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The PGA of Australia will postpone the Morobe Open and Papua New Guinea Open as a result of the coronavirus outbreak.
The two events, staged on the Ladbrokes Pro-Am Series and ISPS HANDA PGA Tour of Australasia respectively, were set to be played in April and May, but are likely to be rescheduled later in the year.
The decision has been made in the wake of the World Health Organization officially declaring the virus a global pandemic.
The PGA of Australia’s Tournaments Director Australasia, Nick Dastey, says the safety of the golfers, volunteers and stakeholders was paramount to the decision.
“While it’s disappointing to postpone any event, the health and safety of our players, members, staff and volunteers is always our top priority,” Dastey said.
“As infection rates in Australia continue to increase, the PGA is working closely with health authorities and government bodies to ensure we adopt the safest practices to protect all those involved in putting together our golf events.
“We’re currently in discussions with all stakeholders to determine a revised date for the event later in the year. We will continue to review our position in light of the latest information from subject-matter experts.”
Different. That’s how Marc Leishman and Aaron Baddeley both described the prospect of playing the remaining rounds of THE PLAYERS Championship with no fans in attendance following the PGA TOUR’s response to the growing coronavirus outbreak.
Australia’s leading female players Minjee Lee, Hannah Green, Katherine Kirk, Su Oh and Sarah Kemp have had the start to their seasons delayed after the LPGA Tour announced the postponement of the opening three events, including the ANA Inspiration, the first major championship of the year.
The operational plan as outlined by PGA TOUR commissioner Jay Monahan on Thursday in Florida will see the Valspar Championship, World Golf Championships-Dell Technologies Match Play and Valero Texas Open proceed as scheduled but without fans while the Corales Puntacana Resort & Club Championship due to be played in the Dominican Republic has been postponed.
“At this point in time, PGA TOUR events – across all Tours – will currently proceed as scheduled, but will do so without fans,” Monahan said.
“This policy starts at THE PLAYERS Championship tomorrow (Friday) and continues through the Valero Texas Open. It’s important to note, that could change, but for the time being, this decision allows the PGA TOUR, our fans and constituents to plan, prepare and respond as events develop.
“Further, the recently announced travel advisories and potential logistical issues associated with players and staff traveling internationally limit our ability to successfully stage the Corales Puntacana Resort & Club Championship.
“Therefore, we are going to postpone that event and will provide details in the coming weeks on a reschedule as this situation develops.”
Marc Leishman played in the group behind Tiger Woods when the third round of the AT&T National at Congressional was played without spectators due to on-course storm damage and conceded that it provides a very different competitive atmosphere.
“A few years ago in Washington DC I played a group in front of Tiger, with no one out there, there was just the grounds staff and such, so it’s different,” said Leishman, the best-placed Aussie after an opening round of 5-under 67.
“We’re going to have to work on getting the competitive juices flowing, even though there’s no crowds.
“I don’t really play much golf on my weeks off, so I don’t generally play with no people around, even when I play at home.
“There’s a lot of people out watching now so it will be interesting and I’ll need to work on getting into it.
“I’m not a doctor, obviously, I don’t really know the ins and outs of it, but I think you certainly have to err on the side of caution and protect people.”
Four shots behind Leishman in a tie for 63rd, two-time Australian Open champion Aaron Baddeley couldn’t recall ever playing a tournament without galleries in attendance.
“I never have,” said Aaron Baddeley, who had four birdies on his back nine to sign for a 1-under 71.
“It’s going to be different.”
Beginning his round on the back nine, Leishman made the turn in 4-under with birdies at the 10th, 12th, 14th and 16th holes, dropping a shot at the par-4 fifth when he failed to get up and down from the rough right of the green.
Pars followed at six, seven and eight before Leishman shot up into a tie for fifth through 18 holes when his second shot from 282 yards at the par-5 ninth came to rest 21 feet from the cup and he subsequently drained the putt for eagle.
Adam Scott and Matt Jones are both tied for 37th after opening their championships with rounds of 2-under par 70 followed by Baddeley at 1-under, Kiwi Danny Lee (72), Cameron Smith (73) and Jason Day (76).
World No.1 Rory McIlroy bounced back late with three straight birdies to get back to even par and believes if anyone associated with the tour tests positive for the coronavirus that they will have no choice but to suspend tournaments indefinitely, raising the prospect of The Masters being played behind closed doors.
“I don’t see how they can let spectators in if they do play it at this point,” McIlroy said of The Masters, which at this point would be the first event following the current mandated policy.
