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It was a quieter week around the world for our Australians abroad as our top pros prepare themselves for the year’s final majors.
Young Queenslander Robyn Choi led the way for our women by stretching her run of top 25s on the Symetra Tour to six events.
Choi’s breakout year began with a T6 finish at the ISPS Handa Vic Open in February and she hasn’t missed a cut since.
Victorian Zach Murray returned to form in Scotland this week as the only Australian to make the weekend’s action on the European Tour.
The amateurs dominated at the Nexus Risk WA Open at Royal Fremantle, with 18-year-old local Hayden Hopewell holding on to join Murray (in 2018) and Curtis Luck (in 2016) as winners of that event prior to turning pro.
Jason Day was inside the top 10 and ready to strike as he started his final round in Las Vegas but unfortunately, a neck injury suffered while warming up forced him to withdraw after one hole.
That left fellow Queenslander Cam Smith to fly the flag and he fired back-to-back 68s to surge to a share of 11th on the standings.
It was the ultra-consistent Smith’s best return anywhere in the world since winning the Sony Open in January and for cracking the top 25 in consecutive weeks, he takes out our #AussieOfTheWeek!
PGA TOUR
The CJ Cup
Shadow Creek Golf Course, Nevada
Won by Jason Kokrak (USA) at -20 by two shots
11 – Cam Smith, -9, 69-74-68-68
T52 – Marc Leishman, +1, 73-71-70-75
WD – Jason Day, E, 70-70-66
EUROPEAN TOUR
Scottish Championship
Fairmont St Andrews, Scotland
Won by Adrian Otaegui (ESP) at -23 by four shots
T67 – Zach Murray, +1, 69-73-72-75
MC – Min Woo Lee, +2, 76-70
MC – Wade Ormsby, +2, 73-73
MC – Jake McLeod, +2, 74-72
MC – Scott Hend, +10, 75-79
SYMETRA TOUR
Mission Inn Resort and Club Championship
Mission Inn Resort & Club, Florida
Won by Matilda Castren (FIN) at -12 by five shots
T21 – Robyn Choi, +1, 73-76-71
T32 – Steph Na, +4, 72-78-73
ISPS HANDA PGA TOUR OF AUSTRALASIA
Nexus Rish WA Open
Royal Fremantle Golf Club, Perth
Won by Hayden Hopewell (am) (WA) at -7 by one shot
1 – Hayden Hopewell (am), -7, 72-69-68
2 – Haydn Barron (am), -6, 71-71-68
3 – Brody Martin, -5, 71-68-72
4 – Oliver Goss, -2, 71-73-70
5 – Jordan Jung (am), -1, 73-74-68
PGA TOUR CHAMPIONS
Dominion Energy Charity Classic
The Country Club of Virginia, Richmond
Won by Phil Mickelson (USA) at -17 by three shots
T18 – Rod Pampling, -6, 72-69-69
T35 – David McKenzie, -3, 69-71-73
T44 – Stephen Leaney, -2, 74-70-70
The joy of a new baby daughter and the pain of having the TX Civil & Logistics WA PGA Championship snatched from his grasp two years ago will be the driving forces behind Brody Martin’s claim to the Nexus Risk WA Open crown at Royal Fremantle Golf Club on Sunday.
For the second day in succession Royal Fremantle kept WA’s best professionals and amateurs at arm’s length with Martin opening up a two-shot buffer at the top of the leaderboard at 5-under courtesy of a 4-under par round of 68.
Rising amateur star Hayden Hopewell is the nearest challenger having moved to 3-under with a birdie at the par-5 18th hole, he and veteran Brett Rumford the only other players to break 70, Rumford joining amateur Haydn Barron at 2-under par to be three shots back.
Starting from the 10th tee on Saturday, Martin’s considered approach to a firm and fast Royal Fremantle layout paid dividends from the outset, taking 4-iron from the tee at his opening hole, hitting 7-iron to eight feet and starting his round with a birdie.
He added two more in his next three holes to vault to the top of the leaderboard and open up a handy lead, further birdies at two, four and five elevating him to 5-under with one round to play.
It’s a position Martin found himself in two years ago at the WA PGA at Kalgoorlie only to be run down by a Michael Long course record to lose by a shot.
It was a disappointment that he has only just shaken but Martin believes the challenge the course is presenting will make such a scenario unlikely on Sunday.
