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Former New South Wales Amateur champion Austin Bautista has taken another step towards a permanent place on the European Tour and risen more than 1,000 places in the Official World Golf Rankings courtesy of a top-10 finish at the Austrian Golf Open.
Fresh from proposing to his partner Chiara just two weeks ago and with two wins on US soil already to his name in 2021, Bautista was issued an invitation to tee it up at Diamond Country Club and took full advantage.
Bouncing back from an opening round of 74 to shoot 67 in Round 2 to make the cut, Bautista birdied the 15th and 16th holes in a final round of 3-under 69 to finish tied for seventh in just his second start on Europe’s main tour.
As a result, the Bonnie Doon Golf Club member has played his way into the field for this week’s Gran Canaria Lopesan Open in Spain and risen to a career high of 841st in the world rankings, a rise of 1,066 spots on the week prior.
It was a positive return to Europe for Gold Coast-based Deyen Lawson who matched Bautista’s round of 69 in the final round to finish tied for 33rd with Queenslander Maverick Antcliff the third and final Aussie to make the cut, ending the week tied for 53rd.
The best round of his flourishing PGA TOUR career had Cameron Smith well placed after Round 1 of the RBC Heritage tournament at Harbour Town Golf Links but the 2020 Masters runner-up had to settle for a tie for ninth in South Carolina.
Smith’s 9-under 62 on day one placed him at the top of the leaderboard through 18 holes but heading into the final round on Sunday he was sitting just inside the top 30.
Top-10 at The Masters a week earlier, Smith rediscovered some of that Round 1 form to post the second-best round of the final day – a bogey-free 5-under 66 – to rise 18 places and squeeze inside the top 10.
It was another very solid week also for Cameron Davis whose tie for 25th saw him rise five places in the FedEx Cup points race to be 63rd.
A second round of 65 propelled Aaron Baddeley to a tie for fifth at the Korn Ferry Tour’s MGM Championship in Las Vegas while Hannah Green’s tie for 12th was the best of the Aussies as Kiwi Lydia Ko claimed the LPGA Tour’s Lotte Championship in Hawaii.
PGA TOUR
RBC Heritage
Harbour Town Golf Links, Hilton Head Island, South Carolina
T9 Cameron Smith 62-71-74-66—273 $US186,375
T25 Cameron Davis 69-69-70-68—276 $52,274
MC Danny Lee 68-73—141
European Tour
Austrian Golf Open
Diamond CC, Atzenbrugg, Austria
T7 Austin Bautista 74-67-71-69—281 €20,940
T33 Deyen Lawson 77-70-71-69—287 €6,725
T53 Maverick Antcliff 72-74-71-73—290 €4,042
MC Jake McLeod 81-81—162
LPGA Tour
Lotte Championship
Kapolei Golf Club, Kapolei, Oahu, Hawaii
1 Lydia Ko 67-63-65-65—260 $US300,000
T12 Hannah Green 70-67-66-68—271 $31,197
T27 Su Oh 73-68-66-67—274 $16,152
MC Minjee Lee 71-71—142
MC Gabriela Ruffels 70-72—142
MC Katherine Kirk 69-74—143
MC Sarah Jane Smith 75-70—145
Korn Ferry Tour
MGM Resorts Championship
Paiute Golf Resort (Sun Mountain Course), Las Vegas, Nevada
T5 Aaron Baddeley 71-65-73-70—279 $US20,100
T35 Harrison Endycott 75-66-70-73—284 $3,450
T52 Brett Coletta 69-72-72-75—288 $2,538
T69 Rhein Gibson 72-67-79-76—294 $2,334
MC Jamie Arnold 72-71—143
MC Steven Alker 72-71—143
MC Brett Drewitt 72-71—143
MC Ryan Ruffels 75-70—145
MC Curtis Luck 76-72—148
MC Robert Allenby 80-73—153
MC Nick Voke 82-72—154
Symetra Tour
Casino Del Sol Golf Classic
Sewailo Golf Club, Tucson, Arizona
T60 Robyn Choi 71-73-76-75—295 $690
T62 Hira Naveed 76-69-71-80—296 $670
MC Stephanie Na 74-74—148
MC Soo Jin Lee 76-75—151
MC Julienne Soo 79-73—152
Champions Tour
Chubb Classic
Tiburon Golf Club, Naples, Florida
T32 Rod Pampling 76-70-69—215 $US10,560
T32 David McKenzie 69-69-77—215 $10,560
T44 Stephen Leaney 70-75-72—217 $5,600
Will Heffernan has taken out top spot in the Final Stage of ISPS HANDA PGA Tour of Australasia Qualifying School with a score of 5-under 283 on the Open Course at Moonah Links.
