New Zealand’s Daniel Hillier leads BMW International Open


Daniel Hillier in action during round two – image courtesy of Getty Images

New Zealand’s DP World Tour rookie, Daniel Hillier, has a one shot lead at the halfway mark of the BMW International Open in Munich, Germany, a second round of 67 moving the 24 year old ahead of Denmark’s Rasmus Neergaard-Petersen.

Hillier’s form in his debut season on the DP World Tour has been quite a mixture to date. Two starts ago he finished 5th at the KLM Open but either side of that have been four missed cuts so again he has found form in a comparative drought just as he did in the Netherlands.

“Pretty tough conditions out there,” said Hillier. “Breeze is definitely up and making it tricky. Pretty swirling winds as well. But yeah, played really solid front nine. There were a couple of lucky ones coming in and managed to go round bogey free which was pretty good.

“I mean I think it helps when you come from Wellington, playing in the wind all your life. Then you have to navigate your way around it. As I say, got lucky couple of times coming in.

“It’s great golf course. I think it says my game crowds have been pretty awesome as well from obviously I mean, I’ve been to the marquee great. But you know so yeah, I feel the German guys have got a lot of spectators there watching them.

“Hopefully being one of the final groups tomorrow, we’ll get some more people watching and should be a fun couple of days.”

Hillier, a two time winner on the European Challenge Tour and a former two time New Zealand Amateur Champion and Australian Junior title holder, is considered New Zealand’s brightest young male star.

His best finish to date on the DP World Tour was when 3rd in an event in 2021 when playing on invitation but his 5th place in the Netherlands has been his best since gaining his card via the Challenge Tour late last year.

Australians Blake Windred and Elvis Smylie were also in the event but have failed to make the weekend.

SCORES

 

/by

Greer and Stubbs face each other at Amateur Championship


Josh Greer – file photo USGA

Two of the three Australians who advanced to the match play phase of the Amateur (British) Championship at the Hillside Golf Club in Southport have moved through to the third round of the knockout phase following victories this morning.

That’s the good news, the bad news however is that both players will face off in round three, thus allowing only one Australian to remain in the event after tomorrow’s third round

21 year old West Australian Greer, who qualified in 5th place in the 36 hole strokeplay stages of the event, was up against Italian Matteo Cristoni today and accounted for him 2&1 while Victorian, Jasper Stubbs, just crept home against Japan’s Minato Oshima by a narrow one hole margin.

Greer has already qualified for the PGA Tour of Australasia having successfully negotiated his way through Tour School for next season so this last few weeks of his amateur career appear to be going well.

Stubbs is the current New Zealand Amateur Champion having won in Dunedin last November.

Gold Coast youngster Billy Dowling was up against Frenchman Clemente Charmasson but agonisingly lost at the 4th extra hole in their 18 hole encounter.

Dowling, who qualified in 40th place was forced to play an eliminator against Max Kristoffer of Denmark and did well to advance to the main field before being beaten today.

The surprise amongst the many Australians in the field was that former NSW Open and Asia Pacific Amateur Champion Harrison Crowe missed out on a place in the match play phase by one shot.

SCORES

/by

Nine Australasians in KPMG PGA Field


World #3 Lydia Ko doing homework ahead of this week’s event – image PGA of America

The elite of women’s golf are in Springfield in New Jersey this week for the staging of their second major championship of the 2023 LPGA Tour season, the KPMG PGA Championship at the famed Baltusrol Golf Club.

The event carries prizemoney of U$S9 million with a first place cheque for US$1,350,000, a huge increase on the US$3.8 million on hand when Australia’s Hannah Green became just the third Australian after Jan Stephenson and Karrie Webb to take this title and won US$575,000.

Australasia has a strong representation of nine players, headed in terms of world ranking by New Zealander Lydia Ko who will play her 11th Women’s PGA Championship, three of those resulting in top tens with a best of 2nd behind Brooke Henderson in 2016.

Ko won an event early in the year in Saudi Arabia but for much of the year to date her form has been below that she displayed for much of 2022 and she will need to improve if she is to be a factor this week.

“I haven’t been playing the best golf leading up to this event,” said Ko “But in saying that, I feel like my scores haven’t been the exact reflection of how I’ve been playing.

“Last week I didn’t feel like I played that bad but just a few putts here and there, maybe a few shots, and those are the big differences at the end of the week.

