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Western Australia has become quite the breeding ground for Australian golfing talent.
Of course, the Lees – Minjee and Min Woo – hail from the West, so too Hannah Green and her fiancé Jarryd Felton, as well as the likes of Curtis Luck, Haydn Barron and Connor McKinney, with one the early low rounds at the ISPS HANDA Australian Open belonging to another Sandgroper.
Hayden Hopewell is no stranger to professional tournament golf, the 22-year-old winning the WA Open in 2020 before fishing runner-up the following year and losing the Webex Players Series Murray River in a play-off all whilst still an amateur.
A professional since last year’s Fortinet Australian PGA Championship, Hopewell opened his account this week at the lower scoring The Lakes Golf Club before heavy rain halted play with seven-under 65 to sit two back of early leader Cam Davis.
“A solid day out there. I was pretty happy, just enjoying myself out there and managed to string a few birdies together,” he said.
“It’s a plotting course and I just plotted my way around and then made sure I was where I needed to be on the greens and I managed to roll a few in, which was quite nice.”
Happily in the clubhouse before the deluge that caused the brief pause while play continued at co-host The Australian Golf Club, Hopewell has looked to be enjoying himself a great deal this week, firstly with his birthday last Sunday when he finished T33 at Royal Queensland.
The other enjoyable element the crew of West Australian talent engaging in games on the putting green that emote the occasional fist pump, and potentially some money changing hands, as well as practice rounds.
Hopewell getting a look at one of the host venues alongside last week’s winner Lee and fellow new pro Joshua Greer.
“It’s good, the WA boys sticking together,” he said. “He’s (Min Woo) been a close mate of mine since junior golf. I’m a couple of years younger than him, but we’re best mates, so we just have a laugh out there and see how good we can go.
“There were a few side bets going on.”
Admitting that losing a lunch bet to Lee is probably a more significant financial loss than the other way round, Hopewell is well placed to improve his Australian Open record that includes a T10 last year.
His first experience at the tournament coming in 2019 at The Australian, where he will play his next three rounds, with a good week helping his Challenger PGA Tour of Australasia Order of Merit place and potentially allowing for more practice rounds and putting games with Lee, Barron and co.
Photo: Hayden Hopewell, Min Woo Lee and Josh Greer at The Lakes
Min Woo Lee has suddenly become one of the hottest tickets in world golf, but the young Perth superstar is hellbent on adding to his resume at the ISPS HANDA Australian Open this week.
Min Woo Lee has suddenly become one of the hottest tickets in world golf, but the young Perth superstar is hellbent on adding to his resume at the ISPS HANDA Australian Open this week.
Evidence of his maturity and commitment came as early as Sunday night, soon after he had won the Fortinet Australian PGA Championship.
He fulfilled his winners obligations and carted the trophy around for the social media shots, but he was in bed before midnight.
Then he flew to Sydney the next morning with his head clear and began preparation for this week’s national championship at The Australian and The Lakes.
Not only that, but he said he may skip going to see the singer Post Malone on Wednesday night – one of his favourite acts who he saw in Brisbane – and stick to his tournament routine this week.
The 25-year-old said he learned a lesson about over-celebrating after his win in Macau on the Asian Tour earlier this year.
“Again, work to do this week,” he said today. “My win in Macau I kind of learnt from. I went pretty hard after that win and had Zozo (Championship) the week after, so I thought I didn’t get the best preparation for that week, so I’m learning from those experiences.
“I just had a, I’ll say medium, not quiet, not massive, just right in the middle. Good enough to celebrate but not enough for a hangover, so right in between, and again, ready for this week.”
Lee already has a connection with the public that goes beyond the ordinary; Sunday’s events at Royal Queensland, and especially his chip-in midway through the round and full fist-pumping celebration, only added to his growing fame.
So did his donning of a chef’s hat at the 17th, the party hole at Royal Queensland, channeling his Instagram line of ‘let’s Cook’.
The hat act wasn’t planned.