“I was in this situation in 2018. I had a couple of shots on Simon Hawkes, three on Jarryd (Felton) and five on Michael Long and Michael shot a course record at Kalgoorlie to beat me by a shot,” Martin recalled.
“I thought about that for a solid 18 months. Every time I practised, every time I played golf I thought about the shots I hit. There was a 2-iron in that final round that I’ve practised 1,000 times since.
“Those poor memories do come into it but it also taught me a lot too.
“I’m playing good enough, I just need to play sensible.
“If the conditions are as hard as they have been the last two days I can’t really see much better than 5 or 6-under being posted. And if someone does that they obviously deserve to win the golf tournament.”
One of those hoping to bridge the gap with a low round on Sunday will be amateur Haydn Barron.
Selected to represent Australia at both the Nomura Cup and Asia-Pacific Amateur this year – two events that were cancelled due to the COVID-19 pandemis – Barron’s plans to turn professional have been put on hold and he knows it will take something special to chase down Martin.
“If Brody is 5-under still that’s incredible playing,” Barron said prior to Martin completing his round.
“I don’t think there’s a super-low round out there. I can’t see someone shooting more than 5-under, at absolute best.
“Someone will shoot 3 or 4-under and that will be it.
“I feel like I haven’t been in contention for a long time so I definitely had some nerves out there today. I just tried to keep myself as calm as I could all day, regardless of what happened.
“For me it’s a matter of going as low as I can early and hold on down that really difficult stretch at the end.”
Whether month-old Indiana will be part of the gallery on Sunday is still to be decided but Martin hopes she will be there at the end to share in the victory celebration with wife Courtney.
“It’s a similar situation of what had me defeated last time but the only thing that will help me to defend it will be these conditions,” Martin said.
“Even par could be good enough. If I can keep playing sensible golf, try and make 14 or 15 pars tomorrow, I think I’m going to be in there come the last hole.
“You’ve got to look at the golf course and see what kind of scores you can shoot. For me, I’m going to go home, same game-plan tomorrow and really look at the holes I need to make birdies and capitalise on those.
“The scores aren’t going to be hot because of the greens and they’re putting the flags in hard spots.
“There is a little bit of a game-plan but just respecting the holes that I need to respect.”
Leading scores
139: Brody Martin
141: Hayden Hopewell (a)
142: Haydn Barron (a), Brett Rumford
144: Oliver Goss
145: Darren Garrett, Joshua Greer (a), Adam Brady (a), Tom Addy (a), Ben Ferguson
Amateur Ryan Peake is one of the shock leaders after the opening round of the Nexus Risk WA Open at Royal Fremantle Golf Club.
Veteran Scott Strange appeared set to lead through 18 holes when he got to 2-under late in his round but dropped shots at the seventh and eighth holes – his 16th and 17th – saw him fall to even par. Brody Martin too also reached 2-under in tricky scoring conditions at the ISPS HANDA PGA Tour of Australasia tournament, but also made a late mistake to drop to a share of the lead with five others at 1-under.
One of those six players tied for the lead is 27-year-old Ryan Peake, who has recently rekindled his love affair with the game of golf with a view to rejoining the professional ranks.
Tied for 60th at the 2010 Australian Open at The Lakes Golf Club in Sydney at just 17 years of age, Peake turned professional prior to the 2012 WA Open but quit golf before playing another tournament.
Earlier this year he qualified for the final 16 of the Australian Amateur Championship at Royal Queensland before falling 1-down to star amateur Elvis Smylie and last week was tied for 20th at the TX Civil & Logistics WA PGA Championship.
A two-time winner of the Aglime Sand Greens Championship of WA – “The greens this week are definitely a little bit quicker than those things” – Peake said he was surprised that his score of 1-under 71 was good enough to earn a share of the lead.
“I wasn’t really lighting it up or anything but I felt all right,” Peake said.
“I hit three balls off 18 because I thought they were out of bounds but I ended up finding my first ball and made par to turn square.
“On the back nine I continued to hit the ball well and gave myself lots of opportunities to make a few birdies but I made a few bogeys out of nowhere as well.
“I didn’t think it was that hard out there but obviously looking at the scores everyone is finding it a bit tricky.
“Maybe I need to give myself a little more credit. Maybe it was pretty tough out there and I played better than I thought.”
