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West Australian Jason Scrivener has revealed the influence of renowned performance coach Dave Alred in elevating him into the world’s top 100 players as he edges closer to another major championship first.
Australia’s highest finisher at the US PGA Championship in May, Scrivener is one of seven Aussies in the field for this week’s Dubai Duty Free Irish Open at Mount Juliet Estate that also boasts Rory McIlroy, Tommy Fleetwood, Shane Lowry and Martin Kaymer.
After spending the start of the 2021 season in the United States Lucas Herbert returns for the European summer with Maverick Antcliff, Scott Hend and Min Woo Lee all seeking to continue their recent good form at the €3 million event.
Currently 10th in the Race to Dubai standings, Scrivener is awaiting official confirmation that he is exempt into The Open Championship in two weeks’ time in what will be his debut appearance at golf’s oldest major.
At the completion of a disrupted 2020 season Scrivener was ranked 219th in the Official World Golf Rankings but a runner-up finish at the Abu Dhabi HSBC Championship in his first start for the year sent the 32-year-old on an upward trajectory inside the top 100 that he accredits to his work with Alred.
The man behind Luke Donald’s ascension to world No.1 and Francesco Molinari’s 2018 Open Championship victory, Alred also works with Australian professionals Brad Kennedy and Travis Smyth and had an immediate impact on Scrivener.
“He’s changed the way I prepare for events and the way I practise has changed a lot,” revealed Scrivener, currently 99th in the world rankings.
“I started working with him in early December and that was a big change for me. He came over to Perth and spent a few days and I put a lot of work in before Abu Dhabi, probably the most productive work I’ve ever done.
“He was very important in the lead-up and that’s been the biggest change for me, getting so much more out of my practise.
“I knew it was going to pay off eventually, I just didn’t really expect it to happen so quickly.”
Such a strong start to the season set up Scrivener’s year and gave him the flexibility to pick and choose his events.
He received a late call-up to the PGA Championship where he finished tied for 23rd and has solidified his position towards the top of the Race to Dubai standings with a third-place finish at the Made in Himmerland tournament and a tie for sixth at the Scandinavian Mixed two weeks ago.
With wife Simone expecting the couple’s first child in August, being in control of his schedule is particularly beneficial in 2021.
“It has changed a few things,” Scrivener said of his success early in the season. “Getting into a few of the bigger events, WGCs and majors, that’s always nice.
“For us Australians travelling overseas at the moment, it’s just a nightmare. Having the freedom to skip events and take longer breaks has been really nice.
“We’re expecting a baby in August so I’m going back after the Open and then have a long break again.
“Obviously you want to take advantage of the opportunities so I still want to keep playing and push forward but for sure it’s a relief being able to plan the rest of the year.”
Elsewhere in Europe this week two young Aussies are looking to establish themselves after a challenging start to their professional careers.
Victorian David Micheluzzi will play his first tournament on foreign soil in 16 months at the Challenge Tour’s Kaskáda Golf Challenge in the Czech Republic while South Australian Kristalle Blum – winner of The Athena tournament in February – makes her Ladies European Tour debut at the Big Green Egg Open in the Netherlands.
Round 1 tee times AEST
European Tour
Dubai Duty Free Irish Open
Mount Juliet Estate, Thomastown, Co Kilkenny, Ireland
5.40pm Maverick Antcliff, Jake McLeod, Adrien Saddier
5.40pm* Lucas Herbert, Laurie Canter, Victor Dubuisson
6.40pm Scott Hend, Mike Lorenzo-Vera, Shaun Norris
7pm* Wade Ormsby, Fabrizio Zanotti, Adrian Meronk
10.40pm Jason Scrivener, Marcus Armitage, Dean Burmester
10.50pm* Min Woo Lee, Lorenzo Gagli, Haydn Porteous
11.30pm* Ryan Fox, Chris Paisley, Haotong Li
Defending champion: John Catlin
Past Aussie winners: Brett Rumford (2004)
Top Aussie prediction: Lucas Herbert
TV schedule: Live 10pm-3am Thursday; Live 7pm-10pm Friday; Live 1am-3pm Saturday on Fox Sports 503; Live 10pm-2.30am Saturday on Fox Sports 505; Live 8.30pm-3am Sunday on Fox Sports 503.
