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After a two-week hiatus, the LPGA Tour returns to action in Arkansas this week with some Australians eyeing off a good result to help their quest to make the end-of-season CME Group Tour Championship.
Results in the last few events of the year can mean the difference between climbing inside or outside the top 60 in the Race to the CME Globe point standings, which is the cut-off point for players who want to punch a ticket to the Tour Championship.
Earn a start there and you’re vying for one of the biggest purses of the year that features a $2 million winner’s cheque.
Three Australians are safely well inside the top 60 – Minjee Lee at No.13, Grace Kim (27th) and Hannah Green (30th).
Kim, the LOTTE Championship winner, is also running second behind Hae Ran Ryu in the Louise Suggs Rolex Rookie of the Year competition with 512 points to the Korean’s 625.
Further down the Race to the CME Globe standings is where two Aussies sit on the edge of qualifying, with Steph Kyriacou currently 59th and Sarah Kemp just outside the top 60 in 68th.
Meanwhile, Karis Davidson (100th) and Sue Oh (117th) are chasing the big week that can turn their year around.
The move into the LPGA Tour’s closing stretch begins with the 17th playing of the Walmart NW Arkansas Championship presented by P&G. Held at Pinnacle Country Club, the stop is one of just three 54-hole events on the schedule this year and features a $2.3 million purse.
After the Walmart NW Arkansas Championship, the Tour will have one more event in the United States at The Ascendant LPGA benefiting Volunteers of America before embarking on a four-tournament swing in Asia.
On the Asian Tour, there are 12 Australians in the field for the Taiwan Masters, including Scott Hend who is returning from a victorious Seniors debut in Europe earlier this month and will have fond memories of a win in this event 10 years ago.
After the disappointment of narrowly failing to defend his Yeangder TPC title on Sunday, Travis Smyth goes again this week feeling “like a win is just around the corner”.
He finished second last week, three strokes behind Thailand’s Poom Saksansin, in the first of two back-to-back Asian Tour events in Chinese-Taipei, with this week’s US$1 million tournament being played at Taiwan Golf and Country Club.
“I mean I’m playing good. I’ve been hitting the ball quite nicely for a while so anything can happen,” said Smyth who has moved into third place on the Asian Tour Order of Merit.
“I think I’ve putted poorly here in the past and my putting has been pretty consistent for a while now.
“So hopefully I can improve from previous years just on that alone, but also just like kind of understand the course more, and know when to attack certain pins and when not to.”
There are no PGA TOUR or DP World Tour tournaments this week with attention focussed on the Ryder Cup in Italy.
LPGA Tour
Walmart NW Arkansas Championship Presented by P&G
Pinnacle Country Club, Rogers, Arkansas
10:37pm* Karis Davidson, Min Lee, Amanda Doherty
10:59pm Lindsey Weaver-Wright, Jenny Shin, Stephanie Kyriacou
11:10pm Alex Pano, Grace Kim, In Gee Chun
11:21pm Maria Fassi, Hannah Green, Hyo Joo Kim
11:32pm Atthaya Thitikul, Lydia Ko (NZ), Danielle Kang
4:32am Sarah Kemp, A Lim Kim, Pajaree Anannarukarn
4:43am Su Oh, Ines Laklalech, Ruixin Liu
5:05am* Kiira Riihijarvi, Magdalena Simmermacher, Sarah Jane Smith
Defending champion: Atthaya Thitiku
Past Aussie winners: Lydia Ko (NZ) (2016).
Epson Tour
Tuscaloosa Toyota Classic
Ol’ Colony Golf Course, Tuscaloosa, Alabama
10:52pm Amelia Garvey (NZ), Savannah Vilaubi, Kaleigh Telfer
10:52pm* Miranda Wang, Hira Naveed, Isabella Fierro
11:25pm Minji Kang, Pinyada Kuvanun, Cassie Porter
11:25pm* Robyn Choi, Clariss Guce, Haylee Harford
Defending champion: Celine Borge
Past Aussie winners: nil.
Asian Tour
Mercuries Taiwan Masters
Taiwan Golf and Country Club, Tamsui, Taiwan
9:15am Jeev Milha Singh, Lee Chieh-po, Kevin Yuan
9:45am Zach Murray, Itthipat Buranatanyarat, Huang Chi
9:20am* Hsieh Chi-hsien, Marcus Fraser, Ben Leong
9:30am* Todd Sinnott, Settee Prakongvech, Hsieh Tung-hung
10:00am* Yonggu Shin, Josh Younger, Lu Chien-soon
10:10am* Douglas Klein, Chikkarangappa S., Liao Huan-jyun
1:30pm Hung Chao-hsin, Jack Thompson, Veer Ahlawat
1:50pm Chapchai Nirat, Andrew Dodt, Kao Lung-jui (a)
1:45pm* Scott Hend, Nitithorn Thippong, Kieran Vincent
2:00pm Terry Pilkadaris, Prom Meesawat, K P Lin
2:15pm* Travis Smyth, Taehee Lee, Berry Henson
2:35pm* Tom Power-Horan, Nicholas Fung, Lin Keng-wei
Defending champion: Chan Shih-chang
Past Aussie winners: Scott Hend (2013)
Japan Golf Tour
Vantelin Tokai Classic
Miyoshi Country Club, Miyoshi, Aichi
9:20am Kota Kaneko, Brad Kennedy, Tomoyasu Sugiyama
10:50am JiHo Yang, Yuki Shino, Brendan Jones
11:00am Anthony Quayle, Kazuki Yamaura, Yuta Kinoshita
11:10am Eric Sugimoto, Ryo Noro, Adam Bland
11:20am Hiroki Tanaka, Dylan Perry, Naoyuki Kaneda
Defending champion: Riki Kawamoto
Past Aussie winners: Graham Marsh (1985 & 1990), Brian Jones (1988)
Lacoste Ladies Open De France
Golf Barriere, Deauville, Normandy
9:46pm* Sarah Schober, Kirsten Rudgeley, Florentyna Parker
Defending champion: Ines Laklalech
Past Aussie winners: Karen Lunn (1997), Lynnette Brooky (NZ) (2002 & 2003), Stacy Keating (2012)
Many of Australia’s leading golfers, including Adam Scott, Cam Smith, Marc Leishman and Gabi Ruffels, will be on full display to the Victorian golfing public this December, with the second edition of the Cathedral Invitational announced today.