“Hopefully being able to bring all that together, that’s the weird thing and fun thing and frustrating thing about golf is that every day it’s different. Everything is clicking for you one day or that week, and then it may not be the case the week after.

“Hopefully it’s not too far away, and I’m just trying to be positive, especially on a golf course when you know it’s going to be tricky. You just have to be really patient.

“A lot of people are saying it’s tough, but it’s tough for everyone. It’s not just tough for one certain player. It’s going to be fair, and I’m hoping to have a fun week out here at a beautiful golf course.”

West Australian Minjee Lee has fared better in 2023 has also not played her best to date this year, a runner-up finish at the Founders Cup her only to ten in seven starts.

Lee will play her 8th Women’s PGA Championship, her best being when runner-up behind In Gee Chun last year.

Perth’s Hannah Green is one of only three Australians to win this title, her magnificent win in 2019 and her 5th place last year her best finishes in five previous starts.

Three starts ago Green won her third LPGA Tour title in Los Angeles but her form around that has been lacking in consistency. She has shown a capacity to play the big events well, however, and could again do well.

Sydney’s Stephanie Kyriacou just keeps getting better and appears destined for big things on the LPGA Tour after a couple of successful seasons in Europe.

Kyriacou finished 10th in this event last year and was then 7th at the AIG Women’s Open suggesting she does not mind the big stage. She has not exactly been setting the world on fire yet in 2023, but she has the game to go a long way.

NSW’s Grace Kim is in her rookie season on the LPGA Tour and is already making her mark with a win in Hawaii and a 10th place at the Founders Cup. Kim missed the cut in her only previous start in the event last year.

NSW’s Sarah Kemp has played well in patches in 2023 but having missed her last two cuts she arrives at this event with her confidence not at the level it was earlier in the year. This will be Kemp’s 13th start in this event making her the most experienced of the Australasians in that regard.

Having said that, Kemp has only made the cut in four of her previous twelve appearances in the event with a best of 37th.

Victorian, Su Oh, is a much better player than her current standing suggests but she has been forced to play both LPGA Tour and Epson Tour events in 2023 in order to keep continuity. A recent 6th place in an LPGA Tour event suggests she might have found something with her game and let’s hope she can continue to build on that effort.

Victorian, Gabi Ruffels has been in outstanding from on the Epson Tour in 2023 with two wins and one other top ten. She is already assured of graduating to the LPGA Tour next season but gets a chance at the higher level courtesy of her performances on the secondary tour.

Ruffels,a  former winner and runner-up in the US women’s Amateur Championship, has already performed well at the elite level with top twenty finishes in three major championships and, with the confidence her success on the Epson Tour has no doubt brought, she might do better again.

Karis Davidson is struggling a little in her second season on the LPGA Tour and gets to play this event for the first occasion. A 17th place three starts ago suggests her game is getting better but it needs to.

LEADERBOARD

 

 

/by

Another great major finish for Cam Smith


Wyndham Clark – US Open Champion – photo USGA

Cameron Smith has produced a homeward nine of 32 to finish with a final round of 67 at the US Open in Los Angeles and finished alone in 4th place and just four shots from the winner, Wyndham Clark, who, in turn, finished one shot ahead of Rory McIlroy.

For Clark it was just his second PGA Tour victory coming on top of his win at the Wells Fargo Championship earlier this year and in just his 7th major championship attempt not only was it his first victory, he bettered his previous best major championship finish which was 75th.

Smith began the final day seven shots of the lead held by Clark and but his chances of a top five finish appeared to have disappeared when he turned in even par 35 over the more forgiving front nine before birdies at the 11th, 12th and 15th saw him finish with his three under par final round.


Cam Smith – Another one slides by in today’s final round – photo USGA

For Smith the performance bettered his previous best finish at a US Open which came in 2015 at Chambers Bay when he finished in a share of 4th. This time he was 4th alone.

“I don’t think I found anything,” said Smith when asked what prompted the strong finishing nine. “I think it was probably just less mistakes. There was a couple of really good scrambling holes in there, as well. Definitely left a few shots out there, especially on that front nine.

“Got a bit unlucky there on 14, the par-5. A little bit annoying but all in all, if you had given me 3-under at the start of the day, I think I would have taken it.

“Like I said at the start of the week, the U.S. Open typically hasn’t been a happy hunting ground for me. Probably due to lack of driver accuracy, especially the first couple of days. Really hit that driver in the fairway and give myself a lot of opportunities.