But he’ll run with it anyway, as you do when you have 364,000 Insta followers.
“I still have to ask my caddie where he got the chef hat on 17 because … I told him before the hole ‘chuck me some balls, I’m going to throw them out after the hole’s done’. And then he gives me the chef’s hat, and I’m like, ‘I’m not wearing this’, and he’s like, ‘go on, wear it’.
“So I ended up wearing it. But it was a shock to me, I didn’t know that it was happening. So, I’ve still got to ask him when he got it.”
Lee has a bit of history at The Australian, which will host the final two rounds this week. Back as far as 2016 he played alongside Jordan Spieth here when Spieth won.
“I was 17 years old, so it was unreal,” he said. “I played with him on the Saturday, obviously when school was done and all the kids got out and the fairways were filled with so many people.
“I didn’t end up playing that good, but it was definitely an experience I can look back on and kind of got caught up in all of it, and as a 17-year-old, you don’t have that big of a crowd, so I really loved that moment and now that I get to play with Jordan, it’s pretty cool, week in, week out.
“I know The Australian golf course is tough, which is probably better for me. I like pretty tough courses, or if it’s easy, it’s nice and easy and I’m playing good golf. So, both of them can help. I’m hitting the ball really well now.”
Lee is now No. 38 in the world and has his sights set on the Olympics in Paris next year. Currently he sits behind Cameron Smith and Jason Day among Australian men in the slot for Games, but he can address that quickly with a win this week.
Of course, he’ll be only one of the two members of his family playing, with Minjee Lee teeing it up as well and chasing her first Australian Open win.
“I get a little pissed off when she wins the week after, because I got the light on me for a little bit and then four days later or like a week later, she’s holding a trophy,” he said.
“We’re happy for each other. We want to only do well and inspire kids and keep playing good golf, so it’s not that bad of a sibling rivalry, but a little petty, from me usually.”
Cameron Davis was standing on the left side of The Australian Golf Club’s driving range back in 2017 preparing for a potential play-off when he learned that he had become the Australian Open champion at just 20 years of age.
Returning to The Australian this week, as well The Lakes Golf Club for the joint men’s and women’s ISPS HANDA Australian Open, Davis reflected on his past success at the 22-time host venue that is the primary site for this week.
“This is my first day back here, so I’m going to go down and do a little bit of practice, but I might have to take a moment to soak up a few memories from that spot,” Davis said Tuesday.
Those memories are ones Davis has utilised in compiling an impressive career to date that has included winning on the PGA Tour and representing the International team at the most recent Presidents Cup.
Struggling with his game for the majority of 2017, Davis used the victory over a stacked field to launch a global career that still has so much to play out in at just 28.
“It’s always so much fun coming back to a place where you’ve got that many good memories, defining moments in your career. This place really kick-started my whole professional career. I would say this is the place that helped me get on the PGA Tour basically,” he said.
Growing up in Sydney’s north and at a number of the city’s golf clubs in the area before finding the two courses he is most closely linked to in Roseville and Monash, Davis knows this week’s venues are as close to a home game as he will get in his national Open.
The Seattle-based Sydneysider confident that the familiar grass types and weather conditions play into his advantage in a field that includes the likes of Cam Smith, Adam Scott, defending champion Adrian Meronk and last week’s winner Min Woo Lee.
“I feel like it’s always really windy here,” Davis said.
“I feel like I’m a pretty good wind player in terms of shaping the ball around and judging wind conditions.
“That’s going to be a huge thing out here, because the greens are a little harder to hold, especially downwind.”
Knowing the conditions is part of the equation towards winning a tournament, with Davis outlining making more birdies than last week at Royal Queensland where he was tied for seventh behind Lee as another key factor.
Lee’s career trajectory much discussed in the days since he became the latest Fortinet Australian PGA Champion, with Davis hoping he is on a similar path himself. One that would get a great boost with a second Stonehaven Cup at ‘The Aussie’.