Golf fans can once again enjoy one of Australia’s most prestigious and exclusive golfing experiences, with the tournament to be held at the Cathedral Lodge & Golf Club in Thornton from December 5-6.
Several leading and emerging Australian golfing names have already committed to participate in the 2023 Cathedral Invitational. Alongside Adam Scott, Cam Smith, Marc Leishman and Gabi Ruffels will be inaugural 2022 Cathedral Invitational champion Nick Flanagan and Webex Players Series Murray River winner Sarah Jane Smith.
The Cathedral Invitational will be played as a 36-hole event over two days, competing over scaled tees with one overall winner walking away with the $100,000 first prize.
The tournament offers an inclusive fan opportunity, with an inside the ropes experience not usually available with the calibre of players participating in the event.
It is the only opportunity to witness the skill of Australia’s best golfers in Victoria for the remainder of the year, with the Australian Open, and the Australian PGA Championship held in Sydney and Brisbane.
Additionally, it will provide a rare opportunity for the general public to attend the Cathedral Lodge & Golf Club and enjoy its prestigious surroundings.
Adam Scott said:
“I’m really looking forward to coming back to Victoria for the 2023 Cathedral Invitational. It was such a great experience last year and a fun environment to play in. Cathedral Lodge is a remarkable venue, and I can’t wait to compete there again.”
Marc Leishman said:
“I can’t wait to come back to play in the 2023 Cathedral Invitational after a great experience last year. It is always exciting to get back to Victoria, and a great opportunity for golf fans to soak up the atmosphere of a magnificent course and see the game up close.”
Gabi Ruffels said:
“I’m excited to return to Victoria and be a part of the 2023 Cathedral Invitational, The event is a unique opportunity for fans to get up close with the best male and female golfers in Australia. Last year was a real thrill for me to play alongside Adam Scott, and I look forward to doing it all again and competing against some of Australia’s best players.”
David Evans (Cathedral Lodge & Golf Club Founder) said:
“We believe the Cathedral Invitational is a unique opportunity to showcase some of Australia’s greatest golfing talent in an up close and relaxed environment. Having someone of Cam’s ability commit to play demonstrates the growth of this tournament, alongside the return of Adam, Marc and Gabi. We look forward to hosting this unique tournament, welcoming fans to the Cathedral Lodge and Golf Club, and providing a golfing experience not to be forgotten, in addition to raising money for the Adam Scott Foundation supporting education for disadvantaged youth in regional Victoria.”
Tickets for the 2023 edition of the Cathedral Invitational are available from Ticketek.
Further information on the tournament is available at www.cathedralinvitational.com.au.
A seven-week mental refresh delivered instant results as Australian Lucas Herbert shot 63 to lead the Fortinet Championship by two in California.
Unsighted since missing the cut at The Open Championship in July, the 27-year-old Victorian holed more than 144 feet of putts in a nine-under par round highlighted by a run of six straight birdies from the 12th to the 17th hole on the back nine of the North Course at Silverado Resort.
Herbert has a two-stroke lead from Korea’s Seong-hyeon Kim as he seeks to make amends for a lacklustre PGA TOUR season with a strong showing in the Fall Series and the benefits that brings.
In an open and honest post-round interview, Herbert admitted that issues off the golf course had not only impacted his performance on the golf course but had begun to put a strain on the relationships of those closest to him.
“I think I’d become probably a bitter and spiteful person,” Herbert conceded.
“Not over the top, but I didn’t like the version of myself when I look back on and see at The Open Championship.
“I think I was wound up pretty tight and kind of lashed out at people around me too quickly, too easily.
“The break was a good chance for me to be able to get away and reset, just get away from this life.
“You’re under the pump so much, so much pressure on you externally and internally to play well.
“To be able to get away from that, you’re sort of able to kind of find yourself a little bit again.
“I felt like if I could just come out here and be a better person to the people around me, my relationships, you know, family, friends, that only benefits.
“That was maybe all I cared about coming here this week.
“It’s really nice to shoot 63, but I’m going to do my best to go out there with the same attitude tomorrow and that is the main focus of the week.”
It may have been a case of good things happening to good people on Thursday.
Committed to play both the Fortinet Australian PGA Championship and ISPS HANDA Australian Open this summer, Herbert made four of five up-and-downs including two-from-two sand saves, the No.1 putter on tour last year picking up close to five strokes on the field on the greens.
Yet despite his score, Herbert was headed straight to the practice range to chip away at seven weeks of rust.
“I’m going to go do a bunch of practice now because I don’t think I really played that well today; I think I got really lucky,” said Herbert, who didn’t touch a club until a week ago.
“It felt like every time I missed the fairway or missed a shot, it seemed to finish in a decent position where I could kind of recover.
“Obviously made a stack of putts out there which helped but I still feel super rusty after today.
“It’s funny to say that after shooting 63, but I still feel a long way away from where I’d like to be.”
Cam Davis was six strokes back of Herbert in a tie for 15th late in his round as Sydney’s Harrison Endycott bounced back after an early bogey to shoot 2-under 70 in Round 1.
Making his 500th start on the PGA TOUR, Aaron Baddeley turned in 1-under but dropped shots on the back nine to be 1-over and tied for 105th with two holes to play.
In the second event of the Korn Ferry Tour Finals, Brett Drewitt has made a strong start at the Simmons Bank Open in Tennessee.
Sitting 30th in the race for one of the 30 PGA TOUR cards on offer at the end of the four-even finals series, Drewitt played his final eight holes in 5-under to shoot 68 and a tie for seventh.
It is a timely return to form for Drewitt who began the season with four top-five finishes in his first six starts but has made the cut just once in his past 16 events.
Curtis Luck is just one back of Drewitt in a tie for 16th but Rhein Gibson is projected to fall from 27th to 31st in the points list after a 3-over 75 on day one.
Jason Scrivener’s 4-under 68 was the best of the Aussies in Round 1 of the DP World Tour’s BMW PGA Championship at Wentworth while Kristalle Blum is tied for 10th and four strokes off the lead at the LET Access Series Hauts De France Pas De Calais Golf Open.
Photo: Orlando Ramirez/Getty Images
Australian Anthony Quayle will start the final round of the Shinhan Donghae Open one back instead of one in front following a costly double-bogey on the final hole on Saturday.
