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The Central Coast swing of the Ladbrokes Pro-Am series has ended in dramatic fashion with Nathan Green being crowned the eventual winner of the Everglades Country Club Pro-Am.
Five birdies and just the single bogey saw the former PGA TOUR player and RBC Canadian Open winner take top honours with a score of 4-under 63.
“I had a great day out on the course, it means a lot to return to Everglades and get the win, especially against a quality field such as this,” Green said.
Morning field leader and south Sydney-based Professional Justin Warren returned a score of 3-under 64 to claim second place.
“I definitely left a few out there, but I was happy to keep the round steady towards the back end of the round when the wind was picking up,” Warren said.
Much-needed rain was set to descend upon the central coast late in the afternoon and it soon turned into a race back to the clubhouse for the afternoon field.
Despite the rush some of the country’s best piled into the top-10.
James Nitties, Nathan Miller, Matthew Millar, Dale Williamson, Brad Doherty and Kevin Yuan all finished in a tie for third place at 2-under the card.
The NSW/ACT Ladbrokes Pro-Am series returns to Sydney on Monday 25 November 2019 for the Concord Invitational.
Many Australian golf fans will get their first tournament look at young sensation Jack Trent at the Australian Open.
Trent, of Queensland, burst to national prominence in early October when he finished top 30 in his debut on the PGA Tour in the Shriners Open in Las Vegas.
Having left Australia at a young age to further his golf in Nevada, it was the first time many had seen of this prodigious young talent, who turned 21 just this week.
Now he – and a swag of other promising young golfers – will get their chance against a world-class field at The Australian from 5-8 December.
Alongside fellow Queenslander Lawry Flynn, Trent earnt one of the starts given out to amateurs by Golf Australia, while there’s an array of other talent who have arrived via different avenues.
World No.1 amateur Takumi Kanaya, of Japan, returns to the national championship having finished in a tie for 17th at The Lakes last year.
Victorian Lukas Michel is a confirmed starter for his first Aussie Open having won his way into two major championships in 2020 courtesy of his US Mid-Amateur Championship triumph.
Queenslander Elvis Smylie will cap a huge year with his debut against the world’s best courtesy of his Australian Junior Championship victory, while Ireland’s Conor Purcell returns after his Australian Amateur celebrations in January.
Japanese amateur Kento Yamawaki earns a start courtesy of his win in the Aaron Baddeley International Junior, while Taiwan’s Chun-An Yu returns for the first time since his win in the Australian Master of the Amateurs.
And then there are the rising professionals on the Australian scene.
Lucas Herbert, who led for parts of the 2017 Australian Open at the same venue, heads a cast of Golf Australia rookie professionals including Travis Smyth, Min Woo Lee, Zach Murray, Dylan Perry, Jake McLeod, Anthony Quayle, David Micheluzzi and, at one of his home clubs, Blake Windred.
It’s enough to whet the appetite of expectation from Golf Australia’s high performance general manager, Brad James.
“Whether they’re new professionals or emerging amateurs, we hope the starts all these young athletes have earnt provides them an opportunity to showcase their games against a large list of the world’s best,” James said.
“We’ve seen in recent years some really established global players shine as a result of their success in Sydney.
“So we’d like to think that one or more of these youngsters can follow suit.
“To be the world’s best, that we all hope they can be, you’ve got to beat the world’s best sooner or later.
“There’s no better time than to take that next step in your own back yard with a big crowd yelling your name.”
The Australian Open is supported by the NSW Government via its tourism and major events agency, Destination NSW.
The tournament, hosted by The Australian for a record 21st time, will be telecast exclusively live across the screens of Channel 7 and 7Plus from midday (AEDT) each day.
The Australian Open is a flagship tournament on the ISPS Handa PGA Tour of Australasia. The winner will receive a minimum of 32 Official World Golf Ranking points.
