Pike to debut at St Georges

For the first time since 2011 – and for the fifteenth time since it first joined the currently 10-strong “rota” of courses in 1894 – the Open Championship is returning to the Kent links of Royal St. George’s next year.

In turn, the field for what will be the 149th playing of golf’s oldest and most important event is going to include the now two-time Emirates Australian Open champion Matt Jones, Aaron Pike and Takumi Kanaya. They were the top-three finishers (not already exempt for the Open) inside the top-10 at the 104th edition of Australia’s national Open.

The championship – the fourth-oldest in the game – was the first of the “Open Qualifying Series,” 13 events played across the PGA Tour, European Tour, PGA Tour of Australasia, the Asian Tour, the Sunshine Tour and the Japan Tour that will identify as many as 46 players over the next few months.

For Pike, the 848th-ranked player in the world, a trip to jolly old England will double as his Open Championship debut. Kanaya – the number-one amateur on the planet – has played once before as the Asian-Pacific Amateur champion, missing the halfway cut at Royal Portrush earlier this year. His spot at Royal St. George’s is guaranteed too. No matter what.

Even if the 21-year old Japanese turns professional between now and next July, he will not lose the spot he earned by shooting nine-under par for 72-holes and finishing T-3 alongside Pike at The Australian club.

“The Open is the biggest tournament in the world for me,” said a clearly delighted Pike. “It is. It’s as simple as that. It’ll be amazing to play in it. I knew going into the last day I was running top-10, so I had that idea in my head. On the 16th I saw a board and realised that Louis (Oosthuizen) would already be in and Matty Jones was definitely going to take a spot – he wasn’t going to finish with five doubles. So I knew I had to put my foot down. The birdie I made on 17 was massive.”

Kanaya was a little more understated after holing from six-feet on the last green to clinch his spot, but nevertheless pleased to guarantee himself a second trip to one of golf’s most historic venues.

“I feeling so great, so excited,” he said in delightfully broken English that nevertheless conveyed his thoughts beautifully. “I haven’t been St George’s but I can’t wait to the Open next year. Open is tough conditions, so windy, rainy, sometimes switching, so very difficult. I prepare perfect so I look forward to British Open. On last I was seeing leaderboard. I make putt, so I joining an Open, so, so nervous. “

In contrast, Jones is an old hand at this Open qualifying lark. Twice before he has gained entry through the Emirates Australian Open, when he claimed his first Stonehaven Cup in 2015, then again two years later when he finished tied for second behind Cameron Davis. Next year will be the Sydney-native’s fifth Open start in all, his best finish so far T-30 at St. Andrews in 2015.

“I’ve played in maybe five (make that four) Opens and it’s the one major I would most like to win,” said Jones, who typically plies his trade on the PGA Tour. “To qualify and be able to plan a schedule around it is brilliant.

“I love coming back here because it’s a great chance for me to make the Open. I’ve been lucky enough to do it a few times and now I’ll be back there next year. Hopefully I don’t have to do it again here next year. But I’ll be back if I have to.”

Still, it is to be hoped that this latest batch of qualifiers fare better than their immediate predecessors. The 2017 Emirates Australian Open champion, Davis, finished T-39 at Carnoustie eight months later, while both Jonas Blixt and Jones comfortably missed the halfway cut. 2018 was even worse. Last year’s Emirates Australian Open champion, Abraham Ancer of Mexico, and fellow qualifiers Dimitrios Papadatos and Jake McLeod all failed to qualify for the weekend at Portrush.

Indeed, since the “OQS” began in 2013, no player identified by the Emirates Australian Open has gone on to finish inside the top-25 at the Open. As many as 11 have now failed to make it through 36-holes, with Aaron Baddeley’s T-27 finish at Royal Birkdale in 2016 still the best result recorded by any of the 18 previous qualifiers.

All in all, things can only get better.

Matt Jones is a day and a solid round away from becoming a two-time Emirates Australian Open champion.

The 39-year-old Arizona-based Sydney professional extended his lead in the third round at The Australian today with a fine 68, three-under par, reaching 13-under overall, rallying on the easier back nine on a day that was difficult for almost everyone.

