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The challenge of change was one that was thrust upon every golf facility in Australia in 2020 in ways none of us could ever have expected.
The COVID-19 pandemic brought with it course closures, new operating protocols and an explosion in memberships and rounds that all required nimble management, constant communication and buy-in from every staff member across each aspect of the business.
The way Wembley Golf Course in Perth dealt with all of these unique challenges and how they embraced change to improve their operations has earned General Manager Josh Madden the 2020 PGA National Management Professional of the Year award.
Conceding that golf facilities in Western Australia were less impacted by COVID than other states such as Victoria, Madden explained that once he and the staff at Wembley identified the opportunities that they had been presented they took full advantage.
“We’re always trying to improve and strangely COVID-19 provided the re-boot button we needed to make a few hard decisions that we’ve changed permanently in 2021,” Madden says.
“We moved our coring and scarifying rotation up from August/September to the first week we were closed in March. We mobilised in three days and did all 36 holes and the result was an outstanding product all winter that was better equipped to handle the golf traffic that we experienced in 2020.
“It also gave us a chance to revisit our tee sheet management and make some changes that would have been very difficult to manage without the break that COVID-19 provided.
“The results have been terrific. We’re communicating better with our social groups and managing the traffic better which ultimately resulted in a better pace of play for more people.
“It all worked out but was a lot of work by my fantastic team behind the scenes both on the golf course and within the pro shop.”
Already one of the busiest golf facilities in the country, golf’s boon in popularity broke records at Wembley.
The pro shop and golf course experienced increases of some 25 per cent month after month but it was on the automated driving range – the perfect athletic outlet in a pandemic – where the impact was most significant.
“Patrons hit 111,000 balls in one day in July. Those kinds of numbers were unheard before COVID-19,” Madden reveals, estimating that more than 16 million balls were hit on the range over the course of the year.
“That’s a big number for one day in the middle of winter.
“Clearly the driving range provided a socially-distanced golf experience that the public embraced at the right price.
“We normally allow the team to re-charge their batteries across our Perth winter and take some leave to prepare for a busy summer. July 2020 turned out to be busier than December 2019.
“All of a sudden we were off and running delivering service to record numbers of new and seasoned golfers alike.”
Like a coach with a team stacked with talent, Madden credits the staff he leads for bringing Wembley through a year of change in a better place than when it started.
“I think we’d all like to say that it was all planned out and we knew what was happening, but truthfully 2020 challenged my team and I to remain resilient, flexible and adaptive,” adds Madden, who presented a 45-minute online webinar to PGA members with PGA staff member Brent Davis on COVID-19 preparation prior to reopening.
“There were positives that have come from this and resilience was the lesson that was reinforced. We just had to work through it each day and do the best we could as a team.
“I’ve been really proud of the changes that our team made to get the most out of this venue and how everyone dug in and supported each other when we were really busy.
“We had to make some hard decisions that involved change and that’s always uncomfortable, but the team delivered.”
There aren’t many key Australian golf trophies without the name Peter Senior engraved upon them.
For that matter, there aren’t many decades in which the evergreen Queenslander hasn’t saluted professionally.
Now, at Concord, a course that has twice been totally redesigned during Senior’s epic career, he hasn’t given up hope that he can rectify those two anomalies at the Golf Challenge New South Wales Open.
It’s scarcely believable that Senior has turned 61, but his storybook career confirms otherwise with wins over golf’s who’s who in fields containing Greg Norman in the ‘70s to Ian Woosnam in the ‘80s, Tom Watson in the ‘90s, Rod Pampling in the ‘00s and even Bryson DeChambeau in the ‘10s among dozens globally.
But don’t dare suggest that he won’t stretch that extraordinary streak into a sixth decade, despite playing against a raft of players far younger than his own children.
“Golf’s a number, not an age. I always think of Tom Watson nearly winning the British Open at 60 years of age,” Senior said of his rationale.
“Physically everything is going well, my game’s OK.
“I’m a bit out of my depth (length-wise) … I played with some young guys here (in practice today) and they are 70 or 80 metres in front of me.
“But you’ve got to put a score on the board and I’ve always been good at doing that and hopefully I’ll do it again this week.
“I’m not daunted, it’s never really bothered me. Putting a score on the board is all I worry about.”
Senior predicted a shootout if forecast good weather materialised and the course remained soft after the weekend deluge in Sydney.
He said many of the powerful youngsters would drive a couple of Concord’s short par-4s (notably the first and 13th) and reach most of the par-5s with mid-irons.
“And the ball’s not running, so they’re not getting into any trouble, so I think the scores will be low.