“I mean, I’m getting a lot of top-10s on the board right now. I feel like the next real step is winning, starting to get some more trophies at home,” Davis said.
“I’m starting to get myself in contention a lot more. I think the more you’re there, obviously the more comfortable you get and the more normal the level of golf that you play to get into that position, the more normal it seems to feel.
“Winning at any level I feel like is the next step, but obviously the ultimate goal is to try and get trophies in the majors.”
David Micheluzzi set his sights on the DP World Tour via the Challenger PGA Tour of Australasia last season, and after achieving his goal via the Order of Merit the Victorian had to wait until this week to make his debut as a member.
That first start at the Fortinet Australian PGA Championship brought a mixture of emotions, both achievement and frustration, after signing for a Sunday 68 and 8-under par total that left him well 12 shots back of winner Min Woo Lee.
“I think it helped being in Australia. It felt as normal as it could,” Micheluzzi said.
“Obviously we have a really elite field here and didn’t play particularly amazing, just got a bit unlucky.
“I hit it way better than I did last week. I just didn’t hole the putts like I did last week unfortunately. But no, it’s been great.”
The disappointment in his post-final round comments shows just how far the 27-year-old has come, with the rising star of Australian golf not happy just being part of the DP World Tour. Micheluzzi wants to win titles alongside the likes of Lee, Adam Scott and Marc Leishman.
“The first day was really good. If I holed some putts, that could have been, and I made good putts too,” he said.
“Then the next day, it felt like I shot 1-over but I shot 3-under … then yesterday was probably one of the most frustrating days on a golf course I’ve had and I didn’t talk to anybody for about 30 minutes afterwards. Then coming into today, just tried to be as patient as possible.”
“Overall I’m more disappointed than I am happy.”
Now a four-time winner on his home circuit, Micheluzzi gained highly valuable experience throughout 2023, including a major championship debut, while he has also added an important element he believes will lead to success.
Micheluzzi is seeking out an experienced caddie, a role filled by highly rated Benji Brewer, who is the husband of Aussie Ladies European Tour player Whitney Hillier.
“He’s great. He’s so experienced. Even yesterday it was cool that he just let me have my time just to chill out and not talk about the round until I wanted to talk about it. Then we had a good chat,” Micheluzzi said of his looper.
“I think we’re close enough to have the conversation that if I need a kick in the arse, he’ll kick me in the arse and I’ll not take any offence to that.
“This is not a six-tournament deal and see how you go. I’m looking at the next 5 to 10, to 15 (years), to potentially the rest of my career.”
Micheluzzi’s current stage of his career is quite fittingly a model to follow for Sunday playing partner Ben Eccles, who leads the Challenger PGA Tour of Australasia Order of Merit, chasing the same pathway as ‘Micha’.
“We were chatting about it today with just what the schedule holds for him and he could get into a couple of International Series events and he’s not going to go because the time just doesn’t work well,” Micheluzzi said.
“I would stay so fresh for just playing this Tour out and he wants to get back to Europe and he’s proven himself.”
One of Australian golf’s most coveted tournaments will continue to call Brisbane home with confirmation that the Fortinet Australian PGA Championship will be played at Royal Queensland Golf Club from November 21-24, 2024.
The 2023 championship that came to a thrilling conclusion on Sunday afternoon with Min Woo Lee’s three-stroke win was the third continuous staging of the tournament at Royal Queensland and fifth overall, the 2024 championship to make it four in succession.
Given the regard for which the golf course is held and Brisbane’s reputation as one of Australia’s favourite tourism and event destinations, PGA of Australia chief executive Gavin Kirkman believes the Fortinet Australian PGA Championship at Royal Queensland is the perfect fit.
“Royal Queensland Golf Club holds a special place in the history of Australian golf, but also fits perfectly with our focus on being innovative and offering the perfect blend of golf and a fun party atmosphere for fans of all ages,” said Mr Kirkman, pictured with, from left, Dr Evelyn Foley (Royal Queensland President), Councillor Krista Adams and Grant Hunt AM (Chair, Tourism and Events Queensland).