His nearest challenger is American Cameron Tringale, who came to Sydney with his wife Tasha on a sponsor’s invitation and planned a holiday here as well for their anniversary. If Tringale can go low tomorrow, they might have some more celebrating to do.

Tringale is at 10-under after a 69 today, while three players – South African Louis Oosthuizen, England’s Paul Casey and Japan’s boom amateur Takumi Kanaya – are nine-under, four shots from the lead and still in contention.

Jones is plainly the man to beat, and his back nine of 32 showed it today. After treading water through nine holes and losing the lead to Oosthuizen, he hit iron shots close at the 10^th, 12^th and 13^th holes for birdies to regain the lead, rammed another birdie home at the 16^th to extend the break to four. Then after a lapse at the 17^th where he drove into a tyre track down the right, he birdied the last, tidying up his work in that economical, clinical fashion that is his wont.

The way he played the par-five 18^th was typical of his approach this week; authoritative and unhesitating. After a nice drive, he launched a gorgeous mid-iron shot out over the pond on the right and drew it back on to the green, two-putted for birdie and headed to the media centre for a third, straight day.

He’d endured the travails of the day without so much as a grimace or a change of disposition, even at the 17^th, where he drove into a wheel mark, declined a free drop because he feared the ball would plug, then watched his second shot trickle back on to the fairway after it wedged against a spectator’s handbag.

“I was very calm out there today,’’ he said. “My caddie said on the first tee ‘if you’re not nervous’ – I can’t remember what he said – then I must be wrong, because I wasn’t very nervous, I was very comfortable and excited to go out and play.”

It was a topsy-turvy day at The Australian and the fluky breeze and tough pin positions only added to the drama. Jamie Arnold, the Sydney pro, went around in 64, but this was against the grain. He took just 20 putts, which went some way to explaining why this would be the best round of the day by four shots. A 68 was next-best and the scoring average leaked out to 72.

Five players had a hand on the lead at different stages – Jones, Tringale, Oosthuizen, Casey, and New Zealander Denzel Ieremia, who imploded at the final hole when he took on the water and lost. Many players struggled; in the final group, Dimi Papadotas shot a 75 that included a lost ball in a tree on the 12^th, and a water ball at the last as well.

Oosthuizen was in front, gave the ground back, then chipped in on the 17^th. He shot 70 without playing especially well. Casey wilted in the middle of his round, hitting his approach at the par-four ninth into the left trap and taking a double bogey six, shooting 71. Both remain in with a chance and both are world class.

Casey said he thought he may need a Rod Pampling-esque 61 to win tomorrow.

“Matt played fantastic golf I thought, really good stuff and if he plays like that tomorrow then I think he’ll probably be a bit too tough, because I’m too far back probably, but we’ll see,’’ said Casey. “I played a wonderful round of golf on Friday; I need to try and replicate that tomorrow.’’

Jones looks as though he knows he can win and if he does, he will join the likes of Jordan Spieth, Greg Chalmers, Robert Allenby and Aaron Baddeley of his contemporaries to have lifted the Stonehaven Cup twice. In 2015 when he won here, he made a double bogey at the ninth and opened the door for everyone, only to bolt it shut again late. This time, he has that experience in his memory bank.

“I’m sure I can draw on it,’’ he said. “I haven’t won a lot of golf in my life. I’ve won (the) Houston Open, won a couple of other smaller tournaments and then the Australian Open, but it’s only four years past, and I’ll draw on some of that experience tomorrow, of course.’’

Jones, Tringale and Kanaya tee off at 12.01 tomorrow. Oosthuizen, Casey and Arnold are in the second-last group at 11.50am.

Jamie Arnold started his day at The Australian tied-58th. He ended up leapfrogging into the top five, courtesy of an extraordinary, third-round 64 in the Emirates Australian Open today.

Sydneysider Arnold, 36, was the only player to collar the course on a difficult day, fluky breezes filtering through the pines and with tough pin positions to deal with as well.

Ironically, he had not started so well, one-over par through five holes. But he caught fire with a birdie at the par-four sixth, and he rolled in seven more for the day. He had just 20 putts for the day, and a total eight birdies.

“It was great. Nice to finally hole a few putts and come in with a great score. It was a great round,’’ he told Channel Seven after his round.

