Hendry and Shin Claim Vic Open titles


Ji Yai Shin and Mike Hendry – enjoying their Vic Open spoils

New Zealander Mike Hendry and Korean Ji Yai Shin are the respective winners of the Men’s and Women’s Vic Opens played at the 13th Beach golf facility on the Bellarine Peninsula over the last few days.

Hendry, whose last win was at the 2017 New Zealand Open, controlled the event throughout the final 54 holes, his second round of 62 taking him to a two shot lead heading into the weekend before extending that lead to four over the final 36 holes and winning by that margin over Victorian David Micheluzzi.

“It’s been a while. The last time I won on the Aussie Tour was the 2017 New Zealand Open so it was nice to get across the line again,” Hendry said.

“It’s just nice to be feeling fit and proving to myself that I’ve still got it.”

Hendry has played the Japan Tour over the last ten years or so but has lost full status there and this win has proven timely given that it will move him to 8th on the PGA Tour of Australasia’s points table. With the leading three at the end of the season in late March earning DP World Tour status he has the chance with the lucrative New Zealand Open coming up in three weeks to jump into that group.

Micheluzzi has taken the lead on the Order of Merit following a series of top tens in recent months in addition to his win at the WAPGA Championship.

Shin, a two time winner of the Women’s British Open and a former winner of the Australian Women’s Open, overcame a two shot deficit behind Queensland’s Cassie Porter heading into the final round but by the turn Shin was five ahead and although the margin close to just one when Shin bogeyed the 10th and 11th holes, and Porter birdied both, Porter dropped four shots on the way in from that point.

In the end it was recent LPGA Tour graduate Grace Kim and Thailand’s  Pavarisa Yoktuan who would eventually finish in a share of second place, albeit five shots from Shin.

MEN’S SCORES

WOMEN’S SCORES

 

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Impressive PGA Tour Champions debut for Richard Green


Richard Green – file photo

Australia’s Richard Green, on debut as a card holder on the PGA Tour Champions, has finished an impressive 3rd behind Canadian Stephen Ames at the Trophy Hassan 11 event at the Royal Golf Dar Es Salam course in Rabat in Morocco.

Green’s final round of 70 was the second best of the final day and will secure a cheque for US$110,000 to get his PGA Tour Champions career underway.

Interestingly he finished behind Ames and Green’s fellow Australian Mark Hensby who is playing without full status on the PGA Tour Champions but who has earned US$176,000 for his runner-up finish, albeit five shots behind Ames, although at one stage today the margin was just one.

Green led the qualifiers at the most recent PGA Tour Champions Tour School after winning the First Stage of qualifying so it appears he is on course for a very successful career at this level.

“It feels awesome,” said Green. “It feels like a long career and maybe some deserved results around this course. I came here for a long time with the European Tour and played. Never really played that well, but had some tough days and I feel like this week has been a bit of a reward for patience.

“It’s confidence building. I tend to build confidence in my game through results, not necessarily hitting balls on the range. Get a certain amount of confidence out of that, but the results are what really elevate my belief in myself. Just keep rolling it, like hopefully riding the crest of the wave, that’s the plan.”

Hensby was also delighted with his best finish on the PGA Tour Champions in eleven starts. He did finish 3rd at the US Senior Open last year and earned a bigger cheque but this is a very satisfying way to start the year as he builds his way to full status and many more starts.

Courtesy of his finish Hensby is guaranteed a start in next week’s Chubb Classic in Florida.

“Yeah, good. I mean, not being in contention in a long, long time, so obviously I felt like I handled myself pretty well. But no, next week should be hopefully getting to the same boat and have a chance to win again.

Hensby, a former Presidents Cup player and winner on  both the PGA and European Tours, took the punt on a costly trip to Morocco and it has paid off.

“Yeah. I mean, this was a very personal decision and it’s just, it’s one of those things that no doubt. I mean, you know, to make whatever I made today, I’d have to work two years to make what I made today. I love golf, I enjoy it and I enjoyed today a lot even though I didn’t win. Being under the pressure that’s what you practice for. That was fun, that was fun.”

Ames has now been a winner of three events on the Champions Tour since joining it six years ago. The former winner of and runner-up in the Players Championship and three other PGA Tour titles during his lengthy career is now 58 but the manner in which he led from go to whoa in this event and won by five suggests more is in store.

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Dimi Papadatos two from lead in Singapore Classic

NSW golfer Dimi Papadatos, is nicely placed at the halfway stage of the Singapore Classic at the Laguna National Golf Club in Changi.

Papadatos, who gets a start in the DP World Tour event courtesy of performances on the PGA Tour of Australasia, is just two from the lead of Northern Ireland’s Tom McKibbin and Chinese amateur Wenyi Ding.

