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The ISPA HANDA PGA Tour of Australasia will forge ahead with its seven-event schedule to start the new year despite the ongoing border uncertainty due to the COVID-19 pandemic.
In the wake of last Sunday’s Blitz Golf event at Glenelg Golf Club in Adelaide, the Australasian Tour’s next tournament is the Gippsland Super 6 at Yallourn Golf Club east of Melbourne starting Thursday, January 21.
That will be followed a week later by the inaugural event in The Players Series hosted by former US Open champion Geoff Ogilvy before Moonah Links on the Mornington Peninsula hosts the Victorian PGA Championship and Moonah Links Classic on its two courses in the space of nine days.
The Tour is then scheduled to move to Sydney for The Players Series event to be hosted by NRL great Braith Anasta at Bonnie Doon Golf Club followed by the ISUZU Queensland Open at Pelican Waters Golf Club (March 11-14). The Tour will conclude its 2020-2021 season with the NSW Open at Concord Golf Club from March 25-28.
Under a new permit system for interstate travellers, Victoria is currently open to all states with the exception of those from Greater Brisbane and Greater Sydney that are currently classified as “red zones”.
Those zones will be reviewed daily by the Victorian Government but the inability of some players to attend will mean that tournament results will not count towards the official Order of Merit.
“As it stands right now, Members from Sydney and Brisbane won’t be able to travel into Melbourne for the first event. For that reason we wouldn’t count the prizemoney on the Order of Merit, however, they will remain official events and the winners will be recognised on our tour and gain the exemptions that go with the win,” said PGA Tour of Australasia Tournaments Director Nick Dastey.
“Despite that unfortunate reality we are hopeful of a change to the border restrictions in the very near future and remain determined to move forward with the events and give those players who can attend an opportunity to return to tournament golf and get back to earning an income.
“People understand how difficult it has been in these circumstances to stage golf tournaments over the past 12 months but with the help of our key stakeholders we’re excited to get back out on the course and watch our best players in action.”
With uncertainty surrounding the recommencement of both the Asian Tour and Japan Golf Tour in 2021, a run of events in the early months of the year similar to that which Australia conducted in the 1980s and 1990s should feature strong local fields.
“Many of our Members with status overseas are still unsure when their tours will be up and running so we’re expecting to see as many as possible playing our local events,” Dastey said.
“Guys who play in Asia and Japan will be given the opportunity to play tournament golf again, we’ve got young players desperate to show their talents, veterans who are always competitive and we’ll be able to showcase wonderful female talent through The Players Series.
“We’ve seen a tremendous surge in the popularity of golf among recreational players these past nine months and we hope to see many of those people out at the events and inspired even more by watching our talented athletes in action.”
Next week will be the second staging of the Gippsland Super 6 tournament with Tom Power Horan taking out the inaugural event in November 2019.
Power Horan will be back to defend his title in what shapes as a stellar field, veterans such as Ogilvy, Marcus Fraser and David McKenzie confirmed starters alongside recent Tour winners including Anthony Quayle, Aaron Pike, Brad Kennedy, Jake McLeod and Matthew Griffin.
Three-time Asian Tour winner Terry Pilkadaris, three-time China Golf Tour winner Maverick Antcliff and emerging talents Blake Windred and David Micheluzzi are also among the tournament entries.
Wantima and Waialae country clubs are separated by 7,500 kilometres of Pacific Ocean yet Cameron Smith says he feels right at home ahead of his Sony Open title defence starting Friday morning.
The 2020 Masters runner-up made history last year by recording the worst start by a PGA TOUR winner since the advent of ShotLink in 2003 – 4-over after two holes – and returns to Honolulu confident in his game and comfortable in his surroundings.
Wantima Country Club in Brisbane’s northern suburbs is not heralded as one of Australian golf’s premier layouts yet its tight driving lines and exacting greens developed Smith into a player of the highest calibre.
Like Wantima, Waialae is a narrow, twisting, boa constrictor of a golf course, rewarding the precise over the powerful.
Its past winners are testament to that. Dating back to two-time champion Corey Pavin in 1986-87 through to Jim Furyk (1996), Jeff Sluman (1999), Brad Faxon (2001), David Toms (2006), Jimmy Walker (2014-15) and Matt Kuchar (2019), there is a pattern of precision that Smith fits into perfectly.
