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PGA Trainee Joshua Herrero has claimed a wire-to-wire win at the 2020 ADH Club Car WA PGA Trainee Championship played at Wanneroo Golf Club.
Starting the final round with a five stoke lead thanks to opening rounds of 72, 71 and 71, Herrero posted his best score of the tournament in the final round, a 4-under 70, to take a six stoke victory in the 2020 event.
Herrero was the only PGA Trainee to record scores at par or under in all four rounds, a three-putt bogey on the final hole of the tournament one of just four red numbers recorded over the 72 holes.
“I just got around playing my own game,” said Herrero.
“I made the most of the shorter holes and par-5s and my plan worked out well.”
Following a slow start at Wanneroo Golf Club thanks to an opening round of 76, WA PGA Trainee Captain Dale Howie came home with rounds of 71, 72 and 71 to claim second place at 2-over 290.
WA PGA Trainee Championship 2019 victor John Boulton tied for third place in 2020 alongside Calum Juniper with tournament totals of 9-over 297.
The victory has extended Herrero’s WA Order of Merit lead as the year draws to a close.
To view the final ADH Club Car WA PGA Trainee Championship leaderboard visit pga.org.au.
Australia’s incredible year of silverware continued in Korea thanks to Won Joon Lee, while two Queenslanders continued terrific streaks in the US.
Cam Smith’s charge towards Augusta National ramped up again this week as the World No.51 cracked the top five in California.
Coming off the back of an outright 11th result last week, Smith improved on his best finish since winning the Sony Open in January with four rounds in the 70s.
“Over the weekend, I just played probably a little bit smarter and hitting the right shots rather than trying to go at everything,” said Smith on Sunday.
“Which is hard to do when the course is playing pretty easy. It was really solid and the putts went in over the weekend, which is nice.”
A special shout out must go to Japan Tour regular Brad Kennedy, who was the next best Australian in his first PGA Tour star since 2012 and his first tournament since March this year.
Across the country, another Queenslander in Katherine Kirk was sensational on the world’s top women’s circuit.
World No.81 Kirk notched her fourth top 10 in her last five starts on the LPGA Tour to continue a sustained run of brilliance.
Kirk is now certain to reach her highest world ranking in more than a year and a half, a well-deserved reward for her return to form.
At home, Aaron Pike held off Michael Sim in a playoff to claim the Tailor-Made Building Services NT PGA Championship, with amateurs Nathan Barbieri, Jed Morgan and Lawry Flynn grinding out impressive top 10 results against the pros.
But Australia’s unbelievable year of champions continued in Asia thanks to Won Joon Lee, the New South Welshman winning his second Korean PGA Tour title in just over a year.
It took Lee 33 years to win his first pro crown but after last year’s breakthrough at the Korean PGA Championship he’s gone on with it, birdieing the last hole over the weekend to ensure a comfortable three-stroke win.
So for adding another trophy to our country’s burgeoning cabinet, we congratulate our latest #AussieOfTheWeek Won Joon Lee!
KOREAN TOUR
Bizplay Electronic Times Open
Tameus CC, Korea
Won by Won Joon Lee (AUS) at -14 by three shots
1 – Won Joon Lee, -14, 69-67-66
MC – Junseok Lee, 71-77
PGA TOUR
ZOZO CHAMPIONSHIP
Sherwood CC, California
Won by Patrick Cantlay (USA) at -23 by one shot
T4 – Cam Smith, -19, 67-69-66-67
T41 – Brad Kennedy, -11, 72-67-66-72
T60 – Jason Day, -6, 68-71-69-74
T70 – Marc Leishman, -2, 71-73-72-70
LPGA TOUR
Drive On Championship
Great Waters Course, Georgia
Won by Ally McDonald (USA) at -16 by one shot
T6 – Katherine Kirk, -11, 72-65-70-70
T13 – Su Oh, -8, 71-72-69-68
T17 – Hannah Green, -7, 74-68-68-71
T60 – Minjee Lee, +2, 70-73-75-72
MC – Sarah Jane Smith, +5, 75-74
MC – Sarah Kemp, +7, 76-75
EUROPEAN TOUR
Italian Open
Chevro GC, Brescia
Won by Ross McGowan (ENG) at -20 by one shot
T55 – Maverick Antcliff, -7, 70-67-71-73
MC – Jason Scrivener, -1, 71-72
MC – Wade Ormsby, +1, 71-74
ISPS HANDA PGA TOUR OF AUSTRALASIA
Tailor-Made Building Services NT PGA Championship
Palmerston Golf Course, Darwin
Won by Aaron Pike (QLD) at -12 in a playoff over Michael Sim
1 – Aaron Pike, -12, 68-66-67
2 – Micheal Sim, -12, 66-70-65
T3 – Nathan Barbieri (am), -9, 65-69-70
T3 – Deyen Lawson, -9, 68-67-69
5 – Justin Warren, -8, 68-69-68
6 – Anthony Quayle, -7, 70-70-66
7 – Jed Morgan (am), -6, 67-69-71
Image: KPGA
Local product Aaron Pike will lean on the teachings of renowned performance psychologist Phil Jauncey after joining Nathan Barbieri at the top of the leaderboard heading into the final round of the Tailor-made Building Services NT PGA Championship.
