeley, Jason Day, Rhein Gibson, Marc Leishman, Cameron Percy and John Senden in the final tune-up ahead of next week’s US PGA Championship.
In a statement released by the PGA TOUR, Johnson expressed his disappointment in missing the event that pays homage to the great Byron Nelson, winner of 52 PGA TOUR titles.
“Unfortunately, the knee discomfort I occasionally experience has returned and, after consultation with my team and trainers, I feel it is best that I remain at home and focus on my rehabilitation work,” Johnson said.
“I am not pleased about this situation as I was really looking forward to playing this week.”
Tied for 22nd at the Puerto Rico Open in February, Chalmers last played the AT&T Byron Nelson in 2018 with a best finish a tie for 16th back in 2009.
It is a tournament in which Australians have a rich history, Peter Thomson winning in 1956 along with Bruce Devlin (1969), Adam Scott (2008), Jason Day (2010) and Steven Bowditch (2015).
Victorian Lucas Herbert will take another step towards a permanent move to the PGA TOUR after qualifying for this week’s Wells Fargo Championship at the Quail Hollow Club in Charlotte.
A winner on the European Tour last January, Herbert’s rise in the Official World Golf Rankings the past 18 months has opened the doors to play more Major tournaments, appear in World Golf Championship events and earn starts on the PGA TOUR.
Currently No.94 in the world rankings, this will be Herbert’s third start on the PGA TOUR for 2021 – he also played the WGC-Workday Championship in Florida – but he had to play his way into the tournament, a round of 5-under 65 enough to earn one of four spots on offer at Monday qualifying conducted at Gaston Country Club.
Two-under at the turn, Herbert picked up birdies at 10, 11, 13 and 15 to climb towards the top of the leaderboard, a bogey at the final hole providing for a nervous wait before his score was confirmed as the third best of the day.
Fellow Victorian Steve Allan wasn’t quite so fortunate, finishing one shot out of the playoff for the fourth and final spot with Mathew Goggin and Greg Chalmers also missing out.
The addition of Herbert takes the number of Aussies in the field at Quail Hollow to five with Jason Day and Matt Jones to make their first appearances since The Masters along with Cameron Percy and Cameron Davis, Day returning to the site of his most recent PGA TOUR win three years ago.
Queensland Open champion Andrew Evans and veteran West Australian Scott Strange have bolstered the Aussie contingent on the Japan Golf Tour this week to nine, making their first starts of the season at the Japan Players Championship starting Thursday morning.
Hannah Green will be eager to bounce back from her heartbreaking finish at the HSBC Women’s World Championship at the Honda LPGA Thailand while Rod Pampling, Stephen Leaney, David McKenzie and John Senden will contest the Champions Tour’s first major of the year, the Regions Tradition in Alabama.
All told there are 36 Aussies in action across eight tours this week.
Round 1 tee times AEST
Japan Golf Tour
Japan Players Championship
Nishi Nasuno Country Club, Tochigi
7.55am* Todd Sinnott, Yasunobu Fukunaga, Yuto Soeda
8.15am Anthony Quayle, Hideto Kobukuro, Tomoharu Otsuki
8.45am Adam Bland, Hiroyuki Fujita, Shota Akiyoshi
12.10pm Andrew Evans, Shota Matsumoto, Yuki Kono
12.40pm Dylan Perry, Naoto Takayanagi, Yoshinori Fujimoto
12.40pm* Brad Kennedy, Tomohiro Ishizaka, Tomoyo Ikemura
1pm David Bransdon, Jinichiro Kozuma, Mikumu Horikawa
1.20pm Michael Hendry, Hyun-Woo Ryu, Ryuko Tokimatsu
1.20pm* Matthew Griffin, Yoshitaka Takeya, Hideto Tanihara
1.40pm* Scott Strange, Tomoyasu Sugiyama, Taihei Sato
Defending champion: Inaugural event
Past Aussie winners: Nil
Top Aussie prediction: Anthony Quayle
LPGA Tour
Honda LPGA Thailand
Siam Country Club (Pattaya Old Cse), Chonburi, Thailand
11.36am* Su Oh, Brittany Altomare, Anna Nordqvist
12.12pm Hannah Green, Hinako Shibuno, Shanshan Feng
12.24pm Minjee Lee, Ayako Uehara, Atthaya Thitikul
12.24pm* Katherine Kirk, Cheyenne Knight, Muni He
1pm Lydia Ko, Ariya Jutanugarn, Amy Yang
Defending champion: Amy Yang (2019)
Past Aussie winners: Nil
Top Aussie prediction: Hannah Green
TV schedule: Live 1pm-6pm Thursday; Live 1.30pm-6.30pm Friday on Fox Sports 503; Live 1.30pm-4.30pm on Fox Sports 505; 8am-10am Monday on Fox Sports 503.