“I pretty much hit it in the same spots, just on the back side I made some nice putts. I got a couple of bonus putts – one on 18, another one on 15. It was just making a few putts was the difference. It was just nice to see a couple drop.”

Arnold headed home for a rest and planned on taking up the chance of watching his brother Scott play.

The significance of his performance was that other players struggled mightily in the conditions.

The scoring average was above 72, one-over par and of those who had finished their rounds, the next best score was 69.

Matt Jones has set himself up for a look at a second Emirates Australian Open title following a 6-under second round at The Australian.

The New South Welshman who calls America home leads the field at 10-under the card following a round that featured seven birdies and a lone bogey at the 11^th.

Sitting one shot clear of Paul Casey and Dimi Papadatos in second place, Jones believes another title could be within reach if all goes his way on moving day.

“Any time you get to lead is fantastic. It would have been better to be more in front, but I’ll take one in front,” Jones said.

“(There’s) still a long way to go. I’m sure the wind is going to pick up the next two days, which will make it a little tougher.

“I made a lot of par putts yesterday, made some good birdie putts today, maybe missed one or two, but it’s evened itself out, so I’m very happy to be where I am.”

Previous experience at the famed Australian layout will be of benefit to Jones whose composure under pressure will prove crucial come crunch time.

“Knowing where to miss a golf course I find is very important to me, so I kind of know where to miss and the types of shot you’ll need in certain areas if you do miss a green regulation,” he said.

“I do rely on my short game a lot. This week it’s not as necessary, you can putt from everywhere, so chipping is not a huge necessity this week.

“I’ve got a lot of experience around here and I’m going to have to use that the next two days.”

Englishman Paul Casey claimed an early lead with the first of many 6-under 65 rounds from the course on Friday morning to sit at 9-under the card through 36 holes.

Casey took advantage of benign morning conditions to record four consecutive birdies on the run into the clubhouse in what he says is a change of form compared to round one.

“I’ve not been able to get it close to any flag for about a day and a half and then suddenly the back nine for me, the front nine, the last half a dozen holes, suddenly some really good birdie opportunities,” Casey said.

Challenge Tour winner Dimi Papadatos will take the same approach into the Australian Open weekend as he did for his second-place result in 2018 with hopes to go one better from a two-round total of 9-under.

“Last year was a bit of a surprise and I played well. I better take something from that and know that to get that close you surely can be able to go a little bit better one day, so maybe this week,” Papadatos said.

A truly international field follows the top three with American Cameron Tringale, South Africa’s Louis Oosthuizen, Kiwi Denzel Ieremia, Japan’s Takumi Kanaya and Queensland young gun Shae Wools-Cobb tied for fourth at 8-under.

Fan favourite Adam Scott has missed the Australian Open cut and two extra rounds of preparation ahead of next week’s Presidents Cup after struggling through his opening 18 holes.

Scott found his groove following a morning range session that included an adjustment to his stance and swing but a 4-under second round for even par was not enough to see 39-year-old through to the weekend.

The second-round cut was made at 1-under the card, seeing 71 players through to day three.

Moving day at The Australian promises to be full of action as a stacked leaderboard fight for position in the chase for the Stonehaven Cup.

The winner of the Australian Open will receive the winner’s share of the $1,500,000 prize purse and World Golf Ranking Points while the top three places also receive exemption into The Open field in 2020.

The third round of the Australian Open tees off at 6:58am. The leading group of Jones, Casey and Papadatos will take to the course at 11:55am AEDT.

For centuries now, mothers around the world have told their children there would be days like this. For centuries now, mothers around the world have told their children there would be days like this. And for Adam Scott the first round of the Emirates Australian Open turned out to be one of his. Winner of […]

For centuries now, mothers around the world have told their children there would be days like this.

And for Adam Scott the first round of the Emirates Australian Open turned out to be one of his. Winner of the Stonehaven Cup at New South Wales a decade ago, the 39-year old Queenslander needed 75 shots to get himself round The Australian course. Only once did he make a birdie, on the final hole. And five bogeys – two of them on par-5s – represented Scott’s only other deviations from par.

By the end, the former Masters champion was a disconsolate figure. Which was hardly surprising. Already, Scott is ten shots behind the leaders.