Pike’s second round of 5-under 66 was the best on Saturday and vaulted him to the top to join the New South Wales amateur at 8-under par, one shot clear of European Tour player Deyen Lawson with Australian Amateur champion Jed Morgan and former US PGA Tour player Michael Sim both at 6-under.
Sim is actually spending the week staying in the Pike family home that sits adjacent to the 11th hole at Palmerston Golf and Country Club, the course where Pike learned the game before moving to Queensland in 2003.
Victory on Sunday would be considered very much a home-town triumph but the 34-year-old hopes that the work he has been undertaking on his mental approach will prevent him from getting caught up in the emotions around a win on the course where he played his junior golf.
In addition to working with Warren Kennaugh, Pike sought out Jauncey at the start of the year, Jauncey’s client base featuring the Australian cricket team and Brisbane Broncos and South Sydney NRL teams.
It’s an area of his game Pike says has been deficient in the past but one he feels better equipped to deal with on Sunday.
“Warren helps me immensely with my practice and Phil is more around how we get the best out of the situation that we’re in,” said Pike.
“Those two guys have helped me a lot and coming to play events like this, that’s where I can test it and see what works for me.
“I’ve taken the opportunity to really work on the mental side of things which is something that I have always thought has been a big problem of mine.
“I wouldn’t be in this situation if I hadn’t already put that stuff into practice.
“Phil’s a little different and a little left-field which I feel that I am.
“How he approaches his philosophies was something that I was really taken by.”
Using local knowledge to scramble pars and rattle off four birdies in his closing six holes on Saturday, Pike enters the final round having shot 67 in last Sunday’s Palmerston club comp.
His 35 Stableford points wasn’t enough to win a week ago but the 2018 Victorian PGA champion insists being the local favourite won’t enter into his thinking until the completion of 18 holes on Sunday.
“It doesn’t mean more or less in all honesty. 175m at Palmerston Golf Club is the same as 175m at Royal St George’s,” said Pike, who was denied a maiden Open Championship appearance this year due to the COVID-19 pandemic.
“I’m not the type of person who feels that difference just because of where it is.
“Unfortunately that mantra just can’t come into it. It’s just another shot.
“That’s something that I’ve really had to come to grips with and work on a hell of a lot.
“Not letting things get to me, keep working and going to the next shot, worrying only about what do we do next.
“When everything goes down on Sunday, then I’ll know.”
Runner-up at the Keperra Bowl a week ago, Jed Morgan was left to rue three misses from inside 10 feet on his back nine on Saturday to sit two shots back with a round to play.
Despite the deficit, Morgan is planning on applying early pressure on the front-runners with an aggressive mindset.
“Being out in front is a different experience because you have to keep pushing if you want to stay in the lead,” said Morgan.
“Coming from behind is good for some people because they just feel like they’re chasing and it helps their focus.
“I feel like I’m a person who needs to push regardless of the situation. I think anyone needs to do that, whether you’re a few shots back or a couple in front, always push and push and push.
“Both Nathan and Aaron could bring it back to the field because you can make some doubles around here.
“You’re going to have to play good and take your chances when you get them but I don’t know if it’s going to take anything silly.”
As a recent recipient of a Sport of Australia Hall of Fame scholarship, Morgan now boasts Ricky Ponting as a mentor but is not expecting any words of wisdom from the Australian cricket legend prior to Sunday’s final round.
“It will be a surprise if he does,” Morgan admitted. “I can’t imagine he’s looking at the Northern Territory PGA scores but if he knew I was playing he might have a look.
“It would be an awesome feeling if he texted me tonight and wished me luck for tomorrow.
“He’s probably got bigger things to worry about, even though he does love his golf.”
Leading scores after Round 2
134: Aaron Pike, Nathan Barbieri (a)
135: Deyen Lawson
136: Jediah Morgan (a), Michael Sim
137: Justin Warren
139: Bradley Doherty, Jake Hughes (a), Jack Thompson (a)
View the full leaderboard at pga.org.au.
Image: Taylah Somerville Photography
His beloved Sydney Roosters aren’t featuring but rookie professional Blake Windred admits that there is a Grand Final vibe ahead of this week’s Tailor-Made Building Services NT PGA Championship at Palmerston Golf and Country Club.
