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Ahead of his second appearance in a Major championship, West Australian Jason Scrivener takes us inside the ropes to share how he has prepared for this week’s US PGA Championship at Kiawah Island Resort’s Ocean Course.
The fact that I’m here at all came as a bit of a surprise. It was just a random e-mail. I was actually in quarantine at the time and checked this random e-mail from the PGA of America and it was an invitation to play. I was trying to qualify by getting into the top 100 in the World Rankings and because I was taking a long break I thought the WGC in February was my last chance. I didn’t play great there and was 112 in the world rankings so I’d kind of given up on it.
I first saw the course on Sunday and walked it and it’s an amazing piece of land, great golf course. I played nine holes Monday with Cam Smith and Jimmy Walker, nine on Tuesday with Keegan Bradley and I’m playing nine with Jason Day on Wednesday. The wind really blew on Tuesday so it bared its teeth and showed how it could play. Keegan said it was brutal on the Friday in 2012 and blew 30mph but I didn’t realise he had played so well here when he finished third; I should have picked his brain a bit more.
I played the back nine on Tuesday and it was pretty friendly going out with downwind holes but as soon as you turn at 14 it’s just brutal. I hit 3-iron into 14, 3-iron into 15, 16’s a three-shot par-5, 17 was 3-iron and 18 was 3-iron as well. The way it was playing on Tuesday it feels more like a US Open course but I like it. Obviously it’s going to be a brutal test and every part of your game has got to be on.
I’ve known for a few weeks that the long irons were going to have to be pretty sharp so I’ve done a bit of extra work on that. And then obviously you’re going to miss greens here no matter how good you hit it so short game’s very important. No matter how good you hit it you’re probably not going to hit more than 13 or 14 greens so you’re going to have to get up and down and chip and putt really well this week. That’s going to be the thing that separates the leaders from the rest of the pack.
Seventeen will get your attention. That’s the hole where guys are going to have to man up on the tee and hit a golf shot because there’s nowhere to hit it. If you bail out you’re not going to make par and then obviously you’ve got the water short and right. That’s the one shot that you’re probably not looking forward to.
It’s very important on a golf course like this to understand the different misses. It’s not a negative mindset, it’s being smart and thinking your way around. On a golf course like this there are times when missing in the correct spot is crucial. There are certain areas around certain greens where you’re just not going to get it up and down; you’re doing well to make a bogey and minimise the damage. It’s a fine line between trying not to be negative and trying to play smart. The harder the golf course, the more you have to think about the miss.
I can definitely see similarities between this golf course and some of our courses in Australia. The raised greens and tight lies around the greens is Australian-like and you’ve got to have your imagination around the greens which is pretty cool. But I don’t know that I’ve ever played anything quite like this. It’s pretty unique. It’s like an American links-style course. It doesn’t play like a links course but the wind certainly comes into play. You can use any club in the bag around the greens which is cool. We don’t get that on tour enough. I really like that.
It is a long course – they’re saying that it’s the longest course in Major championship history – but I don’t think it plays that long. The fairways are running a bit and obviously half the holes will play downwind depending on the wind direction.
When I played the US Open back in 2018 I didn’t really know what to expect. I was just there enjoying my first Major but this time I’m a different player. I’ve been around for a few more years now, know what to expect and I’ve been around the best players in the world for a while now. I’m used to playing against these guys. It’s obviously different playing only my second Major but I feel comfortable which is nice.
Along with Prime Minister Bob Hawke’s proclamation following the 1983 America’s Cup victory there could hardly be a more Aussie celebration of a great sporting moment than Wayne Grady’s reaction to his 1990 US PGA Championship triumph.
“You bloody beauty.”
At a time when Aussies were excelling both in Europe and in America, Grady was not among his country’s best eight players.
With Norman out in front as world No.1, Rodger Davis, Craig Parry, Peter Senior, Mike Harwood, Peter Fowler, Ian Baker-Finch and Brett Ogle were all among the top 50 players in the world, Grady not far behind at No.55.
A runner-up on 29 occasions prior to his Major breakthrough, Grady told The Tribune three weeks after his Shoal Creek heroics that the experiences between the two were vastly different.
“There’s not a great deal of difference in what you’ve got to do to win,” Grady offered. “But the difference in winning and finishing second is amazing.
“You finish second so many times and don’t get any recognition for it. But you win something and it’s changed completed.”
Two years Greg Norman’s junior coming through the same golf club in Brisbane and sharing the coaching mastery of PGA Immortal Charlie Earp, Grady revelled in the role of the Aussie battler, taking on those supposedly bigger and better and putting them in their place.
He wasn’t a regular winner on the PGA TOUR – the good life is for living, after all – but the greater the occasion the more Grady got up for the fight, defeating Norman at the fourth hole of a playoff at the 1988 Australian PGA Championship.
He and Norman both fell to Mark Calcavecchia in the playoff to determine the 1989 Open Championship winner and with a breakthrough US PGA TOUR title two months prior at the Westchester Classic Grady arrived at Shoal Creek Golf and Country Club in Birmingham, Alabama as an underdog ready to bite off more than most thought he could chew.