“(I’ll have to) get off to a good start and have a good short game this week.
“I can’t reach the par-5s (in two), so I’m going to have to pitch well from 50 yards, the shorter holes I’ve got to take advantage of.
“And there’s a couple of par-4s that I hit 3-wood into today – but that’s OK, it’s all part of the game and nothing I haven’t done before.”
Senior lauded the course’s condition after almost 400mm of rain has fallen here in the past 10 days.
He also praised the redesign that officially opened in April 2018, saying the clearing of trees was the most notable change.
“The tightness of the fairways (has changed). If you missed a fairway here – and they weren’t very wide (back then) – you’d be in all sorts of trouble with overhanging trees.
“Now there’s quite a bit of room.
“But I don’t have trouble hitting fairways, I have more trouble reaching them now,” he joked.
Senior is one of just five players in this week’s field to have played a NSW Open at Concord; the most recent of its 12 previous times having hosted the state championship was in 1988.
But he’s the only one of those – including Peter Fowler, Peter Lonard, Peter O’Malley and Glenn Joyner – to have stood on the podium here.
“I have always played pretty well here. I had a chance to win a NSW Open here (when Ian Stanley won and relegated Senior to runner-up in 1985).
“It’s always good to come back to places where you’ve played well before.”
Senior was runner-up to another legend in Ian Baker-Finch a year earlier in 1984 at The Lakes.
But that’s as close as he’s come to the Kel Nagle Cup.
So, in his 44th year as a professional, does he dare to dream?
“It would be something, wouldn’t it?” he said.
Yes, it really would.
Former world No.12 Robert Allenby expects Australia’s representation in the Official World Golf Rankings to continue to swell amidst a flood of young talent making their way onto the game’s major tours.
Matt Jones’ victory in last week’s Honda Classic moved him back into the top 50 in the world for the first time since the 2014 US Open and took the total number of Aussies to five, third only to the United States (22) and England (six) for highest representation by a single nation.
Three of the Aussie men currently in the top 50 – Cameron Smith (27), Marc Leishman (39) and Jason Day (47) – will contest the WGC-Dell Technologies Match Play in Austin, Texas starting Friday morning while our two top-50 players in the Rolex Women’s World Golf Rankings – Minjee Lee (10th) and Hannah Green (19th) – return to the LPGA Tour at the Kia Classic.
All told there are 20 Australians in action across six tours around the world this week and Allenby is adamant those numbers at the upper echelon of the rankings will only continue to grow.
“We’ve got so many great, exciting young guys coming up which is good for Australian golf,” said Allenby, who was one of four Aussies inside the top 50 when he last appeared that highly in the rankings in August 2011.
“Korn Ferry Tour has some amazing young talent out there too. Between the Korn Ferry and the main tour, Australian golf is in a great position.”
Lucas Herbert and Min Woo Lee have already notched wins on the European Tour early in their careers and have taken up opportunities to play on the PGA TOUR in 2021.
After just missing out on a spot in the WGC-Match Play, Herbert will tee it up at the Corales Puntacana Resort and Club Championship in the Dominican Republic this week having finished tied for 46th at The Honda Classic.
Like many players of his era, Allenby’s path to the PGA TOUR went via the European Tour but given the restrictions on travel because of the COVID-19 pandemic the 49-year-old has urged young Aussies to head straight to the US.
“I like to see Lucas Herbert trying to make his way out here on the US Tour as well,” said Allenby.
“I saw that he was first alternate for the Match Play but he’s playing the Dominican this week which is great.
“He played pretty decent last week at The Honda which was good, that’s a tough course.
“We’ve got so many young kids who just need the opportunity now to play because of COVID.
“I went through Europe because Greg Norman told me it would be a great way to learn the trade, learn the travel, win and then come over to the US and perform.
“It worked really well for me and I had a lot of success on the US Tour and I had a lot of success on the European Tour as well.
“The US Tour is just the easiest commute there is for golf in the world. The European Tour you’ve got to travel the whole world to play it.
“It’s tough because the European Tour is not really a full schedule at the moment. The US is really the only place that’s got a stable thing going.
“The only thing with the US Tour right now and the way they play it, if you’re not ready for it you’re going to get beaten up.
“Our young guys all hit it well, they all hit it far enough and they’ve got great short games so there’s no reason why the young guys can’t perform over here.”