PGA TOUR
Rocket Mortgage Classic
Detroit Golf Club, Detroit, Michigan
8.55pm* Cam Davis, Bo Van Pelt, Seamus Power
9.15pm Jason Day, Nick Taylor, Jason Dufner
9.35pm Matt Jones, Brendon Todd, Ted Potter Jr
10.35pm* Rhein Gibson, Ryan Brehm, Davis Thompson
2.10am Aaron Baddeley, Cameron Percy, Chase Seiffert
2.40am* Danny Lee, Chez Reavie, Brice Garnett
Defending champion: Bryson DeChambeau
Past Aussie winners: Nil
Top Aussie prediction: Matt Jones
TV schedule: Live 5am-8am Friday, Saturday; Live 3am-8am Sunday, Monday on Fox Sports 503.
LPGA Tour
Volunteers of America Classic
Old American Golf Club, The Colony, Texas
11.37pm Katherine Kirk, Marina Alex, Dani Holmqvist
11.48pm Sarah Jane Smith, Tiffany Chan, Esther Lee
Defending champion: Angela Stanford
Past Aussie winners: Nil
Top Aussie prediction: Katherine Kirk
TV schedule: Live 7am-10am Friday, Saturday, Sunday and Monday on Fox Sports 505.
Ladies European Tour
Big Green Egg Open
Rosendaelsche Golf Club, Arnhem, Netherlands
4.22pm Whitney Hillier, Elina Nummenpaa, Madelene Stavnar
4.44pm Stephanie Kyriacou, Christine Wolf, Marianne Skarpnord
8.52pm* Amy Walsh, Harang Lee, Ainil Bakar
10.20pm Kristalle Blum, Anaelle Carnet, Sideri Vanova
Defending champion: Inaugural event
Past Aussie winners: Nil
Top Aussie prediction: Stephanie Kyriacou
Challenge Tour
Kaskáda Golf Challenge
Kaskáda Golf Resort, Brno, Czech Republic
5.10pm Josh Geary, Matthew Baldwin, Stanislav Matus
6.10pm Dimitrios Papadatos, Tyler Koivisto, Jens Dantorp
9.40pm David Micheluzzi, Lars Keunen, Federico Maccario
11.10pm Deyen Lawson, Joel Girrbach, Elias Bertheussen
9.40pm* Blake Windred, Lukas Nemecz, Christopher Sahlstrom
Defending champion: Antoine Rozner (2019)
Past Aussie winners: Nil
Top Aussie prediction: Blake Windred
Champions Tour
Dick’s Sporting Goods Open
En-Joie Golf Club, Endicott, New York
Aussies in the field: Stephen Leaney, David McKenzie
Defending champion: Doug Barron
Past Aussie winners: Nil
Top Aussie prediction: Stephen Leaney
TV schedule: Live 2.30am-4.30am Saturday on Fox Sports 507; 10.30am-12.30pm on Fox Sports 503; Live 5am-7.30am Monday on Fox Sports 507
The equal-best round of the day has given Victorian Andrew Martin a two-stroke buffer at the top of the leaderboard as a chasing pack of young guns and Tour winners formed at the $70,000 Ian Weigh Toyota Rockhampton Pro-Am.
Martin’s round of 8-under par 64 was matched only by 2019 champion Matthew Millar and gives him a 10-under par total with one round to play, Nathan Barbieri (66), Michael Wright (67) and Adam Blyth (67) sharing second at 8-under.
Millar, Aaron Wilkin (69) and first round leaders Damien Jordan (71) and Josh Armstrong (71) are all tied for fifth at 7-under par, one shot clear of 2019 Gippsland Super 6 champion Tom Power Horan (65) and recent adidas Pro-Am Series winner James Grierson (68).
One-over through 15 holes on Thursday, Martin closed out his opening round with three consecutive birdies. Winner of The Players Series Sydney in March, the 36-year-old picked up where he left off on Friday with two more to start round two and added further birdies at five and eight to make the turn in 33.
Three more on the trot from the 10th hole and back-to-back birdies at 15 and 16 continued Martin’s surge and opened up a handy advantage going into Saturday’s final round.