With gnarly rough and putting surfaces that players said reacted differently to approach shots from one hole to the next, Nick Faldo declared that “whoever hits their drive on a string will be at the top of the leaderboard”.
As Norman all but played himself out of contention with an opening round of 5-over 77, Grady plotted his way to an even-par round to sit two back of first round leader Bobby Wadkins, announcing himself as a genuine threat late on day two.
Birdies from 10 and 30 feet respectively on the second and fourth holes showed Grady cared little for talk of Shoal Creek’s treacherous greens and he picked up two more shots before the turn at holes six and nine.
Grady’s lone bogey came after he found the rough with his tee shot at the par-4 12th but birdies at 16 and 17 saw the Queenslander take sole ownership of the lead with the low round of the tournament, a 5-under 67.
“I don’t drive it long so I have to hit it straight,” Grady said post-round. “Short and crooked won’t last long out here.”
The 54-hole leader at the 1989 Open Championship, Grady doubled his one-stroke advantage at the halfway mark courtesy of an even par round of 72 in the third round, a bogey at the final hole preventing his lead from being even greater than his two-shot buffer to Payne Stewart and Fred Couples.
And the question was asked; could he close it out on Sunday after his Open heartbreak 12 months earlier?
“I think this will be more difficult than the Open last year because of the driving,” Grady said.
When Stewart arrived at the golf course on Sunday wearing the colours of the NFL’s Green Bay Packers, others such as Grady saw Aussie green and gold.
“A good omen,” he would admit later.
But it was anything but a pressure-free procession towards a Sunday coronation.
As Grady’s steady play continued Couples broke from the pack to assume the lead, only to hitch a four-hole ride on the bogey train to hand it straight back to the unassuming Queenslander.
As others stumbled around him Grady parred each of the final seven holes to complete a three-stroke victory and bury the demons that come with 29 career runner-up finishes.
“I may not seem too excited but believe me, I am,” Grady told the press afterwards.
“It was just such a grind I was not going to get too far ahead of myself.”
After a somewhat muted celebration on the 18th green Grady was met by playing partner Stewart, who told him, “Congratulations. This is going to change your life.”
“You look at that trophy and there are some great players who have won it,” Grady told the assembled media.
“And it doesn’t matter how hard you scratch that thing, they won’t be able to get my name off it.”
Later that year Grady was a member of the Australasian team along with Ian Baker-Finch, Rodger Davis, Brian Jones, Craig Parry and Peter Senior that won the Four Tours World Championship.
He won a second Australian PGA Championship in November 1991, won the 1993 Indonesia PGA Championship and was twice a winner of the HANDA Australian Senior Open in 2007 and 2008.
As his playing days wound down Grady developed a wide range of business interests, starting a golf course design company, becoming a popular public speaker, working in television commentary and running an event management company that continues today.
Grady was elected into the Queensland Sport Hall of Fame in 2009 and served as the Chairman of the PGA of Australia.
Dread is the predominant emotion among those teeing it up at the US PGA Championship at Kiawah Island Resort’s Ocean Course this week yet Adam Scott is embracing a sense of calm that comes with knowing what to expect.
At 7,876 yards (7,201 metres) it’s the longest course in Major championship history and according to the United States Golf Association boasts the highest combination of Slope Rating (155) and Course Rating (79.6).
Yet given a strong performance at the venue at the 2012 PGA Championship where he was tied for 11th and a preparation that he believes will drag him out of some early-season doldrums Scott says he has the experience to weather whatever Kiawah Island – and the weather itself – will throw at him.
“I have memories of playing this hard course and many other hard courses in majors, and I think drawing on that experience is a calming thing,” Scott told media on Tuesday.
“I remember watching guys who I thought were a bit old 15 years ago and just how calmly they played in these tough conditions.
“They managed to hold it together and not shoot a bad score and not shoot themselves out of the tournament.
“That’s a big thing that I look at when I stand here and just look at the flags blowing and know how difficult it is out there, that I’ve got the experience to kind of hold it all together when it gets tough out there.
“If I go out and birdie the first three, I know it’s my day and I can calmly keep going in that way; and if I go out and I’m 4-over through nine and it feels like the wheels are going to fall off, I know I have time to get things under control.
“That’s kind of how I operate.”
Granted an invitation by the PGA of America to take his place in the field this week, Scott’s best finish in 2021 is a tie for 10th at the Farmers Insurance Open in January. The 40-year-old Queenslander hasn’t played since he finished 54th at The Masters and has sought to reinvigorate his preparation to continue to get better.
“When I left the Masters, I kind of reassessed where everything was at,” Scott conceded.
“I said I wasn’t going to play another tournament until I was fully prepared to play. I was not happy with my first couple of months of the year. I was just spinning the wheels. I felt like I wasn’t getting better.
“I want to now get better as the rest of the season goes, so I feel very prepared for this week. I feel like I’ve prepared as best I can away from this week and I’ve played four practice rounds already.
“I feel like I know the course well enough now. Find a little feel tomorrow, hit a few balls and play nine holes.
“I feel like I’m in that calm place to deal with whatever happens out there.”
David Graham is best known for a ball-striking display in the final round of the 1981 US Open at Merion that had the game’s most revered figures in awe yet his Sunday heroics at the 1979 US PGA Championship at Oakland Hills Country Club in Michigan were almost as noteworthy.