Goss was just as surprised as Peake at his lofty position at his home club.
The winner of the WA Open as an amateur in 2012, Goss walked away from professional golf at the end of 2018 to pursue coaching.
Now the Junior Development Manager at Royal Fremantle, Goss watched two of his academy members hit ceremonial tee shots before going out and recording the equal best score of the day.
“The course is definitely tough. It’s firm, it’s fast, it’s very difficult but I still thought someone would break away and shoot 3 or 4-under and it just hasn’t happened,” said Goss, who recovered after an early double bogey to notch three birdies over the following 14 holes to shoot 71.
“It’s anyone’s game at this point.
“I play about once a month in the club comp and that’s about it.
“I just wanted to go out and enjoy it and not put any pressure on myself to play well.
“I just want to go out there and play golf and enjoy the course while it’s in absolutely amazing condition.”
Joining Peake, Goss and Martin at the top of the leaderboard heading into day two on Saturday are amateurs Haydn Barron and Joshua Greer along with Ben Ferguson, five players sitting just one shot further back.
A double bogey to start from the 10th tee put tournament favourite Jarryd Felton on the back foot as he opened with a 3-over 75 while three consecutive birdies late rescued Brett Rumford’s round as he finished at 1-over 73 and tied for 12th.
Leading scores
71: Ryan Peake (a), Haydn Barron (a), Joshua Greer (a), Oliver Goss, Brody Martin, Ben Ferguson
72: Scott Strange, Scott Barr, Hayden Hopewell (a), Tom Addy (a), Marty Van Eldik (a)
73: Connor Fewkes (a), Rick Kulacz, Adam Brady (a), Glenn Paul, Brett Rumford, Jordan Jung (a)
It is with regret that the Australian golf industry announces this summer’s premier events – the Australian PGA Championship, Australian Open and Women’s Australian Open – have been cancelled.
PGA of Australia chief executive Gavin Kirkman, ALPG chief executive Karen Lunn and Golf Australia chief executive James Sutherland confirmed all three events, which were to have been played in February, won’t proceed because of the global pandemic.
“It’s unprecedented and a real blow for Australian golf and its fans,” Kirkman said.
“We have collectively spent months in exhaustive consultation with all relevant authorities and our sanctioning partners to try to find a way to stage all three events safely and at that world-class level to which we’ve all become accustomed.
“But even with multiple contingency plans, it has reached a point where decisions have to be made and this, regrettably, is the one we’ve had to take.”
A raft of measures were considered – including players entering a hub and competing while serving a strict quarantine period, as well as restricting crowd numbers and movement – but all options were unviable.
“We look forward to bringing all three tournaments alive again when they return as normal for summer 2021-22,” Kirkman said.
The Australian Open and Australian PGA Championship – the feature events on the PGA Tour of Australasia – were originally slated for a late November and early December window, to be played at Melbourne’s Kingston Heath and Brisbane’s Royal Queensland, respectively.
Both were postponed in recent months in the hope a late-summer timeslot – potentially near the Women’s Australian Open – would buy time to host the time-honoured tournaments.
But the impacts of Covid-19, most notably in assembling international fields and ensuring the safety of players, spectators and officials, has forced the decision.
It will be the first time since 1945, the final year of the second World War, that the men’s Open will not have been staged; it’s the first time since 1995 that the PGA will miss; and the first time since 2006 that the women’s Open will not be contested.
Sutherland said the decisions – made in consultation with staging partner SPORTFIVE – were taken with an incredibly heavy heart given the tournaments’ history and international significance.
“On the advice of relevant domestic government authorities and, with consideration for the global nature of our fields and partners, the call was made with the health and wellbeing of the golfing community as the priority,” Sutherland said.
“The events rely on significant support from players and tours around the world, so given current quarantine restrictions, we believe the field strength of all three events would be severely compromised.
“This, in turn, is unsatisfactory for spectators, broadcasters and our events’ commercial partners.”
Lunn said the decision’s timing was expedited by the needs of players and international partners, including the European Tour and LPGA Tour.
“It’s extremely disappointing when all tournament stakeholders have worked so hard to build a history and a place on busy global calendars for our flagship events here in Australia,” Lunn said.
