Agonising miss for Scott despite weekend brilliance

Adam Scott – a week of sharp improvement but ending in a narrow miss – file photo

Adam Scott entered this week’s Wyndham Championship in Greensboro in North Carolina knowing he needed a good week if he was to remain in the hunt for the riches of the FedEx Cup.

On Wednesday, Scott was in 121st place in the Fed Ex Cup standings knowing he needed to be inside the top 125 by week’s end if he was to advance to the first of the Playoffs in New Jersey this coming week.

Scott therefore needed to at least make the cut which he did on Friday with opening rounds of 66 and 70 to be just two shots inside the cutline and needing more work to ensure he would consolidate his standing and potentially have a good week in Greensboro.

Scott did exactly that with weekend rounds of 64 and 65 and when the dust had settled at the completion of 72 holes he found himself part of a six way tie for the lead and involved in a playoff for the title.

At the very first playoff hole Scott appeared to have secured the title when four of the six involved missed the green with only he and Roger Sloan finding the green.

Scott’s approach after a magnificent drive finished just 4 feet from the hole and when all of his opponents had saved par or, in the case of Sloan, had missed his birdie attempt from 15 feet, it was left to Scott to seemingly convert his short birdie attempt and win for the first time in nearly eight eighteen months.

Scott took his time, ensuring he had the line correct but in the end it appeared he pulled the putt and his five opponents breathed a sigh of relief.

At the second extra hole it would be Kevin Kisner who created a similar opportunity for himself when his approach finished just 4 feet from the hole and he would make no mistake after others had exhausted their chances of birdie including Scott who missed from 20 feet.

Kisner, therefore, won his 4th PGA Tour title and his first since the WGC Dell Technologies Match Play in 2019.

Scott tied for second with Branden Grace, Roger Sloan, Kevin Na and Si Woo Kim and will improve his standing in the world ranking to around 35th, a jump of 11 positions on that he had earlier this week.

Importantly, Scott will jump from 121st to 82nd in the FedEx Cup standings and will get to play next week’s Northern Trust event at Liberty National in New Jersey but will need to improve further if he is to be inside the top 70 who earn their way to the BMW Championship the following week.

Working in Scott’s favour in that respect is that he has previously won at Liberty National and with his game in great shape he is on target to go a lot further yet in the FedEx Cup Playoffs.

Scott was unavailable for interview following his round today but after Saturday’s round of 64 he gave an indication as to how he felt about his game.

“Yeah, the game’s felt good,” he said. “Sometimes it just has to come down to do or die to actually find it. I don’t know why it’s so hard other weeks of the year, you can’t fake that mindset, but this is what it is.

“It’s like qualifying this week for me, so I’ve got to get it done. I’d like to have another nice round tomorrow and see how far I can jump up going into next week on a course I’ve won at before and you’d just like to take some good form in. You just never know.”

The one man who perhaps had greater reason for regret was the man who led virtually from wire to wire before a missed 4-footer at the 72nd hole saw him slip back into a share of 7th rather than be part of the playoff.

Russell Henley led the event from his opening 62 and when he birdied the 10th today to be 3 under for the day he appeared to be headed for a comfortable victory. Then came a series of bogeys before the missed putt at the last.

Victorian, Cameron Percy, like Scott, needed a special week to jump inside the top 125 in the FedEx Cup standing and although he played solidly to finish 37th he had not done enough and would eventually finish the season in 135th place in the FedEx Cup.

For Percy to regain full PGA Tour status he will need to play the Korn Ferry Tour Finals where the leading 75 on the Korn Ferry Tour join those players between 126th and 200th in the PGA Tour standings as they strive to earn one of the top 25 cards from that series of events.

Matt Jones was the other Australian to make the cut but finished 70th this week although he is well positioned in the FedEx Cup standings and will likely get to play at least two of the Playoff events.

SCORES

 

 

/by

Gritty Brett Drewitt returns to PGA Tour

Brett Drewitt – file photo

New South Wales golfer, Brett Drewitt, might have finished second last of those who made the cut in the final Korn Ferry Tour event of the 2020 / 2021 season in Omaha but by doing so he has cemented his place in the top 25 of that tour’s standings and, as a result, has regained the PGA Tour card he has held previously.