“It is a good feeling to back on top of the leaderboard again,” said Martin, who equalled the world record for most eagles in a round in the final round of his win at Bonnie Doon Golf Club.
“My swing has been a bit rusty of late but today it started to work for me.”
A runner-up on three occasions before breaking through with a win two years ago, Millar began his second round from the 10th tee and seven shots off the pace but quickly started chipping away at the deficit.
He played the back nine in 4-under but it was a stretch of five birdies in six holes from the third hole that puts him three back of Martin and with a chance to successfully defend his title.
“I’ve played this event so many times – had some seconds and had a win on the last occasion – but you’ve usually got those four rounds in which to get there,” Millar said of the adjusted tournament format in 2021.
“Unfortunately yesterday has given me a lot of work to do rather than keeping pace near the front.
“Hopefully I can have another blinder tomorrow and not be too far away.”
A 4-hybrid to five feet at the 200-metre par-3 11th got Millar off on the right foot on Friday, using a better day with the driver to attack flags and generate plenty of birdie chances.
“It was nice to be back driving the ball the way I normally do, hitting it in a lot of fairways,” said Millar, whose longest birdie putt of the day was a 20-footer he holed at the par-4 sixth.
“Yesterday I hit a couple of loose ones that didn’t match up and ended up in a bit of strife.
“I hit a lot of good iron shots today too so a pretty solid day all round.
“The greens are holding quite well and the course is in good shape so it’s very scoreable out there.
“Conditions haven’t been that challenging so it’s very gettable if you’re hitting a few good ones and rolling some in.”
The top 50 players and ties after 36 holes now advance to Saturday’s third and final round with the top-16 plus ties after 54 holes to contest the one-day Ian Weigh Toyota Invitational on Sunday worth $15,000.
Round 3 will commence at 6.50am on Saturday with the leaders teeing off from 12pm.
Gold Coast’s Damien Jordan needed just 24 putts in his opening round to earn a share of the lead after day one of the Ian Weigh Toyota Rockhampton Pro-Am at Rockhampton Golf Club on Thursday.
Brett Rankin and Aaron Townsend set the pace in the morning groups with rounds of 4-under 68 but the low rounds of the day were to come later, Jordan and New South Welshman Josh Armstrong with a one-shot buffer after each posted a round of 6-under 66 in the latest event of the adidas Pro-Am Series.
With the Rockhampton layout in superb condition and a quality field to match, scores were expected to be low but the golf course’s twisting waterways and lagoons managed to keep some of Australia’s best players relatively in check.
After making a birdie at the par-5 opening hole Jordan experienced a relatively subdued stretch for match of the front nine to be 1-under through six holes.
Taking advantage of another par-5 at the 542m seventh, Jordan picked up his second birdie of the day and then watched on partly in amazement as putt after putt found the bottom of the cup.
“Looking back on the round, I finished with 24 putts today,” said the 2017 Vic PGA champion.
“I putted really well today. I holed everything.”
The 40-year-old made four birdies in succession from the seventh hole and picked up two more at 12 and 14, his only dropped shot of the day coming at the 200m par-3 11th.
If Jordan’s was something of a slow start the big-hitting Armstrong cashed in on his opportunities early, making birdie at four of his opening five holes to surge up the leaderboard.
There were hiccups at seven and 11 but a stretch of three straight birdies from the 13th hole to join Jordan at the top with two rounds left to play.
New South Welshman Daniel Gale is one shot behind Armstrong and Jordan after a round of 5-under 67 with Townsend and Rankin in a group of four players along with Aaron Wilkin and Nicholas Russell a further shot back at 4-under.
Back where he grew up it was Terry Price who earned bragging rights amongst the Price family on day one with a round of 2-over 74, four shots better than younger brother John and seven clear of son Sam.
Round 2 commences at 6.50am on Friday with Armstrong to tee off at 7am and Jordan to follow off the 10th tee at 7.50am.
Lucas Herbert has earned another shot at securing his future in the United States after qualifying for this week’s Travelers Championship at TPC River Highlands in Connecticut.
Currently ranked No.100 in the Official World Golf Rankings, Herbert has full status on the European Tour through until the end of the 2022 season by virtue of his victory at the Omega Dubai Desert Classic last January.