“The Women’s Australian Open has grown from strength to strength in recent years since moving to its new home in Adelaide, and its continued success is very much dependent on the support of our leading Australian players, along with our overseas guests from the LPGA Tour who come from all corners of the globe.
“While this has been a heart-wrenching and incredibly difficult decision, logistically there are just too many variables which could put at risk the event’s fine reputation and standing.”
The PGA of Australia, ALPG and Golf Australia remain in consultation with all stakeholders about other events on the respective domestic tours this summer.
Jarryd Felton has won the 2020 TX Civil & Logistics WA PGA Championship following a course record-equalling 8-under final round at Kalgoorlie Golf Course.
The 2019 WA PGA runner-up started the third and final round just one stroke back from leaders Brett Rumford and Braden Becker and quickly set about closing the gap.
From the penultimate group Felton started his round with a birdie on the first, but it was a streak of birdies from holes 10 to 14 that saw him rocket out to a four-stroke lead.
An 18th-hole chip in for eagle from Brett Rumford was not enough to reign in Felton’s 13-under total, Rumford finishing just one stroke back at 12-under.
A final round of 4-under saw Daniel Fox move up to take outright third place, ahead of Becker in fourth. Daniel Hoeve took out fifth place.
The victory is Felton’s third on the ISPS HANDA PGA Tour of Australasia, adding to his 2015 NSW PGA Championship and 2017 NZ PGA Championship wins.
More to come.
View the final TX Civil & Logistics WA PGA Championship leaderboard here.
Lucas Herbert made the most of favourable conditions to take a one shot lead into the weekend at the Aberdeen Standard Investments Scottish Open.
The Australian added a second round of 65 to his opening 66 at The Renaissance Club to top the leaderboard at 11 under par as he goes in search of a second European Tour title in 2020 following his victory in Dubai in January.
“I’m pretty happy. To be honest I turned up here on Wednesday and hit it all over the place. Sort of not really expecting too much the last few days, but it’s kind of all come together nicely,” Herbert said.
“Links golf is a lot of fun and it’s definitely a different challenge from probably what we play most of the year. It takes some imagination and I feel like I’ve got a fair bit of that, so it’s good fun. You come back here every year and you kind of learn new things and add to your knowledge about the golf course, things that you just don’t spot the first time around, so the more times you can play it the better.
✅ Lowest round of the year
— The European Tour (@EuropeanTour) October 2, 2020
✅ Leader by one
The best of Lucas Herbert's second round at the #ASISO.#RolexSeries pic.twitter.com/IkJ1FpSxKv
“A second victory would be great at the moment, but yeah, Rolex Series would be pretty cool. I would like to look at Johnny walking around with a gold caddie bib on, so that’s definitely something that I’d like to do. I really haven’t played that well in the Rolex Series so far in my career, so it would be a good step forward this week to put in a good result, whether it’s a win or whether it’s a top 10 or a top 20. I think that would be a good step forward.”
South Australian Wade Ormsby remains in the mix, currently tied for 9th at 6-under the card.
Maverick Antcliff, Min Woo Lee and Scott Hend also progress to the weekend, sitting T28, T41 and T53 respectively.
On the Korn Ferry Tour Australians Curtis Luck and Brett Coletta sit just one stroke off the lead with two rounds to play at the Savannah Golf Championship.
36-hole scores @savgolfchamp …
— Korn Ferry Tour (@KornFerryTour) October 3, 2020
• @Kev_Dougherty -13
• Evan Harmeling -13
• Kyle Jones -12
• @brett_coletta -12
• @tula_etulain -12
• @Ben_Martin87 -12
• @CurtisLuck6 -12
• @maxgreyserman -12
• Seven at -11#KornFerryTour pic.twitter.com/tzFHzdSJrl
Former New South Wales Amateur champion Austin Bautista will make his Korn Ferry Tour debut this week after recording nine birdies to top Monday qualifying for this week’s Wichita Open in Kansas.
Now residing in Altadena, California, Bautista’s brilliant 8-under 64 continues a recent run of scintillating form that culminated with a victory at the Temecula Creek Championship on the California-based Golden State Tour last month.
In addition to the Golden State Tour Bautista has been grinding on other American pay-for-play tours such as the APT Tour and Outlaw Tour but this week gets to mix with other PGA TOUR hopefuls in Wichita.