“We need to shut it down then (if a player or caddie contracts the virus).
“More than anything else, everyone needs to get tested.
“For us to keep playing on TOUR, all the TOUR players and people that are involved need to get tested and make sure that no one’s got it.
“Obviously everyone knows you can have it and not have symptoms and pass it on to someone that’s more susceptible to getting very ill from it.”
Adam Scott has hit 702 golf shots in competition on the PGA TOUR in 2020 and hasn’t looked at a single one of them.
OK, he may have snuck a peek at his daring up-and-down at the 15th at Riviera that helped to propel him to a two-shot win at the Genesis Invitational but when it comes to dissecting one of the most admired swings in world golf, Scott prefers the ‘less is more’ approach.
Back at TPC Sawgrass for the 19th consecutive year, the 2004 champion of THE PLAYERS Championship is confident of where his swing – and hence his game – is situated.
A slow start last week at Bay Hill led to a missed cut last week at the Arnold Palmer Invitational but the 39-year-old has kept up his practice of trusting coach Brad Malone that his body is in the position it needs to be to produce displays of premium ball-striking.
“I got in the habit of watching my swing on video, which isn’t good because even though the swing can be good you can nitpick every swing,” Scott said ahead of the opening round of THE PLAYERS.
“The perfect swing pretty much doesn’t exist. And even when I’m swinging good I could see something and try and then go and work on it.
“Basically, I haven’t seen my swing this year at all and so a lot of it is based off feel.
“I trust my coach that he’s telling me the swing is looking in a good spot and then I just find my own feels to play golf.
“That keeps the freedom and kind of the natural talent I have for playing as open as possible to come out on the course. That’s kind of my process.
“There are times to reference off TrackMan and all the other information but at this point I don’t think there’s many secrets I’m going to find from it.
“I know my game fairly well and I’m fairly honest with myself about how the ball flight is.”
As he nears his 40th birthday, Scott is now among the more experienced players on tour trying to keep up with confident kids such as Viktor Hovland, Matthew Wolff and Collin Morikawa.
Teeing it up in rounds one and two of THE PLAYERS alongside Justin Rose and Xander Schauffele, Scott senses a time to strike rather than take a step back.
“It’s an interesting time for me to compete,” said Scott, whose Genesis Invitational win came in his first start since his Australian PGA Championship triumph in December.
“I feel like I have a great opportunity at the moment to achieve some of the things that I have set out to do.
“Coming off the back of a year (in 2018) not playing as well as I hoped, when these opportunities present themselves you want to take advantage of them.
“I’m excited for that. I’m not really trying to prove that I can beat any of the young guys, but I think some of the old guys still have it out here.”
With the first round now complete, Scott recovered from two front-nine bogeys with an impressive five birdies and a lone bogey on the back-nine to enter the clubhouse 2-under and tied for 37th. Marc Leishman leads the Australian contingent at 5-under ahead of round two.
With no finish worse than a tie for 12th in his past four visits to the Stadium Course in Ponte Vedra Beach, Scott remains as one of the best chances of the six Aussies in the field as Jason Day continues to battle a back injury.
Steve Elkington (1991, 1997) is the only Australian to win twice at TPC Sawgrass and Scott sees no reason why he can’t emulate the feat.
“I had a bit of a bad front nine at Arnold Palmer, which is disappointing, however, the silver lining may be that I didn’t have to deal with that golf course over the weekend,” Scott said.
“That looked quite brutal and my mind is in a good place because of that.
“I feel very comfortable with where my game’s at.
“The lesson learned out of last week was I need to just make sure I’m prepared teeing off and not have that kind of slow start to take away from the level where my game is and put myself back in with a chance to win a big tournament this week.”
Former PGA TOUR winner and Golf Channel analyst Brandel Chamblee has urged Jason Day to look at the longevity of sporting icons Roger Federer and Tom Brady in order to avoid the back injury currently plaguing him from ending his career prematurely.
Speaking ahead of this week’s THE PLAYERS Championship where Day is one of six Australians in the field, in typically abrupt fashion Chamblee didn’t hold back when asked to assess the ongoing back issues that forced Day to withdraw early in the second round of last week’s Arnold Palmer Invitational at Bay Hill.
Choosing to walk nine holes of Pete Dye’s famed Stadium Course layout on Monday rather than subject his back to any unnecessary stress, Day was the fourth Australian winner of THE PLAYERS when he triumphed in 2016 but Chamblee has grave concerns that the 32-year-old Queenslander will have many more opportunities to add a second.