But with the travel complications caused by COVID and invites into World Golf Championships and Majors available to him, Herbert has spent the majority of 2021 in the US playing the PGA TOUR and based primarily out of Chicago.
Last month the Victorian played his way into the Wells Fargo Championship via Monday qualifying before missing the cut but impressed at The Memorial Tournament three weeks ago, finishing tied for 18th, his best result in 13 PGA TOUR appearances to date.
That number will grow to 14 on Thursday after he shot 6-under 66 to secure one of the four spots on offer at Ellington Ridge Country Club, joining Jason Day, Matt Jones, Marc Leishman, Cameron Percy, Adam Scott and Cameron Smith in flying the Aussie flag this week.
Out in the first group of the day on Monday, Herbert was in prime position when he made the turn in 4-under 32 and bogey free, picking up birdies at 10 and 13 to further cement his position towards the top of the leaderboard.
There was a slight blemish with a dropped shot at the par-4 16th but he recovered that at the very next hole with a birdie at the par-3 17th to finish third behind Stephen Stallings (63) and Seamus Power (65) and one shot clear of the four-man playoff for the final spot.
The 91 FedEx Cup points that Herbert has accrued in his seven events this season makes him eligible for the Korn Ferry Tour Finals but he still requires a further 197 points to earn Special Temporary Membership of the PGA TOUR.
The 25-year-old was initially entered to play the BMW International Open on the European Tour this week alongside fellow Aussies Scott Hend, Wade Ormsby, Min Woo Lee, Maverick Antcliff, Jake McLeod and Elvis Smylie in his European Tour debut.
His putt on the 72nd hole had all the hallmarks of Tiger Woods circa 2008; his birdie at the hole prior setting up a shot at history alongside three giants of the game of golf.
As the pre-tournament favourite Jon Rahm’s major championship breakthrough was in some ways expected but the events of the past month – and the manner in which he won the 2021 US Open at Torrey Pines’ South Course – will forever be etched in folklore.
Denied a win at The Memorial Tournament two weeks ago when informed he had tested positive for COVID-19 with a six-stroke lead through 54 holes, Rahm’s preparation was disrupted. Yet he arrived at the scene of his first PGA TOUR win and where he proposed to his wife with the belief that the golf gods might owe him one.
Those same gods can be fickle but perhaps there was some divine intervention as he rolled in consecutive left-to-right birdie putts from 24 and 18 feet at the 71st and 72nd holes respectively to post 6-under par with the equal-best round of the tournament, a 4-under 67.
When Louis Oosthuizen (71) made a clutch putt at the par-3 16th trailing by one stroke a playoff looked more than possible yet a poor tee shot into the penalty area left of the 17th fairway led to a bogey, the two-shot deficit going down the final hole too much to rein in as he recorded his sixth runner-up finish at a major.
Rahm’s release after his birdie putt at 18 resembled Woods in 2008 as he forced an 18-hole playoff with Rocco Mediate and his birdie-birdie finish joins Ben Hogan (Oakmont, 1953), Jack Nicklaus (Baltusrol, 1980) and Tom Watson (Pebble Beach, 1982) as the only US Open champions to win in such a fashion.
“I’m a big believer in karma and after what happened a couple weeks ago I stayed really positive
knowing good things were coming,” said Rahm.
“I didn’t know what it was going to be, but I knew we were coming to a special place. I knew I got my breakthrough win here and it’s a very special place for my family.
“The fact that my parents were able to come, I got out of COVID protocol early, I just felt like the stars were aligning, and I knew my best golf was to come.
“I have a hard time explaining what just happened because I can’t even believe I made the last two putts, and I’m the first Spaniard ever to win a US Open.
“This was definitely for Seve (Ballesteros). I know he tried a lot. Usually we think a lot about him at the Masters, but I know he wanted to win this one most of all.
“I just don’t know how to explain it.”
As the championship entered its final nine holes the leaderboard was littered with former major champions all jockeying for top spot, going shoulder to shoulder and invariably bumping each other out of Rahm’s way.
Defending champion Bryson DeChambeau bullied his way to a share of the lead only to implode over the closing eight holes, dropping eight shots including a quadruple bogey on 17 that saw him plummet to a tie for 26th.