Seeking his first Japan Golf Tour title in a tournament co-sanctioned with the Asian Tour and Korean PGA Tour, Quayle moved into the outright lead with a birdie at the par-4 11th.
He would maintain that advantage all the way up until the par-5 18th hole where – after finding the front bunker with his third shot – three-putted for a double-bogey to sit one back of Canada’s Richard T. Lee (67) and South Korean Guntaek Koh (66) and in a share of third place with overnight leader Wooyoung Cho (71) and Ok Tae Hoon (67).
The 2021 Queensland PGA champion, Quayle got off to a strong start at Sky72 Golf and Resort with birdies at his opening two holes. He was tied for the lead with Cho after nine holes when he reached the turn in 31.
Having played the 18th hole in 3-over the first three rounds, the 29-year-old knows he needs to make amends to complete the biggest win of his career to date.
“I didn’t put a foot wrong until the last,” Quayle said.
“Me and the last hole haven’t got on too well so far. Hopefully if it comes down to it, it will be a bit more friendly (on Sunday).
“Everything feels really good. I feel like I have played quite solid. I have holed a couple I probably shouldn’t have, and I have missed a couple I feel like I should have made.
“I feel like the score is reflective of how I played. I have a chance on a Sunday, which is nice.”
A runner-up on four previous occasions on the Japan Golf Tour – including earlier this year at the Sega Sammy Cup – Quayle hopes to put those experiences to good use to get over the line on Sunday.
“A couple of those close finishes have been mistakes on my part, and a couple of them have been other people better on the day,” he added.
“But I feel I have learned a lot and how to get the best out of those situations.
“Some of those lessons will come in handy tomorrow.”
Fellow Aussies Zach Murray and Travis Smyth are also well positioned for a prominent finish.
Murray had five birdies in six holes to close out his front nine in a round of 4-under 68 while Smyth had an eagle and five birdies in his 5-under 67, the pair tied for 12th at 10-under and five strokes off the lead.
While Quayle is the hunter in Korea, Minjee Lee is now the hunted at the Kroger Queen City Championship on the LPGA Tour.
Seeking her first win since the US Women’s Open in June last year, Lee began her third round at Kenwood Country Club in Cincinnati with three straight birdies and never took a backward step.
The 27-year-old added four more birdies on the back nine in a bogey-free 7-under 65 to take a two-stroke lead at 15-under from England’s Charley Hull (68) and Peiyun Chien (73) of Chinese Taipei.
Minjee’s brother, Min Woo Lee, is in a share of 10th going into the final round of the Horizon Irish Open on the DP World Tour, four back of German Hurly Long.
Kiwi Ryan Fox matched Rory McIlroy, Billy Horschel and Nick Machem for round of the day in Round 3, his bogey-free 66 elevating Fox to a tie for fourth and three shots off Long’s 13-under total through 54 holes.
Photo: Courtesy JGTO Images
She won’t officially join them until 2024 but Gabriela Ruffels has been welcomed into Australia’s LPGA family ahead of this week’s CPKC Women’s Open in Canada.
Ruffels’ third victory on the Epson Tour a fortnight ago solidified what we already knew; she will be a member of the LPGA Tour in 2024.
Official confirmation followed by a week off at home in Palm Springs has put Ruffels in a great frame of mind ahead of her fourth LPGA Tour start in 2023, her fellow Aussies ready to welcome her into the big time with open arms.
Minjee Lee, Hannah Green, Stephanie Kyriacou, Grace Kim, Su Oh and Karis Davidson are also in the field this week and Ruffels admitted that she will need to lean on their collective experience over the next 12 months.
“Last night a couple of Australian girls got together with my trainer as well from Golf Australia and give me a little cake that said, welcome to the LPGA,” revealed Ruffels.
“That was nice of them. It was nice to see that home country support.
“I feel like I need to rely on them a bit more, ask them a few more questions, pick their brain, especially non-golf stuff with travel.
“I was having a few rental car issues this week. They gave me a few hints.
“Definitely need to pick their brain a bit more about life on the road.
“It’s great to have that support, and they’re some of the nicest girls out here.
“It’s awesome to have a group of girls you know you can go to.”
Playing in what she described as a major-like field will come as no shock to Ruffels.
In fact, the greater the standard, the better the 23-year-old tends to play.
She finished top-15 in a major twice when still an amateur and this year was tied for 24th at the KPM Women’s PGA Championship and tied for 33rd at the US Women’s Open.
With three wins this season already and confidence at an all-time high, Ruffels is ready again to see how that form ranks among the world’s best who she will play against each and every week in 2024.
“I know this is one of the bigger events on the LPGA schedule, so I was super excited when I found out that I was going to come here,” Ruffels said of her tournament invitation to play at Shaughnessy Golf and Country Club in Vancouver.
“It is a really, really strong field and it’s almost has kind of a major feel out here.
“I can see they have the best players out here this week. It’s already been a great tournament and it’s only Wednesday.
“I’m excited to see how my game stacks up against the best in the word.”
The 30 best men’s players in the world are this week fighting it out for the FedEx Cup at East Lake Golf Club in Atlanta.
Jason Day is the sole Australian in the field at the PGA TOUR’s Tour Championship but will start the first round nine shots back of Scottie Scheffler and in a tie for 21st.
There are a plethora of Aussies – 19 in total – playing the Asian Tour’s St Andrews Bay Championship in Scotland and reigning SParms PGA Legends Tour Order of Merit winner Andre Stolz is one of five Australasian players in action at the Staysure PGA Senior Championship also in Scotland.
Round 1 tee times AEST
PGA TOUR
Tour Championship
East Lake Golf Club, Atlanta, Georgia
1.48am Jason Day, Sam Burns
Defending champion: Rory McIlroy
Past Aussie winners: Adam Scott (2006)
TV times: Live 2am-8am Friday, Saturday; Live 3am-9am Sunday; Live 2am-8am Monday on Fox Sports 503 and Kayo.