Drewitt played the PGA Tour in 2017, gaining his playing rights there via the Korn Ferry Tour Finals in 2016 after having earned Korn Ferry Tour status two years earlier via the PGA Tour China.

Drewitt’s return to the PGA Tour was assisted by his win at the Lincoln Land Championship in 2020 in what became a carry over season due to Covid 19 but four top tens in 2021 left the door open for the much sought-after PGA Tour card.

Drewitt finished 24th of the 25 who earn their PGA Tour playing rights for next season but he gets the chance during the Korn Ferry Tour Finals over the next few weeks to further improve his ranking in terms of gaining starts in the early season.

The first of those Finals will be staged this coming week in Boise in Idaho.

Jamie Arnold finished best of the Australians in this week’s event when he tied for 23rd with Curtis Luck 49th and Drewitt 63rd.

Arnold will not get to play the Finals but Luck does having finished 67th on the season ending points table with the leading 75 players being joined by players ranked 126 to 200 on the PGA Tour’s FedEx Cup table.

 

 

 

 

/by

Maverick Antcliff close to lead in London

Maverick Antcliff – file photo European Tour

Queenslander Maverick Antcliff finds himself just two shots off the pace at the European Tour’s Cazoo Classic at the London Golf Club in Ash near London, the 28-year-old adding a second consecutive round of 68 to be tied in 5th place behind the leader Rhys Enoch of Wales and Dale Whitnell of Wales.

Antcliff, who is in his second season on the European Tour after graduating there via the China Tour in 2019, is currently in 59th place in the Race to Dubai rankings so the opportunity to consolidate his position in the top 60 who make it to the season ending Dubai World Championship event is not lost on him.

Antcliff was runner-up in the Canary Islands earlier this year and finished 11th in the European Open recently and is progressing nicely as he builds on his professional career after a collegiate career in the US.

Of the other Australasians to make the cut, New Zealander Ryan Fox is one shot behind Antcliff and tied for 8th and Victorian Bryden Macpherson is tied for 34th.

Neither of the two leaders, Enoch and Whitnell have won on the European Tour to date so Antcliff and Fox have an opportunity to further their cause this weekend.

 

 

 

/by

Adam Scott requiring further improvement in Greensboro

Adam Scott – cut made but still work to do – file photo

Adam Scott has followed his opening round of 66 with a second round 70 at the Wyndham Championship in Greensboro and at the halfway mark of the PGA Tour’s final event of the regular season he is in a share of 41st place.

Scott, who entered the week in a share of 121st in the FedEx Cup standings, has now slipped to 124th in the projected standings so needs a solid weekend if he is to advance into the leading 125 who will be eligible to play next week’s first FedEx Cup playoff event in New Jersey.

“I’m not really thinking about it, I’m more interested in getting my game into the shape I feel it should be, and it’s getting closer,” said Scott earlier in the week when asked about the precarious position he holds in the FedEx Cup standings.

“I would like to play well this week and get a chance to play next week and keep getting my game into place. It’s hard to improve your game when you don’t have a chance to play, so at the moment my goal is to just keep playing week after week.”

Cameron Percy leads the Australians in the event, the US Based Victorian in a share of 23rd position as he chases a place in next week’s field at the Northern Trust.

Percy was in 133rd position heading into this week but has improved to 131st in the projected earnings courtesy of his consecutive rounds of 67 which have him eight shots from the leader, Russell Henley, but just four shots out of 2nd place.

Tied for second place and four from the lead are Rory Sabbatini, Webb Simpson and Scott Piercy.

Percy would need a big weekend if he was to advance to New Jersey but he has at least kept the door open.