Brooks Koepka and Rory McIlroy entered the frame only to fade late; Harris English posted a score of 3-under that for a fleeting moment looked as though it might not be bettered and Oosthuizen had a two-shot lead with eight holes to play only for bogeys at 11 and 17 to ultimately prove fatal.
It was a week in which Australians failed to feature towards the top of the leaderboard, Adam Scott (73) finishing as the leading Aussie at 5-over par for the championship and in a tie for 35th.
South Australian Wade Ormsby completed a memorable US Open debut with a final round of even par 71 to finish one shot back of Scott at 6-over and in a tie for 40th, his best career finish in a major championship.
A Sunday 77 saw Marc Leishman finish 64th at 12-over par, one shot ahead of Matt Jones who was tied for 65th with a 13-over par total for the four rounds.
US Open
Torrey Pines Golf Course (South Cse), San Diego, California
Winner Jon Rahm 69-70-72-67—278 $US2.25m
T35 Adam Scott 70-75-71-73—289 $65,416
T40 Wade Ormsby 72-74-73-71—290 $52,074
64 Marc Leishman 74-70-75-77—296 $25,907
T65 Matt Jones 72-71-79-75—297 $25,907
MC Cameron Smith 72-75—147
MC Brad Kennedy 74-78—152
MC Steve Allan 80-79—159
New South Welshmen Brett Drewitt and Blake Windred have taken significant steps toward promotions to golf’s two largest tours in 2022 after top-five finishes on their respective tours over the weekend.
As the golf world was enraptured by an enthralling final day at the US Open, Drewitt was putting himself in contention for a second Korn Ferry Tour title at the Wichita Open and a move deep inside the top 25 in the Order of Merit.
Thrust into the top five on the back of an 8-under par round of 62 on Saturday, Drewitt was treading water with nine straight pars to start his final round before making his charge early in the back nine.
He birdied the 10th and 11th holes and when he eagled the par-5 14th was just one shot off the lead.
The birdies he needed to rise to the top of the leaderboard proved elusive over the final four holes as he closed with a 4-under 66 to take a share of third, two shots back of Englishman Harry Hall.
A winner at the Lincoln Land Championship last September, Drewitt’s top-five finish moves him up six spots to 23rd on the Korn Ferry Tour moneylist and within reach of one of the 25 PGA TOUR cards to be handed out at the end of the regular season.
Rhein Gibson was the only other Australian to make the cut at Crestview Country Club, moving up 14 spots to a tie for 13th courtesy of a final round of 5-under 65.
Like Drewitt, Windred has greatly enhanced his chances of playing on the European Tour next year with a runner-up finish at the Challenge de España on the Challenge Tour.
Tied for second at the ISUZU Queensland Open in March, Windred held a share of the 36-hole lead in Cadiz but dropped into a share of fifth following a third round of 2-under 70.
Starting the final round three shots off the lead, Windred made birdies at four of his first five holes but bogeys at three and six prevented him from a making a greater impression on the front-runners early.
Five pars in succession were followed by a run of three straight birdies from the 12th hole, his eighth birdie of the day at the par-4 17th leaving him one shot shy of the winner, Spain’s Santiago Tarrio.
Top-20 the week prior, Windred’s second placing moves him up 44 places on the Road to Mallorca points race to 24th, the top 20 at season’s end earning a European Tour card for the 2022 season.
Su Oh was in contention to record her first LPGA Tour win at the halfway mark of the Meijer LPGA Classic in Michigan but struggled to keep up with the hot pace over the weekend.
A third round of 3-under 69 saw Oh fall into a share of fourth with a round to play, her closing 1-under 71 resulting in a tie for 15th, her best result of the 2021 season.
Europe’s Legends Tour kicked off its 2021 season at the Farmfoods European Legends Links Championship where Kiwi Michael Long and Peter Fowler both finished inside the top 20.