“You know, if you’ve got a short, quick golf swing, you’re going to have a short, quick career. Especially if you’ve got a violent transition the way he’s had,” Chamblee said.
“He had a wonderful run in his 20s, nice run through his early 30s, but I can remember a point where he got up and said he was trying to shorten his golf swing.
“I thought, That’s the exact opposite thing you need to be doing. Just go back and look at people with short, quick golf swings and you tell me which one of them had a wonderful extended career, from Doug Sanders to Nick Price.
“They were brilliant players, but they’re not Sam Snead, they’re not Julius Boros, they’re not Phil Mickelson.
“I don’t know that the calamity is irreversible, but it might be.”
In addition to the new regime implemented by world No.1 and defending champion Rory McIlroy, Chamblee suggested the extraordinary careers of Federer and NFL legend Brady could provide an insight to Day extending his career well into his 40s.
Federer is currently in his 23rd year as a tennis professional while six-time Super Bowl MVP Brady made his NFL debut in 2000 but Chamblee said Day need only look down the range to address the stress his swing is placing on his body.
“I don’t know if Rory talked about Whoop, the thing that he has under his arm. You can’t even see it,” said Chamblee, whose best finish in nine starts at THE PLAYERS was a tie for 42nd.
“He has a device under his arm that looks like a wrist watch. That Whoop measures the amount of stress that you’re under every single day, practising, training and it impresses upon you recovery and it impresses upon you the importance of sleep.
“When I would hear Jason Day talk about all the sacrifices he needed to make in the gym and practising, I never really heard him pay proper attention to recovery.
“One of the great things we’re seeing with Rory is this thing that’s under his arm, we’re learning from Brady and we’re learning from Federer how to extend your career.
“Rory in his late 20s, early 30s, when you think you’re physiologically bulletproof, he has learned from them and I think Jason Day could learn from Rory and Federer and Brady.”
Round 1 tee times AEDT
US PGA TOUR
THE PLAYERS Championship
TPC Sawgrass, Ponte Vedra Beach, Florida
11.02pm Aaron Baddeley, Scott Stallings, Michael Thompson
12.08am* Marc Leishman, JT Poston, Francesco Molinari
12.30am Danny Lee, Ryan Moore, Abraham Ancer
3.56am* Matt Jones, Adam Schenk, Jazz Janewattananond
4.18am* Cameron Smith, Keegan Bradley, Ian Poulter
4.40am Adam Scott, Justin Rose, Xander Schauffele
5.24am Jason Day, Kevin Na, Patton Kizzire
Defending champion: Rory McIlroy
Past Australian champions: Steve Elkington (1991, 1997), Greg Norman (1994), Adam Scott (2004), Jason Day (2016)
Top Aussie prediction: Marc Leishman
TV schedule: Live Friday 4am-10am, Saturday 4am-10am, Sunday 5am-10am, Monday 4am-9am on Fox Sports 503.
The short-term playing opportunities of some of Australia’s leading professionals are in doubt as concerns surrounding the coronavirus continue to impact world golf tours.
After 13 Aussies took part in last week’s Bandar Malaysia Open in Kuala Lumpur the Asian Tour confirmed on Monday that the Bangabandhu Cup Golf Open due to be played in Dhaka, Bangladesh from March 25-28 will be postponed to a later date, joining this week’s Royal’s Cup in Thailand as early casualties on the Asian Tour schedule.
“Several new cases of COVID-19 have recently been discovered in Dhaka and travel restrictions are being imposed on incoming and outgoing travellers for the immediate future to prevent further spread of the virus,” the Asian Tour said in a statement.
“In view of this global outbreak, a request has been made by the Bangladesh Golf Federation (BGF) to postpone the event and we have also decided that it is in the best interest of all the players, staff and officials to postpone the event.”
Co-sanctioned with the European Tour, next week’s Hero Indian Open at the DLF Golf and Country Club in New Delhi was officially postponed late on Wednesday night, the European Tour confirming what many Aussie players had already feared.
India is presently not allowing incoming passengers from Iran, Italy, Japan and South Korea and foreign nationals who have travelled to China, Iran, Italy, Japan and South Korea on or after February 1 are also being denied entry. That adds to the continuing ban on Chinese nationals from entering India, European Tour citing those restrictions as the reason for the postponement until later in the year.
“In these difficult global circumstances, we fully understand and appreciate the recent restrictions introduced in respect of travel into India,” Pelley said in a statement released by the European Tour.