Matt Jones, who is secure for the next two FedEx Cup playoffs, was the only other Australian to make the cut and finds himself in 56th place at 3 under where the cut fell.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

/by

Dobbelaar bows out early at US Amateur Championship

Louis Dobbelaar in action this week – photo  USGA

Queenslander, Louis Dobbelaar, has been knocked out in the Round of 64 at the US Amateur, losing his opening round encounter against American Ross Steelman 2 down after being 2 down through 14 when their match was brought to a halt by darkness on Wednesday.

Returning to the Oakmont Country Club on Thursday morning to complete the match, Dobbelaar drew within one hole of Steelman when he birdied the 17th but he would bogey the 18th to lose 2 down.

Steelman would go on to win his afternoon, Round of 32 match, 2&1 and gave an indication of his ability earlier in the week when recording a nine of 30 during a round of 66 in his qualifying rounds.

Dobbelaar was the only one of three Australians in the 300 plus field to advance into the leading 64 who advanced to the match-play phase.

/by

Important week for Adam Scott in Greensboro

Adam Scott – his PGA Tour season may well rest on this week’s performance –  file photo USGA

This week’s Wyndham Championship at the Sedgefield Country Club in Greensboro, North Carolina brings the regular season of the 2021 PGA Tour to a conclusion with the three FedEx Cup playoffs to follow over the next three weeks.

Players who aren’t already there or a close to the top 125 will be looking for a big week to consolidate their position ahead of next week’s Northern Trust Championship in New Jersey and a chance to secure some of the significant monies available via the playoffs.

Six Australians will take their place in this week’s field and for some their performance will determine as to whether they can keep their hopes alive of advancing through the Playoffs.

Of the Australians playing this week, Matt Jones is the best placed of the Australians on the FedEx Cup table the two-time Australian Open Champion currently in 36th place.

While he has no concern about advancing through to the Northern Trust Championship and the BMW Championship the following week he will be keen for a big week in Greensboro to open the possibility of making it to the Tour Championship in three weeks’ time.

Jones does not enjoy a good record at this event, other than a 5th place finish in 2013, but that aside he has missed seven of ten cuts and his form since the win at the Honda earlier in the year leaves little hope of a lot of improvement at the Sedgefield Country Club.

Perhaps the most interesting of this week’s Australian participants is Adam Scott who is currently 121st on the FedEx Cup list and needing to be inside the top 125 by week’s end it is important he at least makes it to the weekend.

Scott has played the tournament on only three occasions throughout his lengthy career, the last of those coming in 2015 when finishing 63rd. Clearly he is here to see if he can advance to New Jersey next week.

Scott has hardly set the world on fire in 2021 but he has made all but one of 14 cuts and, although only one of them has resulted in a top ten, he knows he needs to improve sharply this week and is aware that things can turn around quickly.

“Yeah, it would be good to have my best week of the year, I would have to say,” said Scott. “That’s what I’m looking for this week. Certainly, coming here hoping to win, but to play some good golf and kind of jump up in the FedExCup would be fantastic going into next week.

Obviously, it’s a course I’m also very fond of, and you just never know, that’s the beauty of the Playoffs. If you get hot at the right time, you can run all the way through to Atlanta and that’s my only strategy this time around.”

“I’ve just heard good reports over the last few years about Sedgefield, and the work they’ve done on the greens looks great, he added when asked of his thoughts on the course and what he has heard since he was last here six years ago.

“It’s a classic golf course and I’ve enjoyed a couple days out there so far. It’s a good test. Definitely, want to be playing from the short grass this week and hitting plenty of greens. It will be my focus. And I like the way I’m playing. I’m not liking the way I’m scoring, but I’m looking to change that this week.

“I think it’s been frustrating and it’s just been the accumulation, I think, of the restrictions and what that’s left me not being able to do, whether it’s practice or train or the many changes this year. Very limited time with my coach. I ended up not even working with my trainer this year because it was just impossible to actually get together.

“A lot of time away from the family because I ended up coming in blocks to the States and that certainly had some effect, for sure. And then just the biggest mistake I think I made was not lowering my expectations on the golf course at the start of the year and thinking I was just going to play like a champion the whole time, even though nothing was really operating at the level I normally do.