Round 1 tee times AEDT
World Golf Championships
Dell Technologies Match Play
Austin Country Club, Austin, Texas
11.56pm Cameron Smith v Lanto Griffin
12.18am Jason Day v Scottie Scheffler
5.04am Marc Leishman v Victor Perez
Defending champion: Kevin Kisner (2019)
Past Aussie winners: Geoff Ogilvy (2006, 2009), Jason Day (2014, 2016)
Top Aussie prediction: Jason Day
TV schedule: Live on GolfTV
PGA TOUR
Corales Puntacana Resort & Club Championship
Corales Golf Club, Punta Cana, Dominican Republic
9.56pm* Tim Wilkinson, Jhonattan Vegas, Rafa Cabrera Bello
10.18pm* Greg Chalmers, Tyler Duncan, Martin Trainer
10.51pm Aaron Baddeley, Fabián Gómez, Will Gordon
11.02pm Rhein Gibson, Dominic Bozzelli, Thomas Pieters
11.13pm Lucas Herbert, Zack Sucher, Ryan Brehm
3.07am John Senden, David Hearn, Patrick Rodgers
Defending champion: Hudson Swafford
Past Aussie winners: Nil
Top Aussie prediction: Lucas Herbert
TV schedule: Live 1am-4am Friday, Saturday; Live 5am-8am Sunday; Live 5.30am-8am Monday on Fox Sports 503.
LPGA Tour
Kia Classic
Aviara Golf Club, Carlsbad, California
1.33am Katherine Kirk, Dani Holmqvist, Mariah Stackhouse
1.44am* Lydia Ko, Brooke M. Henderson, Jin Young Ko
6.11am Sarah Jane Smith, Amy Olson, Alena Sharp
6.44am Hannah Green, A Lim Kim, Sophia Popov
7.17am Minjee Lee, Georgia Hall, Eun-Hee Ji
7.39am Su Oh, Sarah Kemp, Haeji Kang
Defending champion: Nasa Hataoka (2019)
Past Aussie winners: Nil
Top Aussie prediction: Su Oh
TV schedule: Live 9am-12pm Friday, Saturday, Sunday and Monday on Fox Sports 503.
European Tour
Kenya Savannah Classic
Karen Country Club, Nairobi, Kenya
Round 1 scores
T13 Scott Hend 66
T26 Maverick Antcliff 67
Defending champion: Inaugural event
TV schedule: Live 9pm-2am Wednesday; Live 8pm-1am Thursday and Friday on Fox Sports 503.
PGA Tour-Latinoamerica
Mexico Open
Estrella del Mar Golf & Beach, Mazatlan, Mexico
1.50am* Danny List, Alistair Docherty, Jason Thresher
Defending champion: Drew Nesbitt (2019)
Past Aussie winners: Nil
Symetra Tour
IOA Championship
Morongo Golf Club at Tukwet Canyon, Beaumont, California
Aussies in the field: Gabriela Ruffels, Stephanie Na, Robyn Choi
Defending champion: Fatima Fernandez Cano
Past Aussie winners: Nil
Top Aussie prediction: Gabriela Ruffels
* Starting from 10th tee
Josh Younger’s playoff triumph at Twin Creeks almost 18 months ago was vindication that a decade chasing a breakthrough professional golf victory was worth the hard work.
It also gave a host of his contemporaries belief that they could be next.
It’s been a long-time coming but Younger finally gets to put his Golf Challenge NSW Open title on the line at Concord Golf Club starting Thursday where once again much of the focus will be on the extraordinary pool of young talent that has burst onto the scene in the past 12 months.
Yet an examination of the winners on the ISPS HANDA PGA Tour of Australasia this year shows a group of players who have spent year after year after year grinding to become an overnight sensation.
Marcus Fraser (Gippsland Super 6) and Brad Kennedy (TPS Victoria) are proven tournament winners now in their 40s but it took until they had gone beyond their 30th birthday for Chris Wood (Victorian PGA Championship), Bryden Macpherson (Moonah Links PGA Classic), Andrew Martin (TPS Sydney) and Andrew Evans (Isuzu Queensland Open) to taste success for the first time.
Now 37 years of age, Younger takes no credit for the breakthrough wins of his fellow 30-somethings but understands the emotions they experienced as a result.
“It’s amazing when someone who has been there for a while wins and then it’s followed up the next week. They might draw a bit of belief from it, that it can happen,” says Younger, hopeful of a practice round on Wednesday given the atrocious conditions experienced in Sydney the past week.
“You come from amateur stuff where you win a few tournaments at state level and then win a national event. You make the transition into professional golf but probably don’t realise just how hard it is to win.
“You look at the last few events. Andy Martin’s first win, Andrew Evans’ first win, Chris Wood’s first win, Bryden Macpherson, it just shows the depth and how hard it is to win.
“I’ve realised how hard it is to win so you feel as though you’ve justified everything that you’ve done.
“Not that anyone looks at you any different but you feel like that you belong a little bit.