“As these new measures now prevent many members of both Tours being able to play in the tournament, everyone involved in the staging of the Hero Indian Open felt it was the correct decision to postpone the tournament.”
Aussies who were initially on the entry list to play in India Scott Hend (who was unlikely to play due to illness), Wade Ormsby, Andrew Dodt, Maverick Antcliff, Daniel Nisbet, Terry Pilkadaris, David Gleeson and Kiwi Ryan Fox and when they will play next remains uncertain.
The European Tour had already postponed three events due to coronavirus fears prior to delaying the Indian Open. This week’s Magical Kenya Open was postponed last Friday while the Maybank Malaysia and Volvo China Open tournaments scheduled for back-to-back weeks after the Masters have also been put on hold.
Omega Dubai Desert Classic champion Lucas Herbert is not expecting to play until the US PGA Championship at TPC Harding Park in San Francisco from May 14 while Zach Murray could face an even lengthier layoff.
Due to open their season on April 16 with the Token Homemate Cup – where Canberran Brendan Jones is due to defend – there are doubts also that the Japan Golf Tour will be able to commence as scheduled. On Tuesday Japan’s Nippon Professional Baseball league announced that they had delayed the start to their season to help stop the spread of the virus, unable to confirm when it would begin as the country tries to prevent any addition to the 485 documented cases and 14 deaths to date.
Scheduled to begin in late March, the PGA TOUR has postponed two qualifying events for the PGA TOUR-China series along with the first four events of the season, a shortened season now unlikely to begin until late May or early June.
Although some sports in the United States have begun to put measures in place to deal with any outbreak, the PGA TOUR itself has yet to experience any disruption.
Speaking on the Golf Channel and preparing for The Players at TPC Sawgrass this week, Arnold Palmer Invitational runner-up Marc Leishman said all players could do was to take care of their own personal health.
“You’ve just got to try and take all measures to avoid getting it,” Leishman said.
“If you live your life to avoid the flu I feel like you’re going to have a pretty miserable life. If you live your life trying to avoid the coronavirus I think it’s going to be pretty similar.
“So you don’t want to go doing that but I think it could potentially affect things.
“It’s pretty scary what’s happening at the moment.”
Australia’s leading female players have also been affected with the likes of Minjee Lee, Hannah Green, Su Oh, Katherine Kirk and Sarah Kemp denied starts due to the cancellation of three events in Asia. The Honda LPGA Thailand, the HSBC Women’s World Championship in Singapore and the Blue Bay LPGA which was set to take place March 5-8 in China have all been cancelled but the LPGA expects the Volvik Founders Cup in Phoenix to go ahead as planned.
Tournaments postponed/cancelled to date
Asian Tour
Royal’s Cup, Thailand
Bangabandhu Cup Golf Open, Bangladesh
European Tour
Magical Kenya Open, Kenya
Maybank Malaysia, Malaysia
Volvo China Open, China
LPGA Tour
Honda LPGA Thailand, Thailand
HSBC Women’s World Championship, Singapore
Blue Bay LPGA, China
PGA TOUR Series-China
Qualifying events and first four tournaments postponed. Shortened season planned to begin late May/early June.
Marc Leishman has vowed to use a Bay Hill near miss to correct his sub-par record at THE PLAYERS and push on towards a maiden major breakthrough.
In conditions more reminiscent of a major championship test and wind and firmness all too familiar for someone who grew up playing on Melbourne’s sandbelt, Leishman pushed Englishman Tyrrell Hatton all the way to the 72nd hole before ultimately coming up one shot short.
Winner at the Bay Hill Club and Lodge in 2017, Leishman was named as one of three 2020 Arnold Palmer Invitational ambassadors prior to the start of the tournament and revelled in the difficult scoring conditions.
Matthew Fitzpatrick was the only player across the final 36 holes to break 70 but Leishman hung tough, fighting back from three shots down to draw within one of Hatton with six holes to play.
A dropped shot at the par-3 14th when Leishman missed the green right was countered by a birdie at the par-5 16th but Hatton held his nerve under immense pressure, claiming a one-shot win and his first PGA TOUR title.
Without a finish inside the top 60 at TPC Sawgrass since he was tied for 24th in 2015, Leishman is aware of his record at THE PLAYERS but will head to Ponte Vedra Beach buoyed by his Bay Hill showing.
“Obviously anytime you have a chance to win you want to pull it off and win. You don’t get too many chances,” Leishman said following his final round of 1-over 73.