Tickets are now on sale. Visit www.ticketek.com and search “Open golf” to make sure you don’t miss seeing the world’s best golfers live in Sydney.
Visit www.ausopengolf.com for more
Courtesy Mark Hayes, Golf Australia
The PGA of Australia and Golf NSW have today agreed to extend the field of next week’s AVJennings NSW Open from 144 to 156 players.
The move to add 12 players to the field was taken following the decision on Wednesday by the European Tour to postpone the Hong Kong Open.
Invitations to the Championship have now been extended and accepted by Western Australians Brett Rumford & Terry Pilkadaris, New South Wales’ Andrew Dodt, and Matthew Cheung of Hong Kong.
An additional eight players next in line for automatic inclusion in the field, and who were required to pre-qualify on Monday, have been elevated into the tournament field.
Stuart Fraser, CEO of Golf NSW, said the decision was an understandable one in light of the situation in Hong Kong.
“Several players who were impacted by the postponement reached out to us for a start in the NSW Open. Although it is late notice, we are happy to accommodate them,” Mr Fraser said.
Nick Dastey, PGA of Australia Tournaments Director Australasia said the decision in conjunction with the Tournament Players Council was a simple one.
“The PGA of Australia is pleased to have worked in conjunction with Golf NSW to facilitate an outcome which has added some real quality to the AVJennings NSW Open field.
“By being adaptable, we have created an opportunity for an additional twelve of our members to play in this great championship, and this is a good outcome for all,” Mr Dastey said.
The 2019 AVJennings Open will be staged at the Graham Marsh designed Twin Creeks Golf and Country Club from November 28th to December 1st, 2019.
A stellar final round in strong winds and difficult conditions has seen Peter Lonard win the 2019 Sylvania BMW Legends Pro-Am.
Lonard used his years of experience to fire a round of 3-under 67 at Cronulla Golf Club, adding to an opening round of the same figure for a tournament total of 6-under the card.
Good scores were hard to come by in the afternoon field where anything under par was a great score but Lonard was all class when posting the best round of the day for a one-stroke victory.
“This golf course suits me with the tight narrow fairways and needing to hit the ball straight,” Lonard said.
“I was runner up here last year and I’m happy to have gone one better this time.”
Overnight leader Richard Backwell was hot on Lonard’s heels from the first tee shot of round two following an opening score of 4-under 66.
A second round of 1-under the card resulted in a 5-under total for second place, an impressive four shots clear of the next best player.
The only other competitor to break par over the two days was Champions Tour player David McKenzie who completed the tournament at 1-under.
The difficult conditions put the impressive field to the test including Ladbrokes Legends Tour regulars Michael Harwood, Brad Burns and Steve Conran who finished in a tie for fourth place at even-par.
The Ladbrokes Legends Tour now moves to the Wayne Riley Gorges River Council Legends Pro-Am at Hurstville Golf Club.
There will be a distinctly Australian flavour to the inaugural Sabah Masters in Malaysia this week with five PGA Tour of Australasia regulars invited to tee it up at Sutera Harbour Golf and Country Club.
The tropical setting is host to an Asian Tour event for the first time with the invitations extended to five Australians extending our representation to 15.
Those to have been added to the field include NT PGA champion Brett Rankin, PGA TOUR Series-China regulars Aaron Wilkin and Cory Crawford, two-time Asian Tour winner Rick Kulacz and Nabil Abdul who was top 20 at the Asian Development Tour’s PGM Sabah ADT Championship in September.
While those five will be hoping to turn an invitation into an Asian Tour card with a win, the Habitat for Humanity standings remain a point of priority for the likes of Travis Smyth and Daniel Fox, currently 59th and 66th respectively on the Order of Merit.
Now in its 46th year, the time-honoured Dunlop Phoenix tournament will see six Aussies and Kiwi Michael Hendry taking part alongside some of golf’s biggest names at Phoenix Country Club, including Australian PGA-bound American Cameron Champ and Presidents Cup representatives Hideki Matsuyama and Gary Woodland.