As the NRL and AFL competitions prepare to declare their champions for an elongated 2020 season, players converging on Palmerston from Queensland, New South Wales and South Australia are treating it as their decider.
Given the cancellation of both the Australian Open and Australian PGA Championship, the NT PGA now shapes as the biggest event left on the ISPS HANDA PGA Tour of Australasia until 2021.
It’s why Windred is adopting an ‘all or nothing’ approach in his first event since the New Zealand Open in March having only been cleared to travel from Newcastle last Monday.
“I feel like I honestly have nothing to lose this week and everything to gain,” Windred said on Wednesday morning before boarding the plane to Darwin.
“In the Prelim you’ve got your fingers crossed that you’re going to make it to the big dance and we’ve obviously got the all clear so we get to play the Grand Final this week.
“It’s the unknown, not knowing whether we will have another tournament this year.
“Having that uncertainty makes it feel like this could be our last tournament and you want to get some runs on the board.
“Regardless of the result I get to compete this week and I’ve been practising for this moment for the past seven months.
“Once I get out there and find some rhythm, anything’s possible. Hopefully I’m able to get into contention and give a few of the boys a run.”
Given the dearth of playing opportunities available this year due to the COVID-19 pandemic, Windred is one of very few players who bring winning form into the 2020 NT PGA.
The 22-year-old defeated Jake Higginbottom, Dimi Papadatos and Nathan Green in the final to claim the Toronto Modified Super Sixes matchplay three weeks ago and hopes that form will transfer across to a sterner test this week.
“’Greeny’ was posting on Facebook that I’d peaked too early so to then come out the next day and knock a few of the boys off in the tournament was a really good feeling,” said Windred, revealing that he shot 9-under in the practice round.
“Winning is winning. That’s what my coach Gary Barter has always told me. It doesn’t matter if you win at a 36-hole junior event or win a professional event, it’s the same feeling.
“I felt like I was able to get a lot out of that tournament and hopefully I can take some of that form into Northern Territory PGA this week.”
When global golf shut down in March Windred dedicated himself to a rigorous practice schedule.
As the suspension of tournaments piled up the Hunter native was forced to take two weeks off to recharge, returning to practice with renewed purpose two months ago.
“I felt like the past two months I was able to consolidate the hard work I put in during COVID,” said Windred, who turned professional last October.
“There’s never any guarantees that the hard work will pay off over the three days of this tournament but I am very confident in what I’m bringing and my ability to get the ball in the hole regardless of how you’re hitting it.
“The past month, knowing that this tournament was coming up, all my practice becomes a lot easier because you have an end-goal and a finish date where you want to be peaking by and ready to play your best golf.
“Hopefully my best golf comes this weekend.
“We all want to lift up that trophy at the end of the week… and it’s a pretty cool looking trophy too.”
The Tailor-Made Building Services NT PGA Championship will be played at Palmerston Golf and Country Club from October 23-25 where players will compete for a share in $70,000 prizemoney. Leading players taking part include Blake Windred, Anthony Quayle, Michael Sim, Deyen Lawson, Dimi Papadatos, Jason Norris and former NT PGA champions Brett Rankin and Jordan Zunic.
Going toe-to-toe with Tiger Woods was never part of the plan.
When Woods was sending the golf world into a tailspin with his epic 1997 Masters triumph at Augusta National, Brad Kennedy was greeting members in the pro shop at Coolangatta-Tweed Heads Golf Club on the Gold Coast.
When Woods was in the midst of one of the greatest stretches of major championship golf at the turn of the century Kennedy was playing pro-ams on sand scrapes in Western Australia and in outback mining towns in Queensland.
Any aspiring professional golfer is lying if they say they haven’t envisioned major championship glory lining up a six-footer at their home club on a Sunday afternoon but Brad Kennedy never believed it.
Never truly believed in himself.
Now, at 46 years of age, Kennedy will make his first appearance on American soil at the ZOZO Championship at Sherwood Country Club in California where Woods is the defending champion and has hosted – and won five times – the Hero World Challenge.
Set to earn a place at next February’s WGC-Mexico Championship by virtue of his current position atop the ISPS HANDA PGA Tour of Australasia Order of Merit, Kennedy is once again mixing with the world elite in the year that was intended to be his last on tour.
He has played just two majors – the 2011 and 2012 Open Championships – and was tied for 51st at the WGC-HSBC Champions in 2012 but prior to lockdown the Queenslander was in the midst of the best form of his 20-plus year career.
Dating back to the Japan Golf Tour’s Bridgestone Open just over a year ago, Kennedy has accrued two top-10s, five top-5s and a last-start victory at the New Zealand Open in his past 12 starts. If not for a three-putt on the 72nd hole he would have also won the Coca-Cola Queensland PGA Championship at Toowoomba.