“So, yes, I’m disappointed, but I’m happy I played well.
“It felt like a US Open out there. Fast greens, long rough, narrow fairways, and big crowd, big vocal crowds. It was a lot of fun.
“Obviously, I would have liked to have won but that was a fun day, a fun week.
“Going into the PLAYERS next week in a good place mentally and with the major season coming up as well so going to take some positives out of this.
“Happy to put four pretty good rounds together and try and do the same thing at PLAYERS next week.
“I think I’m due for a good week there. That’s why I’m going there. But my game’s in a good spot.
“I feel great with the putter. Hoping next week can be my week there.
“I’ve only had one top 10 there in 10 or 11 events so it hasn’t been a happy hunting ground for me, but we’ll try and change that.”
Kiwi Danny Lee recorded his best result since he was second at the CJ Cup at Nine Bridges in Korea last year, his fifth-place finish elevating him back inside the top 100 in the world, but it was a difficult day for Matt Jones. The New South Welshman dropped from the top 10 to a tie for 47th with a 9-over 81 including four dropped shots in his final three holes.
There is also concern for Jason Day who was forced to withdraw early in the second round with a recurrence of his back injury while Adam Scott missed the cut.
Jason Scrivener was the only Aussie to qualify for the weekend at the European Tour’s Commercial Bank Qatar Masters and made a late charge with one of the best rounds of the final day.
Starting Sunday tied for 57th, Scrivener’s six birdies and round of 5-under 66 was bettered by only two players and resulted in a move up to 21st as Spain’s Jorge Campillo outlasted David Drysdale to claim victory at the fifth playoff hole at Education City Golf Club.
As Presidents Cup captain Ernie Els logged his first win on the Champions Tour Victorian David McKenzie registered his best result of the year, three straight rounds of 68 earning a share of 10th at the Hoag Classic at Newport Country Club in California.
PGA TOUR
Arnold Palmer Invitational
Bay Hill Club and Lodge, Orlando, Florida
T2 Marc Leishman 71-69-72-73—285 $US1,013,700
T5 Danny Lee 71-67-75-75—288 $330,731
T47 Matt Jones 75-68-73-81—297 $25,054
MC Adam Scott 77-72—149
WD Jason Day 74
Champions Tour
Hoag Classic
Newport Beach Country Club, Newport Beach, California
T10 David McKenzie 68-68-68—204 $US43,200
T36 Stephen Leaney 71-68-71—210 $9,566
T60 Rod Pampling 71-72-73—216 $2,970
European Tour
Commercial Bank Qatar Masters
Education City GC, Doha, Qatar
T21 Jason Scrivener 70-71-70-66—277 €16,606
MC Maverick Antcliff 70-72—142
MC Jake McLeod 70-72—142
MC Min Woo Lee 72-71—143
WD Scott Hend 73
PGA TOUR-Latinoamerica
Estrella del Mar Open
Estrella del Mar Golf and Beach, Mazatlan, Mexico
T28 Danny List 67-67-68-70—272
T35 James Anstiss 67-67-68-71—273
A late double-bogey has proved costly as Queensland’s Andrew Dodt was unable to complete a wire-to-wire win at the Asian Tour’s Bandar Malaysia Open in Kuala Lumpur.
At the top of the leaderboard since posting a 9-under par round of 63 in Round 1, Dodt started Sunday’s final round with a one-shot buffer, the tournament reduced to 54 holes due to repeated weather delays on Friday and Saturday.
That lead stretched to three when Dodt birdied the opening two holes of his third round but after registering his first bogey of the week at the par-3 fourth began to wobble midway through the back nine.
He made bogey at the 419-metre par-4 13th when he failed to get up-and-down but it was the par-4 15th that saw Dodt drop from the lead with just three holes to play.
Out of position in the trees to the right of the fairway, Dodt was forced to punch out to the safety of the fairway with his second, a three-putt once on the green in three resulting in a costly double bogey and a one-shot deficit.
Showing tremendous mental strength, that deficit was wiped clean with a birdie at the par-4 16th and he narrowly missed having a one-shot lead heading to the final hole when his birdie putt at the par-3 17th hole took a chunk of the left edge of the cup before spinning out.
Par the par-5 18th earned a spot in the three-man playoff, Dodt matching Trevor Simsby’s birdie with a clutch putt from 10 feet at the opening playoff hole as American Jarin Todd dropped out.