Almost.
Starting the day four back of 54-hole leader Rex Caldwell – who bore an uncanny resemblance to crooner Barry Manilow – Graham went on a birdie blitz that had the course record and US PGA tournament record score well within his grasp.
And then disaster struck.
“It hit me just as I started my backswing on the 18th tee,” Graham conceded. “I just lost control of everything.”
The result was a double-bogey on the 72nd hole for a closing 5-under 65 and a playoff showdown with close friend Ben Crenshaw.
David Graham was the giant of Australian golf that no one saw coming.
He challenged the hierarchy of Australian golf from day one, becoming the youngest member of the Victorian PGA at just 16 years of age in 1962 and in so doing causing a rift between he and his father that lasted 10 years.
After success as a player in Australia, Japan and throughout Asia he defied convention again to take his game to the lucrative US Tour.
His first season was in 1971 and in 1972 Graham notched his first PGA TOUR title, defeating countryman and fellow trailblazer Bruce Devlin in a playoff at the 1972 Cleveland Open.
He would have to wait another four years to pick up his second yet his tie for fourth at the 1976 US PGA Championship paved the way for Graham to elevate his play into truly elite status.
He won twice in 1976, claimed the 1977 Australian Open at The Australian Golf Club and was top-10 in the 1977 and 1978 Masters but his best was yet to come.
Second going into the final round, Graham finished tied for sixth at the Philadelphia Classic the week prior to the US PGA Championship to signify he was in good form heading to Oakland Hills.
Overnight rain softened one of America’s most feared tests to the point where Tom Watson could post an opening round of 4-under 66 with Graham and fellow Australian Graham Marsh three shots back after posting rounds of 1-under 69.
Oakland Hills’ reputation for instilling carnage onto the world’s best players took another hit on Friday when Ben Crenshaw used a 3-under 67 to reach 4-under at the halfway mark, Graham’s 68 putting him into the group of 17 sub-par rounds on day two at an Oakland Hills layout that Detroit Free Press Sports Writer Jack Saylor described as “soft and vulnerable”.
One shot back through 36 holes, Graham fell four behind heading into the final round as Rex Caldwell took a two-stroke lead on the back of a third round of 4-under 66.
Recognising the need to produce a round of the highest order to even give himself a chance, Graham was sublime, picking up shots at the two opening holes, adding two more before the turn and then making birdies at both the 10th and 11th holes to reach 9-under par with seven holes to play.
His seventh birdie of the day at the par-4 15th not only put Graham in prime position to claim the Wanamaker Trophy and Oakland Hills course record but also a $50,000 bonus offered by Golf Magazine for any player who could best the PGA tournament record score of 271 set by Bobby Nichols in 1964.
And then Graham collapsed in a manner that he bluntly told the Detroit Free Press afterwards was the textbook definition of a choke.
“It hit me just as I started my backswing on the 18th tee,” Graham conceded. “I just lost control of everything. I had no idea where my ball would finish.”
Graham’s tee shot finished in the right rough, his approach shot to the 72nd green buried in grass so deep in the left collar of the putting surface that his third shot didn’t advance at all.
His second attempt finished just four feet from the hole but again nerves got the better of him, Graham’s miss and resulting double-bogey resulting in a sudden-death playoff with Crenshaw.
“It was not a difficult putt at all,” Graham added, finishing tied with Crenshaw on a tournament total of 272. “It should have been inside the right edge of the hole. When it missed I thought, What the hell’s going on here?”
Such was their friendship Crenshaw had often sought Graham’s counsel but now they were pitted against each other, both seeking a maiden Major championship victory.
More than 35,000 fans were on hand as the pair returned to the first hole to determine the champion.
Crenshaw had the upper hand until Graham sank a snaking 18-footer on the opening hole to match Crenshaw’s par, Graham driving another dagger into Crenshaw’s heart when he holed a 10-footer for birdie to match the Texan’s tap-in at the second playoff hole.
The end came at the 202-yard par-3 third, Crenshaw’s tee shot finishing in the greenside bunker as Graham lasered his iron into six feet and made the putt for birdie.
“I thought I had him on the first two holes but he kept making putts,” Crenshaw was left to lament.
“Except for that 18th hole it was as pure a round of golf as I’ve ever played,” Graham added.
“I had thought throughout the day that everything was well within my reach, and it was all there, just seeming to wait for me.”
Throughout the 1980s Graham was a consistent contender in the game’s showpiece events, his crowning glory the 1981 US Open win and a final day’s play that Ben Hogan himself referred to as “near perfection”.
Graham finished outside the top-20 at The Masters only twice between 1977 and 1985 and recorded a top-10 finish in at least one Major every year between 1975 and 1986, his 16th top-10 result at a Major coming at the 1990 Open Championship at St Andrews at 44 years of age.
He turned 50 in 1996 and won three Champions Tour titles the following year, adding further wins in each of the next two years, his final victory coming at the Raley’s Gold Rush Classic in October 1999.
Graham was made a Member of the Order of Australia in 1988, inducted into the Sport Australia Hall of Fame in 1990 and in 2015 was inducted into the World Golf Hall of Fame, his nomination supported by none other than Arnold Palmer and Jack Nicklaus.