Korean PGA Tour
The 40th GS Caltex Maekyung Open
Namseoul Country Club, Seongnam, South Korea
8.14am Kevin Chun
8.47am Wonjoon Lee
9.20am Junseok Lee
Defending champion: Lee Tae-hee
Past Aussie winners: Mike Clayton (1984)
Top Aussie prediction: Junseok Lee
European Tour
Canary Islands Championship
Golf Costa Adeje, Tenerife, Spain
5.10pm Maverick Antcliff, Max Schmitt, Dale Whitnell
6.16pm Jake McLeod, Ricardo Santos, Aaron Cockerill
10.55pm Scott Hend, Matthew Southgate, Kalle Samooja
11.39pm* Austin Bautista, Kristoffer Broberg, Alvaro Hernandez Cabezuela
Defending champion: Inaugural event
Past Aussie winners: Nil
Top Aussie prediction: Maverick Antcliff
TV schedule: Live 11pm-4am Thursday; Live 8pm-1am Friday; Live 10.30pm-2am Saturday; Live 9pm-2am Sunday on Fox Sports 503.
Challenge Tour
Dimension Data Pro-Am
Fancourt Golf Estate, George, South Africa
4.15pm* Deyen Lawson, Jacques Kruyswijk, Dylan Naidoo
8.15pm Daniel Hillier, Jaco Ahlers, Hennie Du Plessis
Defending champion: Christiaan Bezuidenhout
Past Aussie winners: Nil
Top Aussie prediction: Deyen Lawson
PGA TOUR
Wells Fargo Championship
Quail Hollow Club, Charlotte, North Carolina
9.34pm Jason Day, CT Pan, Pat Perez
10.40pm* Cameron Percy, Adam Schenk, Bo Hoag
11.02pm* Lucas Herbert, Vincent Whaley, Akshay Bhatia
2.32am Cameron Davis, Harold Varner III, Brandon Hagy
3.27am Matt Jones, Keegan Bradley, Austin Cook
3.38am Danny Lee, Jonas Blixt, Xinjun Zhang
Defending champion: Max Homa (2019)
Past Aussie winners: Jason Day (2018)
Top Aussie prediction: Matt Jones
TV schedule: Live 4am-8am Friday, Saturday; Live 3am-8am Sunday, Monday on Fox Sports 503.