Simsby set up another great look at birdie with a second shot to the apron fronting the green and Dodt was unable to get up-and-down after laying up in the fairway, his 16-footer sliding past the right edge as Simsby claimed his maiden Asian Tour title with a birdie putt from five feet rammed into the back of the hole.
“It was a good week. Just disappointed to finish it like that but all in all, it’s still a solid week,” Dodt told Asian Tour Media following the playoff.
“Thinking back about the double-bogey on 15, I made a good bounce-back with a birdie on 16. The birdie on 17th was also quite possible but didn’t make it.
“I tried to be aggressive out there today. It just got really hard on the back nine, mentally and physically. Still a lot of positives to take from this week.”
As Dodt moved up to sixth on the Asian Tour Order of Merit with his runner-up finish, Wade Ormsby maintained his position at the top with a tie for 10th while Queensland amateur Lawry Flynn gave an indication of what’s to come in his professional career with a tie for 16th.
Playing in just his fourth professional tournament outside his home state, Flynn was 5-under through his first 12 holes and then recorded back-to-back eagles in a second round of 6-under 66, rounding out his week with a 1-under 71 that – like Thursday – featured a run of three straight birdies from 10-12.
Asian Tour
Bandar Malaysia Open
Kota Permai Golf & Country Club, Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia
Event reduced to 54 holes due to rain
T2* Andrew Dodt 63-68-72—203 $US86,500
T10 Wade Ormsby 71-65-70—206 $17,600
T16 Lawry Flynn (a) 71-66-71—208 ——–
T38 Josh Younger 67-74-70—211 $6,038
T38 Jake Higginbottom 69-73-69—211 $6,038
T47 Travis Smyth 70-73-69—212 $4,800
T58 Terry Pilkadaris 71-71-72—214 $3,150
MC Marcus Fraser 74-70—144
MC Daniel Fox 73-72—145
MC Will Heffernan 70-75—145
MC Adam Blyth 74-72—146
MC Scott Strange 77-74—151
MC Ben Eccles 76-75—151
* Lost on second hole of sudden-death playoff
Australia’s two most recent male No.1s and 2013 World Cup winners Adam Scott and Jason Day will go head-to-head at the Arnold Palmer Invitational in Florida after being drawn to play alongside Brooks Koepka for the opening two rounds.
A place where Australians have enjoyed success in recent years, Bay Hill Club and Lodge crowned Day (2016) and Marc Leishman (2017) as victors in successive years, Leishman owning the honour of being the last player to be presented the trophy by Arnold Palmer prior to The King’s passing.
No.1 in the world for a 51-week period that ended in mid-February 2017, Day is second only to Greg Norman as Australia’s most enduring rein as the world’s best, Scott holding the mantle for 11 weeks following his win at the Crowne Plaza Invitational at Colonial in May 2014.
Scott rose to No.7 in the world on the back of his win at the Genesis Invitational three weeks ago and advanced one spot higher following the WGC-Mexico Championship, the 39-year-old’s highest ranking since October 2016.
While Scott is again well entrenched in the top 10, Day has a way to go to reach those lofty heights.
Buoyed by a top-five finish at the AT&T Pebble Beach Pro-Am, Day chose to skip the first WGC event of the year and last week’s Honda Classic but returns this week to a venue that has been kind to him in the past.
In addition to his win four years ago, Day made the cut in six straight visits to Bay Hill before having to withdraw from last year’s tournament with a back injury.
Elsewhere around the world this week, there are 13 Aussies playing the Asian Tour’s Bandar Malaysia Open including 21-year-old amateur Lawry Flynn.
The Queensland left-hander finished tied for third at the Tailor-made Building Services NT PGA Championship last year and received an invitation to play this week due to his win in the 2019 Malaysian Amateur, the biggest win of his amateur career.
The European Tour remains in the Middle East for the Commercial Bank Qatar Masters where Scott Hend leads a contingent of five Aussies while Rod Pampling and Stephen Leaney will be out to build on their strong starts on the Champions Tour at the Hoag Classic in California.