“I love the place. I love the golf course,” Smith said during his press conference Tuesday where his lengthening mullet stole much of the media spotlight.
“It just reminds me so much of home to be honest. The grasses are almost the same.
“Where I grew up is very flat kind of like this golf course. And it’s windy.
“It’s always windy. You always have to control your ball into the greens, which I love doing.
“I feel as though you can be very creative around the greens here.
“Yeah, I love it. Great golf course.”
Smith’s breakthrough individual triumph 12 months ago was followed soon after by a COVID-19-induced shutdown that was simultaneously timely and unfortunate.
Instilled with the belief that one win could become two or three, Smith was also in need of a release after an intense summer of golf back home in Australia.
He used the downtime to recharge the batteries and keep the golf clubs in the garage, his sluggish start upon the TOUR’s resumption to be expected in hindsight.
His first top-20 finish since Sony came six months later at The Northern Trust and he has been in the hunt virtually every week since.
He was 11th at the CJ Cup at Shadow Creek and tied for fourth at the ZOZO Championship prior to his record-setting run at Augusta National where he broke 70 in all four rounds.
Encouraged by his play in last week’s Sentry Tournament of Champions where he shot 66 in the third round in finishing tied for 24th, the 27-year-old is working with coach Grant Field on elevating his long game to the level of his world-class play around the green.
Ranked 25th in Strokes Gained: Putting and 18th in Approaches from 100-125 Yards, Smith’s focus presently is on improving his rating in both Strokes Gained: Off the Tee (131st) and Strokes Gained: Approach the Green (105th).
“I’ve putted really well,” said Smith, currently ranked No.29 in the world, of his recent run of form.
“I feel as though if I can get my longer stuff, and especially my irons into a good spot, I’ll be able to compete every week.
“Just working on that with the coach. I mean, not trying to overdo it. Just little steps. Hopefully it all falls into place very soon.
“We haven’t seen each other face-to-face for about 13 or 14 months now. So it’s been quite a while. We’ve kind of made our way around it with FaceTime and other technology that we’re able to use these days.
“We’ve been doing a really good job of staying on top of it.”
Despite the remote nature of their relationship this past year, Field was encouraged by a conversation with Smith on Tuesday morning ahead of his title defence.
When he confirmed that he had seen the swing video his star pupil had sent earlier, a simple, “How good is it!” from the other end of the phone was the confidence-booster every coach wants to hear.
“He knows what works, he knows his blueprint,” Field said.
“There are a couple of little swing things that pop up from time to time but our blueprint really doesn’t change too much.
“It’s more repeatability in what he’s doing (with the long game). A higher quality of control.
“His long game’s good enough, we just want it to be there more often.
“Things that we work on for him is how he moves the club away from the ball. When he’s swinging average his first move tends to get a little bit out and extended and away from him.
“From there he doesn’t get the hands and arms deep enough early enough. From there he drops it under and the arms travel a little too far and then he has to back out of it a little bit. That brings the blocks and hooks into play, mainly the blocks.
“When he’s more on-line and deeper earlier in the backswing and he keeps it short, that allows him to stay on top during transition and from there he can extend and rotate properly on the way through.
“There are timings when those things should happen and for him it has to happen early.”
With Smith leading the charge from 4.50am Friday morning there will be a strong Aussie presence at Waialae with Matt Jones, Aaron Baddeley, Cameron Davis and Rhein Gibson making their first starts for 2021 along with Kiwi pair Danny Lee and Tim Wilkinson.
Round 1 tee times (AEDT)
PGA TOUR
Sony Open
Waialae Country Club, Honolulu, Hawaii
4.50am* Cameron Smith, Carlos Ortiz, Sungjae Im
5am* Adam Scott, Matt Kuchar, Harris English
5.40am* Danny Lee, Bronson Burgoon, Tyler McCumber
5.50am Rhein Gibson, Roger Sloan, Takumi Kanaya
8.50am* Aaron Baddeley, Jerry Kelly, Emiliano Grillo
9am Matt Jones, Kyoung-Hoon Lee, Will Gordon
9.30am Marc Leishman, Webb Simpson, Collin Morikawa
10.10am Cameron Davis, Nick Watney, Mackenzie Hughes
10.10am* Tim Wilkinson, Brian Harman, Tom Hoge
Defending champion: Cameron Smith
Past Aussie winners: Bruce Crampton (1969), Brett Ogle (1994), Cameron Smith (2020)
Top Aussie prediction: Cameron Smith
TV schedule: Live 11am-2.30pm Friday, Saturday on Fox Sports 503; Live 11am-2.30pm Sunday on Fox Sports 505; Live 10am-2pm on Fox Sports 503.