“Brisbane also has a proud history yet, at the same time, is a vibrant, evolving city building towards the 2032 Olympics.
“The tens of thousands of golf fans who have visited Royal Queensland this week have shown again that the appetite to experience world-class golf entertainment at the Fortinet Australian PGA Championship in Brisbane continues to grow.
“We couldn’t be more pleased that our players and fans will once again return to Brisbane and Royal Queensland in 2024.”
With the countdown to the 2032 Olympics in Brisbane well underway, Minister for Tourism, Innovation and Sport and Minister Assisting the Premier on Olympics and Paralympics Sport and Engagement, Stirling Hinchcliffe, is thrilled to see one of Australian golf’s showpiece events continue to add to its legacy in Brisbane.
“It’s terrific that Australia’s oldest professional golf tournament will be back at the iconic Royal Queensland course again in 2024,” Minister Hinchcliffe said.
“This prestigious and highly sought after championship title always attracts a world-class field and ensures big galleries are out enjoying the golf and Queensland’s great lifestyle.
“The economic impacts are also great news for our tourism operators with projections that more than 60,000 fans attended this year’s tournament, injecting around $14 million into the state’s visitor economy.”
Lord Mayor Adrian Schrinner said the 2024 extension to host the Fortinet Australian PGA Championship is a significant endorsement of Brisbane’s burgeoning major events reputation.
“Brisbane was crowned Australia’s top sporting city this year and, with world-class international tournaments such as the Australian PGA Championship in our jam-packed major events calendar, it’s easy to see why,” Cr Schrinner said.
“We are thrilled to welcome the tournament back to Royal Queensland’s fairways in 2024, in what will be its fourth consecutive year in Brisbane.
“Locals and visitors will once again experience the excitement of this event, which attracts thousands of visitors to the city and delivers millions in economic benefit to Brisbane’s hotels, restaurants and tourism experiences.”
The Australian PGA Championship has an impressive honour roll of past winners, including Cameron Smith (2018-17, 2022), Adam Scott (2019, 2013), and Royal Queensland Golf Club’s own Greg Norman (1984-85).
The Australian PGA Championship is co-sanctioned with the DP World Tour and for the past two years has served as the opening tournament of its season-long Race to Dubai, which will continue in 2024.
Hosting the tournament in Brisbane has been made possible by support and collaboration between the Queensland Government, through Tourism and Events Queensland, and Brisbane City Council, through Brisbane Economic Development Agency.
Photo: Mike Hadnett/PGA of Australia
Before there was the excitement of Adam Scott and Min Woo Lee charging to the top of the leaderboard as Cam Smith plummeted, Curtis Luck had the early highlight of day two at Royal Queensland.
Reaching the Fortinet Australian PGA Championship’s Southern Comfort Party Hole 17th , Luck was not having the sort of day that would likely see his name up in lights with an opening bogey at the 10th and another two holes later.
That “rough start” was quickly forgotten when a gap wedge found its way to the bottom of the cup at 17 for an ace that inspired three more birdies and a 67.
The West Australian’s 8-under total places him in a share of fourth with Lucas Herbert and first round leader Joel Moscatel, the trio four back of the 36-hole leader.
“It was a pretty good number for what we were trying to do,” Luck said of his ace. “I mean, on that hole, the only thing you’re thinking is obviously don’t go long.
“Once I saw it land, I was pretty confident that it was going to stick pretty close … pretty electric stuff.”
On the bag for Luck this week is Duane Smith, husband and regular looper for Sarah Jane Smith, with the pair’s son Theo the lucky recipient of the hole-in-one ball from Luck, who reflected on a recent misstep when he also had a one-week only guest caddie.
Chasing promotion to the PGA TOUR via the Korn Ferry Tour points race, Luck brought in coach Craig Bishop as his caddie for the Albertsons Boise Open in late August only to miss his tee time. A crucial misreading that hurt his chances of finishing inside the top-30 and earning a card on main US circuit.