West Australian Jason Scrivener and Queensland’s Scott Hend will fly the flag for Australia at the final event of the European Tour season, the DP World Tour Championship in Dubai while the PGA TOUR wraps up for 2019 with the RSM Classic at Sea Island in Georgia, Cameron Percy, Aaron Baddeley, Matt Jones, Rhein Gibson and Cameron Davis endeavouring to bank some additional FedEx Cup points.
Asian Tour
Sabah Masters
Sutera Harbour Golf and Country Club
9.50am Nabil Abdul, Greg Haenen, Timothy Lo Tien Ming (a)
9.50am* Josh Younger, Sungho Lee, Pawin Ingkhapradit
10am Nathan Buzimkic, Keegan Kam, Cameron Van Rooyen
10.40am David Gleeson, Priyanshu Singh, Marc Ong
10.40am* Rick Kulacz, Mardan Mamat, Suttijet Kooratanapisan
10.50am Daniel Fox, Abhijit Chadha, Hongtaek Kim
11.20am Brett Rankin, Udayan Mane, Pasavee Lertvilai
3.05pm* Shae Wools-Cobb, Masaharu Kawaguchi, Kenneth Tobuse
3.15pm Andrew Martin, Kwanchai Tannin, Chanyoung Park
3.15pm* Jack Munro, Yutaka Araki, Kenneth De Silva
3.25pm* Aaron Wilkin, Dookyun Won, Jeremy Wendelken
3.35pm Travis Smyth, Taewoo Kim, Xiao Bowen
3.35pm* Jack Murdoch, George Worrall, Alvaro Velasco
3.55pm* Cory Crawford, Ryan Chisnall, Maxwin Chiew
Japan Tour
Dunlop Phoenix
Phoenix Country Club, Miyazaki
10.50am Matthew Griffin, Rattanon Wannasrichan, Ryosuke Kinoshita
11am Michael Hendry, Shunya Takeyasu, Ryuji Masaoka
11.30am Brendan Jones, Masahiro Kawamura, Kyung-Tae Kim
12.30pm Adam Bland, Tomoyo Ikemura, Min-Gyu Cho
12.35* Anthony Quayle, Won Joon Lee, Yuta Kinoshita
12.45pm* Brad Kennedy, Wen-Chong Liang, Tatsuya Kodai
European Tour
DP World Tour Championship
Jumeirah Golf Estates, Dubai, UAE
3.30pm Scott Hend, Joachim B. Hansen
4.40pm Jason Scrivener, Mike Lorenzo-Vera
PGA TOUR
RSM Classic
Sea Island Resort, Sea Island, Georgia
12.15am* Cameron Percy, Joel Dahmen, Sam Ryder
1.25am* Aaron Baddeley, Scott Stallings, Robert Garrigus
1.35am* Tim Wilkinson, David Lingmerth, Ben Crane
1.55am Matt Jones, Adam Hadwin, Kevin Streelman
2.05am* Rhein Gibson, Robby Shelton, Davis Riley
2.15am* Cameron Davis, Hank Lebioda, Akshay Bhatia
All times AEDT
* Signifies starting from the 10th tee
With the New Zealand Open fast approaching, the organisers are proud to announce that they will be ‘opening the gates’ in 2020 with free entry to both Millbrook Resort and The Hills, allowing everyone the ability to watch the best golfers from across New Zealand, Australia and Asia in action.
Tournament Director Michael Glading says that this move has been made to entice people from across the country to come and enjoy everything that the New Zealand Open has to offer.
“We’ve held the Open in Queenstown for eight consecutive years and as an event, it’s reached the level of maturity and support that means we can open our gates for the 2020 event,” says Glading.
“While we’re making the event free entry there will be a charge for car parking with all proceeds going to the Rotary Club of Queenstown to distribute. As part of the evolution of the event we’ve always wanted the Open to have a larger charity element.”