“I’d like a full-body cleanse after that,” he said with a rueful smile. “I was out of sorts out there. I lost my rhythm after the first hole. I hit two nice shots there but missed the birdie putt. Then I really struggled on the rest of the front-nine. I hit some really bad drives to the left. And I didn’t scramble. I just didn’t play very well.”

Indeed, this was something of a horror show for one so obviously talented. Only underlining the unexpected nature of the world number-15’s lack of touch is the fact that it comes at the end of a year in which Scott has eight times found his way into the top-ten at PGA Tour events. Two of those were runner-up finishes. So it’s not as if his descent into a spot outside the top-100 is just the latest episode in a sequence of failure, although he did come to Sydney after not playing competitively for four weeks. No one – certainly not Scott – saw this coming.

“I hope this was just rust,” he continued. “I was feeling a bit better towards the end there. But it is hard to put it right back in the slot when you are out there. I need a quick start tomorrow. Starting on the 10th here is a bit easier than starting on the first. Much more friendly. Hopefully, I can get that good start and be in red figures by the end of the day.

“My swing today felt really quick from the top. My thought was to clear my hips but I think I was clearing everything but. I just didn’t have a lot of feeling. This course doesn’t give you a lot of room on your start-lines and I paid the price. I can turn things round though. I have an idea where the ball is going now. My target is to shoot under par for every nine holes over the next three days. And if I throw in one really low nine I might be somewhere near the mark.”

Only exacerbating the 2009 champion’s overall dismay was the presence of Sergio Garcia and Paul Casey alongside him in the high-profile 11.50am starting time. Both broke par, Casey’s bogey-free 68 two shots better than Garcia and a direct contrast to Scott’s travails.

As you’d expect, Casey was the most cheerful at close of play. Given his aggressive style of play, a bogey-free round is not something the world number-14 – he is the highest-ranked player in the field – is known for particularly. But today he did the things top players do to minimise their mistakes. He drove particularly well. And his short game was good enough to rescue any errors in his approach play. Still, he was aware that more than the equivalent of three birdies each day – he made one and an eagle alongside 16 pars – will be required if he is to challenge for the title.

“It was tough out there, but I feel more for those who are right next to the fires,” he said in reference to the smoky-haze that currently hangs over the course. “So you’re not going to hear me complain about it. Apart from stinging eyes it had no effect on our golf.

“The highlight of my round was the shot that led to the eagle on the 14th. Tidy wasn’t it? This is a tricky course though. And the slowest greens I’ve ever putted on down here. Which is fine. The greens don’t have to be that fast on this course because of the amount of pitch on them. But we all struggled with the pace. Plus, you have to put the ball in the right spots. I did a pretty good job of that although I only had maybe three birdie-chances in the first 12 holes. The pin positions were tricky.”

For many others more than himself. Don’t be fooled. The smile that almost never left Casey’s face at the end of his round told its own story. He may be no better than T-6, but he was clearly happy with his play and day. As such he represents perhaps the biggest threat to the six men higher on the leader board.

Japan’s Takumi Kanaya shot the lights out at the Emirates Australian Open today, but he was not the only amateur to shine through the gloom of a hazy, surreal day at The Australian.

The smoke haze from the dozens of fires still burning in New South Wales came and went through the day, but late in the afternoon Chinese Taipei’s Chun An Yu matched Kanaya’s opening 65 and they will wake up on Friday with a share of the lead.

The conditions were so bad after lunch that Adam Scott, who faltered in an opening 75, said he felt like he needed “a full body cleanse”. Matt Jones, the 2015 national champion who shot 67, said he’d seen nothing like it. But as Scott observed: “It’s the same for everyone and we’re out here playing, so you’ve got to get on with it.”

The conditions were pristine in the morning but when the wind came up and switched to the north-east in the afternoon, The Australian was enveloped in choking smoke. It was meant to have passed, but it had not.

Kanaya and Yu lead by two shots from a cluster of players at four-under 67, including Jones, the hometown hero, another New South Welshman Dimi Papadatos and Queenslander Daniel Nisbet.

Of the bigger names, Queenslander Cameron Smith and South African Louis Oosthuizen were impressive with opening 68s, Marc Leishman was solid with a 69 and Spaniard Sergio Garcia began with a one-under 70, while England’s Paul Casey carded a 68 in the afternoon.