His best ball-striking round in recent memory highlighted a strong start to 2021 for Adam Scott as he led home the Aussie contingent at the Sentry Tournament of Champions in Hawaii.
A tournament that has been a happy hunting ground for Australians in years gone by, Scott’s 5-under 68 on day one raised the prospect of the Queenslander adding his name to the list of champions but the 40-year-old was unable to keep pace with the front-runners.
Scott’s Presidents Cup teammate Joaquin Niemann used a blistering 9-under 64 in blustery conditions at the Kapalua Resort’s Plantation Course to storm to 25-under par where he was joined by Harris English after the American just missed an eagle putt to win in regulation.
It only took one return trip down the 18th hole for English to secure his first win since 2013, a birdie enough to best Niemann in the playoff.
Scott closed out his opening tournament of the year with a 3-under par 70 to finish tied for 21st, a double bogey on the par-4 fourth – the No.1-ranked hole on the golf course – an early stumble before registering five birdies on the back nine.
While he finished on a positive note ahead of a return to the Sony Open this week where he was runner-up in 2009, Scott was most excited by a round one ball-striking display that yielded 80 per cent of fairways and 94 per cent of greens in regulation.
“Probably the best ball striking round I’ve had in about five years, so I feel like that’s something good to start the year out with,” Scott said.
“It is a nice course to get the confidence up, the fairways are wider, but still with the wind and the elevation you’ve got to be a little bit careful.
“I drove it really well and also proximity (to the hole) was really tight.
“I kind of started feeling it there at Houston and the Masters and managed to keep in the practice something going in the right direction, so it was nice to see that on the course.”
Scott has played the Sony Open just four times since he finished second to Zach Johnson but will return to Waialae Country Club where countryman Cameron Smith is the defending champion.
A third-round 7-under 66 was the highlight of Smith’s week at Kapalua as he and Marc Leishman both finished one stroke back of Scott in a tie for 25th.
PGA TOUR
Kapalua Resort (Plantation Course), Maui, Hawaii
Won by Harris English on the first playoff hole
T21 Adam Scott 68-71-68-70—277 $US75,000
T25 Marc Leishman 69-69-71-69—278 $63,200
T25 Cameron Smith 70-70-66-72—278 $63,200
Victorians Ryan Lynch and Brady Watt have started 2021 on the right foot after winning the first PGA Pro-Am Series event of the season, the SBI Settlers Run Golf & Country Club Pro-Am.
Lynch set the benchmark in the morning field carding a 4-under 68 to take the early lead with a round featuring five birdies and an eagle on the par-5 16th.
Watt, host of the popular Wattsup Podcast, returned to professional golf in fine form after Victoria’s lengthy layoff. The West Australian who now calls Melbourne home looked to have Lynch’s measure in the afternoon, making the turn at 3-under.
Eight straight holes of par kept Watt in the mix before a birdie on his last hole of the day, the par-5 9th, saw him tie with good friend Lynch for the win.
“What a great way to get back into some competitive golf,” said Lynch.
“To come out to the SBI Settlers Run Pro-Am today after a long break between competitive rounds and have a win makes it even better.
“What Scott (McDermott) has been able to do in such a short time is amazing. I know all the players really appreciate the chance to play here.”
As restrictions eased in Victoria at the end of 2020, PGA Professional Scott McDermott made the SBI Settlers Run Golf & Country Club Pro-Am a priority, pulling the event together on short notice to provide his fellow PGA Professionals with the biggest one-day playing opportunities in the state offering a $20,000 prize purse for the 61-player field.
The Settlers Run Golf & Country Club tournament kicks off a busy five weeks of golf in Victoria with PGA Pro-Am Series events and the return of the ISPS HANDA PGA Tour of Australasia providing plenty of playing opportunities following a quiet 2020.
“Thanks to the team here at Settlers Run, the course just keeps getting better and better each year,” Watt added.