After strong winds blasted the seaside course from rounds one to three, Heffernan made the most of benign conditions on Friday to post a final round of 2-under 70 and take a one-stroke victory over David Micheluzzi, Aaron Wilkin and John Lyras in second place.
Heffernan now holds Category 9 Tournament Exemption on the PGA Tour of Australasia for the 2021/22 season that will see him receive automatic entry into all events on the Tour including the Australian PGA Championship and Australian Open.
“It feels really good. I played solid all week. I holed some nice putts and just stayed patient out there. It was pretty windy the whole week so I just hung in there,” Heffernan said.
“I knew I had to be steady all day. I made an early birdie then I went pretty quiet for a while, just playing it safe and then made one on the back-nine so I was pretty happy.”
In 2020 Heffernan spearheaded the charge for the Australians at Asian Tour Qualifying School, finishing second to earn an exemption for the 2020 season that was later cancelled due to COVID-19.
Looking to the year ahead the Victorian has the welcome challenge of building a schedule filled with both local and overseas tournaments when the PGA Tour of Australasia resumes in August.
“I actually went over to the UK and Italy and played on the Alps Tour,” said Heffernan of his year in 2020.
“I will just try and play as many tournaments as I can; try and balance my schedule between this (Australasia) and Asia and hopefully they match up and I can play a few of the bigger ones.”
The Tour’s marquee tournaments including the Australian PGA Championship, Australian Open, Vic Open and New Zealand Open are among the events Heffernan will eagerly anticipate.
“I’m really excited for them. They’ve always been a dream since I first started in golf so I’m very, very excited,” he said.
Queensland’s Aaron Wilkin (70), Victorian David Micheluzzi (70) and New South Welshman John Lyras (71) completed Qualifying School in a tie for second place at 4-under 284 to lead the players finishing from 2nd to 30th position including ties to earn a Category 13 exemption for the 2021/22 season.
Players with a Category 13 exemption will receive exemption into most events for the 2021/22 season with those who finished higher boasting a greater likelihood of being exempt into all Tour events.
Amongst the list of the top-30 players and ties rising star Jed Morgan (-2) lead the charge for the amateurs, finishing tied for fifth ahead of Lawrence Curtis (+3), Edward Donoghue (+3), Jackson Bugdalski (+7) and Lawry Flynn (+8) who finished birdie, birdie to sneak in on the number.
European Tour winner Sam Brazel, who finished in a tie for fifth place alongside Morgan, will return to the Tour alongside regulars Jason Norris (-1), Damien Jordan (+2), Peter Cooke (+4), Peter Wilson (+4), Matt Jager (+5), James Marchesani (+7) and Aaron Pike (+7) who regained status for the season ahead.
A Tour rookie in the 2020/21 season, Matias Sanchez narrowly secured his Category 13 status by making an eagle on 18 to finish tied for 30th at 8-over.
In addition to results from the Final Stage of Qualifying School at Moonah Links, a special New Zealand Qualifying School was held in conjunction with last week’s Muriwai Open where Luke Brown and Luke Toomey were successful in gaining Category 13 tour cards for 2021/22.
Players from positions 31 to 50 are entitled to become Full Tournament Members for the 2021/22 season but will not be allocated an exemption category.