LPGA Tour
CPKC Women’s Open
Shaughnessy G&CC, Vancouver, Canada
12.11am Karis Davidson, Amanda Doherty, Sung Hyun Park
12.33am* Maria Fassi, Jeongeun Lee6, Gabriela Ruffels
1.06am* Lydia Ko (NZ), Andrea Lee, Lexi Thompson
1.17am* Allisen Corpuz, Hannah Green, Yuka Saso
1.28am Vanessa Borovilos (a), Stephanie Kyriacou, Samantha Wagner
5.26am* Su Oh, Ellie Szeryk (a), Maddie Szeryk
6.10am Jin Young Ko, Jennifer Kupcho, Minjee Lee
6.10am* Megan Khang, Grace Kim, Ryann O’Toole
Defending champion: Paula Reto
Past Aussie winners: Katherine Kirk (2008)
TV times: Live 8.30am-11.30am Friday, Saturday; Live 9am-12pm Sunday, Monday on Fox Sports 503 and Kayo.
DP World Tour
D+D Real Czech Masters
Albatross Golf Resort, Prague, Czech Republic
5.20pm* Blake Windred, Ricardo Santos, Kazuki Higa
10.10pm Borja Virto, Jason Scrivener, Jan Cafourek
Defending champion: Maximillian Kiefer
Past Aussie winners:
TV times: Live 9pm-2am Thursday, Friday on Fox Sports 503; Live 8.30pm-11pm Saturday on Fox Sports 505; Live 11pm-1am Saturday on Fox Sports 503; Live 8pm-1am Sunday on Fox Sports 503 and Kayo.
Japan Golf Tour
Sansan KBC Augusta Golf Tournament
Keya GC, Fukuoka
10.05am* Andrew Evans, Tetsuhiro Nitta, Masafumi Hidaka
1.15pm* Toshiya Takeyasu, Dylan Perry, Ryoma Iwai
1.30pm Shaun Norris, Justin De Los Santos, Brad Kennedy
1.55pm* Anthony Quayle, Tomoyasu Sugiyama, HW Liu
2.20pm Yuto Katsuta, Adam Bland, Ryuichi Sakamoto
Defending champion: Riki Kawamoto
Past Aussie winners: Graham Marsh (1976), Brian Jones (1977), Steve Conran (2004)
Asian Tour
St Andrews Bay Championship
Fairmont St Andrews (Torrance Cse), Fife, Scotland
4pm Ben Campbell (NZ), Sangpil Yoon, Nicolas Paez
4pm* Wade Ormsby, Taichi Kho, Bernd Wiesberger
4.10pm Alex Ching, Harrison Gilbert-Wong, Khalin Joshi
4.10pm* Dean Burmester, Jediah Morgan, Danny Lee (NZ)
4.20pm Chonlatit Chuenboonngam, Andrew Dodt, Karandeep Kochhar
4.30pm* Brendan Jones, Miguel Tabuena, David Puig
4.40pm Atiruj Winaicharoenchai, Marcus Fraser, Yikeun Chang
4.40pm* Suradit Yongcharoenchai, Scott Hend, Taehee Lee
4.50pm* Terry Pilkadaris, Nitithorn Thippong, Gaganjeet Bhullar
5pm* Kieran Vincent, Gonzalo Fernandez-Castano, Zach Murray
5.50pm* Meenwhee Kim, Matt Killen, Douglas Klein
8.50pm* Josh Crumplin, Kevin Yuan, Monty Scowsill
9.10pm Mito Pereira, Pavit Tangkamolprasert, Matt Jones
9.10pm* Jack Thompson, Shahriffuddin Ariffin, Lee Chieh-po
9.20pm* Todd Sinnott, Berry Henson, Poom Saksansin
9.30pm Travis Smyth, Hideto Tanihara, Chase Koepka
10pm* Jack Murdoch, Lloyd Jefferson Go, Rattanon Wannasrichan
10.10pm Josh Younger, Pawin Ingkhapradit, Ben Robinson
10.10pm* Nick Voke (NZ), Leon D’souza, Chanat Sakulpolphaisan
10.20pm Jyoti Randhawa, Tirawat Kaewsiribandit, Tom Power Horan
10.40pm Jarin Todd, Ratchanon Chantananuwat (a), John Lyras
Defending champion: Inaugural event
Past Aussie winners: Nil
TV times: Live 11pm-3am Thursday, Friday, Saturday, Sunday on Fox Sports 505 and Kayo.
Korn Ferry Tour
Albertsons Boise Open
Hillcrest CC, Boise, Idaho
11.45pm Curtis Luck, Shad Tuten, Sung Kang
4.15am Rhein Gibson, David Kocher, Rob Oppenheim
4.25am Scott Gutschewski, Brett Drewitt, AJ Crouch
4.45am* Ben Kohles, Dimi Papadatos, Vince Whaley
Defending champion: Will Gordon
Past Aussie winners: Greg Chalmers (2005)
TV times: Live 6am-8am Monday on Fox Sports 506 and Kayo.
US Women’s Senior Open Championship
Waverley Country Club, Portland, Oregon
6.42am Jenny Park-Choi, Sue Wooster (a), Lieschen Wienke
Defending champion: Jill McGill
Past Aussie winners: Nil
TV times: Live 7am-9am Sunday on Fox Sports 507; Live 8am-10am Monday on Fox Sports 506 and Kayo.
Epson Tour
Circling Raven Championship
Circling Raven GC, Worley, Idaho
11.27pm* Siyun Liu, Hira Naveed, Kaleigh Telfer
11.38pm* Robyn Choi, Becca Huffer, Agathe Laisne
11.55pm Isabella Fierro, Mariel Galdiano, Amelia Garvey (NZ)
Defending champion: Jillian Hollis
Past Aussie winners: Nil
LET Access Series
Ahlsell Final At Elisefarm
Elisefarm GC, Sweden
4.22pm Wenyung Keh (NZ), Georgia Coughlin, Vidhatri Urs
4.33pm* Pasqualle Coffa, Stefanie Hall, Elice Fredriksson
9.12pm Kristalle Blum, Tina Mazarino, Josefine Nyqvist
9.12pm* My Leander, Kelsey Bennett, Cecilie Leth-Nissen
10.29pm Lucie Andre, Amy Walsh, Hanna Nilsson
Defending champion: Josephine Janson (2017)
Past Aussie winners: Nil
PGA TOUR Canada
CentrePort Canada Rail Park Manitoba Open
Southwood G&CC, Winnipeg, Manitoba
12am* Chase Sienkiewicz, Jack Trent, Julián Etulain
4am John Pak, Jason Hong, Chris Francoeur
Defending champion: Parker Coody
Past Aussie winners: Neale Smith (1999), Ben Ferguson (2000)
PGA TOUR Champions
The Ally Challenge
Warwick Hills G&CC, Grand Blanc, Michigan
1.45am* Kirk Triplett, Stuart Appleby, Harrison Frazar
2.45am* Scott McCarron, Richard Green, Carlos Franco
2.50am Jim Furyk, Rod Pampling, Ken Tanigawa
2.55am* Mike Weir, Kenny Perry, Mark Hensby
3am Mark O’Meara, Steven Alker (NZ), Vijay Singh
3.45am* David McKenzie, Tim Ailes, Mike Stone
Defending champion: Steve Stricker
Past Aussie winners: Nil
TV times: 11.30am-12.30pm Saturday on Fox Sports 503; Live 5am-7am Sunday on Fox Sports 507; Live 3.30am-6am Monday on Fox Sports 506 and Kayo.