Korn Ferry Tour
Simmons Bank Open for the Snedeker Foundation
The Grove, College Grove, Tennessee
10.18pm Steven Alker, Hayden Buckley, Kyle Reifers
10.51pm Curtis Luck, Tommy Gainey, TJ Vogel
10.51pm* Jamie Arnold, Nicholas Lindheim, Tyrone Van Aswegen
11.02pm Brett Drewitt, Seth Reeves, Austin Smotherman
11.35pm Nick Voke, Rico Hoey, Joseph Winslow
11.46pm* Ryan Ruffels, Matt Atkins, Brent Grant
3.10am Brett Coletta, Peter Uihlein, Grant Hirschman
5.11am* Harrison Endycott, Braden Thornberry, Sahith Theegala
Defending champion: Robby Shelton (2019)
Past Aussie winners: Cameron Davis (2018)
Top Aussie prediction: Brett Drewitt
Champions Tour
Regions Tradition
Greystone G&CC, Birmingham, Alabama
1.33am* Rod Pampling, Stephen Leaney, Woody Austin
2.25am* David McKenzie, Spike McRoy, Fred Funk
2.36am* John Senden, Scott Verplank, Chris DiMarco
Defending champion: Steve Stricker
Past Aussie winners: Graham Marsh (1999)
Top Aussie prediction: Rod Pampling
TV schedule: Live 1am-4am Friday on Fox Sports 507; Live 1am-4am Saturday on Fox Sports 503; Live 5am-7.30am Sunday on Fox Sports 505; Live 5am-7.30am Monday on Fox Sports 507.
*Not starting from 1st tee
Austin Bautista didn’t tell anyone that he was walking away from golf in the early months of 2018.
He didn’t want to have to answer the same question over and over again: Why?
The 2016 NSW Amateur champion was regarded as one of Australia’s brightest young talents. He made an immediate impression after turning professional in 2017, registering pro-am wins at Griffith and Belmont, a tie for 12th at the Nexus Risk WA Open and a top-25 at the Asian Tour’s Indonesia Open.
Early the following year he was tied for the lead after the opening round of the 2018 Rebel Sport NZ Masters before finishing tied for 11th… and then he walked away.
Bautista would spend the next two years volunteering with humanitarian aid organisations Foundation for a Drug-Free World and The Way to Happiness Foundation in places such as Papua New Guinea, China, Japan, Thailand and war-torn Israel.
“I was watching from a distance, seeing third world countries that perhaps weren’t doing so well and I wanted to help,” Bautista recalled ahead of this week’s Canary Islands Championship, his fourth start on the European Tour.
“I can’t just be a professional golfer my whole life and not do anything for humanity.
“Israel was pretty scary, just because there are a lot of bombs that go off there.
“The person who was there doing the same thing I was doing had a bomb threat the week prior. A bomb had been thrown into the lobby and everyone was immediately in the bunker.
“That was a bit nerve-racking when I arrived a week later and they told me what had happened.”
In those two years of aid work he lost his regular spot in the Saturday comp with his mates at Bonnie Doon Golf Club in Sydney’s eastern suburbs and barely spoke to his father, the man who had fostered his obvious talent into what looked like a blossoming career as a professional golfer.
“When I came back to golf in early 2020 there were a lot of people that were upset with me, wondering where I was and what I was doing,” the 24-year-old revealed.
“I was the No.1 amateur in Australia at a point and looking at a very big career so I didn’t want to be swayed with my decision. I cut all social media ties, didn’t really speak to anyone, just went on my way and did my work.”
It didn’t take long after picking up the clubs again at the start of 2020 that Bautista began to make good on the promise he’d shown as an amateur.
After resuscitating a rusty short game and a brief battle with the shanks Bautista shot 63 in the second round of the Coca-Cola Queensland PGA Championship in his first tournament back only for the world to go into a pandemic-induced lockdown.
Recognising the need to return to America if he was going to play tournament golf in 2020, Bautista once again defied conventional thinking and left Australia hopeful of a friendly reception at the other end.
“The guy at border control when I got to America was really friendly and let me through,” said Bautista.
“Once golf opened up again there it was smooth sailing and I was ready to roll.”
The resumption of the mini tours gave Bautista his competitive outlet and after one missed cut to start he went on a tear, winning four times, Monday qualifying for the Korn Ferry Tour’s Wichita Open and earning conditional status for the 2021 Mackenzie Tour in Canada (now the Forme Tour).
With Phil Mickelson and Jon Rahm on their books, Sportfive (formerly Lagedere Sports) saw potential in Bautista and signed him to their management company, immediately looking for opportunities to expose him to a higher grade of competition.