Results
Korn Ferry Tour
Wichita Open
Crestview Country Club, Wichita, Kansas
Winner Harry Hall 64-63-66-67—260 $US108,000
T3 Brett Drewitt 69-65-62-66—262 $31,500
T13 Rhein Gibson 68-67-66-65—266 $10,550
MC Steven Alker 67-71—138
MC Jamie Arnold 67-73—140
MC Harrison Endycott 69-71—140
MC Nick Voke 72-73—145
MC Brett Coletta 77-74—151
Challenge Tour
Challenge de España
Iberostar Real Club de Golf Novo Sancti Petri, Cadiz, Spain
Winner Santiago Tarrio 71-64-67-66—268 €32,000
T2 Blake Windred 68-65-70-66—269 €16,000
T9 Daniel Hillier 66-68-70-68—272 €4,250
T36 Dimitrios Papadatos 69-70-72-69—280 €1,360
MC Jarryd Felton 76-72—148
MC Deyen Lawson 75-74—149
LPGA Tour
Meijer LPGA Classic
Blythefield Country Club, Grand Rapids, Michigan
T15 Su Oh 67-65-69-71—272 $US30,620
T29 Katherine Kirk 70-67-70-68—275 $15,407
T45 Gabriela Ruffels 67-72-69-69—277 $8,609
T45 Hannah Green 70-66-71-70—277 $8,609
T61 Lydia Ko 71-69-71-69—280 $5,493
MC Sarah Kemp 73-73—146
MC Sarah Jane Smith 73-73—146
Legends Tour
Farmfoods European Legends Links Championship
Trevose Golf & Country Club, Padstow, England
T14 Michael Long 77-70-68—215 €4,350
T17 Peter Fowler 75-72-70—217 €2,906
T33 Michael Campbell 78-72-71—221 €1,650
PGA TOUR Latinoamerica
Holcim Colombia Classic
Club Campestre de Bucaramanga, Bucaramanga, Colombia
MC Danny List 73-76—149
Brisbane’s Tim Hart has vowed to take his pro-am dominance to the next level after completing a two-stroke victory at the Downer Blackwater Pro-Am at Blackwater Golf Club on Sunday.
Boasting a two-shot advantage after a course record opening round of 10-under 62 on Saturday, Hart birdied his first two holes on Sunday to keep the chasing pack comfortably at bay, his 6-under 66 for 16-under par total two clear of Nathan Barbieri (66) with Aaron Wilkin (65) and Sam Brazel (68) finishing third and fourth respectively.
Hart’s Blackwater conquest was his sixth win in his past eight starts and completed a dominant win in the Onsite Rental Group Mining Towns Series that comes with a $5,000 bonus, but Hart has already turned his eyes towards a bigger prize.
The $70,000 Ian Weigh Toyota Rockhampton Pro-Am starts on Thursday and will feature some of the PGA Tour of Australasia’s most accomplished players… and a prolific pro-am winner with a point to prove.
“This win gives me really good confidence heading into Rockhampton next week though with a number of players flying in for that event, the field definitely becomes deeper,” said Hart.
“I have really enjoyed the Mining Town Series this year and this is a great way to top it off.
“I set my goal to get to 60-under par for the series which would mean I would have averaged 6-under par per round, and it is great to be able to achieve that.
“This is the third series win in a row and I can’t be more thankful to Onsite Rental Group for their support of the series knowing I have certainly been the largest beneficiary of their partnership with the PGA.”
Hart’s only two bogeys for the tournament came at the fifth and 13th holes on Sunday but it did little to stall his momentum, picking up shots at three of his final four holes and paying tribute to the presentation of the Blackwater layout.
“Blackwater Golf Club was in amazing condition this week and as many have said already, they are definitely the best greens in the Central Highland,” Hart added.
Barbieri had six birdies and an eagle at the par-5 11th in his second round of 6-under 66 while Wilkin had eight birdies and an eagle as he completed the best round of the day, a 7-under 65 to grab third.
Although 26 shots behind Hart’s impressive total, Damien Jordan, Gavin Fairfax and Shae Wools-Cobb all finished in a tie for second in the Onsite Rental Group Mining Town Series taking home an additional $1,000 in bonus prizemoney.
The adidas PGA Pro-Am Series now moves to the Rockhampton Pro-Am starting Thursday with the likes of Bryden Macpherson, Ben Eccles, Matt Millar, Andre Stolz, Jordan Zunic and Steven Jeffress joining those already competing in the recent swing of events to generate one of the strongest fields of the year.