Following a slow start in the morning field, Cardinia Beaconhills Golf Links Head Professional Dylan Higgins recovered to finish in a tie for third place at 3-under 69 alongside Simon Hawkes and Andrew Martin.
For the final SBI Settlers Run Golf & Country Club Pro-Am results visit pga.org.au.
Matthew Millar believes his second Blitz Golf victory may have had some heavenly guidance after the Canberra veteran edged Zach Murray in the sudden-death shootout at Glenelg Golf Club in Adelaide on Sunday.
The field was without two of its biggest drawcards when defending champion Peter Senior and Brad Kennedy both had their flights cancelled out of Brisbane due to COVID-19 restrictions but a strong crowd gathered to watch veterans and up-and-comers do battle in the innovative format.
Home-town favourite Wade Ormsby and Marcus Fraser drew a large gallery for the six-hole first round, both qualifying for the second stage but unable to progress through to the final.
Grange Golf Club member Kristalle Blum led the field in the opening round with a score of 2-under with Deyen Lawson, Ben Eccles, Zach Murray and Matthew Griffin the only other players to better par for the six holes.
Millar and Japan LPGA Tour player Karis Davidson posted 2-under in the second round with Ben Eccles missing the four-person final when he went down to Murray and Lawson in the 75-metre nearest-the-pin playoff after the trio finished at 1-under.
The final was played to a 90-metre ‘stadium hole’ set up on the Glenelg Golf Club chipping green with Millar’s putt from 10 feet matching Murray’s birdie from 25 feet to force a playoff, Lawson and Davidson both eliminated after leaving their attempts just short, centre-cut.
Millar and Murray again traded birdies from 18 and six feet respectively before moving on to a nearest-the-pin shootout, Millar’s shot to seven feet enough to claim an emotional win following the passing of his mother Annette midway through last year.
“Mum passed away on May 22 so I think she might have had a hand in looking down on a couple of those putts at the end there,” said Millar, winner of Blitz Golf Curlewis in 2019.
“The first one was a must-make and I happened to flush it right out of the middle of the putter down the line. It just looked in the whole way.
“I took a step or two when it got to about two foot out, it just looked like it couldn’t miss and in it went.
“The next time around I had the opportunity to roll one in first which was great.
“It’s been a rough year so nice to get off to a good start this year, really happy with that.”
Confined to Wednesday and Friday comps at Federal Golf Club in Canberra where he has been teaching the past six months – “I play off plus-6 so I don’t win too many” – Millar was grateful for the chance to stoke the competitive fires to a level he hadn’t felt since finishing runner-up to Jake McLeod on the 2018 PGA Tour of Australasia Order of Merit.
“I just love playing and competing, having the opportunity to do so,” said the 44-year-old.
“If you play rubbish, that’s fine, that’s on you, but when you don’t get a chance to play you really miss it a lot. I do anyway.
“I haven’t felt like that for a long time, probably back to 2018. Playing well in 2018 at the Aussie Open and the PGA, chance to win the Order of Merit and then playing the WGC event in Mexico so it would be a good couple of years.”
Tied for the third at the North Coast Open in December, Millar struggled with his mindset in the first round but quickly found his groove for the second round where he went close to making birdie on all three holes.
“If you’d been watching me after six holes you wouldn’t have thought I was going to win it but after three holes you might have thought I was a red-hot chance,” said Millar.
“I didn’t execute the way I wanted to early on with my mindset. I wanted to be solid and really committed and there were just a couple of times where I wasn’t committed enough with the putter and came up short.
“I was a bit annoyed with that the first six holes but then really got it together the next three. Every shot I hit that next three holes was a really good shot and nearly birdied all three.”
The postponement of his Hong Kong Open title defence has opened the door for Wade Ormsby to play his first tournament in South Australia since 2007 and make his Blitz Golf debut at Glenelg Golf Club on Sunday.
With the majority of international tours still weeks away from starting their 2021 seasons, the Blitz Golf Glenelg event has attracted a stellar field of Aussie pros who ply their trade in America, Europe, Japan and Asia.
Defending champion and Australian golf icon Peter Senior returns to Glenelg but the 61-year-old will face stiff competition from the likes of Champions Tour regular David McKenzie, New Zealand Open champion Brad Kennedy, Matthew Griffin and Marcus Fraser. The tournament also boasts four of the most promising female professionals in Australia in Karis Davidson, Becky Kay, Kristalle Blum and Montana Strauss.