Queenstown resident and Professional Golfer Ben Campbell will be making his eighth appearance at the 2020 New Zealand Open and is hoping a large local crowd turns up to support both the local and international players.
“As professional players, we love seeing large crowds on the course and hearing their reactions around the green really gives us a buzz,” said Campbell. “Removing the cost of entry to New Zealand’s premier tournament is a great way to allow everyone the chance to enjoy top level golf in our backyard.”
The 101st New Zealand Open, presented by SKY Sport, will be staged at Millbrook Resort and The Hills near Queenstown on 27 February to 1 March.
Photo Credit: Michael Thomas / www.photosport.nz)
For more information contact Mike Hadnett – [email protected] +64275493222
Zach Murray’s quest for the ISPS Handa Australasian Order of Merit title restarts at the AVJennings NSW Open next week.
Zach Murray is enjoying a rookie season to remember, and with the Australian summer of golf just around the corner, he will be hoping to parlay his start to the year into the Australasian Order of Merit title.
Sitting second on the ISPS Handa Australasian Order of Merit courtesy of his win in the New Zealand Open, Murray is just $60,000 shy of the top spot, currently held by New Zealand’s Ryan Fox.
With a cheque of around $72 000 going to the winner of the AVJennings NSW Open, victory would see the Albury/Wodonga-based star overtake the Kiwi in the race for the order of merit at just the right time.
“It’s obviously a goal of mine to win the Australian Order Of Merit after the start to the year, so a good NSW Open showing would be nice,” Murray grinned.
“I’m honestly just really looking forward to getting back to Australia and playing the summer. I’m extremely excited.
“It’s cliche, but whatever happens this summer is just meant to be.
“I’ll be knuckling down and digging deep don’t get me wrong. It’s just nice to have the opportunity to achieve a life-long dream in potentially getting an Open start and playing in Europe,” he explained.
Murray has been plying his trade on the Asian and Japanese tours courtesy of his NZ Open victory. He described the experience as sensational and an eye-opener for his own game if nothing else.
“To be able to have the opportunity to play in Asia and a little in Japan after winning the NZ Open allowed me to learn a lot about my game and me as a human in particular.
“It’s been great to take the opportunity to test my game against some high-quality players and courses.
“I’ve learnt where I need to improve and how I function best. It’s a continuous learning curve.
“I think at times (the game) can be slightly debilitating, and to learn how to come off the golf course with everything intact is something I’ve found to be really important,”
Murray returns to Twin Creeks this year ready to continue where he left off following his NZ Open win. The tree-lined fairways, strategic bunkering and some driveable par fours suit his eye. He is determined to do well.
“Just controlling my ball off of the tee.
“There’s a few quirky tee shots, so just keeping it in the game and obviously, pouring in a few putts each day helps the cause,” he smiled.
An in-form Peter Fowler has continued a stunning run of victories by taking out the Cranbrook Residences NSW PGA Senior Championship.
Fowler, who earlier in the week won The Australian Legends Pro-Am and the David Mercer Classic at Killara Golf Club, claimed his third title for the week with a one-shot victory at Castle Hill Country Club.
“I grew up in the area and used to come out to Castle Hill every couple of months to have a hit as a youngster,” Fowler said.
“I like what they have done with the course and I look to forward to seeing it once it’s settled down.
“I can’t thank the club enough for their work in delivering such a great event.”
Fowler’s form was evident in the opening round the Ladbrokes Legends Tour event where a score of 5-under 67 gave the New South Welshman a two-shot lead heading into the final day.
His second round started in much the same fashion with an opening-nine of 5-under 31.
To all watching on it seemed as if Fowler would rocket ahead of the field but a lost ball on the 10th and an ensuing triple bogey, followed by another bogey, tightened the standings at the top of the leaderboard.
All hope was not lost for the Aussie golfing legend, however, who used his experience to bounce back with birdies at the 12th and 13th holes.