“It was a great feeling. You try and explain it to people… It got to a stage there where you watch the PGA TOUR every week, Monday morning someone wins and you wonder what that feeling’s like. To finally do it… it’s as good as they say it is.
“Now as you reflect back it makes you hungry to chase that feeling again. You want to do it again and that’s what we’re all chasing.”
The average age of winners since the resumption of the PGA Tour of Australasia in January is 36.5 but this week’s stellar field is also littered with rookies ready to make their mark.
Top-five in both events of The Players Series, 18-year-old Elvis Smylie has been granted an invitation to play his third event as a professional and is joined by Blake Windred, David Micheluzzi, Nathan Barbieri, Jack Thompson and Josh Armstrong.
The past two Australian Amateur champions Jed Morgan and Louis Dobbelaar lead a contingent of 23 amateurs adding to their foundations for a professional career at Concord so they can one day make a smooth transition.
“The jump into the professional ranks may not be as big as what it used to be,” reasons Younger.
“You’re a professional amateur nowadays, even before you turn pro. They’re doing everything the same, it’s just that they’ve got their amateur status.
“Across all sports the newer generation are a lot more aware of certain things and that’s definitely got to be a help for them.
“Even on the PGA TOUR you hear a lot of players say now that 20-year-olds are coming out and ready to win straight away. If you compare that to the pre-Tiger era that never happened.”
With $400,000 in prize money the Golf Challenge NSW Open has attracted some of the biggest names in Australian golf including prolific Japan Golf Tour winner Brendan Jones, PGA TOUR winners Nathan Green and Peter Lonard and Aussie icon Peter Senior.
Fine-tuning of his swing over FaceTime with coach Gary Barter was the injection of confidence Matt Jones needed to street the field and claim his second career PGA TOUR title at The Honda Classic in Florida.
Not even the feared ‘Bear Trap’ towards the end of the round could bring the two-time Australian Open champion unstuck, Jones allowing himself a fist pump when his tee shot at the par-3 17th safely found the green with a five-shot advantage.
Occupying a spot near the top of the leaderboard ever since rattling off a course-record 9-under 61 in the opening round, Jones shot 68 on Sunday as his nearest rivals faltered, two closing pars maintaining his five-shot lead until the very end.
His first win in the US since chipping in to defeat Matt Kuchar in a playoff at the 2014 Shell Houston Open, Jones climbed back inside the top-50 in the world and booked his place at Augusta National in three weeks’ time courtesy of a win set up by a long-distance range session with his coach.
“I told my coach and I told my friends, something’s coming, it’s getting closer,” said Jones, who missed the cut at the Arnold Palmer Invitational and was tied for 55th at THE PLAYERS Championship last week.
“I worked on the range through FaceTime with my coach back in Australia and we just started to get a feel for things. Started to get the body and the club working together and it worked all week.
“I told a friend earlier that I like my chances this week.
“Seven years between wins, it’s been a battle. I’ve had ups, I’ve had downs, but to win a second time on this golf course in these conditions that we faced all week is, it’s phenomenal and hopefully it’s something I can build on for the rest of the year.”
After turning 40 during the tour’s suspension last year due to COVID-19, Jones spoke of the frank conversations he had shared with his family about how much longer he would continue playing at the highest level.
After a chat with Adam Scott and a second PGA TOUR title to his name, Jones now believes his most productive years on tour may in fact be ahead of him.
“I’ve spoken to Adam Scott about this. We’ve got five really good hard years ahead of us, where we think we can do something special and I think this sets me on a path where I could,” said Jones, the Australian Open champion of 2015 and 2019.
“I’ve probably underachieved, in my opinion, for what I could have done. But I’ve got some time left.
“I feel like my game’s getting better as I get older. I’m hitting it better, I’m hitting it longer, so there’s nothing to say that that won’t happen.”
Spending Saturday night thinking about a return to Augusta, a birdie putt from 18 feet at the opening hole settled the nerves and Jones followed it up with another at the par-5 third, two-putting from 74 feet to keep the chasing pack at bay.
A one-shot buffer suddenly became four when Jones’s nearest challenger Aaron Wise four-putted the 10th hole from 27 feet and a slight stumble at 11 was recovered quickly with a birdie at the very next hole.
He poured another in at 13 to extend his lead to five strokes and a wonderful approach to 16 and birdie putt from 15 feet ensured he would extend the record of Australians winning on the PGA TOUR to 33 years in succession.
There was another strong Aussie performance on the Korn Ferry Tour where New South Welshman Harrison Endycott turned a spot on the alternates list into a top-five finish at the Chitimacha Louisiana Open.