“So I’m trying to give myself a bit more of a mental break with my expectations at the moment. I’m actually playing okay, but I think a little bit of fatigue has certainly been in there. I just need to let go a little bit.”

Victorian, Cameron Percy, is another close to the bubble and need an exceptional week if he is to force his way into the top 125.

Percy is currently 133rd on the list but in eight starts at the event has a best of 33rd so he too will need a week boxing well above his weight if he is to be on his way to Liberty National next week.

Aaron Baddeley, Rhein Gibson and John Senden are the other Australians in the field.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

/by

Second round recovery advances Dobbelaar at US Amateur

Louis Dobbelaar finishing off his second round on Wednesday morning – photo Chris Keane USGA

Queenslander, Louis Dobbelaar, has staged an impressive recovery from his opening round of 76 at the US Amateur Championship in Oakmont in Pennsylvania and has played his way into the Matchplay field of 64.

The Strokeplay qualifying was forced into day three after stormy weather forced play to be delayed for over four hours on Tuesday with half the field still required to finish their rounds.

Dobbelaar still needed to improve on his overnight standing when he returned on Wednesday morning to the Longue Vue Club, one of two venues being used.

A second round of 66 would eventually see him finishing 45th in the qualifying rounds and, with that over, he can now focus on his opening round match-up against American Ross Steelman at the host venue, the Oakmont Country Club.

Steelman attends Georgia Tech and in his opening round on Monday recorded a homeward nine of 30 in his round of 66 at the Longue Vue Club so Dobbelaar will know he is in for a fight in his opening clash.

He finished one shot clear of what would become a 12 man playoff for just one spot.

Dobbelaar will look to continue an excellent run of events in the US over their summer having won the Dogwood Invitational and the North and South Amateur in recent weeks and his second round today is a better reflection on his capabilities than was the case on Monday when his round got away from him during the middle stages.

Australia’s other two hopefuls in the field of more than 300 looking to finish inside the top 64 to advance to the knock-out phase, were eliminated.

Former US Mid-Amateur Champion, Lukas Michel of Melbourne finished seven shots from the required mark while Tony Chen was another three shots further back.

 

 

 

 

 

/by

Final hole double bogey costs Cameron Smith dearly in Memphis

The eventual winner after a playoff- Abraham Ancer photo Getty Images

A disastrous double bogey 6 at the final hole of the WGC FedEx St Jude Invitational in Memphis Tennessee has cost Australian Cameron Smith the chance of a third individual PGA Tour title.

Smith, who narrowly missed out on a playoff for the bronze medal at last week’s Olympics, led briefly in the back nine and was tied for the lead with three others when he reached the 18th tee of today’s final round at the TPC Southwind. A wild drive saw him taking two more shots to find the fairway although still 100 yards from the hole at the par 4.

He failed to get up and down from there and finished the day with a round of 72 and, when he had, he was two behind what would become a playoff between Sam Burns, Hideki Matsuyama and Abraham Ancer, Burns having earlier closed with a round of 64 and Matsuyama 63.

“Yeah, there was a little gap up there,” said Smith in trying to describe the gamble he took on the 18th.

“I had to hit like a medium flight draw and I tried to hit it. I mean, I wanted to win, I didn’t want to chip it out and leave my chances in Harry’s hands. He was still 16 under at the time. I wanted to make sure I had a good look at birdie and I just didn’t execute it.

“I’m hitting it good but I was really disappointed with how I hit my driver on the weekend. A week at home working on the driver, especially for the Playoffs, I think three tough driving courses, I need to get that in shape. The rest of the game feels really good.

“I’m looking forward to it. We’ve been pretty busy lately and it’s been hot as well, so it takes it out of you, especially being in contention as well, mentally draining. Nice week off on the boat, I’ll be happy.”

Cameron Smith checking his options at the last – photo Getty Images

Harris English, a winner at this venue back in 2013, led the event by two over Smith heading into the final round and was challenged early in his round by Smith who closed within one through 7 holes.

No sooner had Smith closed the gap however than he dropped shots at the 8th, 9th and 11th holes to trail English by five shots at that point.