A final total of 7-under 137 took Fowler to a one shot victory over Brad Burns.
The consistent Queenslander claimed second place with rounds of 69, 69 for a 6-under 138 total.
Burns’ finish has kept him well in the hunt for the Ladbrokes Legends Tour Order of Merit.
Fellow Queenslander Craig Warren has finished in third place with a 5-under total of 139.
Rounding out the top five was David McKenzie who has recently returned from the Champions Tour and Nick Robb on 3-under 141.
The Ladbrokes Legends Tour will move to Cronulla for the Sylvania BMW Legends Pro Am.
Discovery of some old footage propelled Terry Pilkadaris to his best result in more than 18 months while Ryan Ruffels took another important step towards a full card on the Korn Ferry Tour in 2020.
At the Asian Tour’s Panasonic Open India tournament at the Classic Golf and Country Club near Delhi, Pilkadaris shared the 36-hole lead along with fellow Aussie Adam Blyth, starting the final round seeking his first win in Asia in 14 years.
Reduced to 54 holes due to rain on day one, Pilkadaris bounced back from a dropped shot at the first in the third and final round with back-to-back bogeys to turn in 1-under.
He played the back nine in even par but was overrun by Korean Joohyung Kim who became the second-youngest winner in Asian Tour history with a closing 7-under 65.
In position to win after rounds of 66-68 to start the week, Pilkadaris credited some old putting footage for his best result since he was runner-up at the 2018 New Zealand Open.
“I putted nicely today which was my nemesis all year, really,” Pilkadaris said after his opening round of 6-under 66.
“I made a couple of changes in my putting this week. I found some footage back from 2010, studied it and managed to roll some nice putts.”
Ruffels charged to a tie for fourth at the 114 VISA Open de Argentina on the PGA TOUR-LatinoAmerica tour but it could have been even better.
Four birdies and an eagle on the closing nine saw Ruffels make a significant move up the leaderboard, blotted only by a triple-bogey six at the par-3 12th, ultimately finishing four shots out of the playoff won by Ricardo Celia at the third extra hole.
The fifth top-five finish of his year, Ruffels is now seventh on the Order of Merit with one event left to play, the top five earning full cards on the Korn Ferry Tour in 2020.
The PGA TOUR’s Mayakoba Golf Classic has been forced into a Monday finish in Mexico with Danny Lee the Australasian player yet to complete his fourth round.
The first-round leader following a superb 9-under 62, Lee dropped four shots in the cover of darkness, making a quadruple-bogey eight with two penalty strokes at the par-4 16th hole, his last before play was called for the day.
Asian Tour
Panasonic Open India
Classic Golf and Country Club
4 Terry Pilkadaris 66-68-71—205 $US20,000
T14 Travis Smyth 69-69-72—210 $4,908
T23 Adam Blyth 71-63-77—211 $3,760
T44 Jason Norris 75-67-72—214 $2,053
T44 Daniel Fox 70-73-71—214 $2,053
T61 Jake Higginbottom 68-75-74—217 $1,220
MC Kunal Bhasin 74-70—144
PGA TOUR-Latinoamerica
114 VISA Open de Argentina
Jockey Club, Buenos Aires, Argentina
T4 Ryan Ruffels 68-69-70-66—273 $US7,233
Japan Golf Tour
Mitsui Sumitomo VISA Taiheiyo Masters
Taiheiyo Club (Gotemba Cse), Shizuoka
T13 Matthew Griffin 72-67-71-68—278 ¥3,890,000
T13 Brad Kennedy 71-69-68-70—278 ¥3,890,000
T18 Anthony Quayle 69-73-70-67—279 ¥2,864,000
T24 Michael Hendry 71-69-71-69—280 ¥2,120,000
T24 David Bransdon 68-75-66-71—280 ¥2,120,000
T28 Brendan Jones 65-73-68-75—281 ¥1,680,000
T32 Dylan Perry 74-69-74-65—282 ¥1,365,000
T41 Adam Bland 75-69-67-73—284 ¥940,000
MC Won Joon Lee 77-71—148
PGA TOUR
Mayakoba Golf Classic
El Camaleon Golf Club, Playa del Carmen, Mexico
T26* Danny Lee 62-70-70