Since turning professional in 2017 Bautista’s best results are two top-15 finishes on the ISPS HANDA PGA Tour of Australasia, a tie for 12th at the 2017 Nexus Risk TSA Group WA Open and tied for 11th at the 2018 Rebel Sport Masters in New Zealand.
The addition of Bautista takes the Australian representation to five this week along with Kiwi pair Steven Alker and Nick Voke, Voke looking to build on his top-10 finish at last week’s Evans Scholars Invitational.
Four Australasian players are backing up from last week’s brutal US Open at Winged Foot with the highest-placed Australian Lucas Herbert one of three players returning to the European Tour for the Dubai Duty Free Irish Open at the Galgorm Spa and Golf Resort.
Matt Jones is the only Aussie combatant from Winged Foot playing the PGA TOUR’s Corales Puntacana Resort and Club Championship in the Dominican Republic, a final round 67 launching the New South Welshman inside the top 20 in this event a year ago.
Aaron Baddeley returns to the site of his tie for seventh in 2019 along with Rhein Gibson and veterans John Senden and Cameron Percy, who have been paired together for the opening two rounds.
Round 1 tee times (AEST)
PGA TOUR
Corales Puntacana Resort and Club Championship
Corales Golf Club, Punta Cana, Dominican Republic
9.20pm John Senden, Cameron Percy, Branden Grace
9.30pm* Tim Wilkinson, David Lingmerth, DJ Trahan
10.20pm Rhein Gibson, Thomas Detry, Luke Graboyes
1.40am Matt Jones, Beau Hossler, Peter Uihlein
2.30am Aaron Baddeley, John Rollins, Henrik Norlander
Defending champion: Graeme McDowell
Past Aussie winners: Nil
Top Aussie prediction: Aaron Baddeley
TV schedule: Live 5am-8am Friday, Saturday, Sunday and Monday on Fox Sports 503
European Tour
Dubai Duty Free Irish Open
Galgorm Spa and Golf Resort, Ballymena, Northern Ireland
5.10pm Wade Ormsby, Ashun Wu, Edoardo Molinari
5.40pm Michael Campbell, Adri Arnaus, Andrea Pavan
6.15pm Ryan Fox, Wilco Nienaber, Nicolas Colsaerts
6.15pm Lucas Herbert, Shane Lowry, George Coetzee
7.30pm Jason Scrivener, Julien Guerrier, Richard Bland
7.40pm Jake McLeod, Benjamin Poke, Yikeun Chang
7.50pm Maverick Antcliff, Jonathan Caldwell, Lee Slattery
9.30pm Scott Hend, Tom McKibbin, Sebastian Soderberg
10.10pm Min Woo Lee, Marcus Kinhult, Joël Stalter
11.15pm Zach Murray, Dale Whitnell, Robin Sciot-Siegrist
Defending champion: Jon Rahm
Past Aussie winners: Brett Rumford (2004)
Top Aussie prediction: Lucas Herbert
TV schedule: Live 10pm-3am Thursday and Friday; Live 10.30pm-3am Saturday and Sunday on Fox Sports 503
Korn Ferry Tour
Wichita Open Supporting Wichita’s Youth
Crestview Country Club, Wichita, Kansas
10.50pm* Jamie Arnold, Sam Saunders, Tyson Alexander
11.30pm* Harrison Endycott, Cameron Young, Chandler Blanchet
3.40am* Steven Alker, Nicholas Lindheim, Brandon Harkins
4.20am* Brett Drewitt, Mark Hensby, TJ Vogel
5am* Nick Voke, Max Rottluff, KK Limbhasut
5.10am* Ryan Ruffels, Theo Humphrey, James Nicholas
5.30am Austin Bautista, Landon Lyons, Spencer Soosman
Defending champion: Henrik Norlander
Past Aussie winners: Bradley Hughes (2004), Mathew Goggin (2011)
Top Aussie prediction: Brett Drewitt
Nobody said a US Open at Winged Foot would be easy, but the Aussie contingent would have loved just a tad more “fair” during round three.
With the remaining quartet all neighbours on the time sheet, it was at the height of winds gusting around 40km/h that they teed off in what proved a rugged third round.
And by the time the wind diminished for the leaders, the damage was well and truly done. Adam Scott remains the top-placed Australian at nine over, but his second consecutive round of 74 was more fight than the grace he customarily provides.
