Sarah Jane Smith – photo Australian Golf Media

A stunning weekend including rounds of 63 and 65 have given US based Queenslander, Sarah Jane Smith, a five-shot victory over Australians Shae Wools-Cobb and Andrew Martin at the TPS Murray River event at the Cobram Barooga OLD Course on the NSW Victorian Border.

It is the second consecutive win by a woman in a TPS PGA Tour of Australasia event following on from the victory of Min Yoon at the Rosebud Country Club last week.

The win provided the 38 year old with her first professional victory since her win in New York on the LPGA Tour’s feeder tour in 2008 and just her second as a professional.

Smith, one of Australian female golf’s best players as an amateur, turned professional in 2004 and gained LPGA Tour status a year later and although she has managed to retain her playing privileges to the LPGA Tour in many of the years since, she is currently without status there and so this win is a great boost as she looks to sustain her professional career.

After a poor season on the LPGA Tour last year after narrowly regaining her playing rights at the end of 2021, Smith made the decision not to attend the Tour School in December and so returned to the Sunshine Coast where she spent time with highly regarded coach Grant Field whose many other clients include Cameron Smith.

“I didn’t feel done at the end of last year, but I knew I wasn’t in the right place for (LPGA) Tour school,” said Smith. “I thought I’d come home, play the Aussie Open, it worked out that I could see Grant, spend some time with him.

“He’s been drumming into me that ‘it’s not over unless I want it to be’. To see everything come together this quickly is incredible. Because I was basically done at the end of last year, unless something changed drastically. I’m pretty happy, a little bit surprised with this.

“Grant gave me one thing that made me feel good all day. He told me to enjoy the (expletive) out of it, but he told me ‘just because you feel different doesn’t mean the skills won’t be the same’. That’s something I’ve felt when I was nervous before, I worried it would go away. I’d hit one bad shot and it would snowball. Today I kept repeating that, reminding myself that just because I felt like that, it wasn’t going to be any different.”

The win is worth A$45,000 to Smith and although she has earnings of close to A$3 million in the US, the money earned today will be both a boost of finances and confidence.

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Abraham Ancer – photo Asian Tour

The top of the leaderboard in the opening event of the 2023 Asian Tour season, the US$5 million PIF Saudi International, is littered with LIV Golf members but there are plenty of others within striking distance who might take an opportunity to grab the riches of one of the Asian Tour’s most lucrative event.

Mexico’s Abraham Ancer leads by one over American Cameron Young but in a share of 3^rd place and three shots from Ancer are Thailand’s Sadom Kaewkanjana, Australian Marc Leishman and South African Louis Ooosthuizen.

Leishman’s fellow Australian but not a LIV Golf member, Lucas Herbert, is another shot back in 6^th place.

Ten Australians made the cut but one who did not was Cameron Smith who despite improving four shots from his opening round of 73 missed out by two shots on making it to the weekend.

Leishman who has been out of form in recent times played in the stunning morning conditions of day two and took full advantage. The highlight of his second round was a holed shot from the fairway at the 10th.

“Hit a 3-iron off the tee and then had perfect yardage with my gap wedge,” said Leishman. “Hit a good shot, landed about a foot past it, a foot right of it, and spun back into the hole. They’re sort of unexpected, but it’s nice when they happen.

“Yeah, really happy. Yesterday to have two under in that weather was pretty pleasing. Then to come out this morning and to put a low one on the board in more benign conditions was pretty satisfying as well. Happy with the start.”

SCORES