Kanaya won’t be collecting the prizemoney but don’t be surprised if he wins. He recently won the Taiheiyo Masters, one of the biggest tournaments on the Japanese Tour. It’s not an issue for him, although he was anxious afterwards when he pointed out “I have three more days’’.

He has an Australian coach, Gareth Jones, who ran the South Australian elite amateur program before he went to Japan a few years ago. In turn, the Japanese program has been pumping out great players, with Kanaya, an Asia-Pacific Amateur champion already, at the forefront.

He played The Australian in this tournament four years ago, and recalled shooting an 85 in the second round to miss the cut. But he picked up some things even then. “I learned (the) Australian golf style. I just (knew) Japanese golf style before 17 years old.”

Kanaya was near the lead throughout his round after four consecutive birdies on his front nine, starting from the 10thtee. But then two remarkable birdies to close, at the tough eighth and the ninth with a 10-metre bomb, put the exclamation mark on his day.

As for Chinese Taipei’s Yu, he is well and truly familiar with Kanaya’s work. The two of them have competed together on the same amateur stages, with Yu breaking a few records while playing on the University of Arizona golf team.

“I know the course a little bit,” he said. “I played great out there and hopefully tomorrow I can do it again.”

The 2015 champion Jones is the highest profile player in the group at four-under, relishing the fact that he can play at a club he joined in 1995. His highlight came at the par-five 18th, which he eagled with a putt from eight metres that he was still laughing about afterwards.

“If it didn’t go in, it could have gone in the water, the putt was going that firm,” he said. “I didn’t hit a good putt. It hit the back of the hole, popped up and went straight down. Geoff (Ogilvy, who was in the same group) and I both laughed because it was definitely going off the green.”

Jones hopes for better conditions from tomorrow. “I’m not sure what the forecast is, but the smoke’s not good at all. It’s tough to see your golf ball when you’re out there playing, where it finishes. Your eyes do burn. I’ve got that cough like you’ve got something in your lungs, phlegm in your lungs or whatever, but it’s not fun. I hope my kids are inside in the hotel room.”

The second round starts at 6.45am.

If form lines are anything to go by, then Cam Davis and Justin Warren’s match in the 2015 Australian Amateur Championship is one to note as the Australian Open gets underway this week.

Held at this weeks’ venue, The Australian Golf Club, The 2015 Amateur is notable for the journey many of its participants have taken since.

But to a keen follower, the semi-final clash stands out – Davis took it out in a thrilling 19th hole blow-for-blow battle royal against his NSW counterpart. Both at the peak of their game and amongst Australia’s finest amateurs at the time.

Two years removed from that semi-final and Davis is an Australian Open Champion, while Warren was on the other side of the planet, grinding away at his game in Little Rock, Arkansas having bounced between colleges. He had endured a severe health scare and his world ranking had dropped into the mid two thousands.

Early in his teens, Warren, originally from the small Antill Park Country Club in Picton, had almost no intention of chasing a pro-career until his breakout moment at the NSW Open in the summer of 2014.

“I came out of nowhere that week and surprised a few people, even myself,” Warren said.

“To play with guys like James Nitties and Matt Giles that week let me compare my game to theirs, and you know I thought I’m still young and not that far away from these guys.”

At that point, Warren knew he wanted to be a player at the highest level, and the golf world looked like it was going to be at his feet.

Then came THAT Australian Amateur.

“I beat some really good players that week. Kiran Day, Harrison Endycott, Ryan Ruffels, Brayden Petersen,” he said.

“Then I met Cam in the semis.”

The semi was a classic and neither player gave an inch.

Mark Hayes, Media Manager at Golf Australia, followed the match that Saturday and described it as a cracker.

“Cam was on a mission from God that week. He was unbeatable and found a way to win,” Hayes said.

“The semi was the ultimate example of it. There were some unbelievable shots exchanged.

“It could have gone either way. Justin’s golf was well worthy of the victory, but he just ran into a buzzsaw that week.”

The months following his Australian Amateur performance were further confirmation for Warren he was heading in the right direction. A win in Malaysia alongside Endycott came quickly, and it wasn’t long before the offers from US colleges came rolling in.