Scott made three birdies – among two bogeys – in his closing five holes, but had been five over for his round before the dam broke.
The world No.12 said after his second round that he’d need to make a solid start in round three, but he took three bogeys in his first five again, bringing to eight his total on that stretch over the three days so far.
Lucas Herbert made a miraculous start with a curling chip-in for birdie from a savage lie alongside the first green.
But the young Victorian gave it back and more in the height of the wind as he, too, carded a 74 to fall to 10 over.
Asked if it would prompt an attacking approach on the final day, Herbert summed up the challenge the famous West Course presents.
“You can’t attack. If you get out of position, (the strategy is to) limit the damage and don’t make double,” he said.
Jason Day actually made some great saving putts, particularly early, but other than the course’s easiest rated hole, the par-5 ninth, he couldn’t find a birdie and meandered backwards through the field with a 76 that left him 12 over.
Fellow Queenslander Cam Smith had a front-row seat to Rory McIlroy’s (68) run up the leaderboard, but couldn’t match the Northern Irishman.
Smith’s papers were marked when he went long and left on the par-3 third hole en route to a double-bogey and he couldn’t recover – or find a birdie – in his flat 78 to be 12 over.
“I didn’t put myself in a position off the tee where I could score very well, so yeah, plenty of missed fairways and then just out of position from the tee,” Smith said.
“It was just hard to kind of get it around with that.”
They’re a distance behind, but Adam Scott firmly believes the reduced Aussie contingent still has valid US Open aspirations.
Australia’s nine-strong tilt became four today as Winged Foot bit back on a brutal scoring day in New York.
The task of following up countryman Geoff Ogilvy’s 2006 heroics is now left with Cameron Smith (+4), Scott (+5), Danny Lee (+5), Lucas Herbert and Jason Day (both +6).
And while those scores sound distant from leader Patrick Reed’s four under halfway total, none are without a chance should the infamous course continue to have its fangs sharpened for the weekend.
Smith’s highlight came early with a brilliant long iron to the second for his lone birdie. The Queenslander held it together well for much of his round, but a leaked drive into sand on 17 consigned him to a second late bogey on his way to a second-round 73.
Scott appeared frustrated when some back-nine putts didn’t drop, but he made a wonderful two-putt par on the last to enable him to sign for a 74.
Uncustomarily, the 40-year-old has made 12 bogeys in his opening 36 holes, but his chances of a weekend resurrection are bolstered by the seven birdies he’s already carded.
“It’s a lot to digest really. When it gets tough at a US. Open … unless you shoot even par, you’re trying to figure out how it’s all a positive,” said Scott, who was three over after four holes of his second round.
“It’s just very, very hard to get in a rhythm out there because if you’re just off the fairway, you’re just slashing and scrambling.
“It’s a hard start and a hard finish and I got off to a bad start. I finished well, hung in there. I still like my chances for the weekend.
“I’ve got to play a great round tomorrow. (But) if I shoot under par tomorrow, I’ll be right in the mix for Sunday.
“I’m confident now, after seeing what was out there this afternoon, (that) over par will win this tournament.
“The greens finally dried out. If there’s any breeze, over par is winning.” Herbert, who began his round on the 10th with a double-bogey, looked in trouble in the sand off the tee on the tough 17th when already four over for his round.
But a world-class scrambled par kept his mojo bubbling. A second double-bogey on the first threatened to derail him again, but back-to-back birdies on the second and third – the latter from a greenside bunker blast – was just reward for his efforts in a blue-collar 74.
“I just didn’t get much to go my way early, but I got it in the house as needed,” said Herbert, who, like Scott, maintained he wasn’t too far back to get back in the mix because of the course’s propensity to throw up large scores.
“It’s brutal. I aimed at two flags the entire day with my approach shots … and there would be five holes on the course (that) you may as well take bogey as soon as you miss the fairway.”
Day, as it turned out after a subsequent bogey on the 18th, made a rare and brilliant birdie on the 17th to ensure he made the cut on the number.
Like his compatriots, his 74 doesn’t sound great, but came after three bogeys in the first five holes set him up for a meritorious day-long fight.
Matt Jones was the pick of the other Aussies on day two, but his 74 still left him at 10 over.