View the Final Stage Qualifying School results at pga.org.au.
A few days after another top-10 finish in the Masters, Australia’s top-ranked male player Cameron Smith has soared to the first-round lead in the RBC Heritage.
Smith, 27, rammed home nine birdies in his opening 62, the lowest round of his PGA Tour career.
At nine under par, he leads the tournament at Harbour Town links in South Carolina by a shot.
“I don’t know, everything just came together,” Smith said afterward. “It was a great day on the green. I was hitting my irons really good. I had lots of good looks, and I just took advantage of them.”
Smith carded 31 on both nines and holed out from a bunker at the 17th. Then at 18, he produced what he called “icing on the cake”, a pure iron shot to just more than a metre for his ninth birdie. “I feel like after last week, I feel like chipping around here is almost like a breeze,” he said. “I was so scared almost last week on every chip shot, and I feel like I can be really aggressive around here.”
Smith said he was in a good place in recent times. “I don’t know, I just feel really comfortable. Mentally I feel very free out there. I feel like I can hit the shot that I need to hit and going ahead and trying to execute it. I just feel like every shot I’m hitting, I’m putting 100 percent into it, and on a day like today, it’s really rewarding.”
The world No. 26 recently took over from Adam Scott as the No. 1 Australian player on the men’s tour. Rested up after Augusta, he went home to Jacksonville for a couple of days and found some time to indulge his passion for fishing.
He certainly came back to the course with some fire in the belly.
Sydneysider John Lyras’s love affair with Moonah Links will reach new heights on Friday if he can maintain his position at the top of the leaderboard and claim the major prize on offer at the Final Stage of the PGA Tour of Australasia Qualifying School.
One of only three players to break 70 on Thursday as Peter Thomson’s imposing Open Course and the Mornington Peninsula’s wicked winds once again kept scoring in check, Lyras sits atop the leaderboard at 3-under par alongside Victorian Will Heffernan (71) heading into Friday’s final round.
David Micheluzzi (73) and Aaron Wilkin (70) are in a share of third just one shot further back with 2020 Australian Amateur champion Jed Morgan (73) and 2016 Hong Kong Open winner Sam Brazel (74) the only other players under par through 54 holes.
It was 12 months ago that Lyras, a member at St Michael’s Golf Club in Sydney’s eastern suburbs, birdied the 72nd hole to avoid a playoff for a PGA Tour of Australasia card and he held at least a share of the lead through the first three rounds of the Moonah Links PGA Classic in February, also played on the Open Course.
Although he succumbed to a blistering Bryden Macpherson final round that day to ultimately finish tied for fourth, the rewards on offer on Friday are just as significant, the winner receiving Category 9 exemption that would earn them automatic entry into each of the proposed 16 events for the 2021/22 PGA Tour of Australasia season.
The win would be just as significant for Heffernan, whose rookie year as a professional was decimated by the COVID-19 pandemic.
Heffernan had secured his immediate future by earning an Asian Tour card at Q School last January but the ongoing impact of the pandemic and travel restrictions has prevented Heffernan from taking his game overseas for the time being.
Despite registering top-10 finishes at both the ISPS HANDA Vic Open and Tailor-Made Building Services NT PGA Championship in 2020 Morgan has retained his amateur status to date, his transition into the professional ranks all the more smoother if he can secure playing rights on his home tour.
The incentive to finish first on Friday is significant but there is plenty to play for down the leaderboard also.
Players who finish from second to 30th will receive Category 13 status for the 2021/2022 season with those who finish higher boasting a greater likelihood of being exempt into all Tour events.
The PGA Tour of Australasia conducted a special New Zealand Qualifying School, which was held in conjunction with last week’s Muriwai Open.
Ten players competed for two category 13 tour cards, which was won by former Order of Merit champion Ryan Fox.
Luke Brown and Luke Toomey were successful in gaining these spots and ensuring they have regained their playing status for 2021/22.