In the first of a series of PGA Flashbacks detailing the five Australians to have won the US PGA Championship we unveil the dramatic finale to Jim Ferrier’s triumph in 1947 and thus becoming Australia’s first Major champion.
Walter Hagen described him as the “greatest golfer of all time”.
Byron Nelson, who refereed the 36-hole final, declared he “is the greatest I ever saw at getting down with a chip and single putt”.
Although a naturalised US citizen at the time of winning, Jim Ferrier’s 1947 US PGA Championship broke down the barrier to Major championship glory for Australian golfers and cemented his stature as one of the greatest players of his time.
The son of Manly Golf Club secretary Ben Ferrier, Jim Ferrier was destined for the golf course yet his brazen approach to both his play and sense of style caused angst within the Australian golf hierarchy.
Winner of the NSW Amateur Championship in 1931 at just 16 years of age, Ferrier’s mix of bright pullovers and powerful yet at times erratic play was unlike anything the genteel golf aristocracy had previously witnessed.
He added to his 1931 victory with further NSW Amateur titles in 1934, 1937 and 1938 and was the Australian Amateur champion four times between 1935 and 1939. In 1938 and 1939 he also won the Australian Open.
Yet the publication of a book titled How I Play Golf and his unwillingness to serve two years in a pro shop before turning professional convinced Ferrier to move to America at 25 years of age.
Unable to play in the 1940 US Amateur due to having published a book, Ferrier turned professional in 1941 based out of the Elmhurst Country Club near Chicago.
The first of his 17 PGA TOUR wins didn’t come until the Oakland Open in 1944 but top-10 finishes in both the Masters and US Open had Ferrier well fancied for the 1947 US PGA Championship.
Having set the qualifying record of 134 strokes the year prior and a leading contender in the early majors of 1947, Ferrier was regarded as one of the tournament favourites as players gathered at Plum Hollow Country Club in Southfield, Michigan.
Announcing he would only continue to play the Masters annually, Byron Nelson was a notable absentee but when the strokeplay section began defending champion Ben Hogan was considered the man to beat, the Daily Oklahoman describing the Plum Hollow layout as “made to order for his game”.
Opening with a 2-under par 70, Ferrier qualified for the matchplay section comfortably with a second round of even par 72 to finish five shots back of medallist Jimmy Demaret with Claude Harmon, Bobby Locke and Sam Snead also prominent.
It took until the 19th hole for Ferrier to edge Willie Goggin in the first round and when he moved past Herman Barron 3&2 in the second round set up a showdown with Harmon in the round of 16.
Ferrier’s defeat of Harmon at the 37th hole was considered an upset in the local Detroit press and set up a quarter-final against 1946 US Open champion Lloyd Mangrum.
He accounted for Mangrum 4&3 and when he eagled the first hole in his 36-hole semi-final match with Art Bell to take a lead he would never relinquish, Ferrier ensured his place in the final against Melvin ‘Chick’ Harbert.
The record books show that Ferrier triumphed 2&1 yet the drama that unfolded remains etched in American golf folklore.
In front of a crowd of some 6,000 spectators, Ferrier was said to have seven times benefited from his ball bouncing back into the fairway after hitting a member of the gallery while Harbert’s hopes faded after he hit a lady spectator on the sixth hole of the afternoon round and caromed out of bounds, the resulting penalty stroke allowing Ferrier to win the hole and take the lead.
But the final is perhaps best remembered for the daring and somewhat fortunate shot that Ferrier played on the third hole of the afternoon round when a wayward tee shot seemed destined to result in a penalty stroke of his own. Instead, Ferrier was granted a free drop after his ball landed on top of a tarpaulin spread over a hedge.
He would have to play a sweeping hook around trees and from a maintenance yard littered with garden tools in order to reach the green with his 5-iron and he did so in spectacular fashion.
Ferrier subsequently made the putt from 15 feet and proceeded to use his putter as a magic wand the remainder of the round, requiring just 54 putts for the 35 holes and only once being required to putt twice by Harbert; the 35th and final hole of the championship.
“When I saw this fellow in 1930 I thought he was the greatest golfer of all time, and I still think so,” Hagen declared in the locker room that evening.
Ferrier’s Major victory signalled the start of an extraordinary period of success on the PGA TOUR.
Less than two months later he shot 66 in the final round to win the St Paul Open and between 1948 and 1952 would add a further 14 PGA TOUR wins to his tally.
He won the Canadian Open on two occasions and twice partnered with Sam Snead to win the Inverness Invitational Four-ball.
He was 46 years of age when he won his 18th and final PGA TOUR title – the 1961 Almaden Open Invitational – and was runner-up at the 1950 Masters and 1960 US PGA championships.
Ferrier’s five wins on the PGA TOUR in 1951 was the most by an Australian in one season until it was matched by Jason Day in 2015, who claimed the US PGA Championship that same year.
He was made a member of the Sport Australia Hall of Fame with its inaugural class in 1985 and died a year later in Burbank, California at the age of 71.
He would have been showered with presents on his 40th birthday this August yet Jarrod Lyle’s greatest gift might be to help children fighting cancer better understand their illness and the treatment they are receiving.