The mishap having something of silver lining with Luck and Bishop able to spend more time working on his game together before setting himself for a competitive trip home.
“It was just like a brain fart obviously. I just misread my tee time … But yeah, I mean, obviously getting to do a bit of work with Bish in Boise was big and then I spent 10 days in Perth getting the head right and seeing Bish before I came here.”
That time getting his head right clearly paid off for the former US Amateur and Asia-Pacific Amateur winner who will now look to embrace his artistic play over the weekend on an increasingly tricky Royal Queensland layout.
Luck’s tee time error perhaps well and truly forgotten if he could secure playing rights on the DP World Tour with a win either this week or next, with his wedge play that brought his Friday highlight the likely propelling factor.
“My putting’s always probably my best attribute. I’m a good chipper. I think one of the things I’ve done better this year compared to previous years is my driving’s improved considerably … My wedge play this week particularly has been unbelievable.
“I’ve come here and I’m like, ‘actually, I’m wedging it amazingly. Let’s keep it up’.”
Royal Queensland is something of an odd golf course, certainly in terms of week-to-week professional golf and what players in Europe and the United States have grown used to.
The fairways are generously wide and with a few exceptions (the 14th hole – one of the few retained from the old course- is one particularly narrow fairway) difficult to miss.
The opening tee shot in any big event always involves some nerves, but no one is fearing the tee shot off the first at RQ.
It’s a free hit much like the opening drive at Royal Melbourne or St Andrews and not a place anyone is likely to mess up their day before it’s barely started.
As a rule, golf pros fall on the side of embracing the concept of equity of punishment and detest that two similar shots might finish up with wildly different results.
Ben Crenshaw, one half of the finest modern-day architectural firm once suggested: “Golf would not be a mystery if there were not instances of two different outcomes on the same shot”.
I’m sure the twice Masters champion would argue attempts to make the game “fair” lead to sanitised holes, devoid of quirk and nuance, something which was the essence of the original game in Scotland.
So much of what we see is golf between lines with all the trouble down the sides of holes.
Of course, the great lesson of The Old Course in St Andrews is there is trouble on a direct line to the hole.
Players can hit “perfect” drives into bunkers in the middle of the fairways but the measure of a shot should always be its position relative to the next one.
The holes with bunkers in the fairways at RQ are, for me at least, the most interesting to observe and players – and caddies – wrestle with the options and the width sees approach shots played from wildly different parts of the fairways.
The greatness of St Andrews and Royal Melbourne is that shots from one side of the holes can be so different from the shots from the opposite side of the fairway and there are few better ways to make the game interesting for the members who play the course every week.
One player who comes from a country where narrow fairways are more the rule than the exception is the 21-year-old Osaka-based Japanese, Ryo Hisatsune.
He came to the Australian PGA last year from Spain where he’d finished seventh in the European Tour School and finished second, a good enough result to guarantee his employment pretty much in 2024.
He’d played his way to exemptions on the Asian Tour as well as his home circuit but by winning the French Open in September, he put himself on the edge of this new top 10 in Europe exemption with the reward of a PGA Tour card in the United States.
Sure, Tiger Woods by winning the 1997 Masters at the same age was instantly exempt on every tour in the world but Hisatsune physically played his way to those exemptions by playing all five tours and earning his way. (Which is not to suggest Tiger didn’t earn his way – he clearly did that and more.)
Hisatsune played well enough in Dubai last week to guarantee his place on the American Tour and, back at RQ yesterday, he was around in 66 with a single bogey on the third hole.
In the 1980s when Jumbo Ozaki, Tommy Nakajima and Isao Aoki were dominating Japanese golf, their tour was almost as big, prizemoney wise, as the tour in America.
Few, as a consequence, felt the need to travel outside of their own country. The Americans weren’t much different and if we’d had forty tournaments for a million dollars a week it’s a reasonable assumption most Australians would have stayed home as well.