Marc Leishman saw his Masters hopes evaporate early in the final round as Japan’s Hideki Matsuyama strode to a famous victory and a green jacket at Augusta National today.
Leishman, the Australian who began the final day in the second-last group, had a disappointing few hours. Four back at seven under par, he needed to keep bogeys off his card and he also needed some help from Matsuyama. He got neither.
Three dropped shots in the first seven holes put paid to his chances, and he limped in with a one-over par 73, his high point being his tee shot at the par-three 16th which almost funnelled into the hole.
Ultimately Leishman finished tied-fifth, the third top-10 of his career at Augusta, while Cameron Smith finished strongly to grab a T10 result and another top 10 in the Masters, his third in four years.
Meanwhile Matsuyama did exactly what he needed to do with a four-shot buffer, shooting a final-round 73 to win by a shot at 10 under par from 24-year-old American Will Zalatoris. Xander Schauffele and Jordan Spieth tied for third at nine under par.
Not that it was necessarily a walk in the park for the Japanese player ranked 25th in the world. He was challenged by Americans Zalatoris on the front nine and Schauffele on the back side.
Zalatoris was within two when he holed a birdie putt from just inside three metres at the second hole.
But Matsuyama bombed a par-saver from five metres at the fifth, then a gorgeous chip set up birdie at the eighth. At nine, the Japanese superstar hit a superb iron shot that trickled down under the flag and he made the putt.
Suddenly, his lead was five again as he headed to the back nine.
Matsuyama had his moments from the time his poor tee shot at the first led to an opening bogey. At 12, he dropped a shot from the back bunker. At the 15th, his nuclear four iron second shot bounced hard and ran into the water behind the green.
This was Schauffele’s moment. A birdie from the right bunker pulled him within two shots of Matsuyama as they went to the 16th tee. But Schauffele, usually so calm in the heat, tripled the par-three 16th after his eight iron shot found the water.
Now, Matsuyama only had to par his way in and even then, the profoundly-impressive Zalatoris had holed a par putt from more than five metres at the last to post nine-under, two shy of where the Japanese player sat.
At 17, Matsuyama hit the green and two-putted, conservatively so. At 18, still holding a two-shot lead, he pummeled his drive and then from the right trap, made a bogey that left him a shot ahead after posting a 73.
He becomes the first Japanese player to win the Masters and the first male Japanese player to win any major. Two Australians in the top 10 was a good result for the week. Smith’s 70 included a monumental, curling birdie at the par-five 13th. Again, he has shown his love of Augusta National, where he was T5 in 2018 and joint runner-up behind Dustin Johnson last year.
Matt Jones closed with a 72 to finish 26th, but was disappointed. “I just didn’t putt very well at all the whole week,” said Jones, who was playing for the second time at Augusta. “I mean, I probably couldn’t have got anything less out of every round than I did. I mean, it was great to play four rounds, but I definitely think I should have been a lot better than where I am.”
Adam Scott was out of the picture after a poor third round, and he closed with a 73 to finish 54th at 11 over par.
Leishman began with a realistic chance, but he bogeyed the first after pulling his approach left, then after picking up a shot with a nice wedge in close at the par-five second, his wedge approach at the third went off the back of the green and he gave back another shot.
It was an indication of what was to come.
At the seventh he was short of the green in regulation and made bogey. At 11 came the first real indication of frustration: a flared tee shot into the pine trees and an audible groan, with the slightest of thumps as the driver banged down into the turf afterwards. Another bogey ensued.
He would hit just six fairways for the day. Certainly it was the 29-year-old Matsuyama’s day. He came to Augusta for the first time in 2011 and was the leading amateur.
As a young professional he reached a No. 2 world four years ago but his progress stalled, and this was his first win since 2017. In the meantime, he hired a swing coach, Hidenori Mezawa, and ironically has tried to remove the distinctive top-of-backswing pause from his game. Certainly his fame in Japan has scarcely receded, and it will not now.