For the third year the #DoingItForJarrod campaign supported by both the PGA of Australia and Golf Australia will raise funds for Challenge to help children and families dealing with cancer, Australian golf clubs invited to host a day, wear yellow and collect a gold donation from participants.
The #DoingItForJarrod campaign will run for three months from August through to October with Saturday, August 21 to represent both a sombre occasion and a day of celebration.
It is the day of Jarrod Lyle’s 40th birthday, his passing three years ago devastating friends, family and the entire golf world yet his legacy of kindness and good humour carries forward through his long association with Challenge.
First diagnosed with Leukaemia in 1999, Lyle became a Challenge Ambassador in 2004 with the primary aim of easing the pressure and pain of those who go through what he and his family endured on three separate occasions.
All monies raised during the #DoingItForJarrod campaign go towards Jarrod’s Gift to continue his work of advocating, understanding and raising awareness to support kids travelling a similar journey to his own.
“We are currently working on our first project, which is to create a special resource that will help to teach kids about cancer,” explained Jarrod’s wife, Briony Lyle.
“For many years, cartoonist Mark Knight has given his time and expertise to Challenge by creating images and illustrations that help explain aspects of cancer and cancer treatments in a way children can understand.
“So far these incredible illustrations have only been used within the Challenge organisation and among our families, and it is our goal to compile them into a single resource that we hope to make available to anyone who needs it.
“Jarrod often said he learnt far more from Mark’s images than he did from his own doctors and he knew firsthand how hard it was to talk about cancer to young children, which is why we are undertaking this project as part of Jarrod’s Gift.”
For Australian golf clubs the process is simple:
“In his role as ambassador for Challenge, Jarrod didn’t do anything big and flashy but instead focused on smaller, more practical things,” Briony said.
“He knew that the big, once-in-a-lifetime experiences were great for the kids, but he also understood that it was often more important to help get the family through one day and on to the next.
“With the money raised by golf clubs around Australia, we want to make sure our families continue to get through each day and can hopefully make their way through their individual cancer journeys.”
Saturday, August 21 will be a popular choice as organisers aim for a total of 300 #DoingItForJarrod days across the country and Briony has no doubt as to how Jarrod would have celebrated turning 40.
“More than likely he would be at Shepparton Golf Club, playing a round with his good mates, talking shit about their footy teams and their golf swings,” Briony pondered.
“He’d call in to his Nan’s house for some sweet treats for afternoon tea and then a barbecue dinner in someone’s backyard.
“There would be a mountain of presents (because he loved getting presents!), a plate of fairy bread that he would eat all by himself and ice cream cake.
“He would make sure it was a celebration that would be enjoyed by his own kids as much as by his adult mates.”
And that is a spirit everyone in Australian golf can celebrate.
The #DoingItForJarrod campaign has partnered with Titleist, Jarrod’s life-long golf sponsor, allowing every participating golf club to receive a #DoingItForJarrod Prize Pack which includes products unique to this campaign. Each year, #DoingItForJarrod culminates in Yellow Day at the Australian PGA Championship where a special Honour Board is revealed with the names of every participating golf club. In addition, every golf club that takes part is entered into the annual Major Prize Draw which gives three individuals a money-can’t-buy experience at the Australian PGA Championship.
Challenge is a not-for-profit organisation that provides daily support for children and families living with cancer or a life-threatening blood disorder from the time of diagnosis, through treatment and beyond. It is a unique organisation that has a very personal connection to the families it supports.
West Australian pair Jason Scrivener and Min Woo Lee and South Australian Wade Ormsby will make their return to tournament golf for the first time in more than two months when the Betfred British Masters commences at The Belfry in England tonight.
A week out from the US PGA Championship at Kiawah Island Resort, the European Tour has opted to start the British Masters a day early with Queenslander Scott Hend to lead the Aussie charge out from 5.10pm AEST this evening.
Making his first start since the Commercial Bank Qatar Masters in early March, Wade Ormsby will follow 30 minutes after Hend with Maverick Antcliff looking to build on his runner-up finish in Spain last week 10 minutes later.
Scrivener and Lee won’t tee off until later in the evening but it pales in comparison to the wait they have had to endure before pegging it up again.
Neither player has had a tournament start since the WGC-Workday Championship in Florida in late February, two weeks of quarantine and time at home in Perth the only option in preparation of a big second half of the year.
Tied for 41st at the Workday Championship, Scrivener returns to the European Tour sixth in the Race to Dubai rankings thanks largely to his runner-up finish at the Abu Dhabi HSBC Championship, tying Chris Di Marco’s low back-nine record of 29 in the process in the final round.
After four missed cuts to start the year across both the European Tour and PGA TOUR, Lee gave a glimpse into his abundant talent with a third round of 66 in his WGC debut in February, ultimately finishing tied for 28th.
Ormsby too played the WGC but squeezed in another tournament before he returned home to Adelaide for an extended period ahead of a busy nine-week stretch of events.
In another busy week for Australia’s touring pros there are eight players seeking to add their name to an impressive list of Aussie winners at the PGA TOUR’s AT&T Byron Nelson.