Instead, our equivalents of the great Japanese triumvirate – Greg Norman, David Graham, and Graham Marsh – collected frequent flier miles like 27-handicappers collect double-bogeys.
It’d be fair to say Australian pro golfers have travelled, out of necessity, pretty well and Japanese, out of not having to, less so.
One staggering recent example was at the Dunlop Phoenix tournament a couple of weeks ago in Miyazaki where a local amateur, Yuta Suguira, beat one of the strongest Japanese Tour fields, including this year’s PGA and US Open champions Brooks Koepka and Wyndham Clark.
If anyone had been paying attention to Suguira at the Asian Amateur at Royal Melbourne a month ago they could have watched the Japanese star, but only on the first two days because he missed the halfway cut.
Hisatsune is one who clearly relishes the travel and whilst the week is still young it’d be a surprise if he wasn’t in the middle of it come Sunday afternoon because if he’s proved anything in the 12 months since last year it’s that he can play a wide variety of golf courses.
Few though will be as wide as Royal Queensland. Or as interesting.
Author Mike Clayton led the redesign of Royal Queensland with John Sloan and Bruce Grant in 2006
Photo: Ryo Hisatsune on day one of the 2023 Australian PGA Championship (Getty Images)
The most significant crowds and attention were on the marquee groups on day one of the Fortinet Australian PGA Championship yet three young Aussies gave a glimpse into generation next at Royal Queensland Golf Club.
As the likes of Min Woo Lee, Cam Smith and Adam Scott strolled 18 holes followed by a throng of fans, Sydneysider John Lyras, West Australian Connor McKinney and Queensland youngster Elvis Smylie shone brightly on an overcast and humid morning in Brisbane.
Out with a pair of Michaels in Sim and Hendry in the morning wave, Lyras experienced something of a roller-coaster ride on his way to a 6-under 65 that put him in third alone at the end of the day. His up-and-down round somewhat reflective of his year to date.
“It’s nice to be back in Brisbane,” Lyras said. “It’s been a long year and just nice to get back amongst the Aussie crowds and the vibes.
“I’ve been injured and a bit of sickness here and there, so it’s just been just on the back foot, no real momentum. I’ve played a lot of good golf but then a lot of stretches of really bad golf. I just want to try and put some rounds together this week.”
Good looking leaderboard after round one 🤌#AusPGA | #visitbrisbane | #thisisqueensland
— PGA of Australia (@PGAofAustralia) November 23, 2023
Mixing his time on the Asian Tour and in America where his girlfriend lives and he attempted to Monday qualify for tournaments during the year, Lyras recently found himself in contention through 54-holes in China before a final round 81.
The St Michaels Golf Club member acknowledged the pressure of staying focused on the tournament at hand when there are greater rewards on offer, such as the pathways offered by the Challenger PGA Tour of Australasia to this week’s co-sanctioning DP World Tour.
“I’ve had a really tough time trying to keep in the present and just focus on the golf that week. But they’re the challenges that you’ve got to deal with,” Lyras conceded.
“It was really hard, just trying to keep playing golf, play day by day and wake up with the same motivation every day even though you knew that something bigger and better is, what the goals you have in mind.
“You’ll see them and they’re coming closer pretty quickly.”
Similarly looking to use a strong finish in the local Tour’s richest event to propel him towards playing rights overseas after missing out at the recent DP World Tour school is Elvis Smylie.
Once again striding the fairways with Royal Queensland course designer Mike Clayton as caddie, Smylie opened with a four birdie, one bogey 68 to sit tied for 15th on a congested leaderboard heading into day two.
“Obviously I’m very familiar with RQ. I’ve played this golf course a lot of times and having played since ‘Clayts’ redesigned the course, so having a bit of an inside scoop’s always nice,” Smylie said. “I’m just very familiar with the course and it just brings a sense of being very comfortable around there.”
A regular presence on leaderboards in Australia, Smylie has yet to truly find his feet overseas as a professional.
The 21-year-old is, however, more than comfortable among the calibre of players that caused Clayton to suggest it is the best field assembled on these shores in decades on social media.