Endycott’s place in the field was only confirmed on Tuesday following the withdrawal of Ryan Brehm and he took full advantage.
“I was like the 14th alternate last week, so it’s crazy how it can change,” said Endycott after earning a share of the lead with an opening round of 4-under 67.
“I’m very grateful that I’m actually playing this week and trying to make the most of it.
“It’s a little bit of a question mark going in each week. Any week out here, a big week is crucial and it can change your life.
“It’s hard because you don’t know what people are thinking or feeling. You have to be optimistic. You can’t think you’re not in and that’s why I travelled here; I have to prepare like I am in.”
Like Endycott, Scott Hend found himself near the top of the leaderboard at the European Tour’s Magical Kenya Open at Karen Country Club in Nairobi.
A second round of 64 followed by a third round of 3-under 68 put the Queenslander just two off the lead entering the final round but two bogeys on the front nine and a double-bogey seven on the par-5 12th saw Hend fall back into a tie for 16th.
PGA TOUR
The Honda Classic
PGA National, Palm Beach Gardens, Florida
1 Matt Jones 61-70-69-68—268 $US1.26m
T13 Adam Scott 69-67-72-68—276 $125,417
T33 Cameron Davis 66-71-70-73—280 $39,900
T46 Lucas Herbert 70-69-70-73—282 $19,070
MC Cameron Percy 69-74—143
MC Rhein Gibson 74-70—144
European Tour
Magical Kenya Open
Karen Country Club, Nairobi, Kenya
T16 Scott Hend 67-64-68-73—272 €11,497
MC Maverick Antcliff 74-70—144
Korn Ferry Tour
Chitimacha Louisiana Open
Le Triomphe G&CC, Broussard, Louisiana
5 Harrison Endycott 67-70-68-65—270 $US22,800
T23 Aaron Baddeley 71-72-67-66—276 $5,675
T44 Nick Voke 71-72-71-66—280 $2,730
T63 Curtis Luck 72-72-70-70—284 $2,412
T66 Jamie Arnold 73-69-75-68—285 $2,376
MC Steven Alker 73-72—145
MC Brett Drewitt 76-71—147
MC Robert Allenby 73-76—149
MC Mark Hensby 77-72—149
MC Ryan Ruffels 73-79—152
Symetra Tour
Carlisle Arizona Women’s Golf Classic
Mesa, Arizona
Won by Ruixin Liu in playoff with Rose Zhang (-17)
T35 Robyn Choi 68-70-72-75—285
Harrison Endycott cashed in on an unexpected opportunity today to share the lead of the Korn Ferry Tour’s Louisiana Open.
The Sydney golfer, with limited playing status on the secondary US Tour this season, had been an alternate this week, but was elevated to the field on Tuesday afternoon when Ryan Brehm withdrew.
Endycott, a member of Australia’s winning Eisenhower Trophy team in 2016, made the most of that opportunity with a fine four-under-par 67 to jointly lead with Americans Max Greyserman and Peter Uihlein.
The windswept Le Triomphe course averaged in excess of 72.5, its highest daily total in more than a decade, giving Endycott an even better look at a result that could change his year.
The Avondale member is making his first Korn Ferry start of 2021 after not making the Suncoast Classic field last month.
The 24-year-old made 17 starts in 2020, his rookie season, with a career-best T8 finish at the Wichita Open.
“It’s a little bit of a question mark going in each week,” said Endycott of being on the alternate bubble.
“Any week out here, a big week is crucial and it can change your life … it’s hard because you don’t know what people (in the field or on the bubble) are thinking or feeling.
“You have to be optimistic, you can’t think you’re not in and that’s why I travelled here – I have to prepare like I am in.”
Endycott made a fast start but gave a shot back on the ninth to turn in two under.
But he rattled off three birdies in four holes from the 10th to kick clear, only to give back a late shot at the 17th.
“It was all about patience today,” he said.
“I was like the 14th alternate last (month), so it’s crazy how it can change.
“I’m very grateful that I’m actually playing this week and trying to make the most of it. It’s always a bonus to play well in the first round. I didn’t get to see too much of the golf course (in practice), so for me to go out and shoot a good number, I really had little expectations today.”
Of the other Australians in the field, Aaron Baddeley carded an even-par 71 to share 34th and Curtis Luck a 72, while Ryan Ruffels, Rob Allenby and Jamie Arnold are within range at 73.
But Brett Drewitt (76) and Mark Hensby (78) will need to go low tomorrow to play at the weekend.
LEADERBOARD
Australian Matt Jones has secured a breakthrough victory on the US PGA Tour in Florida, seven years after his previous win in America.
