New Zealander Garvey’s move to Europe a good one

Garvey in action this week – image Ladies European Tour 

New Zealand’s Amelia Garvey recorded her third, 3rd place finish in her last four starts on the Ladies European Tour at this week’s KPMG Women’s Irish Open.

Garvey, who played collegiate golf in the US before turning professional three years ago, will move to 10th place on the LET Order of Merit, justifying her decision to focus her attention on the LET after playing on the Futures Tour in the US until this year.

Garvey finished seven shots behind the brilliant English amateur Lottie Woad but was only one shot out of second-placed Madelene Sagstrom of Sweden.

“It’s unreal, just to have another good week after playing five weeks in a row, Garvey told the Ladies European Tour. I’m really happy to finish it off like that,” said Garvey, who has recorded four top-10 finishes in her last five events.

“The plan was to make birdies early on and try and put a good front nine up. If she had come back to the field, you never know what could have happened, but she’s played great and it’s awesome to see the world number one amateur win this event. I did a good job.

“It’s all down to my coaches back in Manchester. I put in some really good work, I decided to take Jabra off and train back there with them. I’ve been feeling great since. I’m excited to be in the Scottish now, so I will keep playing and keep it up hopefully. I knew a good week here would get me in the AIG Women’s Open and it’ll be my first one, so I’m really looking forward to it.”

Perth’s Kirsten Rudgeley was the next best of the Australasians when she tied for 5th.

Leaderboard

 

/by

Good week for Australasians in Morocco

 

Denzel Ieremia – file image Golf NZ

It was a good week for Australasian golfers at this week’s International Series Morocco event at Royal Golf Dar Es Salam (Red Course), with five finishing inside the top ten of the US$2 million event.

New Zealand’s Denzel Ieremia and Australian Maverik Antcliff both picked up cheques for US$102,000 for finishing in a share of the runner-up position.

Sydney’s John Lyras and South Australian Jack Buchanan shared 8th place while another Sydney golfer, Kevin Yuan tied for 10th.

For Ieremia the performance represents his best finish in an event on a recognised tour and the biggest cheque to date in his professional career.

The former Iowa State graduate finished 5th in the 2019 Australian Open but has struggled to go on from there and has struggled, without full status, to gain starts in events of late.

Antcliff is a multiple winner on the China Tour in previous years and managed to gain access to the then European Tour as a result of that pathway and did finish runner-up in the Canary Islands and an impressive 3rd in the Irish Open in 2020 but is currently without status in Europe. Antcliff too played collegiate golf in the US at Augusta State before turning professional in 2016.

The winner of the event was Zimbabwe’s Scott Vincent who won his 5th professional title but his first in nearly three years with his four shot victory.

The Asian Tour now has a break of several weeks until the Indonesia Open in late August, although several of its players have a start at the Open Championship in two weeks.

Leaderboard  

/by

Australians feature on International Series Morocco leaderboard


Maverick Antcliff – file photo AGM

Australasian are well represented near the top of the leaderboard at the halfway stage of the US$2 million International Series Morocco event at Royal Golf Dar Es Salam.

Queensland’s Maverick Antcliff is in outright second position and two shots from the leader Scott Vincent of Zimbabwe, but Sydney’s John Lyras and defending champion, New Zealand’s Ben Campbell, are just two shots further back in a share of 5th with Sydney’s Kevin Yuan also in the top ten in a share of 10th place and five shots from the lead.

Antcliff, who played collegiate golf in the US before turning professional, is a former multiple winner on the China Tour before joining the European Tour in 2020 and 2021. He is now back on the Asian Tour but in eight starts this season he has yet to record a top twenty.

The event which includes several LIV Golf League players, is one of a series of ten such events in which a pathway to the LIV Golf League is the reward for the successful leader of the Order of Merit at season’s end.

Last year, Campbell defeated, in a playoff, the man who would go on to lead the 2024 Asian Tour Order of Merit, John Catlin who this week recorded a second round of 76 after sharing the opening round lead and is now tied for 27th.

A massive 26 players are within six shots of the lead starting the final two rounds.

LEADERBOARD

 

 

/by

Lucas Herbert makes ten Australasians for Royal Portrush


Lucas Herbert gains one of the final places in the field – image Australian Golf Media

The success of Lucas Herbert in the Open Championship’s final qualifying at West Lancashire this week brings to ten the number of Australasians who will tee it up at Royal Portrush in Northern Ireland on July 17th.

Herbert joins Jason Day, Ryan Fox, Minwoo Lee, Adam Scott, Marc Leishman, Cam Smith, Elvis Smylie, Ryan Peake and Curtis Luck in the field for the final major of the year,

Day, Fox, Lee and Scott are all in the field courtesy of their current world ranking and through other criteria also, Smith due to his win at the Open in 2022, Smylie courtesy of his success on the PGA Tour of Australasia Order of Merit, Peake due to his win at the New Zealand Open, Leishman and Luck as a result of finishing inside the top three and not otherwise exempt at the Australian Open in December, and Herbert as a result of earning one of the five cards given out at his final qualifying venue.

Royal Portrush will play host for the third occasion, the first in 1951 when Max Faulkner took the title and again in 2019 when Shane Lowry from across the border in Ireland gave local fans plenty to shout about as he cruised to a six-shot victory.

/by