Originally slated to have six starters in a tournament won by Peter Thomson 65 years ago and Bruce Devlin in 1969, Australia’s representation in Texas has been bolstered by Greg Chalmers’ elevation into the field following the withdrawal of world No.1 Dustin Johnson and Sydney’s John Lyras grabbing one of the four spots at Monday qualifying.
The 54-hole leader at the Moonah Links PGA Classic, this week will mark Lyras’s second career PGA TOUR start, joining the professional ranks after qualifying to play in the 2019 Wyndham Championship.
The Ladies European Tour also returns for the first time in 2021 at the Investec South African Women’s Open where Gold Coaster Amy Walsh will fly the Aussie flag while Gabi Ruffels will seek her first win as a professional at the Symetra Tour’s Symetra Classic in North Carolina.
Round 1 tee times AEST
European Tour
Betfred British Masters hosted by Danny Willett
The Belfry, Sutton Coldfield, England
5.10pm Scott Hend, Ashley Chesters, Grant Forrest
5.40pm Wade Ormsby, Scott Jamieson, Richard Mansell
5.50pm* Maverick Antcliff, Justin Walters, Chris Paisley
6.30pm* Josh Geary, Johannes Veerman, Ben Evans
10pm Jason Scrivener, Mike Lorenzo-Vera, David Drysdale
11.10pm Min Woo Lee, Benjamin Hebert, Sean Crocker
11.20pm Jake McLeod, Rikard Karlberg, Francesco Laporta
Defending champion: Renato Paratore
Past Aussie winners: Graham Marsh (1979), Greg Norman (1981, 1982) Robert Allenby (1996)
Top Aussie prediction: Jason Scrivener
TV schedule: Live 10.30pm-2.30am Wednesday, Thursday; Live 10.30pm-2am Friday on Fox Sports 503; Live 9.30pm-2am Saturday on Fox Sports 505
PGA TOUR
AT&T Byron Nelson
TPC Craig Ranch, McKinney, Texas
9.50pm Danny Lee, Ben Martin, Seamus Power
10.34pm* Marc Leishman, Sam Burns, Bryson DeChambeau
10.45pm Greg Chalmers, Andrew Putnam, Russell Knox
11.18pm John Senden, DJ Trahan, Mark Hubbard
11.51pm John Lyras, Wes Roach, Ben Taylor
3.11am* Tim Wilkinson, Nick Watney, Josh Teater
3.22am* Cameron Percy, Ricky Barnes, Roberto Castro
4.06am Jason Day, Charles Howell III, Patton Kizzire
4.39am* Aaron Baddeley, Anirban Lahiri, Kelly Kraft
4.50am* Rhein Gibson, Joseph Bramlett, Ryan Lumsden
Defending champion: Sung Kang (2019)
Past Aussie winners: Peter Thomson (1956), Bruce Devlin (1969), Adam Scott (2008), Jason Day (2010), Steven Bowditch (2015)
Top Aussie prediction: Marc Leishman
TV schedule: Live 5.30am-8.30am Friday, Saturday; Live 3am-8am Sunday, Monday on Fox Sports 503
Japan Golf Tour
Asia Pacific Diamond Cup Golf
Sagamihara Golf Club (East Cse), Kanagawa
8.20am Adam Bland, Yusaku Miyazato, Shunsuke Sonoda
8.50am Michael Hendry, Ryutaro Nagano, Taisei Yamada
9.10am* Todd Sinnott, Kosei Takeyama (a), Katsumasa Miyamoto
12.30pm* Anthony Quayle, Norihiko Furusho, Michio Matsumura
1pm Brad Kennedy, Taisei Shimizu, Tomoharu Otsuki
1.20pm* David Bransdon, Shintaro Kobayashi, Yuta Kinoshita
1.30pm* Matthew Griffin, Kenichi Kuboya, Toshinori Muto
1.50pm* Dylan Perry, Yoshitaka Takeya, Naoto Takayanagi
2.10pm Scott Strange, Taiga Iwata (a), Daisuke Matsubara
Defending champion: Yosuke Asaji (2019)
Past Aussie winners: Graham Marsh (1974, 1982), Brian Jones (1985, 1987, 1988)
Top Aussie prediction: Dylan Perry
Korn Ferry Tour
Visit Knoxville Open
Holston Hills CC, Knoxville, Tennessee
9.45pm* Robert Allenby, Anders Albertson, James Driscoll
9.55pm* Brett Drewitt, Brett Coletta, Whee Kim
10.05pm Jamie Arnold, Stephan Jaeger, David Lipsky
11.05pm* Harrison Endycott, Trevor Cone, Taylor Dickson
2.15am Curtis Luck, Adam Svensson, Martin Piller
2.25am Steven Alker, Mito Pereira, Billy Kennerly
3.45am* Nick Voke, Max Greyserman, Kevin Roy
3.55am* Ryan Ruffels, Theo Humphrey, James Nicholas
Defending champion: Robby Shelton (2019)
Past Aussie winners: Kim Felton (2005), Jarrod Lyle (2008)
Top Aussie prediction: Brett Drewitt
Challenge Tour
Range Servant Challenge by Hinton Golf
Hinton Golf Club, Malmö, Sweden
5pm Daniel Hillier, Jérôme Lando Casanova, Ryan Evans
6pm Deyen Lawson, Björn Akesson, Samuel Del Val
10.10pm Dimitrios Papadatos, Daniel Young, Edouard Dubois
10.10pm* Jarryd Felton, Lucas Vacarisas, Sébastien Gros
11.30pm Blake Windred, Harry Ellis, Felix Palson
Defending champion: Inaugural event
Past Aussie winners: Nil
Top Aussie prediction: Deyen Lawson
Ladies European Tour
Investec South African Women’s Open
Westlake Golf Club, Cape Town, South Africa
5pm Amy Walsh, Tina Mazarino, Yolanda Duma
Symetra Tour
Symetra Classic
River Run Country Club, Davidson, North Carolina
Aussies in the field: Gabriela Ruffels, Stephanie Na, Robyn Choi, Julienne Soo, Soo Jin Lee, Hira Naveed
Defending champion: Peiyun Chien
Past Aussie winners: Nil
Top Aussie prediction: Gabriela Ruffels
Champions Tour
Mitsubishi Electric Classic
TPC Sugarloaf, Duluth, Georgia
Aussies in the field: Stephen Leaney, David McKenzie, Rod Pampling
Defending champion: Scott McCarron
Past Aussie winners: Nil
Top Aussie prediction: David McKenzie
Greg Chalmers has taken a typically self-deprecating approach to his elevation into the field for this week’s AT&T Byron Nelson in his home state of Texas.