Ranked a career-high of 101st in the world after his second NZ Open triumph, Kennedy chose not to pick up a club for six months, seeing no value in practise used purely as a way to kill time.
He then received word that he might earn a spot in this week’s co-sanctioned event as one of the top eight Japan Golf Tour members not otherwise exempt on the Official World Golf Rankings, prompting a six-week boot camp of putting and short game to get battle-ready.
It was an opportunity too good to refuse and one Kennedy now believes he is positioned to capitalise on.
“I’ve grown a lot the past seven years,” said Kennedy, who has won three times in Japan since 2012.
“Early on in my career I never believed in myself enough to feel that I was good enough to play at the highest level.
“The last six years I’ve felt that change a little bit in personality and performance just through hard work and discipline.
“I’m not worried about the consequences anymore. Early in my career I was always fearful of making a mistake so I never really pushed as hard as maybe I could have. But I didn’t also have the tools to back that up.
“Now I play without consequence and I’ve developed those tools that I can hit those shots, I can play those courses, I can shoot those scores.”
A member of the Australian Schoolboys team in 1992, Kennedy completed a three-year PGA Traineeship under Geoff Parslow at ‘Cooly-Tweed’ and spent a year working in the pro shop.
He joined the PGA Tour of Australasia full-time from 1998 and spent the next decade worrying primarily that each year on tour might be his last.
“Coming from a Trainee background and being a club pro for a year, I never took playing for granted,” explained Kennedy, who has never been outside the top 260 in the world since finishing second at the Canon Open in 2011.
“I never gave up the dream of trying to compete at the highest level but I never took anything for granted as well.
“It was always the case that one bad year could be the end. I was always grateful for the opportunities that I had and I never wanted to give that up.”
The irony is that 2020 was indeed meant to be Kennedy’s last.
He and performance coach Dave Alred – who Kennedy credits for much of his success the past seven years – set out a plan to play 50 events across 2019-2020, plans that became redundant with the onset of the COVID-19 pandemic.
“It was frustrating to be honest,” said Kennedy of his schedule being shut down following his win in New Zealand.
“I’d said to Dave two years ago that the end of 2020 was the end so he set myself a target of 50 events until the end of my career.
“This year I had 25 and played the first four and I was really gearing up for a massive year, giving every tournament my biggest possible attention and not to waste an event.
“After NZ I was ready for more and wanting to take on more and once all that hit it became very frustrating.
“I did struggle with letting go. The hardest thing with COVID was not having control. As professionals you do have a certain amount of control, whether it be in your schedule, in your training, in your practise. You’re in control of what you do, where you go, how you travel. That was all just taken away and we didn’t have anything.
“I was struggling mentally not having anything to prove or anything to work towards. I had to let that go and once I did that it was quite easy to let the game go and spend quality time at home with the family.”
Kennedy’s intention as it stands is to play in Japan again next year and possibly again in 2022 but his first order of business is to prove to himself once and for all that he belongs among golf’s very elite.
“You are where you are at any one time and the idea is to keep developing, keep improving,” Kennedy said.
“You just never know where that next opportunity’s coming from. That’s why I took this one.
“It’s a great opportunity for me and I’m going to stand up there and have a real solid go.
“I’m going to give it everything I’ve got and walk away with no regrets.”
Round 1 tee times (AEDT)
PGA TOUR
ZOZO Championship @ Sherwood
Sherwood Country Club, California
4.12am* Cameron Smith, Brendon Todd, Joaquin Niemann
4.23am Marc Leishman, Lanto Griffin, Rickie Fowler
4.56am Brad Kennedy, Danny Lee, Harry Higgs
5.40am* Jason Day, Tommy Fleetwood, Jim Herman
Defending champion: Tiger Woods
Past Aussie winners: Nil
Top Aussie prediction: Cameron Smith
TV schedule: Live 8am-11am Friday, Saturday, Sunday and Monday on Fox Sports 503
European Tour
Italian Open
Chervò Golf Club, San Vigilio di Pozzolengo, Brescia , Italy
6.20pm Wade Ormsby, Raphaël Jacquelin, Lars Van Meijel
9.52pm Jason Scrivener, Adrian Otaegui, Edoardo Molinari
10.32pm Maverick Antcliff, Matthew Baldwin, Dale Whitnell
Defending champion: Bernd Wiesberger
Past Aussie winners: Peter Thomson (1959), Greg Norman (1988), Craig Parry (1991)
Top Aussie prediction: Wade Ormsby
TV schedule: Live 9.30pm-2.30am Thursday, Friday; Live 10pm-2.30am Saturday, Sunday on Fox Sports 503
LPGA Tour
LPGA Drive-on Championship
Reynolds Lake Oconee
Greensboro, Georgia
10.44pm Minjee Lee, Brittany Lincicome, Sophia Popov
10.55pm Lydia Ko, Austin Ernst, Lexi Thompson
10.55pm* Katherine Kirk, Celine Boutier, Eun-Hee Ji
2.06am* Sarah Jane Smith, Jaclyn Lee, Charlotte Thomas
2.17am* Sarah Kemp, Ayako Uehara, Alana Uriell
2.39am* Hannah Green, Ashleigh Buhai, Jessica Korda
Defending champion: Inaugural event
Past Aussie winners: Nil
Top Aussie prediction: Katherine Kirk
TV schedule: Live 4am-7am Friday, Saturday, Sunday, Monday on Fox Sports 503
The border closures and international travel restrictions brought on by the COVID-19 pandemic have forced the cancellation of the Vic Open scheduled for February, 2021.
