Covid 19 Claims Further Golfing Casualties

The Bonville Golf Resort in Coffs Harbour venue for the Australian Ladies Classic – Bruce Young

The Covid 19 virus has already decimated the summer of professional golf in Australasia and it has now claimed two further victims.

It was announced today by the CEO of NSW Golf, Stuart Fraser, that the 2021 editions of the Geoff King Motors Australian Ladies Classic – Bonville and the Worrells Women’s NSW Open will be carried over to 2022 due to the travel restrictions surrounding COVID-19.

With Australia’s borders effectively closed until at least mid-2021, Golf NSW in conjunction with the Australian Ladies Professional Golf (ALPG) and the Ladies European Tour (LET) made the difficult decision to cancel the twin championships for next year.

Fraser said with international participation impossible the decision to cancel was inevitable.

“It is disappointing for all involved. We rely on international players for the success of both these tournaments, and with travel to our shores out of the question, we had no alternative.

“Regional NSW has played host to these two significant events in past years, and we will sorely miss the excitement they generate.

“When border restrictions ease, we will be working with the LET and ALPG to ensure the tournaments return in 2022,” Mr Fraser said.

ALPG CEO Karen Lunn echoed Mr Fraser’s comments.

“It’s extremely disappointing when we have worked so hard to build these events to the point that they have both found a regular slot on the ALPG and LET’s annual tournament schedules,” Ms Lunn said.

Having marked the beginning of the LET schedule for the past three years, the Geoff King Motors Australian Ladies Classic and the Worrells Women’s NSW Open were significant events for both local athletes and the visiting contingent of European stars.

Earlier this year, teen sensation Stephanie Kyriacou romped to an eight-shot victory in the Geoff King Motors Australian Ladies Classic at Bonville. She immediately turned professional then embarked on a whirlwind run on Tour, making the cut in her first Major Championship at the AIG Women’s Open followed by top-five finishes in the Czech Republic, Switzerland, and France.

With only four events left to play in the 2020 LET season, Kyriacou currently sits in seventh place on the Race to Costa del Sol, and just one spot behind England’s Alice Hewson in the race for ‘Rookie of the Year’ spoils.

Another popular destination amongst the LET membership, the Worrells Women’s NSW Open has been a fixture on the LET for the past three years, with the 2020 edition at Dubbo Golf Club also yielding a teenage winner, Sweden’s Julia Engstrom.

The Swedish star has since gone on to snare even more silverware at the Lacoste Ladies Open de France, where she recorded a hole-in-one in the process.

Despite the loss of the two events for 2021, CEO of the Ladies European Tour, Alexandra Armas said the organisations remained hopeful of seeing the tournaments back on the calendar in 2022.

The postponement follows on from the cancellation of this summer’s Australian Men’s and Women’s Opens, the Australian PGA Championship, the Vic Open and the New Zealand Open.

 

/by

Scott and Day’s final preparations for Augusta National

Adam Scott – returns from Covid 19 – photo Henry Peters

With just one week before the golfing world focuses its attention on the 2020 Masters, two of the five Australians who have earned their right to play at Augusta National next week will put the finishing touches on their preparations by playing this week’s Vivint Houston Open at the Memorial Park Golf Course in Houston.

Adam Scott and Jason Day will tee it up, Scott returning from an enforced layoff after contracting Covid 19 two weeks ago while for Day his recent schedule has also been disrupted by health issues after a back injury forced him to withdraw from the C.J. Cup in Las Vegas two weeks ago before playing his most recent event at the Zozo Championship in California two weeks ago.

Scott was forced to withdraw from that same Zozo Championship and has therefore not played since his midfield finish at the US Open six weeks ago in just his 4th start of 2020 after remaining in Australia for much of the year as he sat out the suspended USPGA Tour.

Both players will, therefore, need to take advantage of these last minute preparations ahead of the final major of the year but it is a race against time to have their games in the sort of shape needed to continue their impressive records at Augusta National , Scott having won in 2013 and finished runner-up in 2011 with Day joint runner-up in 2011 and 3rd in 2013.

The event moves to a new venue in 2020, the Memorial Park Golf Course a municipal facility which had previously hosted the event on 14 occasions during the 1940’s 50’s and 60’s.

The course, originally opened in 1936, has, though, undergone a major renovation under the eye of two-time US Open champion, Brooks Koepka.

Australia’s three other entrants at the Masters, Marc Leishman, Cameron Smith and amateur Lukas Michel are not in this week’s field, Smith finishing 4th in his last event at the Zozo Championship before the decision to take a two week break after feeling exhausted by his most recent schedule.

Leishman has been struggling of late and is clearly reserving his energy for The Masters where he has performed with distinction in the past while Michel earned his right for Augusta through winning the US Mid-Amateur Championship last year.

2014 Houston Open Champion, Matt Jones, Cameron Davis and Greg Chalmers are the three other Australians to take their place in this week’s field.

 

 

 

 

/by

Jones and Scrivener record good finishes in Bermuda and Cyprus

Matt Jones – file photo

Two of Australia’s ‘on the fringe’ players, Matt Jones and Jason Scrivener, recorded their best seasons of 2020 at their respective events on the PGA and European Tours this morning.

Jones finished 4th at the PGA Tour’s Bermuda Championship, while just a few hours earlier Scrivener produced a final round of 64 to share 6th place at the Aphrodite Hills Cyprus Open on the European Tour.

Despite the impact of the Covid 19 crisis, both players have played relatively busy schedules in 2020, Jones playing his 21st event of the year this week while for Scrivener it was his 17th.

Scrivener recovered from a comparatively slow start to the week with a strong finishing burst, birdies at his final two holes further assisting his cause as he closed out the event just three from the playoff between eventual winner, England’s Callum Shinkwin, and Finland golfer, Kalle Samooja.

It was the third top ten of the season for Scrivener but with inconsistency being the keynote of much of the season including missed cuts in his previous three events, he is currently in 107th position in the Race to Dubai.

Scrivener is likely to play the final three events of the season in his birth country of South Africa but will need something special if he is to gain a place in the field of 60 to play the season ending DP World Tour Championship in Dubai.

Jason Scrivener – file photo

Jones, too, has recorded a roller coaster season to date after winning his second Australian Open late last year. This was just his second top ten on the PGA Tour after a 5th place at Pebble Beach much earlier in the year.

Jones will play this week’s Houston Open, an event he won in 2014, earning a start at the Masters the following week. He will need a similar effort if he is again to grace the fairways of Augusta National next week.

The finish however does move him inside the top 100 in the world, the former Sydneysider now 98th in the world ranking after starting the year in 99th place.

The other notable performance by an Australian this week was the 10th place finish of Scrivener’s fellow West Australian, Stephen Leaney, at the TimberTech Championship on the PGA Tour Champions in Florida.

For Leaney, it was his first top ten on the PGA Tour Champions since three consecutive top tens in February and moves him to 34th in the Charles Schwab money list.

Leaney will need a solid week in the closing two events of the season if he is to retain the full PGA Tour Champions playing privileges he regained late last year.

 

 

 

/by