“It definitely makes me feel pretty good about myself knowing I’m surrounded by guys like that that I’ve looked up to since a young age,” Smylie said.
“But I’m wanting to obviously mix with them and learn as much as I can from them, but as well, I want to beat them. I want to test my game against theirs and see what areas I need to improve against Adam or Cam and guys like that.”
Smylie confident enough in his game if a head-to-head battle was to eventuate he would be well-quipped enough to potentially change his career trajectory with victory.
“Without a doubt,” he said when asked if he can beat the bigger names.
“It’s not an arrogance feeling, it’s just more of a silent confidence. I’m just going about my business nicely and just plodding along and just doing what I can control and let the rest just unfold nicely.”
One of the last men in on Thursday, McKinney joined the fray with four back nine birdies.
His bogey-free 66 puts him in a share of fourth, three shots back of Moscatel with the pair both carrying the same DP World Tour category after missing a card at the final stage of qualifying school two weeks ago.
Min Woo Lee heads the list of Aussie superstars yet it is unheralded Spaniard Joel Moscatel who sits atop the leaderboard after day one of the Fortinet Australian PGA Championship at Royal Queensland.
When Lee signed for a 7-under 64 it showed that the 25-year-old had brought his growing stature within the game back to home soil but Moscatel matched Jed Morgan’s 2021 course record of 8-under 63 to lead by one.
Sydney’s John Lyras (66) is outright third and one clear of a group of six players at 5-under including Adam Scott, Lucas Herbert, Connor McKinney, Sam Brazel, Scotland’s Connor Syme and Ryo Hisatsune of Japan.
Defending champion Cameron Smith endured a frustrating start with a round of 2-over 73 while DP World Tour stars Adrian Meronk (68) and Robert MacIntyre (69) returned under-par rounds after their early starts on Thursday morning.
A 25-year-old, who cites Spanish legends Seve Ballesteros and Jon Rahm as his idols, shrugged off the disappointment of missing a DP World Tour card by one shot at Qualifying School last week to lead a star-studded field.
While he now has guaranteed status on the secondary Challenge Tour in Europe next year, Moscatel knows what a win this week in the co-sanctioned event would mean.
“I just try to play but yes, obviously it’s life-changing for sure, for sure, coming from a satellite tour,” said Moscatel.
“But we’ll see. Step by step.
“In the Spanish Open, one of my best friends was leading at one point. He finished the first day third and you always think like he’s going to win, but there’s a lot of golf to play and a lot of good players, so it can happen any way.”
Headed for the PGA TOUR in 2024, Lee displayed the type of golf that saw him post 30-under in winning the Macao Open on the Asian Tour just a few weeks ago.
Playing with Smith and MacIntyre, Lee took until just his third hole to make birdie and added a second immediately afterwards at the par-4 13th.
After making the turn in 2-under, Lee picked off two further birdies at one and two, holed a 35-footer from the front of the green for birdie on five and then closed out a back nine of 5-under 31 with a birdie at the par-5 ninth.
“I was actually pretty nervous, which I haven’t really felt in a while, just before the round, but that’s usually good for me,” said the world No.45.
“I’d rather not get too comfortable. But I felt really good out there and it’s awesome to have such a big crowd, especially at 6 o’clock in the morning.
“It was solid. I’m happy they came and supported us.”
Tied fifth in his most recent start on the PGA TOUR, Scott was 1-over through his first five holes but made five birdies in the space of six holes around the turn to bring his hopes of a third Joe Kirkwood Cup roaring back to life.
A bunker lesson with Aussie veteran Brett Rumford on Wednesday paid dividends on Scott’s final hole, the 43-year-old getting up-and-down from the greenside bunker on nine for a closing birdie and round of 5-under.
“I think that was when I was truly waking up, maybe about 7,” Scott said of his charge in the midway part of his round.
“It happens. You’ve just got to keep making good swings at it and doing what you’re doing.