Round 1 tee times AEDT
Asian Tour
Bandar Malaysia Open
Kota Permai Golf and Country Club, Shah Alam, Malaysia
11am Adam Blyth, Kyungnam Kang, Sazanur Iman Salenin (a)
11.10am* Scott Strange, Kazuki Higa, Rory Hie
11.40am Terry Pilkadaris, Paul Peterson, Dongmin Kim
11.50am* Travis Smyth, Naoki Sekito, Ajeetesh Sandhu
12pm* Daniel Fox, Dongkyu Jang, Juvic Pagunsan
12.30pm Lawry Flynn (a), Mohd Iylia Jamil, Fakhrul Akmal
12.40pm Will Heffernan, Jimmy Chia (a), Fadzlan Faruk
12.40pm* Ben Eccles, Mikiya Akutsu, Rashid Ismail
3.40pm Wade Ormsby, Amir Nazrin, Miguel Tabuena
3.50pm* Jake Higginbottom, M. Sasidaran, Hein Sithu
4pm Andrew Dodt, Leunkwang Kim, Suradit Yongcharoenchai
4pm* Marcus Fraser, Viraj Madappa, Dodge Kemmer
4.50pm* Josh Younger, Yeh Wei-tze, Kemarol Baharin
Defending champion: Anirban Lahiri (2015)
Top Aussie prediction: Wade Ormsby
Past Australian winners: Frank Phillips (1962), Bill Dunk (1963), Graham Marsh (1974, 1975), Stewart Ginn (1977, 1986), Brian Jones (1978), Terry Gale (1983, 1985, 1987).
Round 1 TV schedule: Live from 5pm Thursday on Fox Sports 503
European Tour
Commercial Bank Qatar Masters
Education City GC, Doha, Qatar
2.25pm Scott Hend, Thomas Detry, Laurie Canter
2.55pm* Jason Scrivener, Joost Luiten, Joakim Lagergren
3.55pm* Jake McLeod, Kyongjun Moon, Sebastian Heisele
4.15pm* Maverick Antcliff, SSP Chawrasia, Saleh Al Kaabi
7.40pm Min Woo Lee, Martin Kaymer, Guido Migliozzi
Defending champion: Justin Harding
Past Australian winners: Nil
Top Aussie prediction: Scott Hend
Round 1 TV schedule: Live from 6.30pm Thursday on Fox Sports 506
PGA TOUR
Arnold Palmer Invitational
Bay Hill Club and Lodge, Orlando, Florida
10.45pm* Danny Lee, Emiliano Grillo, Talor Gooch
10.57pm Matt Jones, Sam Burns, Scott Harrington
12.06am Adam Scott, Jason Day, Brooks Koepka
4.44am Marc Leishman, Sungjae Im, Rickie Fowler
Defending champion: Francesco Molinari
Past Australian winners: Rod Pampling (2006), Jason Day (2016), Marc Leishman (2017)
Top Aussie prediction: Adam Scott
Round 1 TV schedule: 6am Friday on Fox Sports 503
PGA TOUR-Latinoamerica
Estrella del Mar Open
Estrella del Mar Golf and Beach, Mazatlan, Mexico
1.10am James Anstiss, Joshua Lee, Patrick Flavin
4.50am Danny List, Joshua Seiple, Alex Weiss
Defending champion: Martin Trainer (2016)
Past Australian winners: Nil
Top Aussie prediction: Danny List
Champions Tour
Hoag Classic
Newport Beach Country Club, Newport Beach, California
Aussies in the field: Stephen Leaney, David McKenzie, Rod Pampling
Defending champion: Kirk Triplett
Past Australian winners: Nil
Top Aussie prediction: Rod Pampling
Round 1 TV schedule: Live from 10am Saturday on Fox Sports 503
* Starting from 10th tee
Brad Kennedy has become a two-time New Zealand Open champion after winning the 101st edition of the tournament at Millbrook Resort.
Kennedy capitalised on perfect scoring conditions and an ability to go low on Sunday to post a bogey-free round of 8-under and take a two-shot victory over Victorian Lucas Herbert.
With twin results of T3 over the past two weeks and the heartbreak of a final round fall at the Queensland PGA Championship still haunting his conscience, Kennedy was determined to set the standard early when he began the final round from two shots back.
“It’s just hard to put into words the emotion I’ve gone through the last two weeks,” Kennedy said.
“It felt like I’d lost two events and then to come back and play how I did this week, I think it’s going to take a little bit of time to really understand why the things happened for the reasons why they did and you just never know in this game.
“I think I was chasing today which put me in a really good mindset to continue to attack and I felt like a couple of times in the last few weeks I’d started to play out of what I can do and what I trust where today I really just focussed on doing what I needed to do.”
While overnight co-leader Joohyung Kim faltered early and Herbert soared into the lead Kennedy sailed under the radar with birdies at the second, fifth and sixth holes.
A double-bogey from Herbert at 13, and a subsequent run of three birdies from Kennedy from holes 12 to 14 was all it took the 45-year-old to rocket out to a three-stroke lead. Yet it wasn’t until he arrived at the 18th hole that he was aware of the position.