“He’s a bit like a Tiger Woods to the rest of the world, Hideki in Japan,” said Adam Scott, who has played a lot with Matsuyama.
Now, he is a legend in his own right.
Adam Scott had seen it before. Twelve months earlier Cameron Smith emerged as the lightning rod that provided the conduit between the boisterous fans at Royal Melbourne Golf Club and the Internationals team attempting to complete the most unlikely victory in Presidents Cup history.
As American captain Tiger Woods provided the impetus for his team to pull in front during the Sunday singles matches, Smith fought back to complete an inspirational win over current world No.2 Justin Thomas.
It wasn’t enough to carry his team to victory but that and his subsequent runner-up finish at The Masters last November has convinced Scott that his fellow Queenslander has a green jacket in his future.
Smith became the only player in Masters history to record four sub-70 rounds last year but it was the way he pushed eventual champion Dustin Johnson – he was just two off the lead with nine holes to play – that impressed Scott most.
“More than anything with the experience and his maturity, he’s got that kind of killer instinct in him when he’s in the hunt,” Scott explained after playing nine holes with Smith at Augusta National on Monday.
“I see it when he plays match play. I saw it at the Presidents Cup.
“Although he was always kind of trailing DJ, he never backed down. He didn’t give DJ much breathing space. DJ still had to play a great round of golf Sunday. It looked like he was always well ahead, but there were moments where if one made and one missed, he was right there.
“Cam is right up for the fight. His game is coming along nicely, performing consistently.
“It would be no surprise if he’s contending again, and if it’s not this year it’ll be another major this year or next year he could come up and win for sure.”
An unabashed fan of the golf course and the creativity that it both demands and rewards, Smith spent Monday refamiliarising himself with an Augusta National that is significantly firmer than it was five months ago.
Such are the conditions that the five Aussies in the field feel they are all well placed to perform and the 2020 Greg Norman Medal winner has again taken the opportunity to tap into Scott’s past success so that he can too join an illustrious club where a green jacket is the uniform of choice.
“Obviously ‘Scotty’ has been here about 20 years, so he knows a lot more about the course than what I do,” Smith said.
“Pick his brain a little bit here and there, just certain pin locations, where he lays up on par-5s for those pins.
“There’s no real trick around here. You just need to play good golf.
“The course is already so much different to what it was last year, so it’ll be a different challenge, but nonetheless, looking forward to the challenge.”
Booked in to play nine holes with Matt Jones on Wednesday after Jones qualified for his second appearance at The Masters by virtue of his win at The Honda Classic two weeks ago, Scott is cautious not to overload those seeking insights with too much information.
Conceding that after finishing ninth in his Masters debut in 2002 he became caught up in the folklore of how best to play Augusta and didn’t feature in the top 10 again for close to a decade, Scott’s advice to those seeking it is short and sweet.
“Not knowing too much served me well. I just came in and played my game,” said Scott, who was runner-up at The Masters in 2011.
“I assessed the conditions, how I saw them, and I didn’t know that maybe going for the left pin on 1 is the end of your tournament or something like that, and got away with it. I was playing well but got away with it.
“It’s not a bad thing to not pollute a first-timer’s mind with, ‘Don’t hit it here or you’ll never recover’. That kind of stuff you don’t need to hear.
“Maybe there’s a pointer or two that could be helpful but really I wouldn’t try and influence a first-timer too much on how they play.
“You’ve got to develop your own level of comfort. I don’t know anyone else’s game that good to tell them how to play.”
A career renaissance that has gone largely unnoticed now carries an extra element of gravitas after Queenslander Brad Kennedy secured the 2020/2021 ISPS HANDA PGA Tour of Australasia Order of Merit.
The outbreak of the coronavirus in early 2020 caused significant disruptions to the Australasian tournament schedule but a run of six events in the space of eight weeks ensured the Order of Merit was completed and Kennedy could be pronounced its champion.