“I’m just happy to have played a solid round and starting on the right foot anyway.”
After two early birdies, Herbert used a run of four straight birdies from the 12th hole in the afternoon wave to put his name in the frame after Round 1.
“I feel like it was a tough day out there,” Herbert said.
“It was just good to get the round off to a good start. You look at the board and Min’s out there at 7-under and I saw another score at 8-under as well. If you don’t make a birdie in the first few holes it can feel like you’ve got to start pushing a bit harder, because you feel like you’re so far behind.
“I put a good score on the board, I think we’re fourth or fifth or something like that after we’ve walked off the course at least, so that gives me a lot of confidence going into the rest of the week.”
Herbert is in the first group off the 10th tee at 6am on Friday morning while Lee, Scott and Smith will play in the afternoon wave.
The Fortinet Australian PGA Championship is live on Nine and Fox Sports, available on Foxtel and Kayo.
Tickets for the Fortinet Australian PGA Championship are available from ticketek.com.au
Scottish Ryder Cup star Robert MacIntyre is back for a second tilt at the Joe Kirkwood Cup but this time arrives for the Fortinet Australian PGA Championship as one of the tournament favourites.
Ranked No.56 on the Official World Golf Ranking, the 27-year-old is in Australia for the next fortnight of Australian majors with trophies and ranking points high on the priority list as he kicks off his 2024 DP World Tour season down under.
MacIntyre is hoping to rise six or more places on the ranking by year’s end to secure an invite to next year’s Masters, where he finished T12 on debut in 2021 and shared 23rd last year.
“I get to see family and I’m chasing top-50 in the world. If I can achieve that in the next two weeks, I get in The Masters come April, so, I’ve got a lot to play for,” MacIntyre, who has family in Melbourne, said.
“There’s a lot on the line and I also get to see some family within that. For me, the biggest thing is getting to Augusta come April.”
Missing out on taking golf’s most treasured drive down Magnolia Lane this year, MacIntyre is determined to return after a year where he placed in the top 20 11 times and made his first Ryder Cup appearance on Luke Donald’s victorious European team.
“For me it’s plain and simple – win a golf tournament. I think if I win this week, it’ll be very close,” he said of his World Ranking aspirations.
“I’ve played it (The Masters) twice now and I see it in my eyes.
“One of my life goals was to play the Ryder Cup and win the Ryder Cup. I achieved that. I’ve got another few goals, but one of them is win a green jacket and I think I can do it.”
MacIntyre will be up early Thursday morning, the two-time DP World Tour winner starting his Kirkwood Cup challenge off Royal Queensland’s 10th tee alongside defending champion Cameron Smith and Min Woo Lee at 6:10am local time.
Similarly chasing a Masters spot via the world rankings at the end of 2023, and the second half of Australian golf’s big title double, Adrian Meronk will get the field underway in the group ahead of MacIntyre in a threesome with Adam Scott and Cam Davis.
Winner of the 2022 ISPS HANDA Australian Open, Meronk missed out on the Ryder Cup team despite three wins on the DP World Tour during the circuit’s 2023 season, including his Stonehaven Cup triumph in Melbourne when he played alongside Scott in the final round.
“Every year I’ve been progressing and improving my ranking, getting Ws all over the world,” said Meronk, who will make his 100th start on the DP World Tour this week.
“It’s been an amazing ride and I know it’s only the beginning for me.”
Currently No.48 on the world ranking, Meronk will be looking to solidify his place and earn a second trip to Augusta, Georgia for the first full week in April after debuting in 2023 and failing to make the weekend.
Aussies Lee and Davis are also around the all-important top-50 bubble, with the 2017 Australian Open winner sitting 44th and Lee one spot further back, the quality of the field at Royal Queensland and in Sydney next week providing ample opportunity to ensure they also return to Augusta.
“It’s going to be very exciting over the next few years,” Davis said Wednesday.
“I’d love to be a part of that sort of group that starts getting a few more trophies on the board and up those world rankings and getting some majors coming our way.”