“There was my own pressure of wanting to play well but I definitely knew that if I wanted to get more starts in future I had to play well in my first start, otherwise they might not look at me again,” Bautista said of his European Tour debut in last December’s South African Open.
“I was 4-under through 27 holes and like seven shots inside the cut but I didn’t know that and I was thinking, Is it possible to miss the cut?”
He qualified for the weekend that week and proved to his management team – and himself – that their belief was well founded with a top-10 finish at last month’s Austrian Open.
“Austria was bitter-sweet,” admitted Bautista, one of four Aussies in the field for the Canary Islands Championship.
“It’s seventh place, my best finish in a big tournament like that and the biggest single cheque I’d ever earned but one shot was a €17,000 difference. I had a putt for birdie on the last but I also knew I needed par to finish top 10 and earn a start the following week.
“It’s propelled me into an area that I now believe I can compete in. You put me on the European Tour and I finish top-10, I’m up there with these guys. I’m not just winning mini tour events.”
Bautista’s goals for his golf career are as big as they come: “In two years’ time I want to be top-10 in the world, competing in majors, having won PGA TOUR events.”
He doesn’t have a coach as such, instead holding onto a golden piece of advice once given to him by PGA of Australia Immortal Alex Mercer.
“He gave me the greatest golf lesson I’ve ever received,” said Bautista. “He changed my grip a little bit and said, ‘You’ve got the mechanics to play well, all you need to do is play more.’”
Taking two years off may not have been part of the original plan but Bautista has no doubt that the mindset shift brought about by his aid work will provide the foundation for any success he has in the future.
“Early on I felt like I should have been given everything. I thought I deserved a lot more than I did,” Bautista admitted of his formative years in the game.
“I’d play good in some amateur events but when I played bad I had a bad attitude and would throw clubs and stuff like that.
“Coming back now, as a golfer I’m more mature and more at ease with failure because a lot worse can happen than not hitting the best golf shot at the very moment that you want to hit it.
“Each day when I have an early morning tee time I catch myself looking at the sun coming up and excited to be out on the course.
“It’s definitely a different feeling to before.
“I’m just so happy to be out there playing.”
In-form West Australian Hannah Green has conceded that the 72-hole nerves got the better of her as she finished runner-up to Hyo Joo Kim at the HSBC Women’s World Championship at Sentosa Golf Club in Singapore.
As she battled to remain in contention despite not having her best stuff on Sunday, a hole-out eagle from 64 metres at the par-4 14th propelled Green into a share of the lead and with momentum to go on and record her third LPGA Tour title.
A birdie at the par-5 16th gave the 24-year-old a one-stroke advantage but consecutive bogeys brought about by two three-putts paved the way for Kim to record her fourth LPGA Tour win and first since 2016.
Tied for third at the LA Open the week prior, Green will edge closer to the top 10 when the Rolex Women’s World Rankings are updated and with the self-belief that her best golf will be good enough to win sooner rather than later.
“I don’t want to sound obnoxious, but it is nice I’m not playing my best and getting these results,” said Green, whose closing 69 was run down by Kim’s 8-under 64.
“I feel like my driver was a little bit off this week, so if I can get that into gear, I feel like I can be up on top again.
“I didn’t really feel like I was in it until I holed the shot on 14. That was a nice way to get my momentum.
“Made a really good putt on 16 to make birdie but obviously pretty disappointed to have two three-putts finishing.
“Felt a little nerves on the last, which is nice, because I guess having the spectators out there it kind of meant something to me.
“I’m obviously very close, I just hope that I can continue this momentum and who knows, have a good result next week (in Thailand).”
Kiwi Lydia Ko was also in contention heading into the final round but was unable to mount a Sunday surge while Green’s fellow Aussies Su Oh, Minjee Lee and Katherine Kirk all closed with rounds of even-par 72 to finish inside the top 30.
Despite battling a self-diagnosed bout of “man-flu” all week Queensland’s Scott Hend delivered his best result of the year and his 18th career top-10 finish on the European Tour at the Tenerife Open in Spain.