This follows last week’s regretful cancellation of the summer’s other premier golf events – the Australian PGA Championship, Australian Open and the Women’s Australian Open.
The three organisations involved – Golf Australia, the PGA of Australia and the ALPG – hoped to find an arrangement to preserve the Vic Open, but the impacts of COVID-19, most notably in assembling international fields and ensuring the safety of players, spectators and officials, has forced the decision.
“This is another incredibly difficult decision that follows a very challenging week in the history of the ISPS HANDA PGA Tour of Australasia,” Nick Dastey, the PGA’s Tournaments Director Australasia, said.
The men’s Vic Open dates to 1957 while the women’s Vic Open began in 1988, went into abeyance in 1992 and resumed in 2012 when the ground-breaking mixed concept was launched, including men and women in the same event at the same venue.
The concept has won worldwide applause in the golf fraternity and the Vic Open’s prizemoney grew from $150,000 in 2012 to $3 million this year at 13th Beach on the Bellarine Peninsula, with equal prizemoney for men and women.
“These are disappointing decisions to make, no doubt,” said James Sutherland, Golf Australia’s chief executive.
“We’re very proud of how far the Vic Open came since the mixed concept was put together, and we’re more than aware of how popular this event has become. We’ve tried to make it happen, but the call had to made.”
The last time the event was not played was 2008.
Sutherland said the major issues in the decision to cancel included provision of a safe environment for the players during a pandemic, and lack of certainty on quarantine and border issues, leaving the officials with no chance of drawing the type of international field that the event deserved.
“We’ve taken advice from the relevant domestic government authorities and looked at the contingencies including the creation of a ‘bubble’, but they are not viable. It left us in a position where our field strength would have been severely compromised.
“We’re disappointed for golf fans and for all the hundreds of enthusiastic volunteers who have helped make the Vic Open so successful, and we’re disappointed for the players who lose an opportunity to ply their trade.
“However, we will view it as temporary and what we need to do now is to focus on the future of all our events and work towards getting them back better than ever for the summer of 2021/22 and beyond.”
He will finish 2020 with a winning record the envy of Tiger Woods and it was a roar-inducing putt on the second-to-last hole that effectively clinched rising amateur Hayden Hopewell the 2020 Nexus Risk WA Open title at Royal Fremantle Golf Club.
Starting the day two shots adrift of overnight leader Brody Martin, Hopewell stumbled out of the gates with an opening bogey but defied Royal Fremantle’s brutal finish to birdie 16, 17 and 18 to claim a one-shot win at his home club from fellow amateur Haydn Barron with Martin a shot further back in third.
Midway through the third and final round Martin looked to be well in control with a two-shot advantage at the turn but both Hopewell and Barron applied late pressure to edge to the top of the leaderboard.
Barron’s birdie at the par-5 closing hole tied Hopewell at 6-under to raise the possibility of a playoff but only briefly, Hopewell answering with a birdie of his own, two-putting from 20-feet to claim his first ISPS HANDA PGA Tour of Australasia tournament win.
Smarting from a bogey at the par-4 ninth, the 18-year-old rattled off six birdies over his closing nine holes but it was the shot he picked up at the par-3 17th that proved most decisive.
All week players have struggled to hold the green of the 175-metre 17th but once he did, Hopewell had the self-confidence to step forward and make one when it mattered most.
“I had a feeling I was going to hole it,” Hopewell said of his birdie putt from 23 feet.
“I actually turned to my sister Ariel and said, ‘Of course this is going to go in’ and rolled that one in for birdie.
“That was probably the biggest moment of the tournament, to take a one-shot lead going to the last.
“It was the fastest putt on the course, in front of all the crowd and they gave it a good roar so I was quite chuffed with that one.”