Things would change dramatically over the next few holes however with Smith adding birdies at the 12th and 14th while English imploded with double bogeys at the 11th and 14th and at that point five players were tied at 16 under.

Smith had led briefly at 17 under par but bogeyed the 15th and English the 16th and when Smith stumbled at the 18th it left Burns, Matsuyama and Abraham Ancer tied for the lead and headed for a playoff.

The winner was 2018 Australian Open winner and International Presidents Cup team member, Abraham Ancer of Mexico, who birdied the second hole of the playoff to win his first PGA Tour title.

Ancer reaches his highest ever world golf ranking and will find himself just outside the top ten when the rankings are revised later today.

“Man, it’s going to take a while,” said Ancer when trying to take it all in. “I was trying to kind of let it all sink in there in the ceremony on 18. It was really surreal, something that I’ve been working for since I was a little kid.

“Definitely a dream, a dream come true to win on the PGA TOUR, and to do it on a big stage like a WGC event was really, really cool, man. It was a crazy round. I thought I was going to need a really low one to have a chance today, but it just worked out that it was like pretty much survival mode on the back nine.”

“I’ve done enough in other events to win and it just didn’t go my way. So I just stayed patient, I didn’t change anything. I just try to get better at how I play golf and keep my head cool.

“There’s obviously some rough weeks that can kind of throw you off and maybe you start looking at some things that you shouldn’t, but I learned that the first year when I was out here and I played terrible golf and I’m pretty thankful now that I learned all those lessons right away.”

Adam Scott, Lucas Herbert and Marc Leishman were the next best of the Australians when they tied for 36th.

SCORES

 

 

 

/by

Louis Dobbelaar heads Australian hopes at US Amateur Championship

Louis Dobbelaar playing well during the US summer – file photo

Three Australians are set to tee it up in the 36 stroke-play phase of the US Amateur Championship at the Oakmont Country Club in Oakmont in Pennsylvania when the most significant event in men’s amateur golf gets underway on Monday August 8th.

Brisbane’s Louis Dobbelaar, Victorian Luka Michel and Kuangyu (Tony) Chen will all get the chance to fly the Australian flag as they look to emulate the deeds of previous Australian winners of the event, Nick Flanagan (2003) and Curtis Luck (2016).

Dobbelaar is by some way the highest world ranked amateur of the trio although just to have made it into this week’s field requires some serious credentials.

Still only 19 years of age the Brisbane golfer, Dobbelaar, is in the middle of a successful run of events in the summer of amateur events in the USA having won the Dogwood Invitational in Atlanta and the North and South Amateur at Pinehurst.

A winner of the New Zealand Amateur Championship at the age of just 15 and twice the Queensland Amateur Champion, Dobbelaar is in the field as a result of his world ranking and given his current form his performance this week will be watched with interest.

Michel, 27, became the first international player to win the U.S. Mid-Amateur in 2019 when he defeated Joseph Deraney in the 36-hole final at Colorado Golf Club.

He went on to play in the U.S. Open and the Masters in 2020. Michel, who earned a master’s degree in mechanical engineering from the University of Melbourne, won the Australian Masters of the Amateurs on Jan. 8 and tied for third in the Riversdale Cup on March 7. In 2019, he tied for 21st in the Australian Open.

Chen was born in Shenzhen in China and moved to Australia at the age of 8 where he became a citizen. He attended the IMG Academy in the US before accepting a scholarship to the University of California Berkeley.

Chen recently won the Silverado Amateur Championship in California.

The demanding Oakmont Country Club layout has been the venue for several US Opens, the most recent being in 2016 when Dustin Johnson won by three shots.

The leading 64 qualifiers at the completion of 36 holes get to match off in head to head encounters before the final on Sunday.

 

 

/by

Nelly Korda holds off challengers for Olympic gold

L-R  Mone Inami, Nelly Korda and Lydia Ko – photo IGF / PGA Tour Stan Badz.

On a day when there had been some doubt as to whether play would even be completed because of pending storms, American and world number one, Nelly Korda, has held off several strong late challenges to win the Olympic Gold medal by one shot over Japan’s Mone Inami and New Zealand’s Lydia Ko.