“I feel like if I had to reflect, those first two days for me is where the putts just didn’t quite drop, and definitely should have been a little bit further up the leaderboard.”

Smith was asked just what he would do between now and the Open Championship defence in a month’s time.

“Yeah, we have a week off now before we get to Spain (a LIV Golf event), so I’ll probably just hang out, really not do much practice. It’s going to be kind of a busy part of the year here for us the next kind of seven or eight weeks. Just lay low and get to Spain and just focus on that driver again.

“I think for me, that’s the difference to winning the golf tournaments and not winning. Just keep that driver on a string.”

Min Woo Lee did extremely well to hold on for a top five finish which he shared with Rickie Fowler and Tommy Fleetwood after Fleetwood produced the round of the day 63 to race up the leaderboard.

For Lee it was his best finish on the PGA Tour and his best in a major after his bogey free round of 67 and he was delighted with how he had played.

“Yesterday I just put too much pressure on myself and was actually pretty nervous in a way,” said the 24 year old from Perth. “My practice was so good that I kind of put a little bit of pressure on myself, and today it was a little different.

“The pre-round was a little sketchy and not the best, and then you just go out there with a good mindset. Played amazing today, bogey-free. I don’t have many bogey-free rounds ever so it’s nice to do it at a major.

“Lots of grit on that last round, but lots of good stuff, too. Played really good, and I’m really happy.

“Although people think this course wasn’t that tough, I think it was pretty tough. I played my ass off for the last four days, and I’m only 5-under. The winners are slowly coming back and are around 10-under. They definitely tricked it up on the weekend, and I’m happy to get done and happy with the way I performed today.”

But the day and the week belonged to Clark who, despite two late bogeys in his day long battle with McIlroy, was able to hold on the win an American golfer’s most coveted prize.

“You know, this is now my second win on the PGA TOUR and first one was surreal and this one is surreal, said the champion. “It hasn’t quite hit me yet. Walking up 18 was pretty emotional, and then finishing.

“But yeah, it’s been a whirlwind of the last five, six weeks. It’s been — just so blessed and humbled to be here.

“Yeah, I mean, I started off great, and I felt really good and confident about my game. Unfortunately I bogeyed the second hole but I felt like I rebounded well in birdieing the fourth, and got a little unlucky on hole 8, but I just felt like I bounced back and kept my emotions about me.

“I hit some great shots coming down at the end, and although I made a couple bogeys and it seemed like maybe the rails were coming off, I was inside pretty calm. I’m really pleased with myself with how I performed.”

Clark’s mother passed away during his formative years and he was quick to acknowledge the additional meaning such a significant win meant to him in that regard.

“I know my mom is proud of me. She’s always been proud of me, regardless of how I’m doing or what I’m doing. I just wish she could be here and we could enjoy this.

“It’s been a pretty amazing week because my mom lived in LA for a few years and I’ve had some people come up to me and show pictures of my mom when they knew her back in her 20s and early 30s when she was living here.

“That just happened this week, so it was kind of a special vibe all week being here in LA. My parents got married at Riviera Country Club. I have some roots a little bit in this area.

“All I really wish is that my mom could be here and I could just hug her and we could celebrate together. But I know she’s proud of me.”

SCORES

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

/by

Cameron Smith retains slim hope at US Open


Cam Smith – at the 15th today – image courtesy of USGA

A roller coaster closing nine of 36 in today’s third round of the US Open has likely cost Cam Smith a  chance of adding the US Open to his Open Championship crown although a birdie at his final hole has kept open faint hope of something special in tomorrow’s final round.

When Smith walked to the 14th tee he stood at 5 under par for the championship and within six of Wyndham Clarke’s 11 under par lead but bogeys at the `14th, 16th and 17th holes had him back at 2 under and any remote chance in tomorrow’s final round appeared gone.

Smith, though, would hole a 25 foot birdie putt at the last and finished the day seven shots  from the leaders, Clark and Rickie Fowler who in turn are one shot ahead of Rory McIlroy and although he will need something special himself tomorrow and some help from some of the world’s best ahead of him on the leaderboard, Smith remains alive.

“Yeah, lots of good in there,” said Smith when asked about the topsy turvy nature of the closing nine.

“I don’t think there was lots of bad, either. I think it was just the golf course was tough. The golf course is getting firmer and faster, as I expected, and going to take some really good play to get around even, and managed to hang in there for a while and get under par, and yeah, just a bit of a poor finish, I guess, the last five holes.”

