Brookes Koepka finds form ahead of The Masters


Brooks Koepka – photo LIV Golf

The focus of the Liv Golf World turns to Augusta National this week following the completion of their Orlando event this morning.

Brooks Koepka won his first tournament in more than two years with a one shot victory over Colombian Sebastian Munoz and heads to Augusta National with his sights set on improving on his runner-up finish there3 in 2019.

Koepka held off a strong final day challenge by Munoz, a winner on the PGA Tour in 2019, but Munoz gained some compensation by being part of the winning team along with Mito Pereira, David Puig and Joaquin Niemann.

South Africa’s Dean Burmester finished in a share of 3rd place with Patrick Reed.

“I feel really good,” said Koepka. “I’ve been playing good for a few weeks, it just hasn’t really shown on the scorecard, making dumb mistakes, and it was nice to come out this week and play mistake free pretty much. That’s kind of what I do leading up to majors just in general.

“I’m very happy to get the win. Unfortunately we didn’t get the team win, which kind of is a little bittersweet, but look, I’m happy the way I’m playing going into Augusta.

“Next week is a big week. I’m playing good, and there’s really no better way to go into Augusta than playing good and get a win.

“I’m very confident. Like where the game is at. Just need to go out and try to rest up for three days, do my usual play nine holes every day and do the homework around these greens, just get a little more adjusted with Augusta.”

The best of the Australians were Cameron Smith, Jed Morgan and Marc Leishman who tied for a disappointing 26th and finished last in the 12 team competition.

Smith was on a roll before dropping five shots in three holes late in his round.

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Breanna Gill’s breakthrough win at Bonville Golf Resort


Breanna Gill -photo and article David Tease Golf NSW

New South Wales golfer, Breanna Gill, won the Australian Women’s Classic – Bonville after a nail biting finish that saw her claim victory at Bonville Golf Resort near Coffs Harbour in a sudden death playoff.

Gill made a three-foot birdie putt on the first playoff hole to overcome her fellow New South Welsh woman, Danni Vasquez.

The pair finished the 54-holes at Bonville tied at 6-under, just one stroke ahead of Victorian Stephanie Bunque.

Vasquez was the clubhouse leader after she birdied two of the last three holes and Gill and Bunque both needed to make birdie on their last hole to force a playoff.

Gill was able to complete the assignment while Bunque’s birdie putt was agonisingly close.

Having earned the opportunity to perhaps win, Gill made the most of it.

Vasquez was unable to make her 8-foot uphill putt on the first playoff hole, the par-5 18th but Gill snuck her three-foot left to right slider in the lower side of the cup to claim victory.

When the throng of fellow players performed the traditional spraying of champagne on the winner, Gill simply stood there with arms wide open and enjoyed every last drop that fell on her.

“I always thought in my head if I ever got the opportunity to actually win a golf tournament and the girls happen to come running out on the green, I was going to stand there and take it. I wasn’t going to run away,” Gill said.

“If you get yourself in that position, you just take it and it was so special.”

Two rising stars of the golf world produced great final rounds to finish in a tie for fourth position.

New Zealander Momoko Kobori, the winner of last week’s Women’s NSW Open, and Belinda Ji shot scores 68 and 67 respectively to end great weeks.

The pivotal moments in Gill’s final round that saw her claim her first WPGA Tour of Australasia victory were a chip in eagle on the 14th hole and a slippery downhill putt for bogey after she found the water with her tee shot on the 16th.

“I stepped up over that putt and I wasn’t afraid of it and I knew that I wanted to pour that thing into the middle,” she said.

“I threw it a couple of feet out to the right and let it break back I. Perfect pace, perfect line and it just went right in the centre. Very proud of that one and it kept the momentum going.”

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Tense battle results in Power Horan’s National win


Tom Power Horan – photo Australian Golf Media

It was perhaps fitting that two of the most consistent players throughout the season featured during the final stages of the 2022/2023 PGA Tour of Australasia, with Victorian Tom Power Horan edging out John Lyras by one shot after a tense final round battle at the National Tournament over the Moonah Course on the Mornington Peninsula.

With two eagles, four birdies and a bogey in his first twelve holes on day four, Power Horan had moved three clear of the field, one of those eagles coming when holing in one at the 8th.

Lyras, who has been another of the surprise packets of the season would not go away, however, and when he birdied the 13th the margin was just two and when Power Horan bogeyed the 14th the lead was just one.

Lyras bogeyed the 16th and the lead was again out to two but a bogey at the last by the leader saw him win but by the narrowest of margins on what was a fitting final day of the season.

Power Horan finished runner-up to David Micheluzzi on the season long Order of Merit while Lyras finished 5th although Lyras played only seven events compared the 15 by Micheluzzi and the 14 by Power Horan.

Power Horan secured his DP World Tour card for next season by finishing inside the top 3 of the Order of Merit and while Lyras was not in that group, earlier in the year he secured his Asian Tour card and appears to have a very bright future, his runner-up finish at the New Zealand Open an indication of his capabilities.

Power Horan recorded seven top ten finishes in his season including a win at the Gippsland event in December and this victory and now, with his DP World Tour card, he has the opportunity to advance his game even further later this year but in the meantime he can also play Asian Tour events after he, too, secured his playing rights there earlier this season.

Both players also have access to the Korn Ferry Tour Final Qualifying stages later in the year and Power Horan was excited by the prospect.

“That’s always been a dream,” he said of the chances of his playing in America. “I mean Europe’s amazing as well. I mean, my parents are Irish, I’m looking forward to playing a bit more over near my family. But for sure, the States is the place to be, I think.”