Winner of the New Zealand Open in March last year – the final event before the temporary suspension of the season – Kennedy added the inaugural event of The Players Series at Rosebud Country Club to his tally of season victories to go with two top-fives and a tie for seventh at last week’s Golf Challenge NSW Open at Concord Golf Club.
Unable to be caught when the NSW Open commenced, Kennedy finished almost $50,000 clear of ISPS HANDA Vic Open champion Min Woo Lee with 2019 Order of Merit winner Ryan Fox rounding out the top three.
The Order of Merit crown brings with it some tangible rewards – a European Tour card, starts at The Open Championship and two World Golf Championship events – yet the 46-year-old is taking quiet satisfaction as to what this latest achievement represents.
After spending more than a decade chasing his breakthrough win as a professional, Kennedy has accrued eight tournament wins in the past 10 years, rising to as high as No.100 in the world on the back of his second NZ Open win last year.
It is reward not only for an incredibly consistent season on his home tour but for the 20 years of patience and perseverance that it has taken to realise his full potential in the twilight years of his career.
“Sometimes as a player you go unnoticed and I’ve felt that a fair bit to be honest,” Kennedy admitted.
“I don’t really care what anyone thinks about me or what anyone says, I just go out and do my thing. I don’t need to be out there promoting myself or doing things that aren’t me. I just let my clubs do the talking.
“It’s definitely gratifying that I’ve been able to achieve that and maybe prove things to some people… but that’s not what I’m about. I’m just trying to be as good a player as I can and put myself under those pressures every week and see what I’m capable of.
“In a few years’ time I’ll probably look back and see it as a great achievement and shows consistency throughout the year but right now there are so many things going on that it’s hard to try and reflect.
“All I’m trying to do is move forward and look at opportunity and where you can continue to play because I definitely don’t have much time left.”
A father of two girls, Kennedy’s first priority is to return to Japan as soon as possible and secure his status on the Japan Golf Tour for the 2022 season but he and other Aussies and Kiwis are waiting to be cleared to apply for a visa into Japan.
“And now that Brisbane is about to go into lockdown if I don’t get the go ahead to go to the embassy today (Monday) I won’t be able to apply until Friday at the earliest,” Kennedy explained.
Like Australia, Japan still requires international visitors to quarantine for two weeks. Players from Korea were recently given the all clear to enter the country and are currently going through that 14-day isolation ahead of the first event of the year, the Token Homemate Cup starting April 15.
It’s the first of 25 events that the Japan Golf Tour hopes to stage in 2021 and with status on the Asian Tour and a card in the mail from the European Tour, Kennedy is in a position he could only have dreamed of as a rookie pro back in 1994.
“It’s a real juggling act as to what I do at the moment,” Kennedy conceded.
“Don’t get me wrong, it’s a great problem to have, but it’s also a difficult problem to make decisions on.
“I don’t really know what use I’ll get from it this year given all the travel restrictions.
“I don’t know where else I’m going to be able to go this year and with the European Tour exemption I don’t even know when that starts.
“The opportunity is what you’re always after in any career so to have opportunity is great but then after that you’ve got to decide what’s best.
“For me at the moment I need to get myself focused on Japan for the end of this year and keep myself exempt up there.”
Two years ago Kennedy and renowned performance coach Dave Alred sat down and designed a plan to maximise his final years in the game. Such has been the successful execution of that plan that Kennedy is likely to play on until close to his 50th birthday in 2024.
“I sat down with Dave at the start of 2019 and told him that I had two years left and I was finished and he made me really accountable for that fact,” added Kennedy, who played his first PGA TOUR event at the ZOZO Championship last November and the WGC-Workday Championship in February.
“He told me I had 48 tournaments left until I finished my career and that really made me change my mindset and attitude about every event that I go to now.
“For me now, every tournament has a real purpose.
“I’m still trying to achieve things that I think I can and that is pushing me and getting me to play the way that I’m playing.