A course record and unassailable lead in the Onsite Rental Group Mining Town Series has pro-am plunderer Tim Hart positioned for a handy pay-day in Sunday’s second and final round of the $22,000 Downer Blackwater Pro-Am.
Praising the Blackwater Golf Club greens as the best that players have seen in the Mining Town Series to date, Hart’s combination of aggressive mindset and superb run of form produced a course record 10-under 62 in Saturday’s opening round.
As has become his habit, Hart completed his round with an eagle at the par-4 fifth hole having peeled off eight birdies in his previous 17 holes to take a two-shot lead into the final round.
Winner of five of his past seven starts – he was top-five in the other two – Hart is not only well placed to win at Blackwater but with a 19-shot lead pick up the lion’s share of the $8,000 bonus prizemoney having already taken out the Hidden Valley Whitsundays North Queensland Series.
“Needless to say, I feel really comfortable on the courses here in Central Queensland,” said Hart.
“They tend to lend themselves to being able to hit driver more often than not and I love that the courses allow me to keep playing aggressive.
“The greens here at Blackwater Golf Club are easily the best we have played in the Mining Town Series and it gave me plenty of confidence knowing if I hit it on line it was going to go in.
“Having won here in 2014 I have really good memories and that certainly helps when you are standing on tees trying to remember holes from 12 months ago.”
New South Welshman Nathan Barbieri will be hoping to turn a consistent run of form into a victory on Sunday after his round of 8-under 64 with former European Tour player Sam Brazel in outright third after a round of 6-under 64 that featured five birdies and an eagle at the par-5 11th.
With a nine-round accumulative total of 55-under par Hart leads the Mining Towns Series by 19 strokes, Shae Wools-Cobb, Gavin Fairfax and Damien Jordan left to fight it out for the minor placings.
At 36-under par Wools-Cobb (68) is five strokes clear of Fairfax (68) and Jordan (70) who are both 31-under par in the nine rounds they have played to date. The final round of the Downer Blackwater Pro-Am tees off tomorrow from 6.45am with Tim Hart teeing off alongside Barbieri at 11.30am from the first tee.
Victorian Daniel Beckmann can go a long way to erasing the disappointment of being disqualified at last month’s Kwinana Pro-Am as he takes a one stroke lead into the second round of the Roy Hill Port Hedland Classic at Port Hedland Golf Club.
After an eight-year break from the game Beckmann made his return at the PGA Tour of Australasia Qualifying School at Moonah Links in April and secured a full playing card.
In his first start back Beckmann finished atop the leaderboard alongside Andrew Kelly at the Kwinana Pro-Am only to be later disqualified for signing an incorrect scorecard. (Beckmann signed for a 68 when he in fact had 3-under 69.)
Beckmann had nine birdies in an opening round of 6-under 66 at Port Hedland to take a one-shot advantage into Sunday’s second round, South Australian Max McCardle, South West Open champion Brady Watt and Simon Houston all locked together at 5-under 67.
It is the first time Houston has returned to Port Hedland’s sand greens in five years while McCardle will draw on his experience from 2015 when he left Port Hedland as champion.
Dale Howie and Conor Brown are two shots adrift after rounds of 4-under 68 while 2016 champion Peter Cooke got hot late in his opening round to post 3-under 69, sitting in a five-way tie for seventh with Jarrod McCosh, Peter Wilson, Brad Moules and Andrew Kelly.
The final round of the Roy Hill Port Hedland Classic begins at 8.30am AWST Sunday.
Gabi Ruffels insists this week’s Meijer Classic in Michigan is the perfect preparation for her fourth appearance in a Major championship having been added to the field for the KPMG Women’s PGA Championship starting next Thursday.
Ruffels and Mexico’s Maria Fassi were both granted sponsor invites to play in the year’s third Major, Ruffels already having proven that she has the combination of game and temperament to contend in the game’s showpiece events.
She was top-15 at both the ANA Inspiration and US Women’s Open in 2020 as an amateur and in April was tied for 19th at the ANA having joined the professional ranks in February of this year.
The 2019 US Women’s Amateur champion and runner-up in 2020, Ruffels turned professional without status on either the LPGA Tour or secondary Symetra Tour but is destined to rise rapidly into the ranks of the world’s best.