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FINAL ORDER OF MERIT

 


John Lyras – photo Australian Golf Media

 

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Elvis Smylie takes lead at National Tournament


Elvis Smylie – photo Australian Golf Media

Budding star Elvis Smylie played one of the rounds of his young life to seize the lead in The National Tournament on Victoria’s Mornington Peninsula today.

Smylie’s course record 63 on the Moonah course, with nine birdies and not a single blemish, vaulted him up the field and put him in contention to win his first tournament as a professional.

Long touted as the Next Big Thing of Australian golf, the 20-year-old Gold Coast left-hander rolled in six birdie putts including a couple of bombs on the front nine, then kept it together on the more difficult back nine to post his score, nailing another birdie putt at the tough par-3 17th and narrowly missing a 20-footer for a 62 at the par-4 18th.

He leads by two shots from impressive Sydney professional, John Lyras, and Daniel Gale, who both posted 66 in conditions that were unpleasant with the rolling rain showers, but score-able because the greens were soft and the wind not as strong as Thursday.

First-round leader and Order of Merit champion David Micheluzzi faded to four shots back after a second-round 71.

It was Smylie’s day. A Golf Australia Rookie Squad member and former Australian Boys’ champion, he is at 11-under par overall after opening with a 2-under 70 on Thursday.

Grouped with Lyras and Blake Windred, they formed the hot group of the day. “It was pretty easy to play some good golf out there, watching Elvis today,” said Lyras. “I think it’s probably the best golf I’ve ever seen up close and personal. It was nice to be able to feed off that and keep chasing him.”

Smylie was white hot with the putter, making everything on the greens and using his imagination with former touring pro Mike Clayton on the bag. His 63 lowers the Moonah course record of 66 set by Micheluzzi on Thursday.

“It was weird, I mean everything seemed to go in my favour today,” said the Queenslander, whose mother Liz won four Grand Slams on the tennis circuit.

“I just played really good golf. It got a little bit windy out there which I like. I love the windy conditions. You have to shape your shot and control your ball flight really well. I did a good job of that and made a couple of long putts that I probably shouldn’t have made, but it was a really good day and I’m excited for the weekend.”

Smylie had not played the Moonah course prior to this week, but not surprisingly, it fits his eye.

“I love this style of golf,” he said. “It’s my favourite style, especially when it gets a little bit tricky. I love it when it gets hard, and it definitely separates the men from the boys.”

Smylie is 10th on the ISPS HANDA PGA Tour of Australasia Order of Merit for 2022-23 and a win this week would push him into the top five, giving him direct access to the final stage of the Q-School on the Korn Ferry Tour in the United States, and potentially the same for the DP World Tour.

But he was philosophical about his position today. “For me it’s about focusing on the little step-by-step things that I’m doing well at and controlling the things that I can control. That’s all noise for me, so for me it’s what I can control and see what happens from there.”

Lyras is a regular on the top of the leaderboard who is still chasing his first win on tour, and he has again put himself in the mix.

In fact the 26-year-old could have gone lower than his 66; he left several putts in the jaws, and made a double bogey 6 at the par-4 sixth hole after finding the deep bunker on the left and leaving one in the sand.

Runner-up at the recent New Zealand Open and again close at the NSW Open a couple of weeks ago – he was in the final group but fell away to tied-eighth suffering with a shoulder injury – Lyras was happy to make himself prominent again.

“You can’t win tournaments from 10 shots behind often. It’s nice to be up the top and close to the lead going into the weekend,” he said.

The National Tournament is the season-ending event on the Australasian Tour with the Order of Merit and all its exemptions to be decided on Sunday along with the $200,000 prize pool.

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Michael Hendry well placed in crucial Japan Tour event.

 

Michael Hendry – photo Australian Golf Media

Rookie Yusaku Hosono rewrote the course record books at the Token Tado Country Club by firing a sparking 10-under-par 61 to spearhead the local charge at the Token Homemate Cup with New Zealand’s Michael Hendry enjoying another flawless 66 to head into the weekend in joint third place.

But Hendry, who’s chasing a second victory in the tournament, has work cut out for him as he currently lies six shots off the lead at the halfway stage.

The 2015 champion and recent winner of the Vic Open, birdied five times to reach 10-under-par 132, with Hosino, a Q-School graduate, sprung a surprise to be the match to catch on 16-under-par after trading a whopping 11 birdies with a lone bogey.

“I didn’t drive as well as yesterday, but my short game’s really good. All in all, it was really solid just like yesterday,” said Hendry, who finished runner-up at the Asian Tour’s World City Championship in Hong Kong last week.

Hendry needs to take advantage of the early season events where he gets start in order to consolidate his standing on the Japan Golf Tour where he is currently without full status. Hendry finished 73rd on last year’s money list and as such was unable regain his full playing rights but good weeks in early season events will greatly assist his cause.

Two-time JGTO winner Ryu Hyun-woo fired an eagle on the par-five eighth en route to turning in 32 before mixing three more shots with two bogeys on the back nine as a 66 left him seven shots off the pace in the fifth spot alongside Ryo Ishikawa on 133.

American Han Lee and South Korean pair Song Young-han and Park Sung-joon were a further shot back after returning 68, 65 and 67 respectively.

Hosono’s name may not ring a bell, but definitely not after today resuming his dream start with a record-breaking display.

The 20-year-old bettered the previous record held by Kamii Kunihiro (2013) and Brendan Jones (2012) by one shot.

With a four-shot cushion over two-time prize money king Shugo Imahira with 36 holes to go, Hosono dares to dream big.

“Actually I didn’t aim for this score. I just played golf. When the round finished I realised the score!” said Hosono, who’s making his only fourth JGTO start.

“I’m very happy with that (course record). I never thought about competing in the final round, but now I do, I’m going to try to aim for a win.

“I know that it’s not easy so I will do my best.”

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