The innovative format sees half the field eliminated after six holes of strokeplay, the second round played over three holes with the top four qualifying for the final one-hole shootout where the ultimate winner will be determined.
Ormsby was expecting to be in Hong Kong this week to defend the title he won for the second time last January but its delay due to the COVID-19 pandemic provided a rare opportunity to play on home soil, an opportunity he admits was too good to refuse.
“I haven’t played in South Australian tournament conditions for 14 years,” said Ormsby, who missed the cut at the 2007 Jacob’s Creek Open at Kooyonga Golf Club in his last Adelaide appearance.
“When you play all over the world there’s nothing like playing at home. That was one of the main reasons I wanted to play here.
“Initially Hong Kong was mooted to be starting next week and that’s why I wasn’t going to play the Blitz. That’s when I got into practice and then Hong Kong got postponed so that opened a nice little door to play in South Australia.
“Even though it’s a smaller event than we’re used to playing it’s still nice to play tournament golf, especially at home.”
Not only is Ormsby playing in his home state for the first time in more than a decade, he enters the event with a strong family history at Glenelg and with some inside knowledge on his side.
Ormsby’s grandfather was a member at Glenelg, his father Peter did his traineeship at the club and his mother grew up on the street that sits alongside the fifth fairway.
Add to that the fact that his short-game coach Adrian Wickstein who will be on the bag on Sunday is a two-time Club Champion at Glenelg and Ormsby knows he is holding some strong cards.
“My short game coach, Adrian Wickstein is going to caddie for me and he’s been a member there for a long time,” says Ormsby, Wickstein currently serving as Golf Australia’s State High Performance Manager in South Australia.
“He knows the place like the back of his hand so I’ll have things on my side on that front.
“We played 36-hole Vardon events as juniors there and I played the six holes that we’re going to be playing last Monday so I’ve got a fair idea of how to get myself around the joint.”
As for the format itself, Ormsby recognises that there is a delicate balance to be struck between control and aggression in order to be the last player standing.
“Obviously in such a short format you’ve got to make sure you get the jump on guys because you’re not going to have the time to claw your way back,” Ormsby conceded.
“I’ve only just got my head around it. I think if you just play solid and smart in the six-hole match you’ll give yourself a chance of moving on but after that you’re going to have to be a little bit more aggressive.
“It’s all going to be dependent on the conditions and how they set the course up with the pins but I’ll just try and play my game and do what I do best and try and get myself to the front that way.
“And then at the end you’ll have to attack to try and win the thing. Hopefully I’ll be close.”
Play will begin at Glenelg Golf Club from 12:30pm ACDT. View the full field at pga.org.au. Follow along with all the Blitz Golf action on Instagram.
Improving the games of others and getting back on the golf course himself provided a welcome distraction after Aussie veteran Terry Price suffered a cancer scare in September.
A five-time winner on the ISPS HANDA PGA Tour of Australasia, Price is preparing to turn 60 on Sunday thankful not only for what the game has given him in the past but how it helped him through a medical scare in 2020.
After undergoing successful surgery to treat prostate cancer in September, Price is encouraging other men to be proactive in combating a disease that is predicted to kill 3,152 Australian men this year.
A professional since the age of 17, Price has split his time in recent years between the PGA Legends Tour and teaching on the Gold Coast and Sunshine Coast and said that activity served an important purpose in his recovery.
“It certainly has helped with everything that I’ve gone through this year, the distraction of the game,” Price said.
“I don’t look backwards so I couldn’t care less about turning 60 although these young fellas I help out these days keep sending me photos of the ‘94 Masters and giving me crap for having hair back in the day.
“I just have to wear it on the chin and smile.
“The one thing that I’ve always got going for me is that ‘Finchy’ (Ian Baker-Finch) and (Peter) Senior and all these guys have all got there before me.”
Joint winner of the Twin Waters Legends Pro-Am on December 11, Price invests the majority of his time helping golfers from age eight to 80 play better at Tewantin-Noosa Golf Club and Sanctuary Cove Golf and Country Club.
As the obsession with power reaches new heights Price insists that it is important to apply the correct swing mechanics on a case-by-case basis, highlighting Bryson DeChambeau’s physical transformation as a key factor in his distance explosion.