When asked what he thinks needs to happen tomorrow Smith said; “Geez, probably one of the best rounds of my life. It’s going to have to take at least 5- or 6-, probably even 7-under, I think. The golf course is getting tougher, but there’s still lots of wedges out there. The leaders are there for a reason, as well. They’re obviously playing really good golf.”

Min Woo Lee struggled to a round of 74 and is one shot behind Smith and tied for 12th place after two late birdies kept his round respectable.

New Zealand’s Ryan Fox was round in 69 to be tied for 32nd at 1 over a very encouraging effort and he has a good chance to beat his previous best in four starts to date in the event of 41st in 2018.

SCORES


Rickie Fowler – co leader image USGA

 

/by

Min Woo Lee produces day’s best 65 to share 6th place in Los Angeles


Min Woo Lee during today’s second round – image USGA

Min Woo Lee has made an outstanding move on day two of the 123rd US Open, his second round of 65 the best of the day and sweeping the into a share of 6th place and now just four shots from the halfway leader, Rickie Fowler.

Lee, playing in the relatively early morning conditions on day two, book-ended his round with birdies but in between there were four other birdies and a lone bogey at the 5th hole where he found trouble form the teen and could only advance to ball 65 yards and was left with a pitch from 115 yards to attempt a par save. It was not to be but he is nicely placed heading to the weekend of just his second US Open.

“Everything is working pretty good,” said the 24 year old from Perth. “My approach play has been pretty lacking over the last year or my whole career, so it’s quite nice to actually be in the positives I think the last two days.

“Hitting it well, driving it well, driving it a long way actually, which is nice on this course because it’s long. Just not making too many mistakes. When I do hit it in the rough, I need to take my medicine and just hit it out.”

When asked, Lee would say; “I really don’t know why I decide to play well in the majors and not other tournaments. Yeah, I think it’s a good thing. I don’t know if I just focus just a little bit more and just know that some of these grind-it-out pars are actually moving up on the field.

“I think when the courses are pretty easy at different tournaments, if you make a bogey, you feel like you’ve moved back 30 spots, and over here in a major it’s not too bad. Just to keep your head in the game, it can get away from you so quick. I think something to do with the mindset for sure.

There are some similarities between The Los Angeles Country Club and some of the fine courses of the Melbourne sunbelt and Lee agreed. “Yeah, it reminds me of Royal Melbourne and a few Melbourne courses. It’s pretty brown for an American course. I think that’s what I look back at. I’ve played at Royal Melbourne plenty of times, and I love playing shots and not just hitting a straight shot, which I’ve been struggling with because some of the courses are pretty straight and I need to hit it straighter.

“But it’s nice to actual shape shots into greens on some of the tee shots.”

Against an even stronger field earlier this year, Lee managed to finish 6th at the Players Championship so has the knowledge that he can contend at this level.

“I think that was one of the times where I really thought I could actually contend and be there, and I had a couple bad holes at THE PLAYERS but I really didn’t think I was far off. Still held it at the end, and yeah, that gave me a lot of confidence for the tournaments coming through.”


Cam Smith – image USGA

Lee heads the Australasians by two shots over Cam Smith who assisted his cause with a round of 67 to be at 4 under and tied for 10th and very much in contention for a tilt as his second national open following his success at the Open Championship 11 months ago.

“I feel as though I’ve been playing good golf now for a couple of months,” said the Queenslander. “Just feels really solid. It feels like I’m not doing much wrong. I just need those, like I said, those longer putts, one or two to drop every round and I’m right there.

“I have felt pretty comfortable all week. I actually probably had a bit of a worse warm-up this morning and wasn’t really looking forward to getting off the tee, but, yeah, it kind of just come around and, yeah, ended up getting the irons going, getting the driver going again and yeah it was good.

“I think as these fairways firm up a little I think they will probably play a little bit narrower.

“But generally they’re pretty wide fairways, especially for a U.S. Open. I’ve been driving the ball great. I think I just got to keep the ball in the fairway and just keep hitting it into the centres of greens.

“There’s a ton of greens around there where you can get in really bad spots and get out of position and you’re looking at 5 or 6 pretty quick.”

New Zealand’s Ryan Fox is the only other Australasian to make the weekend despite a second round of 74. He just made it on the cut mark but he had done well to play his last seven holes in even par to be around for the final 36 holes.