The 40-year-old Arizona-based Sydneysider clung on superbly to win the Honda Classic at PGA National in West Palm Beach by five shots, conjuring the best ball-striking of his life and dominating the event.
Jones, who played his junior golf at The Australian and in Jack Newton’s junior programs, closed with a two-under par 68 to go with his equal course record 61 in round one, a second-round 70 and a third-round 69.
It is his first US Tour win since the 2014 Houston Open, although he has won two Australian Opens (2015 and 2019) in the meantime. It was his 174th US Tour start since that win in Houston, and his 329th start overall.
The victory gives world No. 80 Jones playing rights for two years and secures a start for him in the Masters at Augusta National next month, his second visit to that hallowed ground.
Jones started with a three-shot lead over playing partner JB Holmes and immediately birdied the first hole from mid range.
American Aaron Wise made a run at him, moving within a shot through the front nine. But Wise inexplicably four-putted the par-four 10th from nine metres for a triple bogey seven and suddenly the Aussie was four shots ahead again.
Jones hit his tight draw superbly and kept himself in play at the water-laden PGA National, but a three-putt from long range at the par-four 11th left him vulnerable again.
His response was typical of his week. At the 12th he bombed his drive, knocked it to six metres and holed the birdie putt. At the 13th, he made birdie again with a hooking three metre putt and his lead was five.
From there, Jones put the parachute up, a three-putt bogey at the 14th being the only glitch. At the 15th, he hit two pure irons and holed his birdie putt, but there was still the par-three 16th with its water carry. Jones lashed a sand wedge over the flag, saw it land on fist-pumped.
Right then, he knew he was safe. “It was the calmest I’ve been on a golf course for four straight days,” he said afterward.
Father-of-three Jones was already enjoying one of his best years on tour, with two top-10 and an 11th before today. He first played on the US Tour in 2008 after four years on the secondary Nationwide Tour, and two years at Arizona University as a brilliant, young amateur.
In his rookie year he actually led the Honda Classic into the last four holes, but wobbled in the ‘Bear Trap’, the dangerous stretch from the 15th to the 17th, and lost to Ernie Els. There were no such slip-ups today.
He picks up $US1.26 million for his work.
Adam Scott was the next-best Australian, rattling home with a 68 to finish T13.
SCOTT Hend finished tied 16th as the top Australian in the European Tour’s Kenya Open overnight after he closed with a 73.
HARRISON Endycott shot a brilliant final-round 65 to finish fifth in the Korn Ferry Tour’s Louisiana Open today.
ROBYN Choi closed with a 75 to finish just outside the top 30 on the Symetra Tour today.
Our partner, Swiss luxury watch brand TAG Heuer has revamped and upgraded the popular Golf Edition of its Connected watch, introducing improved mapping and an innovative club recommendation tool.
The TAG Heuer Connected Golf Edition, launched in June of 2020, quickly established itself as the smartwatch of choice for the global golfing community. The brand’s CEO Frédéric Arnault explains, “Playing with a TAG Heuer Connected is a true game-changer that will give any golfer an immediate competitive edge. And it does so without compromising on elegance and style.”
Professional golfer and TAG Heuer brand ambassador Tommy Fleetwood says, “I love wearing this watch both on and off the course. The features are really well thought out, making the game more precise and I can’t think of a golfer whose game wouldn’t benefit from it. If I could choose one stand out feature for me, I really enjoy the distance shot feature, I see how my drive is performing on the golf course taking into account the real conditions I am playing in, the timing of this has worked perfectly for me as I’ve been testing my new clubs.”
Features include:
Improved 2D & 3D mapping
TAG Heuer Golf has always visually stood out with its unique mapping technology, displaying interactive 2D maps on the watch, and realistic 3D courses on the phone. But TAG Heuer is bringing the experience to another level with this latest update. The Connected Watch now displays upgraded 2D maps with even more details, including forests and single trees. The mobile application also comes with massive 3D map improvements, both on Android and iOS, as all textures (water, rough, fairway, etc) and assets (trees, walls, etc) have been upgraded. On iOS devices, TAG Heuer innovated by using SceneKit, the latest Apple high-level 3D graphics framework, to make the 3D renderings more detailed than ever. IOS users will even enjoy simulated shot trajectory for better post-round visualization on their phone. The overall feel and design make the experience more realistic than ever before and recall the visuals seen on telecasts of professional tournaments. These renderings are unique to TAG Heuer Golf and show the brand’s commitment to constant innovation.
The Driving Zone feature, unique to TAG Heuer, has met with great success since its launch in June 2020. It automatically shows players the landing zone of their previous tee shots, helping them adopt the strategy that suits them best.