The 18-year-old joins an elite list of WA Open winners including a host of amateurs who have progressed to the professional ranks in recent years such as Zach Murray (2018), Curtis Luck (2016) and Oliver Goss (2012). West Australian legends Stephen Leaney (1991) and Terry Gale (1975) also won their state Open before graduating to the professional ranks.
Twelve months ago Hopewell shot to prominence by winning the inaugural Junior 6’s Invitational staged by former touring professional Ewan Porter and featuring prominently on the leaderboard of the Emirates Australian Open at The Australian Golf Club.
Following wins earlier in the year at the Tasmanian Open and Western Australian Amateur, this latest victory is his third in his past five starts in a disrupted 2020 season but Hopewell insists his latest triumph won’t fast-track his plans to turn professional.
“It’s a great stepping stone,” said Hopewell, who was runner-up to Michael Sim at the 2019 WA Open. “It reinforces the confidence within my game, in myself.
“It doesn’t change anything with my timeline of turning pro but this is a good stepping stone. It’s one I wanted to win.
“Last year I had a two-shot lead going into the last round and it was a bit of a different mindset. I had to hold on and play solid golf but this year I was two behind and thought I had to give it my all, leave nothing in the tank.
“It was more of an aggressive mindset and it paid off.”
It wasn’t only a thrilling finish to the WA Open, a birdie at the final hole securing Melville Glades member Tony Coates the 2020 WA Open All Abilities crown.
Starting the second round one shot behind Lake Karrinyup’s Nicholas Panos, Coates saved his best to the very final hole, his lone birdie of the day enough to edge Panos by a shot with Gary Brocket a further shot back in third position.
Nexus Risk WA Open Leading Final Scores
209: Hayden Hopewell (a)
210: Haydn Barron (a)
211: Brody Martin
214: Oliver Goss
215: Jordan Jung (a)
216: Adam Brady (a)
2020 WA Open All Abilities Final Scores
173: Tony Coates (Melville Glades GC)
174: Nicholas Panos (Lake Karrinyup CC)
175: Gary Brocket (Wanneroo GC)
177: Marc Barnesby Buie (Royal Fremantle)
181: Nicholas Carroll (Dunsborough Lakes)
209: Andrew Clark (Melville Glades GC)
The joy of a new baby daughter and the pain of having the TX Civil & Logistics WA PGA Championship snatched from his grasp two years ago will be the driving forces behind Brody Martin’s claim to the Nexus Risk WA Open crown at Royal Fremantle Golf Club on Sunday.
For the second day in succession Royal Fremantle kept WA’s best professionals and amateurs at arm’s length with Martin opening up a two-shot buffer at the top of the leaderboard at 5-under courtesy of a 4-under par round of 68.
Rising amateur star Hayden Hopewell is the nearest challenger having moved to 3-under with a birdie at the par-5 18th hole, he and veteran Brett Rumford the only other players to break 70, Rumford joining amateur Haydn Barron at 2-under par to be three shots back.
Starting from the 10th tee on Saturday, Martin’s considered approach to a firm and fast Royal Fremantle layout paid dividends from the outset, taking 4-iron from the tee at his opening hole, hitting 7-iron to eight feet and starting his round with a birdie.
He added two more in his next three holes to vault to the top of the leaderboard and open up a handy lead, further birdies at two, four and five elevating him to 5-under with one round to play.
It’s a position Martin found himself in two years ago at the WA PGA at Kalgoorlie only to be run down by a Michael Long course record to lose by a shot.
It was a disappointment that he has only just shaken but Martin believes the challenge the course is presenting will make such a scenario unlikely on Sunday.
“I was in this situation in 2018. I had a couple of shots on Simon Hawkes, three on Jarryd (Felton) and five on Michael Long and Michael shot a course record at Kalgoorlie to beat me by a shot,” Martin recalled.
“I thought about that for a solid 18 months. Every time I practised, every time I played golf I thought about the shots I hit. There was a 2-iron in that final round that I’ve practised 1,000 times since.
“Those poor memories do come into it but it also taught me a lot too.
“I’m playing good enough, I just need to play sensible.
“If the conditions are as hard as they have been the last two days I can’t really see much better than 5 or 6-under being posted. And if someone does that they obviously deserve to win the golf tournament.”
One of those hoping to bridge the gap with a low round on Sunday will be amateur Haydn Barron.
Selected to represent Australia at both the Nomura Cup and Asia-Pacific Amateur this year – two events that were cancelled due to the COVID-19 pandemis – Barron’s plans to turn professional have been put on hold and he knows it will take something special to chase down Martin.
“If Brody is 5-under still that’s incredible playing,” Barron said prior to Martin completing his round.
“I don’t think there’s a super-low round out there. I can’t see someone shooting more than 5-under, at absolute best.
