Scott Hend – making his mark in the US even without status – file image

Australian Scott Hend has followed up an impressive third-place finish in the opening major of the season at the Senior PGA Championship with a runner-up finish at the second major of 2026, the Regions Tradition Championship in Birmingham, Alabama.

Still without status as a full-time member of the PGA Tour Champions, Hend reeled off a final round of 65 to jump nine places, a final nine of 31, including an eagle at the 13^th, not quite good enough to catch yet another Stewart Cink win, but enabling the 52-year-old to finish three shots back and alone in second place.

Hend adds another US$228,000 to the US$174,000 he earned at the Senior PGA Championship and, in just the two starts in which he has been eligible, has moved inside the top ten to 9^th place in the Charles Schwab Cup money list.

Hend’s power game was again to the fore, leading the driving distance stats for the week with an average of 301 yards.

The performance should earn Hend a start in the US$3 million Insperity Championship in Houston starting this Thursday.

Hend also leads the Staysure Legends Tour in Europe with three top 5’s in three starts there this season.

New Zealand’s Steve Alker was the next best of the Australasians when he tied for 11^th place after a somewhat disappointing weekend.

Alker does, however, remain in 4^th place in the year-long Charles Schwab Cup.

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Adam Scott – the last winner of the Cadillac Championship at the Blue Monster  – image PGA Tour / Getty 

The news of the possible demise of LIV Golf reached a crescendo today with the indication that the Saudi Arabian Public Investment Fund (PIF) will cease its funding of LIV Golf at the completion of 2026, leaving the four-year-old league searching for financial support that would seem impossible to secure.

With a reported US$6 billion already spent on its attempt to control the world of professional golf, the PIF has, it would seem, succumbed to the financial pressures of such costs and to the fact that the concept has not gathered the momentum many felt it would.

This writer has never been a fan of LIV Golf. I have had an involvement in various capacities in the professional game for 55 years, but while acknowledging the impact it has had in certain areas and regions, I can’t bring myself to get enthused about its role.

The concept of team golf in the form that LIV Golf introduced, in particular, appears to carry little interest for most golf fans, and the same could be said for the very contrived TGL supported and underwritten by the PGA Tour.

There is, however, little doubting the impact the league has had on the purses now being offered by the PGA Tour, which, without the arrival of LIV Golf, would never have reached the heights they are now at.

When LIV Golf arrived on the scene four years ago, only one event, the Players Championship, carried a purse of $US20 million or more. Today, 14 events on the PGA Tour carry prizemoney of US$20 million or more, the season-ending Tour Championship boasting prizemoney of US$40 million and there is little doubt that without the pressure for prizemoney growth LIV Golf created the PGA Tour, there is no way the number and size of such purses would be available.

Every one of the 72 golfers in this week’s Cadillac Championship at the Trump National’s Blue Monster in Miami should, therefore, take a moment this week to acknowledge the impact on the sort of purses they are now playing for and only because of the arrival of LIV in 2022.

This week, four Australasians will compete for one of those US$20 million purses: Min Woo Lee, Jason Day, Adam Scott and New Zealand’s Ryan Fox, with Day and Scott the only two to have competed over the Blue Monster previously.

The last time this event was played at this venue in 2016 the purse was US$9.5 million, a tidy sum back then, but now just the norm for a regular season event.

In fact, Adam Scott was the last person to win this event at this venue back in 2016, but much has changed with the layout upgraded by Gil Hanse, in the ten years since. Scott has also recorded three other top tens at this venue, including a 3^rd place finish in 2013.

“It’s not that recent, but it’s great to be back here,” said Scott. “What had opinion like a staple on the PGA TOUR for 50 years I think. Good memories for me. Obviously, winning the last time we were here, but always enjoyed playing this golf course. It’s a challenge.

“It’s called the Blue Monster for a reason. It’s a big golf course, very penal. The wind can blow, and that’s the biggest challenge out here. So you’ve got to strike it well, just demanding tee to green. It’s great that we’re back, and looking forward to this week.”

Scott was asked just how much he has evolved as a player and athlete in those ten years since 2016.

“I think I’ve done a good job staying healthy and staying fitted and strong and relevant to the modern game. There’s a big difference between being 35 and 45, I think. At 35 you are looking at like a Rory McIlroy-type age where you’re still really in your prime.

“I still feel like I can play at a high level, but I’m looking to lift the ceiling a little bit and get in there and win again, maybe the good vibes here from 10 years ago will help me this week. But it is, it’s more demanding.

“I think in the past 10 years, as well, the amount of young players that can compete has increased a lot. I don’t know what that number is, but I would say more than doubled. The guys in their 20s are that much better; there are a lot more of ’em, so it’s definitely getting tougher out here.”

The obvious favourite is Scott Scheffler, who is playing the event for the first occasion given he was not even on the scene when the event was last played.

“My experience on this course is the last two days was all I saw,” said Scheffler today.

“I tried to go back and watch some stuff, but the golf course has changed a decent amount over time. The greens are bigger than they were a few years ago. Then, when you look back even further, the greens were a different type of grass.

“So when it comes to walking the course, this course in particular is pretty straightforward in a sense of like you can see off the tee box where you need to hit it, it’s just a matter of hitting it there time and time again.