Legends Tour
Staysure PGA Seniors Championship
Trump International Golf Links, Aberdeenshire, Scotland
5.36pm* Michael Long (NZ), Andrew Raitt
5.58pm Emanuele Canonica, Jason Norris
9.41pm* Neil Turley, Peter Fowler
10.14pm* Michael Campbell (NZ), Philip Golding
10.47pm* Bradley Dredge, Andre Stolz
Defending champion: Adilson Da Silva
Past Aussie winners: Kel Nagle (1971, 1973, 1975), Peter Thomson (1988), Terry Gale (1996), Walter Hall (1997), Ross Metherell (1999), Ian Stanley (2001), Peter Fowler (2015)
Adam Scott’s hopes of extending his streak of FedEx Cup Playoff appearances have suffered a hit in the second round of the Wyndham Championship in North Carolina.
For the first time since its inception in 2007, only the top 70 players will qualify for week one of the FedEx Cup Playoffs.
At No.81 arriving at Sedgefield Country Club, Scott would have ordinarily been well inside the top 125 cut-off but is now in danger of leaving American Matt Kuchar as the only player to qualify for the FedEx Cup Playoffs each and every year.
Buoyed by a first round of 5-under 65, Scott burst from the blocks with birdies at each of his opening two holes.
He dropped a shot at the par-3 third but won it back three holes later with an approach from 167 yards to seven feet, duly converting his birdie chance.
Scott scrambled to a bogey after finding the water with his tee shot at the par-4 eighth and then made six straight pars, bogeys at 15 and 17 sending him tumbling down the leaderboard to a tie for 31st with a round of 1-over 71.
Needing a tie for ninth or better to advance, Scott must turn it around quickly to be any hope of pushing into the top 70 by week’s end.
Cam Davis is currently on the other side of the FedEx Cup tightrope and enhanced his chances of staying there with a round of 3-under 67.
The Sydneysider made his charge late, making three birdies in his final seven holes on Friday to move up 14 spots and into a tie for 21st, a position projected to move him up two spots from No.69 to No.67 in the standings.
Davis is seven shots back of American Russell Henley (66) who has a one-stroke buffer to Billy Horschel (62) through 36 holes.
Elsewhere around the world Scott Hend (69) is four strokes off the lead and in a tie for fourth at the Mandiri Indonesia Open on the Asian Tour, Adam Bland (67) moved up into a tie for seventh at the Yokohama Minato Championship in Japan and Rod Pampling is in a share of eighth after two rounds of The JCB Championship on the Legends Tour in England.
Photo: Logan Whitton/Getty Images
Adam Scott defied an early bogey and driving rain to keep his FedEx Cup Playoffs push alive at the Wyndham Championship in North Carolina.
Back at Sedgefield Country Club where he lost in a playoff two years ago, Scott hit back after dropping a shot on his second hole – the par-4 11th – with back-to-back birdies at 12 and 13 to get into red figures.
He picked up further birdies at 15, 17, three, five and eight, his second and final bogey coming at the final hole of his round of 5-under 65.
That impressive opening salvo puts Scott in a tie for fifth and three shots back of American Russell Henley and within sight of the tie for ninth needed to extend his unbeaten streak of FedEx Cup qualification.
“The greens are pretty demanding,” offered Scott, who in his current position is projected to move from No.81 in the FedEx Cup rankings up to No.68.
“There’s a lot of break on putts and when you’re seeing a few go in, you can really make up for any other errors in the game and I think that’s what I did today.
“Hopefully get off to a good start tomorrow and keep the momentum going. I think that’s going to be the important thing for me the next couple days, to keep it rolling and give myself a good look at it on Sunday.
“I’ve had a lot of years having a go at the FedEx Cup Playoffs and all these kind of things come to an end at some point.
“I want to win this tournament and if I do that, I can have a really good run right through to East Lake (for the Tour Championship), I believe.”
A round of 2-under 68 has Sydney’s Cam Davis walking the FedEx Cup tightrope, his tie for 35th at present putting him in 69th position and just inside the top-70 cut-off.
Another Aussie Scotty is also well placed after Round 1 of the Asian Tour’s Mandiri Indonesia Open.
Just 12 days out from his 50th birthday, Hend used a round of 7-under 65 at Pondok Indah Golf Course to sit in a tie for second just one stroke off the lead, showing some of the young ‘uns just how it’s done.
“It’s really no difference, is it? I’m still fit, I think I’m fitter than a lot of the young guys out here,” Hend said of his approaching milestone.
“I intend to play golf for a long time and hopefully they keep seeing me in the rearview mirror catching them.”
Veteran Sarah Kemp is the best of the Aussies at the FREED Women’s Scottish Open at Dundonald Links, Kemp’s 3-under 69 putting her in a tie for sixth and five back of Japan’s Hinako Shibuno (64).
Stephanie Kyriacou (76), Karis Davidson (78) and Minjee Lee (80) need something special in Round 2 to make the cut.
Gabi Ruffels (70) is tied for 11th after the opening round of the Epson Tour French Lick Charity Classic and brother Ryan (70) leads the way for the Aussies at the British Challenge on the Challenge Tour, tied for 19th but just four strokes off the lead.
Photo: Logan Whitton/Getty Images
Minjee Lee is back at the pristine scene of one of her greatest days – her blistering finish to come from seven shots back and win her first major in France two years ago – but she sees the Amundi Evian Championship this week as a “different challenge”.
That’s because the wind has been up around the Evian Resort Golf Club near Evian-les-Bains on the shores of Lake Geneva, and recent rains have left the course soft and the rough gnarly.