Rounds of 66-64 gave the 47-year-old the honour of being the oldest player to make the cut and in contention for a fourth European Tour title at the halfway mark but a third round of 71 saw Hend fall back into the pack.
He bounced back in the final round with a closing 4-under 67 to climb from a tie for 15th into a tie for eighth, his best result since winning the Maybank Championship in Malaysia in March 2019.
Harrison Endycott’s strong start to the year has continued with a top-15 finish at the Korn Ferry Tour’s Huntsville Championship while Melbourne’s Julienne Soo recorded the best result of her young career on the Symetra Tour, tied for eighth at the Garden City Charity Classic in Kansas.
LPGA Tour
HSBC Women’s World Championship
Sentosa Golf Club (Tanjong Cse), Sentosa, Singapore
2 Hannah Green 71-66-66-69—272 $US149,262
T7 Lydia Ko 69-68-69-71—277 $39,022
T24 Minjee Lee 69-73-70-72—284 $15,323
T24 Su Oh 68-72-72-72—284 $15,323
T28 Katherine Kirk 69-71-73-72—285 $12,351
PGA TOUR
Valspar Championship
Innisbrook Resort (Copperhead Cse), Palm Harbor, Florida
T21 Danny Lee 70-67-70-72—279 $US65,291
MC Tim Wilkinson 71-71—142
MC Aaron Baddeley 72-71—143
MC Cameron Davis 74-72—146
MC Cameron Percy 74-72—146
MC Rhein Gibson 72-76—148
European Tour
Tenerife Open
Golf Costa Adeje, Tenerife, Spain
T8 Scott Hend 66-64-71-67—268 €29,957
T42 Maverick Antcliff 66-69-69-70—274 €8,290
T75 Jake McLeod 68-69-71-75—283 €3,014
Japan Golf Tour
The Crowns
Nagoya Golf Club (Wago Cse), Aichi
T49 Anthony Quayle 68-71-73—212 ¥208,800
T49 Michael Hendry 71-70-71—212 ¥208,800
T61 Dylan Perry 75-68-73—216 ¥171,750
T64 David Bransdon 70-73-74—217 ¥167,250
MC Adam Bland 74-71—145
MC Matthew Griffin 69-76—145
MC Todd Sinnott 73-72—145
MC Brad Kennedy 74-72—146
Korn Ferry Tour
Huntsville Championship
The Ledges Golf Club, Huntsville, Alabama
T13 Harrison Endycott 70-66-69-67—272 $US11,500
T21 Nick Voke 71-65-71-67—274 $5,498
MC Mark Hensby 68-72—140
MC Brett Drewitt 68-72—140
MC Curtis Luck 70-71—141
MC Jamie Arnold 71-70—141
MC Brett Coletta 72-70—142
KPGA Tour
KPGA Gunsan CC Open
Gunsan Country Club (Lake Cse), Gunsan, South Korea
T25 Junseok Lee 74-71-71-71—287 K3,937,500
T43 Kevin Chun 73-72-73-73—291 K2,440,000
WD Wonjoon Lee
Challenge Tour
Bain’s Whisky Cape Town Open
Royal Cape GC, Cape Town, South Africa
T36 Daniel Hillier 67-69-71-76—283 €1,434
MC Deyen Lawson 74-73—147
Symetra Tour
Garden City Charity Classic
Buffalo Dunes Golf Club, Garden City, Kansas
T8 Julienne Soo 72-71-74—217 $US3,621
T48 Robyn Choi 75-74-75—224 $780
MC Soo Jin Lee 74-76—150
MC Stephanie Na 72-78—150
MC Hira Naveed 75-77—152
Champions Tour
Insperity Invitational
The Woodlands CC, The Woodlands, Texas
T20 Rod Pampling 69-73—142
T45 David McKenzie 70-75—145
T56 John Senden 76-71—147