Several players are yet to finish round two after weather then darkness delays on Friday but Papadatos’ position is not expected to be impacted greatly when those players return top the course on Saturday morning.

Papadatos’ second round of 65 saw him soar up the leaderboard from his overnight 31st place and with this event being a DP World Tour event, the opportunity exists for the 31 year old to gain status in Europe should he go on to win.

Papdatos might otherwise have been defending his Vic Open title this week but the lure of the bigger purse (US$2 million) and the opportunities this and two similar events in Thailand and India over the next two weeks was too big a chance to turn down.

Then follows the New Zealand Open in early March, an event Papadatos won in 2014 so the next few weeks offer an important stretch for the Central Coast golfer.

Several other Australians and New Zealanders are in the field, headed by Anthony Quayle who is currently tied for 23rd and three shots behind Papadatos.

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Zach Murray finds form in Oman


Zach Murray – an encouraging start in Oman – photo Asian Tour

Australian Zach Murray is just two from the lead at the Asian Tour’s International Series Oman event, the former New Zealand Open Champion rebounding after missing nine of his last 12 cuts to be in the firing line heading into the weekend of the US$2 million event.

On a day dominated by strong winds at Al Mouj Golf in Oman, Murray’s 2 under total through 36 holes has him sharing 3rd place and two behind the lead of Japan’s Takumi Kanaya.

Victorian Todd Sinnott is another shot back in 7th place in an event where several LIV Golf members are participating.

Not one player was able to break 70 in the demanding conditions but Kanaya, the former world number one amateur, took advantage of the slightly easier morning conditions and once his 4 under par total was posted, the increasing winds would mean his lead was unassailable for the remainder of day two.

The 24 year old turned professional two years ago after a sensational amateur career, which saw him ranked the number one amateur in the world for 55 weeks, during which time he won the Mitsui Sumitomo Visa Taiheiyo Masters on the Japan Tour. He has since triumphed twice on that Tour as a professional, most noticeably at the prestigious Dunlop Phoenix in 2020.

He leads by one over his fellow countryman Ryo Hisatsune whose recently shared second place at the Australian PGA Championship in Brisbane.

Murray won the New Zealand Open in 2019 and the WA Open a year earlier but although there has been a series of top ten finishes on the PGA Tour of Australasia he has not, as yet, been able to perform well outside of Australasia.

This good start in an Asian Tour event provides an opportunity to change that stat however and with the New Zealand Open now just three weeks away, it might signal a timely form reversal.

Murray gained a start in the event courtesy of his win at the New Zealand Open, that event now jointly sanctioned with the Asian Tour.

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Mike Hendry turns back to clock to lead the Vic Open

Mike Hendry in the zone today – photo Australian Golf Media

New Zealand’s Michael Hendry has made a brilliant start to the Vic Open at 13th Beach on the Bellarine Peninsula, adding a second round of 62 to his opening 66 and, at 18 under, he begins the weekend two shots clear of Gold Coast based Victorian, Deyen Lawson, with another two back to Queensland’s Gavin Fairfax.

Hendry, who has been a regular on the Japan Tour over the last ten years but now without full status there following a disappointing year in 2022 when returning from Covid restrictions, put together ten birdies over the Creek Course layout today to take control in a quest to win his first event since an emotional win in his own national open in 2017.

Lawson recently won his first PGA Tour of Australasian event when successful at the West Australian Open in November but he is without status on any other tour besides his home tour and the opportunity to improve on his current 8th position on the PGA Tour of Australasian Order of Merit could well yield dividends for the 42 year old.

Another shot back and in a share of 5th place are the former PGA Tour player, Australian Amateur Champion and Australian Tour Champion, Mathew Goggin, who has only recently returned to tournament golf after a lengthy period away from the game while involved in golf course development in his home state of Tasmania.

Goggin has also finished runner-up in numerous events including the Australian Open and PGA Championships, the Australian Masters and, on the PGA Tour, the Memorial and Western Opens. Perhaps however Goggin’s best-ever performance was when 5th at the Open Championship at Turnberry in 2009 behind Stewart Cink.

The Women’s Vic Open is being led by Sunshine Coast golfer, Cassie Porter, who at the halfway stage has opened up a five shot lead over Thailand’s Pavarisa Yoktuan.

Porter’s second round of 64 was the best of the week to date, bettering the previous best set of 66 set by herself on Thursday.

Cassie Porter – photo Australian Golf Media

Men’s Scores

Women’s scores

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Richard Green makes PGA Tour Champions debut in Morocco


Richard Green – the leading qualifier at Q School gets his chance

Australia’s Richard Green gets his first opportunity to test his wares on the PGA Tour Champions as a cardholder when he tees it up in this week’s Trophee Hassan 11 Championship over the Royal Golf Dar Es Salam layout in Rabat in Morocco.