The 47-year-old has made just three appearances on the PGA TOUR thus far in 2021 but is the beneficiary of the misfortune to have fallen Dustin Johnson, the world No.1 announcing his withdrawal due to ongoing knee “discomfort”.
Johnson’s place in the field has been taken by Chalmers, who greeted the news of his role as a high-profile replacement on Twitter in deadpan fashion.
“The parallels are uncanny,” Chalmers said.
The inclusion of Chalmers takes the Aussie presence at TPC Craig Ranch to seven, joining Aaron Baddeley, Jason Day, Rhein Gibson, Marc Leishman, Cameron Percy and John Senden in the final tune-up ahead of next week’s US PGA Championship.
In a statement released by the PGA TOUR, Johnson expressed his disappointment in missing the event that pays homage to the great Byron Nelson, winner of 52 PGA TOUR titles.
“Unfortunately, the knee discomfort I occasionally experience has returned and, after consultation with my team and trainers, I feel it is best that I remain at home and focus on my rehabilitation work,” Johnson said.
“I am not pleased about this situation as I was really looking forward to playing this week.”
Tied for 22nd at the Puerto Rico Open in February, Chalmers last played the AT&T Byron Nelson in 2018 with a best finish a tie for 16th back in 2009.
It is a tournament in which Australians have a rich history, Peter Thomson winning in 1956 along with Bruce Devlin (1969), Adam Scott (2008), Jason Day (2010) and Steven Bowditch (2015).
Turning 40 last March was not a time of reflection for Wade Ormsby but more a realisation that he has never been in a better position to play his best golf.
Prior to his return to the European Tour for this week’s Betfred British Masters at The Belfry in England, Ormsby reflected on the scars inflicted from his early years on tour and why the likes of countryman Scott Hend and some of the biggest names in world sport have convinced him that his most productive years on tour are still to come.
A winner of the Hong Kong Open for a second time in January last year, Ormsby joined the rest of the golf world on an enforced layoff after finishing tied for 10th at the Bandar Malaysian Open in March and celebrated his 40th birthday three weeks later in lockdown back home in Adelaide.
He waited until late August before returning to the European Tour and as he prepares to begin a nine-week stretch of tournaments to resume his 2021 campaign Ormsby is 60th in the Race to Dubai standings and ranked 180th in the world.
It’s a far cry from the 23-year-old who first earned his European Tour card at Qualifying School at the end of 2003 and spent much of the first decade of his career fighting to stay there, those scars helping to develop a complete player both physically and mentally.
“Age is just a number,” Ormsby said prior to leaving Australia last Saturday.
“It’s easy to say that as a cliché but I really feel as though if I can keep my body in good nick I feel like my mechanics are still getting better, I’m still unlocking a lot of good stuff in all of that.
“I landed on tour so quick and so early in my career and I did all my learning out there. With all that learning comes a lot of hard hits, bouts to tour school and the like. You’ve got to learn how to win and how to take the hits of losing golf tournaments out there.
“That period in my 20s and early 30s, I got beaten around quite a bit but I still managed to keep myself on those main tours. That makes you tougher but you tend to carry a lot more baggage.
“I’m just doing it in a better way now. I’m happy living here in Australia and commuting back and forth – even though the pandemic made that a bit tricky.
“I’ve got a good team of people around me, I know myself and my tendencies a lot better than I ever have and I’m still keen to work hard.
“I love competing and I love trying to get the most out of myself.
“As long as I can keep fast enough and injury free I feel like I’ll be fine for another four, five, six years, easily.”
Ormsby’s breakthrough win at the 2017 Hong Kong Open allowed him to shed the King Kong-sized gorilla that had taken up residence on his back.
His second Hong Kong Open triumph shaped as the start of another exceptional season only for COVID-19 to bring that momentum to a grinding halt.