The TAG Heuer Golf app has accurate, up-to-date maps of more than 40,000 courses around the world and can accompany any player no matter where their love for the sport takes them.
Club recommendation
One of the most exciting new features on the watch is the innovative club recommendation tool. As the user moves the target on the map, he is recommended the right club based on distance. The user can first set up distances for each of his club, and the watch will then take into account the shots he recorded for even better recommendation. The feature can be easily disabled for players in tournaments or on courses where its use is not allowed.
Enhanced scoring
Keeping score on the watch is one of the features most appreciated by Golf Edition owners. The revamp of the app now enables visualizing the score in stroke play, stableford, or match play, making the watch the perfect companion for friendly rounds as well as competitions.
For players who wish to play with both their TAG Heuer Connected Golf Edition watch and their smartphone, a new built-in Bluetooth connection allows for faster synchronization, which delivers an even smoother experience when starting a round or synchronizing scores and shots.
Click here for more information: https://www.tagheuer.com/golf.html
His short game has been his saviour but Adam Scott knows he must overcome recent struggles with his ball-striking to contend at this week’s Honda Classic at PGA National’s Champions course and its infamous ‘Bear Trap’.
But he didn’t shy away from the struggles he is experiencing with his ball-striking of late, an aspect of his game that has long been considered among the very elite of professional golf.
Scott’s tie for 10th at the Farmers Insurance Open is his only top 10 finish since his victory at the Genesis Invitational more than a year ago and insists those results would be even worse if not for his short game efficiency.
“My short game is fantastic at the moment, the best consistently it’s ever been. Which is fortunate because otherwise I’d be selling hot dogs, not playing golf,” said Scott, who is 23rd in putting average on Tour this season.
“The challenge from tee to green here certainly separates the ball-striking for the week, which at times for my career has been a strength for me. I think it gives me a little edge on the field. But I certainly can’t say that coming into this week.
“Anyone could look at my stats and see that’s not really my strong suit right now.
“With the golf swing and ball-striking being kind of the strength of my game for my entire career, I believe it can come back fairly quickly with a little bit of work on the range the next few weeks.”
Coming off a tie for 48th at THE PLAYERS Championship last week, Scott knows that players will have to absorb some blows dished out by PGA National on their way to the top of the leaderboard.
Rather than expecting stress-free navigation of a course that is abundant with water hazards and floods the golfer with fear from the start of the three-hole stretch known as the ‘Bear Trap’, Scott says it is imperative to roll with the punches rather than feeling down for the count.
“After the experience of playing these Florida golf courses for 20 years, it’s inevitable you’re going to hit one in the water, especially around here when it’s windy,” Scott added.
“You’re going to have to accept it and do the best you can to get past that hole and rebuild.
“When you’re playing good, you can bounce back from one trip to the water.
“You have to be very prepared mentally to have fun. That might be the answer for anyone doing
well this week.
“As much as you need to physically play well out here, you need to be really mentally prepared
because it’s going to beat you up even playing well. You’re going to have to be able to withstand a few blows out there, and if you can do that, you can still have fun. If you can’t, it’s going to become a very tough week.
“It is a different kind of fun, but it’s that fun challenge.
“I might try and think about that the next 24, 48 hours and have some fun come Thursday.”
Scott is one of five Aussies at PGA National this week including Lucas Herbert, the Victorian making his first appearance in a stand-alone PGA TOUR tournament by virtue of a sponsor exemption.
The European Tour is in Kenya this week where Scott Hend and Maverick Antcliff will seek to contend in the Magical Kenya Open and there is a strong Australian representation at the Korn Ferry Tour’s Chitimacha Louisiana Open including former PGA TOUR winners Robert Allenby, Aaron Baddeley and Mark Hensby.
Round 1 tee times AEDT
PGA TOUR
The Honda Classic
PGA National (Champion Cse), Palm Beach Gardens, Florida
10.36pm Matt Jones, Adam Hadwin, Kelly Kraft
10.47pm* Cameron Percy, DJ Trahan, Scott Harrington
10.58pm* Adam Scott, Joaquin Niemann, Ian Poulter
3.42am* Cameron Davis, Scott Brown, Bo Hoag
5.21am Lucas Herbert, Rafael Campos, Marcelo Rozo
Defending champion: Sungjae Im
Past Aussie winners: Stuart Appleby (1997), Adam Scott (2016)
Top Aussie prediction: Cameron Percy
TV schedule: Live 5am-9am Friday, Saturday; Live 4am-9am Sunday, Monday on Fox Sports 503.