“The greens are rolling really nice,” Lee told lpga.com today. “The rough is up, which will be a bit of a challenge for us.”
Asked for the keys to playing well at Evian, the Australian said: “Definitely keeping it on the fairway. Some of the tee shots are quite tight. Your drives and your woods off the tee will be important this week, and obviously if you putt well, it’s going to help.”
Lee is a two-time major winner after her 2022 US Women’s Open triumph and in truth, has had trouble coming back to her best form since what could yet amount to her best-ever victory in July last year.
She has not won since which amounts to a drought by her own incredibly high standards, and at least some of that can be attributed to issues on the putting green in 2023.
She ranks 30th in putts per green in regulation on tour, and 125th in putting average. While the second number is not a statistic that she will ever be prominent in – since it skews against great ball-strikers – her work with the short stick has been a considerable concern, especially in close.
“I’m always working on something,” she said. “I’ve been working on my putting a little bit, probably more than my ball-striking which has been pretty solid. Hopefully I can get my putter hot this week.”
World No.7 Lee finds herself in a marquee group for Round 1 with Nelly Korda and Rose Zhang, teeing off at 4.27pm Thursday AEST.
She hopes that the memories come flooding back for her.
“Obviously I was out on the golf course (today), and I was thinking about what I was doing here and there when I won, but it’s different conditions. It’s a little windier. I think it’s a different challenge than when I won, a different experience but I’m ready for a good week.”
The Perth superstar is one of six Australians chasing a major in France this week, with the season’s final major – the AIG Women’s Open in the UK – just a fortnight away as well.
Meanwhile a bunch of Australians will be over at Royal Porthcawl Golf Club in Wales trying their luck at the Senior Open Championship from Thursday.
Among that group David McKenzie will have a strong sense of déjà vu; he finished tied-ninth when the Open was held at Porthcawl in 2017.
On the PGA TOUR, Cam Davis has a big couple of weeks ensuing. The Sydneysider is playing the 3M Open in Minnesota with an eye on the Fedex Cup standings.
With just two tournaments left, he needs to play well to get himself into the season-ending playoffs which begin at FedEx St Jude Championship.
Currently ranked 77th, Davis needs to jump inside the top 70 to qualify for the big-money events at the end of the season.
Joining Davis at TPC Twin Cities is fellow Sydneysider Daniel Gale, who played his way into the field in extraordinary fashion at the Monday qualifier at Victory Links Golf Club.
Endeavouring to qualify for the second straight year, Gale slam-dunked a wedge for eagle on the final hole for a back nine of 8-under 28 and course record 11-under 60, five strokes clear of the next best score.
After qualifying for last year’s tournament Gale missed the cut with rounds of 74-74.
West Australian also played his way into a tournament this week, coming through Monday qualifying for the Irish Challenge at Headfort Golf Club on the Challenge Tour.
Round 1 tee times AEST
PGA TOUR
3M Open
TPC Twin Cities, Blaine, Minnesota
10.07pm* Adam Hadwin, Patrick Rodgers, Ryan Fox (NZ)
10.51pm* Nico Echavarria, Cam Davis, Jim Herman
11.24pm* Aaron Baddeley, Chesson Hadley, Callum Tarren
3.21am* Cameron Percy, Eric Cole, Dylan Wu
3.32am Nate Lashley, CT Pan, Harrison Endycott
5.22am* Nicolai Hojgaard, Daniel Gale, Preston Summerhays
Defending champion: Tony Finau
Past Aussie winners: Nil
TV times: Live 10.30pm-9am Thursday, Friday; Live 3am-8am Sunday, Monday on Fox Sports 503 and Kayo.
LPGA Tour
Amundi Evian Championship
Evian Resort Golf Club, Evian-les-Bains, France
3.51pm Hannah Green, Cheyenne Knight, Amy Yang
4.27pm* Nelly Korda, Minjee Lee, Rose Zhang
4.51pm* Sarah Kemp, Valentina Rossi (a), Miyu Yamashita
8.15pm Manon De Roey, Stephanie Kyriacou, Ana Pelaez Trivino
9.03pm Eun-Hee Ji, Ariya Jutanugarn, Grace Kim
9.03pm* In Gee Chun, Nasa Hataoka, Lydia Ko (NZ)
10.15pm Karis Davidson, Caroline Inglis, Jeongeun Lee6
Defending champion: Brooke Henderson
Past Aussie winners: Rachel Hetherington (2001), Wendy Doolan (2004), Karrie Webb (2006), Minjee Lee (2021)
TV times: Live 7pm-10pm Thursday on Fox Sports 503, Live 11.30pm-2.30am Thursday on Fox Sports 506; Live 7pm-10pm Friday on Fox Sports 503, Live 11.30pm-2am Friday on Fox Sports 507; Live 10pm-1am Saturday on Fox Sports 503; Live 7.30pm-1am Sunday on Fox Sports 503 and Kayo.
Champions Tour
The Senior Open Championship
Royal Porthcawl Golf Club, Bridgend, Wales
5.30pm Tom Gillis, Euan McIntosh, Jason Norris
6pm Neil Thompson, Rob Labritz, Michael Long (NZ
6.10pm Fraser Mann, Peter O’Malley, Richard Tinworth
8pm Stuart Appleby, Ken Duke, Arjun Atwal
8.50pm Jose Manuel Carriles, Rusty Strawn, David McKenzie
10pm Brent Paterson (NZ), Peter Wilson, Carlos Franco
10.30pm Peter Fowler, Andrew Oldcorn, Thomas Levet
11.20pm Richard Green, Chris Di Marco, Michael Campbell (NZ)
11.50pm Bernhard Langer, Paul Lawrie, Steven Alker (NZ)
12.10am Phillip Price, Vijay Singh, Rod Pampling
12.50am Doug McGuigan, Philip Golding, John Senden
Defending champion: Darren Clarke
Past Aussie winners:
TV times: Live 9pm-11.30pm Thursday on Fox Sports 506; Live 1.30am-4am Friday on Fox Sports 507; Live 9pm-11.30pm Friday on Fox Sports 507; Live 11pm-4.30am Saturday, Sunday on Fox Sports 507 and Kayo.