“The biggest problem I’m seeing with speed – and Bryson DeChambeau is onto it – is that if you’re trying to swing faster and you’re not a big man, you’re risking serious injury. Just ask Tiger Woods,” Price suggests.
“DeChambeau has realised that if you want to swing at 125-130mph, you’d better not be a whippet. What that’s going to create is problems with ligaments, tendons, the things that allow your limbs to function properly.
“The more protection you have for your body the faster you can swing it.”
Rather than the search for pure speed, Price focuses more on constructing an efficient swing that physically suits the golfer he is working with.
“There’s still a fundamental that is being overlooked which is if you swing really well that will help you with speed,” says Price.
“The more often that you hit the centre of the club, the more often you hit the centre of the ball, the smash factor on TrackMan will go up.
“Obviously speed is a component of what we’ve got to do – we still want to send them out there with a nice golf swings – but you’ve got to be in the game from inside 50-100 metres. We’re teaching 7-year-olds that.
“If I wanted to really simplify it I would say that I teach two types of swing, a swing for athletes and a swing for non-athletes.
“If you’re over the age of 50 we’re giving you a different style of swing from the big turn.
“If you’re 65 years of age and inflexible, you make a bigger shoulder turn you’re going to move your head off the ball, you’re not going to have a consistent strike. You need to swing another way.”
And although he helps young tour players – including his son Sam – Price says he derives just as enjoyment from helping beginners fall in love with the game.
“I like watching young professionals fulfil their dreams but I also like watching a little old lady who could never get out of a bunker get out of a bunker for the first time after a few little hints,” says Price.
“I had one lady who didn’t tell me for 12 months that she was blind in the right eye.
“She didn’t think anything of it because she’s had it for 40 years, just happened to forget to tell us. These are the types of things that you have to take into consideration.
“I’ve got one guy who is 6’10”. He’s a big, old lumbering English guy and he can now hit his ball.
“He’d never been able to hit a ball. He was told that he was too big and now he can paddle it down the fairway 200 metres and he can go around and play with his friends.
“There are all these different things that make you feel good about getting someone up to a certain standard.
“Every one of them is different in the enjoyment you derive from teaching different people.
“The smile on their face is very rewarding.”
Rising American superstar Collin Morikawa has expressed his intent to relieve Victorian Lucas Herbert of his Omega Dubai Desert Classic crown with of a host of stars confirmed to appear at the Emirates Golf Club from January 28.
Herbert’s dramatic playoff win over South African Christiaan Bezuidenhout in January thrust the 25-year-old towards the top of the Race to Dubai standings, ending the year 14th on the moneylist after returning home following the BMW PGA Championship in October.
The season suspension due to COVID-19 halted Herbert’s progress somewhat but a tie for seventh at the Dubai Duty Free Irish Open followed by a top-five finish at the Aberdeen Standard Investments Open ensured he landed back in Australia with his playing status secure and a healthy bank balance to boot.
The European Tour announced its 2021 schedule on December 15, commencing with the Abu Dhabi Championship in Abu Dhabi on January 21 and then Herbert’s title defence in Dubai a week later.
A clutch up-and-down on the first playoff hole kept Herbert in the hunt on Australia Day, his birdie at the second playoff hole wrapping up a win over a field that included Bryson DeChambeau, Shane Lowry, Tommy Fleetwood and Sergio Garcia.
Fleetwood and Garcia are both confirmed starters in the 2021 event along with Justin Rose and Tyrrell Hatton, the quartet to be joined for the first time by reigning US PGA champion Collin Morikawa.
In addition to his impressive PGA triumph at TPC Harding Park, Morikawa won the Workday Charity Open in July and was top-10 at the PGA TOUR’s Tour Championship, climbing to a high of No.4 in the world in just his second year on tour.
The 23-year-old enjoyed his first taste of the Middle East when he was tied for 10th at the DP World Tour Championship last week and has every intention to add his name after Herbert’s in the list of tournament champions.
“When you look back at some of the players who have won the Omega Dubai Desert Classic, you realise that it is one of the most prestigious tournaments in the world and I’m looking forward to trying to add my name to the roll of honour,” Morikawa said.
“I’ve been told that the Majlis course is a fantastic setting and I can’t wait to get there and see it for myself.