Marc Leishman’s papers were stamped when he took a double-bogey seven on the long 12th hole en route to a 78 and 11 over, alongside Curtis Luck who signed for a 76 to end his US Open debut.
Melbourne amateur Lukas Michel, for the second straight day, made two birdies on the front nine. But similarly, he was outgunned on the back nine where he again made two double-bogeys en route to a 77 and 17 over finish.
And in near darkness, Scott Hend almost made a spectacular birdie up the last, but could only watch as his putt slid by almost to sum up his 84 that left him at 18 over.
Our Aussies were flying the flag all over the world this week with top 10s recorded at the year’s second women’s major and in Portugal.
Jason Scrivener flew the flag proudly in Portugal this week, the ultra-consistent West Aussie notching another impressive top 10, his fifth top 25 result on the European Tour this year.
At the year’s second women’s major Kiwi Lydia Ko led the charge for the Australasians by claiming outright sixth place after a final round of 66, ahead of Katherine Kirk and Minjee Lee who took different routes to the top 10 but both were more than deserving.
World No.5 Lee roared home with a Sunday 67, while Kirk gave herself a shot at a maiden major title on Sunday with matching 67s on Friday and Saturday.
But our #AussieOfTheWeek winner came from Switzerland this week, as rookie pro Steph Kyriacou’s fairytale introduction to the top level continues with closing rounds of 66 and 65.
The St Michael’s member backed up last week’s top five with a maiden runner-up in just her fifth career start as a professional.
So for finishing in the top handful in three of her last six LET starts, we had no choice but to award Steph Kyriacou with our latest #AussieOfTheWeek crown!
LPGA TOUR
ANA Inspiration
Mission Hills CC, Rancho Mirage, California
Won by Mirim Lee (KOR) at -15 in a playoff over Brooke Henderson and Nelly Korda
6 – Lydia Ko, -10, 69-74-69-66
T7 – Minjee Lee, -9, 71-69-72-67
T7 – Katherine Kirk, -9, 72-67-67-73
T15 – Gabi Ruffels (am), -7, 71-68-71-71
T62 – Hannah Green, +5, 69-74-74-76
MC – Su Oh, +6, 72-78
LADIES EUROPEAN TOUR
Swiss Ladies Open
Golfpark Holzhausern, Switzerland
Won by Amy Boulden (WAL) at -17 by three shots
2 – Steph Kyriacou, -14, 71-66-65
T24 – Whitney Hillier, -3, 71-70-72
MC – Amy Walsh, +6, 76-74
PGA TOUR
Safeway Open
Silverado Resort and Spa, Napa, California
Won by Stewart Cink (USA) at -21 by two shots
T23 – Cameron Percy, -14, 64-68-68-74
T36 – Cameron Davis, -12, 71-68-70-67
T36 – Tim Wilkinson, -12, 67-68-68-73
73 – Rhein Gibson, +3, 73-66-76-76
MC – Aaron Baddeley, -4, 72-68
MC – John Senden, +2, 72-74
EUROPEAN TOUR
Portugal Masters
Dom Pedro Victoria Golf Course, Vilamoura
Won by George Coetzee (RSA) at -16 by two shots
8 – Jason Scrivener, -9, 69-68-70-68
T32 – Ryan Fox, -5, 67-69-75-68
MC – Maverick Antcliff, E, 74-68
MC – Zach Murray, E, 72-70
MC – Jake McLeod, +1, 72-71
MC – Wade Ormsby, +7, 75-74
KORN FERRY TOUR
Evans Scholars Invitational
Chicago Highlands Club, Illinois
Won by Curtis Thompson (USA) at -17 by one shot
T7 – Nick Voke, -13, 69-67-71-68
T16 – Brett Drewitt, -11, 75-66-66-70
T58 – Jamie Arnold, -3, 70-68-76-71
MC – Ryan Ruffels, -1, 70-73
MC – Harrison Endycott, E, 71-73
MC – Steven Alker, +1, 74-71
MC – Brett Coletta, +4, 72-76
MC – Curtis Luck, +5, 75-74
CHAMPIONS TOUR
Sanford International
Chicago Highlands Club, Illinois
Won by Miguel Angel Jimenez (ESP) at -14 by one shot
T17 – Rod Pampling, -7, 70-63-70
T30 – David McKenzie, -5, 68-68-69
T47 – Stephen Leaney, -1, 73-65-71