T26 Aaron Baddeley 70-67-72-67—276
T33 Matt Jones 71-69-70-67—277
MC Rhein Gibson 71-72—143
MC Jason Day 70-77—147
* Through 16 holes of final round
The Week Ahead
European Tour: DP World Tour Championship, Jumeirah Golf Estates, Dubai, UAE
PGA TOUR: RSM Classic, Sea Island Resort (Seaside), Sea Island, Georgia
Japan Golf Tour: Dunlop Phoenix, Phoenix Country Club, Miyazaki
Asian Tour: Sabah Masters, Sutera Harbour Golf and Country Club, Malaysia
Veteran Aussie touring professional Nick O’Hern has hailed the mental fortitude of newly-minted professional David Micheluzzi to shoot 63 in the third round of the European Tour Q School in Spain and keep his dream of a 2020 tour card alive.
Veteran Aussie touring professional Nick O’Hern has hailed the mental fortitude of newly-minted professional David Micheluzzi to shoot 63 in the third round of the European Tour Q School in Spain and keep his dream of a 2020 tour card alive.
With one round remaining before the four-round cut of the six-round torture test considered the most demanding week in golf, seven Australians sit within the projected cut-line, Queensland’s Jake McLeod the best positioned in a tie for fifth.
The fact that Micheluzzi is one of the seven on the right side of the cut line is testament to a young player ranked as high as No.2 in the world in the amateur standings.
A second round of 4-over 75 saw Micheluzzi drop to 6-over through 36 holes but any negatives were cast aside courtesy of an 8-under 63 at Lumine Golf Club’s Lakes Course including 5-under 30 on his back nine.
That places him 62nd with 18 holes to play before the cut, and reminded O’Hern of his own European Tour Q School miracle.
O’Hern holed a bunker shot for eagle on his final hole to make the four-round cut in 1998 and told the PGA Golf Club of his admiration for what Micheluzzi was able to do.
“He shot 63 overnight to make the four-round cut on the number, which is insane,” O’Hern said in this week’s PGA Golf Club podcast.
“He was 6-over and the cut was going to be 2-under and he shot 8-under par; that’s an amazing feat in itself.
“I actually did something similar back in the late ’90s when I went to European Q School.
“I came to my last hole on the fourth round and to make birdie to make the cut in the six-round event and make it through.
“I was in a greenside bunker and I actually holed it for eagle so I scraped through by one.
“That confidence went on from there and I got my card.”
Dimi Papadatos, Jordan Zunic, Deyen Lawson, Zach Murray and Blake Windred also sit within the cut line and O’Hern said the challenge for each of them is not to focus on what’s at stake but the shot at hand.
“The entire week is one of the most physically and mentally draining weeks that you’ll ever have in your life,” O’Hern said.
“Fortunately, in Europe I only went through it once and when I got through I thought it wasn’t that bad but you later realise, Wow, I just don’t want to go through that again.
“I’ve been watching the scores and there are half a dozen Aussie guys (inside the cut line). Jake McLeod is doing well, he’s up there in the top 10, a young fella I’ve helped out Jordan Zunic just made it through which is great.
“It’s a very tricky proposition because there’s no denying it. The result is there, you know what you’re playing for, so how do you take that from the front of your mind and put it to the back of the mind?
“That’s why it’s mentally draining because in a way you’re constantly reminding yourself to forget about that. Process, process, process, the whole way.
“The guys that can do that best, they’re the ones that end up getting their cards at the end of the week.
“If it’s constantly at the front of your mind then you’re going to struggle all week.”