Already ranked 136 in the world to be the fifth-highest Australian in the Rolex Women’s World Golf Rankings, Ruffels could avoid Q-School and earn an LPGA Tour card by winning an event or earning the equivalent points of the top 40 on the Order of Merit.
For now, though, she is simply grateful for the chance to play this week and the invitation to play at Atlanta Athletic Club in a week’s time.
“One of the tournament organisers sent me an e-mail and I got an e-mail from the LPGA with the entry form for the KPMG,” Ruffels said of the unexpected invite that arrived in her inbox on Monday.
“I got it three hours late after my practice round on Monday and I was so excited.
“I was in the car with my coach Grant, my Mum and I was like, ‘Oh, my God, you wouldn’t believe it. I just got into KPMG.’
“It was cool. I texted my manager straightaway because I know they had been working on that.
“As you can tell, I’m pretty excited.”
Ruffels is one of six Aussies in the field at Grand Rapids this week, five of whom are also in the field for the KPMG Women’s PGA.
Su Oh, Hannah Green, Katherine Kirk, Sarah Kemp and Sarah Jane Smith are also in action this week where Ruffels intends to take advantage of the opportunity to sharpen her game before another Major test.
“I feel like there is no better preparation than playing an LPGA event before next week’s major,” Ruffels said.
“Just trying to play as best as I can this week and hopefully have good preparation for next.”
West Australian Hannah Green will return to Australia for five weeks following the Women’s PGA Championship and the 2019 champion intends to finish this block of her season on a positive note.
“It is easy to get excited and caught up in going home and forget why I’m playing the next two events,” Green admitted.
“This week I haven’t done as much prep as I probably would just because I was quite tired from the last few weeks, so kind of taking it a little bit easier.
“Next week as soon as I get there and see past champion name and parking lot and stuff like that, I think I’ll be really motivated to try and get that again in ‘21.
“It is going to be a tough task, but I’m ready for it.”
Round 1 tee times AEST
LPGA Tour
Meijer LPGA Classic For Simply Give
Blythefield Country Club, Grand Rapids, Michigan
9.26pm Su Oh, Min Seo Kwak, Klara Spilkova
9.48pm Gabriela Ruffels, Jodi Ewart Shadoff, Charley Hull
9.59pm Lydia Ko, Jin Young Ko, Mel Reid
9.59pm* Hannah Green, Cristie Kerr, Sophia Popov
11.16pm* Sarah Jane Smith, Mind Muangkhumsakul, Maia Schechter
2.15am* Katherine Kirk, Dottie Ardina, Pernilla Lindberg
3.32am* Sarah Kemp, Austin Ernst, Mi Jung Hur
Defending champion: Brooke Henderson (2019)
Past Aussie winners: Nil
Top Aussie prediction: Hannah Green
TV schedule: Live 12.30am-3.30am Thursday, Friday; Live 5am-8am Sunday; Live 3am-6am Monday on Fox Sports 505.
Korn Ferry Tour
Wichita Open
Crestview Country Club, Wichita, Kansas
10.05pm* Jamie Arnold, Seth Reeves, Tommy Gainey
10.16pm Rhein Gibson, Ryan Brehm, Will Wilcox
3.15am Brett Coletta, Michael Gellerman, Billy Kennerly
3.57am Steven Alker, Peter Uihlein, Julián Etulain
4.07am* Brett Drewitt, Ollie Schniederjans, Theo Humphrey
4.28am Nick Voke, Mark Blakefield, Cyril Bouniol
4.49am Harrison Endycott, Patrick Fishburn, Steve Lewton
Defending champion: Jared Wolfe
Past Aussie winners: Bradley Hughes (2004), Mathew Goggin (2011)
Top Aussie prediction: Rhein Gibson
PGA TOUR Latinoamerica
Holcim Colombia Classic
Club Campestre de Bucaramanga, Bucaramanga, Colombia
3.30am* Danny List, Derek Gillespie, Sean Busch
Defending champion: Andrés Echavarría (2016)
Past Aussie winners: Nil
Legends Tour
Farmfoods European Legends Links Championship
Trevose Golf & Country Club, Padstow, England
Australasians in the field: Peter Fowler, Michael Campbell, Michael Long
Defending champion: Jean-Francois Remesy (2019)
Past Aussie winners: Nil