After hitting a high of 71 on the World Amateur Golf Rankings, Warren took up an offer in Arizona, and his golfing destiny was seemingly set.

Sadly for him, it soon became a bumpier ride than expected.

“College wasn’t even on my radar when I was going through high school. I had to go to junior college first,” Warren said.

“I had a really good first year, but you’re playing smaller events and the ranking points just aren’t there.”

Warren set out in his second year determined to improve on his freshman year. That was, until a fateful week at a tournament in San Diego.

“We were at a golf tournament there, and just out in the practice round,” he said.

“I just started getting terrible chest pains, started feeling nauseous, lightheaded, shooting pains down my left arm.

“We went straight to the doctors and they did an ECG.

“They told me we think you have had a heart attack.”

Warren spent a week in intensive care and underwent a battery of tests. With his parents flying in to be by his side, Warren was eventually diagnosed with myocarditis, an inflammatory disease of the heart lining.

Worse still was being unable to pick up a club for over four months.

“That was kind of the end of my second year at College,” he added.

With the massive disruption, and a promising ride through the US system stalled, Warren took the opportunity to change colleges, and in 2017 moved to the University of Little Rock Arkansas.

The switch proved fruitful, and as Warren’s health improved so did his form. Within a year, he was a regular in the college golf team.

The New South Welshman returned home last Christmas with a renewed confidence in his game and a clear idea of the direction he wanted to go.

Some pleasing results in the major amateur events of the summer and an impressive sixth-place finish at the Australasian PGA Tour School meant he could return to the US to complete his degree safe in the knowledge of what lay ahead.

After graduating in May with a Bachelor of Arts in Communication, Warren returned home and promptly turned pro. Using his Q School exemption, he soon made his mark with a couple of handy Pro-Am wins.

Fast forward to this week and Warren is making his first start in the national Open. It has been a long journey, but one which has seen him emerge as a far more accomplished player.

“I made it a goal of mine before I went to college, I was going to graduate, and I was going to play my first Australian Open here.”

“I’ve got a lot of support out here, friends, family and members of the club. it feels good.”

Importantly too, is his current form which he agreed is pretty pleasing. Except for a final hole snafu at the NSW Open, Warren would already have a mark in the win column next to his name.

“I’ve got a lot of confidence, and I just hope I can put what I learnt last weekend into play this Sunday come the 72nd hole, that’s all,” he said with a grin.

Rickie Fowler’s Team USA uniform will feature a colourful touch of Australia when his pledge to wear a Leuk the Duck pin in support of the legacy left by Jarrod Lyle continues at the Presidents Cup at Royal Melbourne Golf Club next week.

Since the passing of Lyle in August of last year at just 36 years of age, few in professional golf have been more visibly supportive of the Lyle family and provided continued exposure for Challenge – the organisation that supports kids and families dealing with cancer – than Fowler.

Close friends from their days playing the Korn Ferry Tour together and then the PGA TOUR, Fowler was asked upon Jarrod’s passing by his wife Briony to continue to wear the Leuk the Duck pin first gifted to him by Jarrod in 2012.

It has been a permanent fixture on Fowler’s golf attire ever since and will continue to be so at the Presidents Cup and beyond, making the popular Californian an even harder opponent to cheer against at the very place Lyle first came to prominence 14 years ago.

Last man into the US team following the withdrawal of world No.1 Brooks Koepka, Fowler is hoping to see Briony whilst in Melbourne and hinted that his support of Challenge will manifest itself in other ways in the near future.

“I’m always going to be a huge supporter of Leuk the Duck and Jarrod Lyle, given the relationship that he and I had,” Fowler explained.

“I’ve got my Duck with me, and it’s put in some miles. It’s the same Duck that Jarrod gave me back in 2012 I believe.

“It was something that Jarrod and Briony had talked about. He had told Briony that that was something he wanted to ask of me, someone to kind of help carry the torch for the Leuk the Duck brand and everything it stands for, as well as Jarrod himself and his family. Everything they went through, not just the last time, but all three times.

“So for me to be able to do something as little and small as wearing a pin on my hat to kind of represent all of that, that was something that I was honoured to be able to do and look forward to be able to put that pin on there every round I played last year.

“I’m looking forward to being able to work on some more things with Briony in the future and hopefully some stuff soon to kind of keep that momentum rolling with Leuk the Duck.”