European Tour
Magical Kenya Open
Karen CC, Nairobi, Kenya
4.20pm* Scott Hend, Adrian Otaegui, Jordan Smith
9pm* Maverick Antcliff, Joakim Lagergren, Matthieu Pavon
Defending champion: Guido Migliozzi (2019)
Past Aussie winners: Nil
Top Aussie prediction: Maverick Antcliff
TV schedule: Live 9pm-2am Thursday, Friday on Fox Sports 503; Live 8.30pm-1am Saturday on Fox Sports 507; Live 8.30pm-1am Sunday on Fox Sports 503.
Korn Ferry Tour
Chitimacha Louisiana Open
Le Triomphe G&CC, Broussard, Louisiana
11.40pm Mark Hensby, Zecheng Dou, José de Jesús Rodríguez
12.20am* Steven Alker, Max McGreevy, Nicolas Echavarria
12.40am Rhein Gibson, Andrew Svoboda, Brad Hopfinger
12.50am Nick Voke, Vince India, Chip McDaniel
1am Ryan Ruffels, Paul Haley II, Max Greyserman
4.40am* Jamie Arnold, Dan McCarthy, Wes Roach
5am Brett Drewitt, Mito Pereira, Billy Kennerly
5.10am Robert Allenby, Ben Martin, Nick Hardy
5.10am* Curtis Luck, Curtis Thompson, Roberto Díaz
5.20am* Aaron Baddeley, Trey Mullinax, Scott Gutschewski
Defending champion: Vince Covello (2019)
Past Aussie winners: Gavin Coles (2008)
Top Aussie prediction: Aaron Baddeley
Sydneysider Andrew Evans could barely believe the drought-breaking trophy he was holding at the Isuzu Queensland Open after fearing he might lose his tour card just weeks ago.
The journeyman pro was a worthy two-shot winner of his first title in a decade of striving and promptly cancelled his flight home so he could properly celebrate.
“Flight home cancelled…I’m filling this with XXXX,” a jubilant Evans said of the very Queensland celebration he suddenly scheduled for Sunday night.
“This is unreal…I never thought this day would happen.
“I try not to look at leaderboards but I had a guy with a mobile leaderboard 50m ahead of me the whole day so I had to try hard to stay doing my own thing.
“I think I’m a good player but without something like this to your career you are kinda just another player. It’s pretty sweet to get over the line.”
Evans drilled a wonderful five iron close to the pin from 180m at the par four 16th to grab his seventh birdie of a tense final day at Pelican Waters Golf Club outside Caloundra.
That was the clutch shot that gave Evans (68-70-65-67) some breathing room at 18-under-par and had mates at Sydney’s Bonnie Doon Golf Club rejoicing.
Just as important was the six iron he hit close on the par three 15th. He didn’t win the $100,000 bonus for an ace put up by Palm Lake Resort but the birdie was another step closer to the $18,750 winner’s cheque.
He showed his nerve leading for the entire back nine to finish ahead of three players in joint second, Gold Coast-based Deyen Lawson, Newcastle’s Blake Windred and Melbourne’s Bryden Macpherson, who finished with three straight birdies.
Evans, 35, forever banished the bridesmaid tag and worse which he has lived with since finishing second to Peter Senior at the 2015 Australian Masters at Huntingdale.
“That week was great but unfortunately a lot of people just remember the rushed three-footer I missed on the last green which didn’t mean anything. People said I choked so that was tough to get over,” the former Bexley Golf Club trainee said.
“I missed a lot of cuts last year and three in Victoria to start this year and absolutely I was worried about keeping my card to stay on the tour,” Evans said.
Lawson (69-70-67-66) finished birdie-birdie for his closing 66 to reach 16-under and it will build confidence for his imminent return to Europe to play.
Windred, with a closing 70, fought hard after a messy double-bogey on the eighth when he hit it into the trees.
Defending champion Anthony Quayle (67) finished three shots behind Evans in joint fifth.
It was a worthy defence but two missed birdie putts from around 2m on the last two holes showed how close he got.
He got inside 2m on the hole-in-one hole: “The seven iron looked pretty good, it was feeding to the pin from the right and just came up short.
“The caddie fee is 10 per cent so KB (coach Ken Berndt) was looking good for a while there,” Quayle said.
Dalby left-hander Lawry Flynn was top amateur at 14-under after closing with a fine 68.
Fifth-placed Sunshine Coast local Shae Wools-Cobb (70) rued what might have been.
He had two back nine eagles, set up by ripping six irons to both par five greens, but was making up for four ragged bogeys on the front nine.
“I was proud of myself for staying patient because I was pretty nervous to start,” the Pelican waters member said.