“I was hoping to wind down last year so to have these exemptions now including the Asian Tour exemption, it’s making it difficult to stop playing.
“At the same time within myself I need to know when enough is enough and it’s time to move on.”
Congratulations to all of the players who have secured a card for next season on the PGA Tour of Australasia ⛳️
— PGA of Australia (@PGAofAustralia) March 31, 2021
Take a look at the final Order of Merit for 2020/21 here 👉 https://t.co/wztPSqAIUE#PGATA #PGAProud pic.twitter.com/0i1smvI1HH
PGA Tour of Australasia Final Order of Merit
1. Brad Kennedy $302,480
2. Min Woo Lee $253,327
3. Ryan Fox $168,882
4. Lucas Herbert $162,841
5. Nick Flanagan $116,709
6. Travis Smyth $95,519
7. Marcus Fraser $89,499
8. Bryden Macpherson $82,795
9. Michael Hendry $81,549
10. Anthony Quayle $59,877
No matter how many tournaments they play, in whatever country and weather conditions, managing your game and emotions is critical to your success in professional golf, as it is in life.
All week at Concord Golf Club it has been a story of mental toughness. Elvis Smylie, barely 18, spoke of his desire to be mentally the toughest player on tour. That the 15th club in your bag is the space you create with your mind.
In the end, however, when it all mattered the most, it was a quiet, cerebral Victorian by the name of Bryden Macpherson who was the mental giant.
The Victorian held back all-comers for a title he compared in status and importance to his British Amateur win back in 2011, and the biggest cheque of his career.
A decade ago, Macpherson was spoken of in the same excited tones now reserved for rookie Smylie after that win. An invitation to play in the Masters and Open followed and he set about conquering the world. Except he didn’t.
Fast forward 10 years and the mental strength he talks about was actually the difference on a tough day here at Concord. Challenge after challenge came and he saw them off despite battling his own game and lack of momentum. When he bogeyed the par-five 11th his round had returned to the number he started on (-15), and he must have felt the pressure. He hung tough anyway.
South Australian Jack Thompson immediately bogeyed 12 and 13 to relinquish his lead, and Macpherson felt his chance had come. But it was on the next hole that he dropped the sledgehammer that created the momentum he’d been waiting for, a 35-footer for eagle.
“I honestly thought my chance was on 12 when I had a 12-footer for a little two-shot swing, but luckily I got another chance on 13 and I took advantage,” the 30-year-old said.
“I hadn’t really holed any long ones all week and I kept saying to myself that I’m due to hole one soon. It looked good the whole way.”
Asked later about his mental toughness, Macpherson used a different word “consistency”.
“I did not have my best game today, it just wasn’t there,” he said.
“I didn’t seem to be reading putts very well. The best thing I could do was just stick in there and get lucky and some of the other guys will get nervous.”
Smylie’s charge ended on 17, when he was just a shot back, with a drive that landed between tree roots forcing him to take relief and a double-bogey. He won thousands of new fans this week with his languid swing and precise irons but admits he needs to work on the putter. The difference between winning and losing was the number of three putts over the weekend (four).
Fan favourites Nathan Barbieri and Michael Sim showed glimpses of their brilliance throughout the week, but just spun their tyres this weekend. Sim showed he still has the game to compete on any tour, and Barbieri found himself in trouble too often to mount a challenge.
Still, the future looks great as far as Macpherson is concerned.
“All of these young kids, they are really good players,” said Macpherson.
“I’m excited to see what they do, and I hope they can stick to what they’re doing and get better at competing. There’s nothing wrong with Nathan and Jack’s game. I was impressed.”
Bryden Macpherson has won his second ISPS HANDA PGA Tour of Australasia tournament in as many months at the Golf Challenge New South Wales Open.
The win cements Macpherson as one of the in-form golfers of the season following a victory at the Moonah Links PGA Classic in February, followed by a T16 finish at TPS Sydney and a T2 at the Isuzu Queensland Open.