“There’s not really many tricks to this golf course. It’s just very, very difficult. It’s a flat piece of land. There’s just a lot of bunkers, a lot of water and the golf holes are long. So with that combination, it’s going to be tough.”

Perhaps surprisingly, the winner at his last two PGA Tour appearances, Matthew Fitzpatrick, is not in the field, and neither is Rory McIlroy, further highlighting the impact that LIV Golf has had on the scheduling of players who, because of the money now readily available, can get to pick and choose a lot more than was the case previously.

Not sure they would have turned down a US$20 million event four years ago.

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Cameron John – in action this week – image Asian Tour

Victorian Cameron John has continued his fine PGA Tour of Australasia form with an impressive runner-up finish at the International Series event, the US$2 million Singapore Open.

John, who turns 27 tomorrow, began the final round four shots behind Korean Jeongwoo Ham, but reduced the deficit to two at the turn after Ham recorded an early double bogey and reduced it to just one through 14 holes, before eventually finishing two behind to secure a cheque for US$ 220,000, by some margin his biggest cheque in professional golf.

Not only does John record his highest earnings in a professional event, but his effort will also secure him a spot at the 2026 Open Championship at Royal Birkdale, given that the leading two players not otherwise exempt for the event earn a start.

John, who was making just his 5th ever career start on the Asian Tour, followed up his runner-up finish on the PGA Tour of Australasia Order of Merit during which he recorded three wins and where he finished with a victory in the National Tournament, with a 7^th place in the International Series event in Japan before tackling this week’s event at the Sentosa Golf Club.

Kevin Yuan was the next best of the Australasians in the field in a share of 11^th place, while Cory Crawford and Jed Morgan tied for 14^th.

The Asian Tour now moves to Korea for the Caltex Maekyung Open this week.

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Nelly Korda – in action today – image LPGA / Getty Images 

The nine-strong Australasian challenge has made a slow start to the Chevron Championship in Houston in Texas, Queensland golfer Cassie Porter the best of them at 2 under 70 in a share of 18^th in the first major of the year.

Porter is one ahead of the Gold Coast golfer, Karis Davidson, who opened with a round of 1 under par 70 to be tied for 25^th while New Zealand’s Lydia Ko is another shot back at even par and in a share of 38^th.

Sydney’s Stephanie Kyriacou is at 1 over, along with Hannah Green and Robyn Choi, while Minjee Lee is at 2 over, Grace Kim at 3 over, and Gabi Ruffels at 6 over.

The leader is world number two, Nelly Korda, whose opening round of 65 has her two ahead of world number one Patti Tavatanakit of Thailand and Korea’s Somi Lee.

Korda explained her current happiness with her game, which has seen her record a win and three runner-up finishes in four starts this year.

“I’m just happy,” said Korda. “I love to practice. I love the setup that I have at home. I don’t think I go out ever without my coach David Whelan now. His commitment to me has been my entire career, if someone ever looks at my swing from when I was 14, prior to him, to what it is now, I would say he’s the one who built my swing.

“To spend time with him, it’s more like he relaxes me out practicing, and I enjoy going out and grinding and having him there alongside me.

“And then I also can’t thank David Angelotti enough, my putting coach, for coming out this week and grinding with me.

“I feel like I have a really great team around me. I have been with the same physio for so many years, Kim; Jason, since my second year on Tour. I have all my professional LPGA wins with him.

“So I think just there is a comfort and happiness inside me that makes me happy on the golf course, too.”

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Hannah Green – image courtesy of LPGA

Hannah Green’s love affair with the J.M. Eagle LA Championship in Los Angeles continued this morning when she holed an 18-foot downhill putt to triumph in a playoff and win the event for the third occasion. It was Green’s second LPGA Tour win of the year and the 8th of her career

Not only has Green not won the event three times in the last four years, but she also has a runner-up and a 3rd-place finish to her name.

With the winner’s cheque for US$712,000, Green now moves past Nelly Korda to the top of the money list and to third on the Race to the Globe in a season where she has now won twice in four LPGA Tour starts but, added to her wins at the Women’s Australian Open and the Women’s Australian PGA Championship, she is having an outstanding 2026.

Green was at one point during today’s final round five shots behind the then-leader Sei Young Kim through 10 holes, but with a closing nine of 31, she caught both Kim and Korea’s Jin Hee Im, who had finished her final round of 67, 30 minutes earlier.

Green then hit her approach at the first playoff hole 18 feet behind the hole, and the right-to-left downhiller found the cup.

“I honestly didn’t think I was in the tournament still,” said Green, given the deficit she was facing midway through her round. “I was just like, oh, well, just go for as many pins as possible, and got on a nice stretch there. I kind of thought the putt that I missed on 16 was the crucial moment.

“So, I mean, I’m just fortunate enough that I at least got into the playoff. I had that putt obviously very similar line in regulation, so I felt somewhat comfortable. It still was a tough putt, so really glad it went in the hole.”

With prize money increased by the tournament sponsors by a massive US$1 million during the event, the first prize of US$712,000 is the largest of any of the non-major events on the LPGA Tour other than the Tour Championship. It so provides Green with a huge boost heading into next week’s first major of the year, the Chevron Championship in Houston.

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