Despite effectively missing a year in the prime of his career, Ormsby can point to the likes of Tom Brady and LeBron James as athletes defying whatever age barriers may have existed previously, including his globe-trotting mate from Queensland.
“I’ve spent quite a bit of time in the past 18 months with ‘Hendy’ and Hendy’s still hungry,” said Ormsby, 47-year-old Hend the oldest player to make the cut as he finished tied for eighth at the Tenerife Open two weeks ago.
“He’s one of the fiercest competitors that you’ll get. We all know he’s a pretty powerful guy and he’s still athletic for his age… I can’t see him stopping. He just loves playing golf tournaments and he’s a great front-runner. It’s not often that you don’t see him go forwards on the weekends when he’s on that first page of the leaderboard.
“Turning 40 was a little milestone but it is what you make of it. It’s just another year and if you’re stronger and you’re faster and your mechanics are better and the stats are telling you that and the results are telling you that, why believe anything else?
“There are a lot of people in other sports still doing things at an older age or in the latter parts of their career and my career was a bit upside down.
“I did a lot of learning early on so I feel like I’m more comfortable than I ever have been out there.
“I’m looking forward to capitalising on that in the next phase of my career.”
Bundaberg Golf Club has claimed a thrilling victory at the 2019/20 Volkswagen Scramble Championship Final as the team from Yowani Country Club was crowned the Women’s Final champions.
Conditions at Twin Waters Golf Club on the Sunshine Coast could not have been better for the final round of the 2019/20 Volkswagen Scramble Championship Final.
Monday’s third and final round went down to the wire as a flurry of Clubhouse leaders, including RACV Club Healesville and Town of 1770, each took their turn at the top of the leaderboard.
An unbelievable finish in the form of a scintillating eagle on the final hole saw overnight leaders Bundaberg Golf Club storm home to clinch the 2019/20 title over RACV Club Healesville.
Their final round 56.9 nett result gave Bundaberg a 163.7 total across the tournament to steal the win from RACV Club Healesville by just 0.4 shots.
The par-3 17th hole only saw four birdies all day, yet Bundaberg Golf Club found a way to secure a much-needed birdie thanks to Tim Russell, who drained a monster 50 foot putt to put himself within reach of personal back-to-back Volkswagen Scramble Championship Final victories.
This left the team of Head Professional Mick Murnane, Josiah Manteit, Nicole Allen, Thomas Jameon and Russell with an intense final hole, where only an eagle would give them the win.
“Just as we arrived at the 18th tee we saw Town of 1770’s score in the clubhouse and thought we needed at a birdie to tie and eagle to win. Then as we were about to hit our second shot we saw RACV Healesville edge them by 0.6 and knew we needed an eagle here to win,” said Murnane.
“Josiah was sitting 210 out, from the rough and a slight downhill lie and he goes and puts it to ten foot for the eagle putt, the purest shot hit all day.”
It wasn’t all smooth sailing for the team as they struggled to find their rhythm early in the round.
“We were sitting 130 out on hole 13 when Tim Russell hit the flagstick, we then had a 10 foot putt which we all missed,” said Murnane.
“We were thinking it was just going to be one of those days. We might not have been feeling our best this morning so I think we will be keeping things fairly tame and just quietly enjoying ourselves.”
In his first appearance in the Volkswagen Scramble Championship Final Murnane was ecstatic to be taking home the victory after a thoroughly enjoyed four days.
“It’s amazing,” said Murnane. “Such a great tournament, you can see why everyone wants to get involved in these events because it is just so much fun.”
Following a surge up the leaderboard in round two of the 2019/20 Volkswagen Scramble Championship Final, the women’s team from Yowani Country Club aimed to build on their two shot lead coming into the final round.
The team, consisting members of Margo Bain, Roseanna Barritt-Eyles, Patricia Noel and Rhonda Riches led by PGA Professional Paul Finkle, carded a third round of 7-under 56 for a nett score of 59.1.
Their third-round effort took the team to a total of 170.3 and an unassailable four shot lead over second placed Prospect Vale Golf Club.
Yowani Head Professional Paul Finkle was tasked with keeping his team composed from the first tee, saying: “we want to keep a calm head today and just play our natural game.”
“We didn’t look at the scores all day, we didn’t want any added pressure as some of the girls were a bit nervous as we began this morning.”
Finkle was wrapped with his team’s performance and ability to hold onto to their strong overnight lead.
“The teamwork the ladies showed out there today was just great,” said Finkle.
“We are all very happy with our effort. We worked pretty hard today so it is a great feeling to get the win.”
Finkle was quick to appreciate how their strong performance in round two set them up in an ideal position coming into the final day.
“A really good day yesterday was key.”
In their quest to reach the Championship Final Finkle thanked Yownai’s local Volkswagen Dealership for their support alongside Volkswagen Group Australia’s sponsorship of the Scramble over the last few years.
“Our local Dealer has been sponsoring our Yowani event for years now so it’s great to be able to repay their faith in us with a win at the Championship Final.”
Finkle hopes his victory in the Championship Final will act as a stepping stone and spur on fellow Scramblers in the ACT to get involved in the events as the Volkswagen Scramble continues to grow.
For all the round three scores and final results please click HERE.