“Someone will shoot 3 or 4-under and that will be it.
“I feel like I haven’t been in contention for a long time so I definitely had some nerves out there today. I just tried to keep myself as calm as I could all day, regardless of what happened.
“For me it’s a matter of going as low as I can early and hold on down that really difficult stretch at the end.”
Whether month-old Indiana will be part of the gallery on Sunday is still to be decided but Martin hopes she will be there at the end to share in the victory celebration with wife Courtney.
“It’s a similar situation of what had me defeated last time but the only thing that will help me to defend it will be these conditions,” Martin said.
“Even par could be good enough. If I can keep playing sensible golf, try and make 14 or 15 pars tomorrow, I think I’m going to be in there come the last hole.
“You’ve got to look at the golf course and see what kind of scores you can shoot. For me, I’m going to go home, same game-plan tomorrow and really look at the holes I need to make birdies and capitalise on those.
“The scores aren’t going to be hot because of the greens and they’re putting the flags in hard spots.
“There is a little bit of a game-plan but just respecting the holes that I need to respect.”
Leading scores
139: Brody Martin
141: Hayden Hopewell (a)
142: Haydn Barron (a), Brett Rumford
144: Oliver Goss
145: Darren Garrett, Joshua Greer (a), Adam Brady (a), Tom Addy (a), Ben Ferguson
Six-time European Tour winner Brett Rumford is adamant that it is only time – and an injection of self-belief – that stands between Jarryd Felton and a place on one of the world’s top golf tours.
Rumford and Felton – winner of last week’s TX Civil & Logistics WA PGA Championship at Kalgoorlie – will start the Nexus Risk WA Open at Royal Fremantle Golf Club on Friday as the two leading contenders having finished 1-2 in Kalgoorlie.
The 54-hole event provides Rumford with the opportunity to add a second WA Open title to that which he won 15 years ago while for Felton it offers another platform to prove that his game is good enough to compete internationally.
Already a two-time winner on the ISPS HANDA PGA Tour of Australasia, the 25-year-old has played briefly in Canada and currently has limited status on the European Tour but has had to watch on as other members of coach Ritchie Smith’s stable have made their mark.
His girlfriend Hannah Green is a major champion and fellow Smith students Minjee and Min Woo Lee have enjoyed meteoric rises in professional golf, a path that has remained frustratingly elusive for Felton.
But Rumford insists that the bumps and bruises Felton has accrued along the way will prove beneficial when his moment does come.
“He just needs to wait for it. There are so many examples of guys who are knocking on the door and they stick with it and it finally comes and they’re off,” said Rumford.
“If he can somehow get in the door and stick with it and be patient and endure long enough, he’s going to be someone who when he really gets hold of it and has the opportunity, he will really start to believe that he can do this and that he does want this.
“It’s so difficult to get a foot in the door but he’s got one hell of a game. It’s got nothing to do with anything else other than getting his foot in the door.”
Felton himself acknowledges that placing undue pressure on himself has only hampered his progression.
Rather than the intensity of six rounds at Q School to secure your playing future in Europe, the Gosnells Golf Club member believes the relaxed nature of last week’s Kalgoorlie win may provide something of a blueprint moving forward.
“Self-belief’s a massive thing for me. I get quite down on myself and think I should be a little bit further ahead than what I am,” admitted Felton, who will have his coach watching close at hand this week.
“(The win at Kalgoorlie) just proves that I don’t need to try too hard.
“When everything’s on the line for a golfer, it’s hard work.
“I’ve got to be more relaxed and go with the flow. I’m more scared of shooting a bad score but I can’t be like that. If I shoot a bad score who cares? No one’s going to remember three days later. There’s a bit holding me back on that front.
“It’s just doing my thing, taking my time and working through it.”
Another player sure to contend this week is 2005 WA Open champion at Royal Fremantle, Daniel Fox.
Like Rumford, Fox sees in Felton a tremendous young talent trying to get the top as quickly as possible.
“I just think that sometimes he’s in a rush,” offered Fox, highlighting the path fellow West Australian Jason Scrivener took to become a European Tour regular.
“That’s just a mark of someone who wants to go somewhere but in order to get on a Tour you’ve just got to grind it out for a couple of years.
“You can’t get from where you are to where you want to be overnight. You’ve just got to grind it out and make a plan.
“Jarryd knows he’s a good player, everyone around him knows he’s a good player and he perhaps thinks that he should have already made it somewhere by now.
“That might be the only thing holding him back.”
The Nexus Risk WA Open will be staged at Royal Fremantle Golf Club from Friday, October 16 to Sunday, October 18. Former champions in the field include Brett Rumford, Daniel Fox, Oliver Goss and Kim Felton.