Whether fighting for crowd favouritism with local boy Adam Scott at the 2013 Australian PGA Championship on the Gold Coast or finishing second alongside Matt Kuchar at the 2016 World Cup of Golf at Kingston Heath, Fowler is renowned as something of a Pied Piper for young golf fans drawn to his style that challenges golf traditions.

Whether it’s the longish hair, flat-brimmed caps or basketball-style golf shoes, Fowler treads the line of respectful and flamboyant better than most and will once again be a welcome presence on Australian soil.

But while Aussie pair Adam Scott and Marc Leishman have both called for local fans not to be too vociferous in praise of the star-studded US side, Fowler still expects Australian fans to applaud good golf from both teams.

“I don’t expect to be any kind of fan favorites or anything like that down there,” Fowler admitted.

“I expect the home crowd to root for the home team, but I think that we want to show off good golf from both sides, and have the fans appreciate good golf.

“But if they cheer louder for a birdie on the International side versus a birdie on the US side, that’s how it should be.

“It’s a home game for the Internationals, but we are going to try and keep them quiet and take care of our business.”

On the PGA Golf Club episode today, Sandy Jamieson was a special co-host along with BJ & whitey.

Josh Younger NSW Open winner joined the boys, Matt Kamienski VP & Executive director of the Presidents Cup and Stewart Cink The Open Championship winner joined the team for a jam packed show.account_box

Four Australians will tee it up in the Japan Golf Tour’s season-ending JT Cup after Queensland’s Anthony Quayle third-place finish at the Casio World Open in Kochi.

Consecutive rounds of 65 in the second and third rounds thrust Quayle into the lead through 54 holes, a maiden tour title beckoning in just his second season in Japan.

He showed no sign of Sunday nerves to be 4-under on his round through 12 holes and clinging to a one-shot advantage but two late bogeys saw Quayle finish the tournament at 17-under, three shots shy of Korea’s Kyung-Tae Kim.

The prize money of ¥13,600,000 (approx. $183,000) thrust Quayle into 29th position on the moneylist, just inside the cut-off for the elite 30-man field that will contest this week’s Golf Nippon Series JT Cup at the Tokyo Yomiuri Country Club.

Other Australians to have qualified are Brendan Jones (17th), Brad Kennedy (26th) and Matthew Griffin (27th), the first time four Aussies have qualified for Japan’s tour championship since 2004, Paul Sheehan’s victory hopefully a good omen for the 2019 contingent.

Quayle and Griffin were both intending to be in Sydney this week for the Australian Open but will extend their season in Japan for one more week to compete for the ¥130,000,000 prize purse.

Dylan Perry’s superb final round of 6-under 66 – including a run of seven straight birdies from the third hole – elevated him into a tie for 18th and 36th position on the moneylist, guaranteeing a full card for the 2020 season.

Won Joon Lee (48th), David Bransdon (49th) and New Zealand’s Michael Hendry (58th) all did enough to finish inside the top 60 on the moneylist and ensure they will return to the Japan Golf Tour with full status next year.

In other events around the world Jake McLeod was the sole Aussie representative at the Alfred Dunhill Championship in South Africa but failed to make the cut while Peter Fowler was tied for 20th at the Staysure Tour’s MCB Tour Championship in Madagascar.

Japan Golf Tour
Casio World Open
Kochi Kuroshio Country Club, Kochi

3              Anthony Quayle 71-65-65-70—271             ¥13,600,000
T18         Dylan Perry         71-71-69-66—277             ¥2,520,000
T49         Brad Kennedy   71-71-70-71—283             ¥546,000
T53         Won Joon Lee   69-74-71-70—284             ¥496,000
T57         David Bransdon  72-71-71-72—286             ¥464,500
MC         Brendan Jones 71-73—144
MC         Michael Hendry  73-71—144
MC         Adam Bland        77-75—152

European Tour
Alfred Dunhill Championship
Leopard Creek CC, Malelane, South Africa

MC Jake McLeod 74-74—148

Staysure Tour
MCB Tour Championship – Madagascar
International Golf Club Du Rova, Andakana, Madagascar

T20 Peter Fowler 77-70-71—218 €3,686

Headlines at a glance