“This year has been a memorable one for me on the golf course and I’m excited to see what 2021 has in store.”
Garcia’s Dubai Desert Classic win in 2017 served as the springboard to his emotional Masters win at Augusta National just three months later and he too is excited at the prospect of being victorious yet again.
“I love coming to Dubai and obviously having won there I have great memories to look back on,” said Garcia.
“It’s one of my favourite events – the course is always presented beautifully and is a fair test.
“I’m proud to be a part of the tournament’s rich history and would love to create a little bit more by becoming a two-time winner.”
Earlier this year Len Thomas received the Western Australia Golf Industry Recognition Award for his outstanding contribution to the game in his home state. Here the PGA Life Member reflects on his humble beginnings and his pride in establishing the Dunsborough Lakes Pro-Am. With Tony Webeck
I started the Dunsborough Lakes Pro-Am back in 2016 and our 2019 tournament received the Pro-Am of the Year award at the WA Golf Industry awards back in June. That puts us on the map. We’ve got a very good course superintendent and we’re getting lots of people coming to play our wonderful golf course.
When they announced that we’d won Pro-Am of the Year I had to make out that I didn’t know anything about it because they hadn’t yet shown the interview I’d done earlier in Perth. I had to come back to Dunsborough and not tell anybody; I couldn’t even tell my wife. Everyone here got quite a surprise.
I came up with the format for the pro-am back in the 1990s when I was at Busselton Golf Club. I had Kel Nagle and Dan Cullen, Billy Dunk and Ted Ball, I had them all playing in a tournament at the Busselton Golf Club and it was quite a big hit.
I used the same format at Dunsborough. We have Gold, Silver and Bronze sections and the amateurs pay a certain amount to be in each section. We had 33 teams – two of which were sponsors teams – and my son Marty and I came up with the idea that we would pay everybody. We only needed 33 pros to play so instead of it being a $12,000 tournament where the prize money stops at the person who comes 18th, we took it up to the 33. Everyone from 19th onwards received $200. That’s probably the first time these pros have played in an event where everyone got paid.
I grew up in Perth and lived close to the Cottesloe Golf Course in Swanbourne and I became a caddy as an 8-year-old kid. I was wandering around there one day, a fella told me to carry his bag for him and when we got back to where I’d picked him up he gave me three shillings. I thought this was the start of a big career for me and I became a caddy.
In 1952 there was a big tournament held at Cottesloe called the Mobilco and the week after was the Australian Open at Lake Karrinyup. The Slazenger guy came to the Cottesloe Golf Course with Norman von Nida and asked, ‘Who is the best caddy here?’ I stepped forward and said I was the best caddy and Norman said, ‘Well I’m the best player so we’ll get along pretty well.’ I was 13 at that time and he went on to win the Australian Open. From that day forward I was only going to be one thing; a golf professional.
I caddied for Norman again when they came to Perth to play the Americans in The Lakes International Cup in 1954. He played Tommy Bolt and that was the day when they had a fight in the locker room. He was a tempestuous little prick. He didn’t back down to Bolt; he was ready to take him on.
I attended Perth Modern School which was a scholarship school and when I told the sportsmaster I wouldn’t be at school because I was caddying for Norman von Nida he asked what business I had playing golf. He took me to his golf course, Nedlands Golf Club, and told me to show him how good I was. At one point I made four birdies in a row. He never gave me a hard time after that.
I couldn’t join the Cottesloe Golf Club until I was 15 so when I turned 15 I finished school and joined Cottesloe. My first handicap was 6 and the next year when I was 16 I won the WA State Amateur Championship. The year after that in 1956 Gary Player came to Perth to play in the Western Australia Open as a 20-year-old and I finished runner-up to him. No one had ever heard of Gary at that stage but after that tournament in Perth he went off to Melbourne and won the Ampol Tournament at Yarra Yarra. He got £5,000 for winning that and then went back to South Africa and married Vivienne.
When I went to the New South Wales Golf Club in Sydney to do my traineeship Norman von Nida would use the course for his golfing activities. He used to bring Gary to the course so I would play with the two of them regularly during that three-year time I had doing my traineeship. I got to know Gary very well.