Korda led the event from the completion of her second round of 62 and thus was a deserved winner and further assisted the, at times, controversial inclusion of golf in the Olympics given she is the current world number one.

India’s Aditi Ashok finished a very impressive 4th which, given her standing in world golf, was a case of boxing well above her weight and in the end she was unlucky to have missed a podium finish.

Korda began the day at the Kasumigaseki Country Club north of Tokyo with a three-shot lead but by the time the final group reached the 8th tee Korda, Ko and Ashok were tied at 14 under after Korda double bogeyed the 7th.

Korda quickly regained the ascendancy with birdies at the 8th and 9th and by the turn she was one ahead of Ko and two ahead of Ashok and Emily Kristine Pedersen.

It would, though, be the Japanese player, Inami who emerged as perhaps the biggest threat to Korda’s gold medal when she reeled off five birdies in six holes in her closing nine to draw level with Korda at the 17th but needing a par at the last to put the upmost pressure on the leader, she plugged in the front bunker and took bogey.

Play had halted play for 30 minutes or so when the forecast storms hit the golf course but fortunately for the event, the weather cleared and all 72 holes plus the playoff were completed.

Korda was able to safely find the green at the last and two putt for par, a task that became significantly easier when Ko hit a poor approach after a good drive and could only make par.

“Yeah, honestly amazing, it feels amazing,” said the champion. “After today Lydia was playing really well, so was Mone, they both played super well, so we were all bunched up there. It was very stressful, but I kept it together, I fought pretty hard.

“I’ve had a pretty good stretch of events, but it doesn’t mean necessarily that you’re going to play well, so you kind of try to put the expectations to the side and just go out and have a nice fresh week, enjoy the Olympic experience because it’s such a unique and fun experience now doing it for the first time.

“You play for more than just yourself, you also play for your country. So safe to say I really enjoyed my first Olympic experience.”

Korda was reluctant and very cautious not to compare wins she has had in the past with a golf medal victory.

“I think every win is special in its own way, I wouldn’t say one win is more special or one win is bigger. Each win has a significant meaning to me, something that I’ve gone through or whatnot.

“But I wouldn’t say — I mean obviously it’s amazing to be a gold medalist, to even just be an Olympian is and to represent your country, I mean you have to be the top of the top to come to the games. So but I wouldn’t say one win is more special than the other because they all are special.”

Korda and her medal – photo Stan Badz IGF / PGA Tour

In a playoff for second and third, Ko found the fairway bunker from the tee and could only make bogey while Inami safely found the green and two putted for the silver medal with the bronze going to Ko.

“I felt like I played really solid today,” said Ko. “There were a bunch of us at tied third and with this beautiful weather I think you’ve got to expect that everyone’s going to play well so I think I tried to play my best out there, have fun.

“Before I teed off today Sean (Foley) my coach said something along the lines of, what’s meant to be is going to be. So I think that’s what I tried to think today. The Olympics is a very special occasion where obviously, yes, we play for our country on a daily basis, but we’re really playing for them, this means so much then just for us.

“So yeah it’s a huge honor to be able to bring two medals for New Zealand and to be a two-time medalist in the last couple games. It’s a very, it’s safe to say I’ve really enjoyed my two times at the Olympics.”

Hannah Green began the final round tied on the same score as Ko but and outward nine of 38 all but destroyed her hopes of medal contention. To her credit, however, the West Australian played her opening seven holes of her inward nine in 6 under to get within one shot of a possible bronze medal but a bogey at the last would see her finish a very respectable 5th.

“I mean obviously at the start of the day I was trying to win a gold medal and my first couple hours on the golf course things weren’t going well and I was scrambling really hard,” said Green.

“So I think to be even in contention come the last couple holes really proud of myself for how I hung in there and didn’t get too down on myself and tried to think of the bigger picture I guess and being so lucky that we even have an Olympics to compete in.”

SCORES

The weather halted play for 30 minutes or so late in the round. – photo IGF PGA Tour

 

/by