Green, who was so impressive in winning the PGA Tour Champions Tour School in December after earlier winning the first stage of qualifying, has been a three time winner on the European Tour, a winner of the Australian Masters and several times runner-up in other events and he now gets his chance to tackle the riches of the PGA Tour Champions.

Green has mainly played events on the Australasian Tour in recent times without a lot of success but the manner in which he handled the demanding qualifying process suggests he may well be yet another star from this part of the world on the PGA Tour Champions following the unbelievable success of New Zealand’s Steve Alker over the past eighteen months.

Alker was originally in this week’s field, but the passing of his caddie Sam Workman from cancer earlier this week has seen Alker withdraw.

Other Australasians in the field include Robert Allenby, Mark Hensby, David McKenzie, Rod Pampling and John Senden.

Steve Alker and caddie Sam Workman who passed away this week

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Popular Vic Open gets underway Thursday

Two time winner Dimi Papdatos – looking to continue success at 13th Beach

One of the PGA Tour of Australasia’s more popular events, the Vic Open, begins at the 13th Beach Golf Club’s two course facility on Thursday, the event highlighting two separate events for women and men, both playing for separate purses of A420,000.

The figure pales in comparison to the A1.6 million on offer in previous years when jointly sanctioned with the then European Tour but nevertheless the venue and format, which includes the men and women’s events being played concurrently, has proven popular since moving to the Bellarine Peninsula from Spring Valley in 2013.

Dimi Papadatos will defend the title he won by a narrow one shot over New Zealander Ben Campbell, the women’s event won last year by Hannah Green who won her first Australian title as a professional when she took that title by six shots over Gold Coast golfer, Karis Davidson.

For Papadatos, it was his second Vic Open title and his 5th as a professional having previously won in 2017.

Papadatos again embarked on a campaign in Europe in 2022 following his win but there was not a lot to get excited about as he played both Challenge and DP World Tour events but he has an affinity with the layouts at the Creek and Beach courses at 13th beach and might do well again.

It may however be some of the emerging young players who end up as contenders by week’s end and the likes David Micheluzzi, Elvis Smylie, an improving Shae Wools Cobb and Hayden Hopewell might make their presence felt.

Green not only won this event twelve months ago but she would win the following week in a mixed Australasian Tour event (the TPS Murray River) and went on to record several top tens on the LPGA Tour and is currently the 19th ranked player in the Rolex World Rankings.

Green is not in this week’s field however and the women are headed in terms of world ranking by Korea’s Ji Yai Shin, a still prolific performer on the Japan and Korean LPGA Tours. Shin has also an excellent record in Australia having won the 2013 Australian Women’s Open, the RACV Ladies Masters and the Actew AGL event in Canberra. The two time Women’s British Open champion is a formidable force and the event is fortunate to have a player of her standing in the field.

Others of note are last week’s winner of the TPS Murray event, Sarah Jane Smith, TPS Victoria winner, Min Yoon, and LPGA players Grace Kim, last year’s runner-up Karis Davidson, Sarah Kemp, Su Oh and the legendary Karrie Webb.

MEN’S FIELD

WOMEN’S FIELD

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Sarah Jane Smith wins first event in 15 years


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.

RESULTS

 

   

 

 

 

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Hillier and Fox make weekend at Ras Al Kaimah Championship


Daniel Hillier – steady start to his DP World career – file photo

Perhaps surprisingly, there were just two Australasians in the field for the Ras Al Khaimah Championship in the UAE, one of them a previous winner at this venue, Ryan Fox, and the other New Zealand DP World Tour rookie, Daniel Hillier, and at the halfway stage of the event, both are tied for 23rd and six shots from the lead.

Fox began his quest to win at the Al Hamra GC for the second time in twelve months at this venue on Thursday with a round of 67 but, although he was well enough placed through eight holes of round two, he dropped four shots in his next three holes to slip out of contention. He recovered with late birdies but the damage was already done and he will need something very special over the final 36 holes if he is to chase down the leaders.

Hillier added a round of 69 to his opening 70 and in just his 5th start as a DP World Tour cardholder after gaining such status via the Challenge Tour in 2022, he has now made all five cuts.

The leaders, current Australian Open Champion Adrian Meronk, Scotland’s David Law and Rasmus Højgaard are tied at the top at 11 under and one clear, Højgaard looking to become the first of a brotherly pair to win the same European Tour title.

Højgaard’s brother Nicolai won this title twelve months ago.

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Leishman contends in Saudi Arabia Smith misses cut


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 3rd 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 6th 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.”

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