“The course played unbelievable over the weekend, and not much breeze, I thought someone could easily shoot a really low one,” he said.
“Under pressure that’s hard, to get out there in the second last group and shoot that score under those conditions. I wasn’t aware of the scoring, because in the past that’s been a negative for me, just to look up and have those emotions affect you, whether you are in front or behind.
“I really made a conscious effort today of head down, wait until it’s finished and then react.”
Nerves filled the scorers hut on 18 as Herbert got within one stroke of the 21-under total set by Kennedy on his approach to the last but yet another wayward tee shot from the Victorian meant the Brodie Breeze Cup would again belong to Kennedy.
“I saw that Lucas got to 20 and then I putted out and I thought, well if he makes a birdie we are in a playoff, so I was never done until they said he hit it in the water,” he said.
This becomes Kennedy’s 13th professional victory, his fifth on the ISPS HANDA PGA Tour of Australasia and his maiden Asian Tour win. He also becomes the first player to win the New Zealand Open twice since Greg Turner in 1997, and the first Australian to win twice since Rodger Davis in 1991.
“It’s pretty special. I don’t know if I’ll win a second one again, to be honest,” he said. “I was looking to hang the boots up at the end of this year, I’ve been doing it for 25 years and just really wanted to make this year a really positive year to end.”
“I’ve sacrificed a lot, but also my family has sacrificed a lot too. I’ve been pretty selfish over the last 15, 20 years playing the game and it just feels now is a good time to get back and watch my girls grow up and spend some time at home.”
The three-time Japan Golf Tour winner will now have the opportunity to return to the Asian Tour schedule next week in Malaysia if he chooses, however the prospect of time spent at home on the Gold Coast with his wife and two daughters will play a part in the future of Kennedy’s career.
A busy schedule in the early part of 2020 caught up to Lucas Herbert in a hard-fought final round of the New Zealand Open with the 24-year-old admitting his best golf was not on display in Queenstown.
“It’s just a good start to the season. Obviously I had the win in Dubai and then to back it up with another top-five finish was really pleasing and realistically I didn’t have my best stuff this week,” Herbert said.
“To finish second you’ve got to look at the positives and I sort of can’t slouch too much at that.
“It probably looked like I hit it great but I was really battling some stuff with my golf swing and obviously two bad swings at the wrong times and a double on 13 and a bogey on 18 and that’s kind of the tournament right there.
“It was just one of those days where I just needed more stuff to go for me and it just didn’t so you’ve got to take those with the good and if I put myself in that position again hopefully it works out next time.”
Just months after a T3 finish at the Australian PGA Championship Nick Flanagan has again finished third at an ISPS HANDA PGA Tour of Australasia tournament but despite battling nerves throughout the final round the Novocastrian will take a number of positives home with him to Texas.
Asian Tour prodigy Joohyung Kim salvaged a final round of 70 following early errors to finish in fourth place ahead of New Zealand duo Harry Bateman and Michael Hendry in fifth place at 15-under.
The ISPS HANDA PGA Tour of Australasia now breaks until May for the PNG Open.
Photo: Photosport NZ
Warwick Golf Club Head Professional Sam Eaves has made a hole-in-one at the 213 meter par-3 13th at Millbrook Resort in an exciting final round at the 101st New Zealand Open.
While Lucas Herbert leads the way on the course, Eaves made the shot of the day on the back-nine with a stunning 4-iron shot onto the green.
Landing just short of the hole, his yellow Titleist ball kept rolling to find the cup and take the Queenslander to -3 for the day and 10-under overall with five holes still to play.
?HOLE-IN-ONE?!!! Samuel Eaves hits an ace on the 13th, Which means a Hyundai Kona Electric will be donated to a Kiwi charity, and he’ll take home $5k!!!#PGATA #NZOpen #holeinone #ace @NZOpenGolf @SamEavesGolf @HyundaiNZ @HyundaiAus pic.twitter.com/aPfXS5ewXt
— PGA of Australia (@PGAofAustralia) March 1, 2020
Eaves has made the most of the impromptu trip to Queenstown after pre-qualifying in Queensland on Monday for his fourth New Zealand Open start.
Eaves will take home an extra $NZ5,000 while three charities will also receive a Hyundai car thanks to his efforts.
For live scores from the final round of the 101st New Zealand Open visit pga.org.au.
Watch the NZ Open live on Kayo and the full replay on Fox Sports 506 from 6pm AEDT.