I became a member of the PGA in 1960 and in 1961 I tried to qualify for the Wills Classic. I missed the cut by one at Newcastle so I caddied for Gary instead and he won the tournament. I got £100 from Gary for caddying. Billy Dunk came sixth in the tournament and got £105.
The Australian Open was played again in Western Australia in 1960 and it was followed by the PGA of Australia Championship being played in Perth. I got to the semi-finals and who do you think I played in the semi-final? Norman von Nida. He was friendly, but he didn’t want me to beat him.
I had quite a bit to do with Graham Marsh and Terry Gale when they were coming through their late amateur years into the pro ranks. I used to help them with their short game. Terry comes from a country town called Yelbeni and he was a very talented boy. He went to Scotch College here in Perth, became captain of the college and was a very talented sportsman. He was a good tennis player and he was on the verge of playing state cricket for Western Australia.
Terry didn’t turn professional until 1976 and we’d been working on his short game prior to him going off to play in his first tournaments. At the time John Hadley and I were golf consultants for TAA and I was able to do a deal with TAA to get Terry to do exhibition matches with me through Western Australia. We played 39 towns and Terry would get an airfare for every exhibition he played.
John Hadley and I were business partners and we ran the Wembley Golf Course together. When we finished in 1982 John went off to work with Bob Tuohy on the tournaments and I took over at another big public course in Perth called Hillview. We built another nine holes there to take it up to 27 holes and it became a very successful public golf course.
I moved down to Dunsborough in 1989 to live down in the south-west and joined the Busselton Golf Club because at that time the Dunsborough Lakes Golf Club didn’t exist. I became a member at Busselton and pretty soon they wanted gear and lessons so I ended up with a contract to be the golf pro with a 10-year lease and a five-year option.
Eventually my golf pro son Marty – who became a member of the PGA back in 1991 when he was just 20 years old – took over for me and I went to China in 1995 and taught golf in China for 17 years.
Lyndsay Stephen I were recently made the first Life Members of Dunsborough Lakes in the club’s 25-year history. It’s another honour in golf for which I am very grateful and proud.
Australian amateur Gabriela Ruffels has produced another stunning performance in a major championship.
The 20-year-old Ruffels, a senior at the University of Southern California, finished tied-13th in the US Women’s Open after closing with a one under par 70 at Champions Golf Club in Houston, Texas.
With six birdies, the Melbourne-schooled Ruffels vaulted up almost 20 places to be the leading Australian of the six in the field.
It improves upon her previous best finish in a major – tied-15th at the ANA Inspiration this year – and consolidates her status as one of the most promising Australian players of recent times.
She shot scores of 71-72-76-70 to finish five over par, eight from the winning score of three under by South Korea’s A Lim Kim.
“It’s been awesome,” said Ruffels, who last year won the US Amateur. “I feel like any time I can kind of mix it with the pros and know that I can compete against them it’s a great week. I feel like I did that this week and just gained a lot of confidence.”
Ruffels has bounced between the USA and Australia through her short life. Born in Florida, she came to Melbourne with her parents for her high school years, latched on to golf and then picked up the USC scholarship and moved to California.
Her father Ray is an Australian Davis Cup tennis player; her mother Anna Maria Fernandez played on the WTA Tour.
She switched from tennis – where she was in Tennis Australia’s junior programs — to golf at 14 in the footsteps of her elder brother Ryan, who is now a travelling professional, too. It has all happened with remarkable speed.
It is expected she will turn professional later in 2021 after completing her college degree. She certainly knows that she is good enough to compete.
Today she began on the sixth hole after Sunday’s weather delay, and having made three birdies in the first five holes of the back nine on Sunday, she made another three on the front nine including two to finish, at the eighth and ninth holes.
“I played pretty well today, I was really, really happy with the round,” she said. “It was definitely one of the tougher days, conditions-wise, especially this morning it was pretty cold, warmed up a little bit. it was definitely you had to be mentally strong coming back from yesterday, but I had a pretty good start yesterday, I think I was two under through five holes, made three birdies when I started.”
Hannah Green (40th), Minjee Lee (46th) and Su Oh (66th) were all farther back in the field.
The performance of the week, though, came from Korean LPGA Tour star Kim, who made three consecutive birdies to finish in overrunning American Amy Olson to win.
It was her first appearance in a US Women’s Open at 25, although she has won three times on the Korean Tour.
She picked up $US1 million in prizemoney.