Japan Golf Tour
Japan Professional Golf Championship
Eniwa Country Club, Hokkaido
8.05am Taichi Nabetani, Anthony Quayle, Daisuke Yamada
8.45am Toshiya Takeyasu, Brad Kennedy, Kim Hyung Sung
12.45pm Katsumasa Miyamoto, Yuki Usami, Adam Bland
Defending champion: Miraimu Horikawa
Past Aussie winners: Adam Bland (2015)
Korn Ferry Tour
NV5 Invitational
The Glen Club, Glenview, Illinois
10.03pm Rhein Gibson, Brett Drewitt, Roger Sloan
2.50am* Curtis Luck, Jacob Bergeron, Jeff Overton
3.01am* Brandon Harkins, Jonas Blixt, Dimi Papadatos
Defending champion: Harry Hall
Past Aussie winners: Nil
Challenge Tour
Irish Challenge
Headfort Golf Club, Kells, Ireland
6pm* Steven Brown, Hayden Hopewell, Ruaidhri McGee
7.30pm* Ryan Ruffels, Mattia Comotti, Owen Benson
10.50pm* Romain Wattel, Sam Locke, Jordan Zunic
Defending champion: Todd Clements
Past Aussie winners: Nil
PGA TOUR Canada
Osprey Valley Open
TPC Toronto at Osprey Valley (Heathlands Cse), Caledon, Ontario
10.50pm* Jason Hong, Clay Feagler, Blain Turner
3.10am* Gunn Yang, Tommy Kuhl, Cory Crawford
4.30am Brian Carlson, Noah Steele, Jack Trent
Defending champion: Danny Walker
Past Aussie winners: Nil
Australian Min Woo Lee is ready to step into the role of crowd favourite as he and Jason Day surged into the top five at the halfway mark of The Open Championship at Royal Liverpool.
On a day in which Cameron Smith eagled the 18th hole to make the cut and New South Welshman Travis Smyth made a hole-in-one at the par-3 17th, it was Lee and Day who ensured the Australian flag was prominent on the leaderboard at day’s end.
Kiwi Ryan Fox produced one of the rounds of the day, a 4-under 67, to make the cut on the number, Adam Scott also scraping through despite bogeys at 16 and 18 in Round 2.
Six of the 10 Aussies in the field failed to make it beyond the 36-hole mark but Lee and Day are very much in the hunt to keep the Claret Jug in Australian hands.
At 3-under par for the championship and tied for fourth, Lee and Day will start Round 3 seven shots back of American Brian Harman (65) who has a five-stroke lead from Englishman Tommy Fleetwood (71) with Austrian Sepp Straka (67) third at 4-under.
Top 10 at the majors and THE PLAYERS Championship through 36 holes four times this year – the most of any player – Lee is again finding the fun in golf’s greatest tests.
The 24-year-old has quickly become a fan favourite on either side of the Atlantic and hopes to harness that energy as he seeks a breakthrough major win.
“The last six months have been amazing. Definitely made me play a bit better. Everywhere there’s a crowd, I have been playing pretty good,” said Lee, who fought back from two early bogeys to shoot 3-under 68 on Friday.
“After every shot someone is cheering me on and trying to get me going after I make a bogey or so, so it definitely helps.
“It’s been amazing.”
A former world No.1 and the 2015 US PGA champion, Day is getting accustomed to once again playing in front of enormous galleries.
In a stellar season he secured his first win in five years at the AT&T Byron Nelson but is yet to transfer that form to the majors. It is something he is hoping to rectify at Hoylake.
“Even though I’ve played great for the most part of the year, I haven’t played well in the majors, and it’s been a little frustrating for me,” admitted Day, who had three birdies in his first five holes in his round of 67.
“If I can get one here this week, that will definitely change it.
“It is The Open Championship, so if we do get some pretty average weather, it’ll bring a lot of guys back in or at least give them a chance at shooting up the leaderboard pretty quick on tomorrow’s round and then obviously Sunday, as well.”
Smith will be one of those players with an eye to a Saturday surge after squeezing inside the cut-line at the last possible moment.
Four-over playing the par-5 18th, Smith found the fairway with his tee shot and followed it up with a sublime 6-iron from 215 metres to inside two feet. The tap-in eagle put him in a tie for 39th and 12 strokes off the lead.
“It was good to end like that for sure,” said the 2022 champion.
“It’s been a frustrating couple of days. I know the weather looks not so good, so hopefully the weekend I can grind it out and get back under par and just kind of see what happens.
“Being 12 back with two rounds to go is a big ask, but you never know.”
Travis Smyth won’t be playing the weekend but he left the Royal Liverpool crowds with one of the highlights of the week, and a moment to treasure forever.
At 10-over-par with two holes to play, making the cut was out of question when Smyth took 9-iron at the short 17th which is quickly earning a reputation as a hole where anything can happen.
In Round 1, Smyth was a victim of ‘Little Eye’, making a double-bogey five, one shot less than fellow Australian Lucas Herbert who had come to the 17th as joint Open leader.
But on Friday, Smyth’s “chippy” tee shot drew in with the wind towards the pin and took two bounces before disappearing for a hole-in-one – the first in Open history at Royal Liverpool’s newest addition and the third of his professional career.
“It was amazing, a little bittersweet actually,” Smyth said. “I had a shocker the day before, made double-bogey and I was just really happy I hit a good shot because I was just so disappointed from the day before.
“It was a huge surprise when it went in the hole. It was just the perfect distance, the wind and the club and it all came together. It was a moment I’ll never forget.
“About halfway through the flight I thought, This is going to be good. It looked amazing.”
Round 2 scores
1 Brian Harman 67-65—132
T4 Min Woo Lee 71-68—139
T4 Jason Day 72-67—139
T39 Cameron Smith 72-72—144
T61 Ryan Fox (NZ) 78-67—145
T61 Adam Scott 72-73—145
MC Lucas Herbert 71-76—147
MC Travis Smyth 78-72—150
MC Daniel Hillier (NZ) 78-73—151
MC Haydn Barron 74-77—151
MC David Micheluzzi 77-75—152
MC Connor McKinney 76-77—153
MC Harrison Crowe (a) 76-80—156
Round 3 tee times AEST
6.05pm Adam Scott, Scottie Scheffler
6.45pm Victor Perez, Ryan Fox (NZ)
7.30pm Cameron Smith, Matt Fitzpatrick
12.10am Jason Day, Shubhankar Sharma
12.20am Min Woo Lee, Sepp Straka
There are two driving forces in Michael Hendry’s fight to beat leukaemia; his family and the spot in this week’s Open Championship that was cruelly denied him.