Perhaps it was because it is a new event. Perhaps it’s a by-product of life in the bubble.
Either way, Scott Hend’s top-10 at last week’s BMW PGA Championship at Wentworth saved the Queenslander from the embarrassment of having to miss this week’s Scottish Championship at Fairmont St Andrews just 10 minutes from the Home of Golf.
His first top-10 finish anywhere since his victory at the Maybank Championship in Malaysia last March, Hend fired a 4-under 68 in the final round at Wentworth to climb into a tie for 10th, his birdie at the 72nd hole earning automatic entry into the Scottish Championship.
Finally content with the performance of his driver, Hend climbed 72 places in the Official World Golf Rankings and – provided he can cope with the freezing Scottish temperatures – can build on his current Race to Dubai position of 79th, up 37 on a week ago.
Other Australians taking part in the Scottish Championship are Wade Ormsby, Min Woo Lee, Jake McLeod and Zach Murray along with Kiwi legend Michael Campbell.
Going to put 2 “Headless With Hendy” on this week. 1st one is with @ryanfoxgolfer who is traveling back to NZ this week. Hope u enjoy some insight on golfers⛳?️♂️???? #golflife #luckyboy #BOOM #loveit @EuropeanTour @PGAofAustralia @asiantourgolf pic.twitter.com/bEQT2kZn7l
— Scott Hend (@hendygolf) October 12, 2020
Unable to be played in Korea due to COVID-19, the PGA TOUR’s CJ Cup has shifted to the ultra-exclusive Shadow Creek, a Tom Fazio design built without limitations, a personal playground for the rich and famous frequenting the Glitter Strip.
The site of The Match between Tiger Woods and Phil Mickelson in 2018, Shadow Creek will this week host three Aussies among the 78-man field, Cameron Smith, 2017 runner-up Marc Leishman and Jason Day. New Zealand’s Danny Lee – like Leishman, a runner-up to Justin Thomas in 2019 – will also tee it up.
Stephen Leaney, David McKenzie, Rod Pampling are confirmed starters at the Champions Tour’s Dominion Energy Charity Classic and Robyn Choi and Stephanie Na will fly the Aussie flag at the Mission Inn Resort and Club Championship in Florida on the secondary Symetra Tour.
Round 1 tee times (AEDT)
PGA TOUR
The CJ Cup at Shadow Creek
Shadow Creek, Las Vegas, Nevada
3.56am* Cameron Smith, Corey Conners, Ian Poulter
4.07am Marc Leishman, Andrew Landry, Jordan Spieth
4.18am Jason Day, Brendon Todd, Louis Oosthuizen
4.51am Danny Lee, Robby Shelton, Jeongwoo Ham
Defending champion: Justin Thomas
Past Aussie winners: Nil
Top Aussie prediction: Cameron Smith
TV schedule: Live 8am-11.07am Friday; Live 8am-11.06am Saturday; Live 8am-11.10am Sunday; Live 8am-11am Monday on Fox Sports 503
European Tour
Scottish Championship
Fairmont St Andrews, St Andrews, Fife, Scotland
6.40pm Michael Campbell, Garrick Porteous, Alexander Levy
6.40pm* Wade Ormsby, David Drysdale, Scott Jamieson
7.20pm Jake McLeod, Adrian Meronk, Dave Coupland
10.35pm Scott Hend, Richie Ramsay, Paul Waring
10.45pm Min Woo Lee, David Law, Nicolai Hojgaard
10.55pm Zach Murray, Dale Whitnell, Lars Van Meijel
Defending champion: Inaugural event
Past Aussie winners: Nil
Top Aussie prediction: Wade Ormsby
TV schedule: Live 10.30pm-3.30am Thursday; Live 10.30pm-3.37am Friday on Fox Sports 503; Live 11pm-3.30am Saturday; Live 10pm-2.30am Sunday on Fox Sports 505
Champions Tour
Dominion Energy Charity Classic
The Country Club of Virginia (James River Cse), Richmond, Virginia
Aussies in the field: Stephen Leaney, David McKenzie, Rod Pampling
Defending champion: Miguel Angel Jimenez
Past Aussie winners: Nil
Top Aussie prediction: Stephen Leaney
TV schedule: Live 6am-8am Saturday, Sunday; Live 5.30am-8am Monday on Fox Sports 503
Symetra Tour
Mission Inn Resort and Club Championship
Mission Inn Resort and Club, Howey-In-The-Hills, Florida
11.55pm* Stephanie Na, Isi Gabsa, Dewi Weber
12.50am* Robyn Choi, Laetitia Beck, Amanda Doherty
Defending champion: Inaugural event
Past Aussie winners: Nil
Top Aussie prediction: Robyn Choi