Lucas Herbert and Adam Scott (5 over) Karl Vilips and Jason Day (9 over) and Cameron Davis (11 over) all missed the cut of 2 over and rounded out the Australasians.

SCORES

 

/by

Ryan Fox heads down under brigade early at US Open


Ryan Fox – image courtesy of USGA

New Zealand’s Ryan Fox leads the eight Australasians after day one of the US Open at the Los Angeles Country Club, Fox taking advantage of the early morning calm and soft conditions to record a round of 68 to be in a share of 14th position, his only real blemish coming when missing a five foot par putt at the 13th hole.

That was the good news for Fox, the bad news being that he trails the joint first round leaders, Xander Schauffele and Rickie Fowler by six shots after that pair had recorded the best ever rounds recorded at the US Open (62).

Fox is playing his 5th US Open but with three missed cuts and a best of 41st in the previous four, the event has not been good to the 36 year old to date.

Fox is, however, now a special temporary member of the PGA Tour after producing several good results in events thus far this season where he had gained starts via his great season in Europe last year and via his world ranking, and he is building confidence and experience at this level.


Cam Smith – during today’s first round – image USGA

Cam Smith appeared as if he might be the one to lead the down under brigade when he moved to 2 under through 10 but missed the fairway at the 13th, was forced to lay up and took bogey. He would hole a twenty footer for birdie at the 17th but then bogeyed the last when he again missed the fairway and green.

Smith finished with 1 under par 69, a score he would share with Min Woo Lee who also played late in the day.

Lucas Herbert finished with a round of even par 70, Cam Davis had 72, Adam Scott and Jason Day both had 3 over 73’s and amateur, Karl Vilips, who was even par through ten holes, eventually finished with 74.

At this stage, the cut appears as if it will fall around the 2 over par mark.

But the day belonged to Schauffele and Fowler whose rounds of 62 created history and opened up a two shot lead over Dustin Johnson and Wyndham Clark.

SCORES

 

 

/by

Bosio leads five Australians into Women’s Amateur Match Play


Justice Bosio – file photo USGA
Five Australians have qualified for the match play phase of the Women’s Amateur Championship following the completion of 36 holes of stroke-play at the Princes Golf Club in Kent, Caboolture’s Justice Bosio the best of them when she finished in a share of 17th place and secured her place inside the top 64 to advance.

Bosio has been the runner-up at the Women’s Australian Amateur Championship in each of the past two years.

Also getting through were Gold Coaster, Lion Higo (31st), now a student at Pepperdine University in California, Perth’s Abbie Teasdale (49th) and South Australians Caitlin Pierce (49th) and Amelia Whinney (62nd).

The event now enters it’s knockout phase where the five Australians look to become the first Australian to win the event since Edwina Kennedy in 1978.

SCORES

/by

Big week for Su Oh in New Jersey


Su Oh – file photo – form turnaround in New Jersey

Victorian, Su Oh, produced a stunning best of the day final round of 64 at the Shoprite LPGA Classic in New Jersey, sweeping the 27 year old into a share of 6th place and securing her best LPGA Tour finish in nearly two years.

Oh has played only one other LPG Tour event this season, finishing 61st after what had been a horror year in 2022 where she missed twelve of her last 13 cuts and in fact had been forced to play events on the secondary Futures Tour in order to keep her game in shape.

This finish and the accompanying US$43,000 will provide the three time runner-up on the LPGA Tour with a significant boost and her ongoing progress will be watched with interest.

Oh first joined the LPGA Tour in 2016 and has earned close to US$2.6 million in that time.

SCORES

/by

Alker joint second as Stricker wins again


Steve Alker – file photo courtesy of USGA

Last year it was New Zealand’s Steve Alker who was the dominant force on the PGA Tour Champions, in 2023 it is Steve Stricker who has taken that role but Alker is hanging in there, producing one victory and now three runner-up finishes in eight stars this season.

Today, Alker again finished runner-up (this time in a share with England’s Paul Broadhurst) albeit five shots behind Stricker at the American Family Insurance Championship in Stricker’s home state of Wisconsin

Alker will add another US$191,000 for his week’s work, moving him to US$1,154,000 and to 3rd place on the Charles Schwab Cup table for the season behind only Stricker and Canada’s Stephen Ames.

Stricker, who now owns four victories along with four runner-up finishes in ten starts this season, is a massive US$1.4 million ahead of Ames.

Rod Pampling was the next best of the Australasians this week when he finished tied for 22nd.

SCORES

/by