A runner-up finish at the World City Championship in Hong Kong in late March secured Hendry qualification for the 151st Open at Royal Liverpool as part of the R&A’s Open Qualifying Series.
The 43-year-old was one of 13 Australasian players to earn a place in golf’s most feted major championship yet in a heartbreaking Instagram post on May 15, he announced publicly for the first time that he had withdrawn after being diagnosed with leukaemia.
For Hendry, the symbol of the player’s badge that he should be wearing this week was an apt way in which to share his life-threatening news.
“I thought what better way to announce that I’m sick than by saying that I won’t be able to play the British Open because of it,” Hendry says ahead of Thursday night’s opening round.
“I thought that was a good way of going about it. Kind of showed that you can be on top of the world one day and in the trash the next.”
At the time, Hendry’s golf was as good as it had been since 2017 when he won the New Zealand Open and qualified for The Open for the first time.
He won the Vic Open in February, was tied for sixth at the NZ Open, tied for fourth at the NZ PGA Championship, second in Hong Kong and then tied for 11th at the Token Homemate Cup in Japan.
It was at that tournament that symptoms of something worse than a cold started to emerge.
“From New South Wales Open on, I kind of felt like there was something going on like I might have had a cold coming on,” Hendry recalls.
“Then in Japan two weeks later, every tee is elevated and I was finding that when I got to the tee I’d be blowing like crazy.
“I said to my caddy, ‘Man, I’m getting so unfit. I’ve got to start doing some more cardio.’
“The day I got back home to Auckland I thought that the cold had finally hit or that I might have a decent bout of Covid. I just had no energy and was sick as a dog.
“I went to the doctor and he sent me to the hospital to get some tests and that’s when they found it.
“I didn’t go home that day.”
It would be six weeks before Hendry left the hospital at all.
‘It was difficult, it was scary’
As Hendry received the news that he had leukaemia, his wife Tara and their two daughters, Maddison, 8, and Harper, 5, were more than 1,000 kilometres away attending Tara’s cousin’s wedding in Christchurch.
Hendry waited until a few hours after the ceremony to tell Tara over the phone; he would wait until his daughters returned from a week of school holidays with their grandparents before sharing the news of what their family was suddenly facing.
“My concern wasn’t so much for me initially,” Hendry says.
“Obviously, you want to live as long as you can, but I’ve been pretty fortunate. I’ve lived a pretty cool life and achieved a lot of things that I never thought I would.
“But the thing for me was always thinking about my daughters being so young; it’s not fair on them.
“That was the hardest thing, just not knowing what the future held for them in terms of whether I was going to be around.
“Because I was so sick, my blood levels were off the chart. I came pretty close to not seeing another day.
“It was difficult, it was scary, so many things happening at once.”
Given the state of his bloodwork, Hendry was initially hit with a large dose of generic chemotherapy until doctors could diagnose exactly the type of leukaemia that was ravaging his body.
A week later, confirmation came through that it was Acute Myeloid Leukaemia, the same leukaemia that ultimately led to the passing of fellow golfer Jarrod Lyle.
Hendry played in the same group as Lyle and Michael Sim at the New Zealand Amateur Foursomes in 2004 and was devastated when the lovable larrikin passed in 2018.
“I still remember shedding a few tears,” Hendry adds.
“But it was not so much the fact that a friend of mine had died, it was thinking about his kids and his family. That was the emotional part of it.”
‘It was a very pleasant surprise’
In that initial six-week stint in hospital, Hendry lost 13 kilograms, the lack of taste as a result of the chemotherapy making even countless homemade meals provided by family and friends unpalatable.
The physical strength he possesses from his time as a cricketer and professional golfer has undoubtedly helped in how Hendry’s body has dealt with three rounds of chemotherapy to date, his fourth likely to come in early to mid-August.
Ever since his initial round of chemotherapy Hendry has made steady progress, including being told after that first cycle that he was technically in remission.
“To be honest with you, every piece of news I’ve received since my initial diagnosis about a week after being in hospital, every bit of news has been good,” says Hendry, who took to Instagram again on May 30 to share the news that he had been advised he was in “complete remission”.
“That was exciting news to receive obviously and that’s where you’re like, yes, we’re going to get on top of this. We’re going to beat this.”
After his third cycle of chemotherapy just last week, Hendry was hopeful that a further test would reveal the complete absence of any leukaemic cells.
“I was really hoping for the all clear but just have to wait a little longer and I suppose it means that there’s no guarantees,” he reasons.
“I won’t be clear on the next steps, either. There again is the dark cloud just sort of sitting there, the sunshine trying to poke through but not quite getting through.”
‘It’s a very realistic goal’
Like his young family, golf is now Hendry’s primary motivator.
Ultimately, he wants to earn back the opportunity to play the 2024 Open Championship at Royal Troon but knows it will start with far smaller steps.
He knocked it around for 5-over at Te Arai Links two Sundays ago – complete with PICC line still in his arm – and will likely use the Charles Tour in his homeland for his planned comeback to golf later this year.
His major goal is to play the ISPS HANDA Australian Open at The Australian in early December and intends for it to be anything but a ceremonial return to the game.
“It’s a very realistic goal to be honest. It’s a realistic goal because I know what my situation is at the moment,” a positive Hendry says of his Australian Open aspirations.
“I never once thought about not playing golf again. I never once thought about giving it up.
“I want to be the guy that beat it. I want to be the guy that had this hurdle come up in a period of his career, got over it and came back.
“My goal, to be perfectly honest, is to come back better than I was. That might be difficult to do, but that’s my goal.
“I figure there’s no point in coming back as good as I was, I want to be better than I was.
“That keeps me motivated and keeps me, to be honest, pretty upbeat about the whole situation.”
As for this week’s Open, Hendry will find a comfy spot on the couch and cheer on his countrymen, Ryan Fox and Daniel Hillier, and his mates from the PGA Tour of Australasia.
“I’ll definitely watch it. I’ve got a couple of good mates playing in it, so always interesting to watch them and always interesting to watch the best guys in the world,” says Hendry.
“My emotions around the fact that I should be there… I would’ve loved to have played this year but my goal is to be there again.”