Starting the day with a one-stroke lead, Macpherson held his nerve throughout the final round to win by three strokes over rising star Elvis Smylie.
The Victorian completed the tournament with rounds of 66-67-65-68 for a tournament total of 18-under par.
Smylie held a share of the lead before a double bogey on the 17th pushed him back to 15-under.
Young South Australian Jack Thompson also led the tournament early in the final round before finishing at 15-under par alongside Smylie.
Macpherson joins ISPS HANDA PGA Tour of Australasia Order of Merit winner Brad Kennedy as the only player to have won twice in the 2020/21 season.
More to come.
View the final #NSWOpenGolf leaderboard at pga.org.au.
Fresh from his maiden ISPS HANDA PGA Tour of Australasia win at the Moonah Links PGA Classic a month ago, Victorian Bryden Macpherson is poised for his second win in as many months as he holds the clubhouse lead at Concord Golf Club after the third round of the Golf Challenge NSW Open.
Should he lift the Kel Nagle Cup on Sunday, Macpherson will have secured his fifth professional win although a host of quality players are within reach and keen to ruin the party.
The 30-year-old winner of the 2011 British Amateur started his third round four adrift of overnight leader Michael Sim, but eight birdies and two bogeys for a round of 6-under 66 left him at -15, a shot clear of freshly-minted professional South Australian Jack Thompson who matched his bogey-free 6-under round playing in just his third professional event.
“I think the course is getting better,” Macpherson said, referring to the biblical rains Sydney endured earlier in the week.
“We are starting to get the hang of the course, and the guys that are playing well are finding their way around it a little easier.”
Our leader is running hot! 🔥 Quality wedge from Bryden Macpherson sets up the birdie as he moves to -16.
— #NSWOpenGolf (@PGAofAustralia) March 27, 2021
Catch all the action from Moving Day at the #NSWOpenGolf on @FOXSportsAUS 507 & @kayosports#NSWOpenGolf @GolfNSW @GolfAust #PGATA #PGAProud pic.twitter.com/Ys6oZDHC5n
Joining Thompson at -14 is Ryde’s Nathan Barbieri, who disrupted an otherwise perfect round with a late bogey on 16 to go with six birdies in his third round 66.
“I did all the right things and shot a really good score,” the 24-year-old said.
“I started how I wanted to knowing I’m a few shots behind, with three birdies through the first six. I made a couple of really good par saves to keep the momentum going (which) was a massive key for this round.”
Asked what the “secret sauce” might be for tomorrow’s round, Barbieri said it would be more of the same.
“Just putting the ball in the right spots, giving myself lots of wedges and going at pins when they are accessible.”
At -13 is Gold Coast’s Dylan Perry, runner-up in the 2018 British Amateur, who shot a flawless six-under 65 to be in sole possession of fourth.
Another shot back is the second round leader Michael Sim, who rattled off 11 pars before a rollercoaster finish left him one-over for his round and in a share of fifth.
Although the leaderboard here at Concord reflects age and experience, the spectre of Elvis Smylie looms quietly in the background.
The 18-year-old provided the day’s highlights with only the ninth albatross in modern PGA Tour of Australasia history – a perfectly struck five-iron from 208m on the par-five eighth – followed by an eagle on 11, four birdies, and four three-putts for the day’s lowest round (-7) to be at -12.
“It was a rollercoaster,” said the 18-year-old of his 64.
“Four three-putts is never great, but the greens were tricky and very fast and I got on the wrong side of pins a couple of times.”
“I can go into the final round now ready for the challenge.”
It was the second albatross of Smylie’s young career, his first came at ninth at Royal Perth Golf Club.
“I just hit an absolute cracking five-iron with a little draw and it was tracking all the way. One of my playing partners said it tracked like a putt. It was kinda cool, my first in a tournament. What a time to do it.”
The fourth and final round of the Golf Challenge NSW Open will begin at 7:30am with the leading group of Macpherson, Thompson and Barbieri to tee off at 11:45am AEDT.
