Amateur Harrison Crowe takes NSW Open title


Harrison Crowe with his trophy – photo Golf NSW

20-year-old New South Wales golfer, Harrison Crowe, became the third amateur in recent memory to win the NSW Open Championship after the weather shortened event was completed today at the Concord Golf Club in the inner west of Sydney.

The last amateur to win the title was Victoria’s Ben Eccles at Stone Cutter’s Ridge in Sydney’s west in 2015 and in 2006 West Australian Rick Kulacz won at Moore Park in Sydney’s eastern suburbs.

Crowe, who shared the lead through 36 holes, held off a spirited late challenge from his fellow New South Welshman, Blake Windred, to win the title and open to door to a possible professional career as success this week would provide access to the PGA Tour of Australasia over the next two years should he decide on that path.

For Harrison it completes an outstanding few months, having won the Master of the Amateurs and the NSW Amateur Championship in January and the Victorian Amateur Championship late in 2021.

Crowe began the final round tied with Victorian Blake Collyer but with an outward nine of 30 he raced to the lead and although he would bogey the 10th he was able to hold onto defeat Windred by one, after Windred had put together a final round of 64, 30 minutes ahead of the final group.

Windred, though, will receive the first place cheque of $72,000 given the still amateur status of the winner.

“I can’t describe it,” said Crowe. “So good. I really actually settled down after about six. I felt all right after the first tee shot and really knuckled down. Then to turn five-under (par), but not getting up-and-down on 11 kind of creeped me a little bit, and 17 and 18 I’ve never been so nervous in my life.”

Crowe was not giving anything away in terms of a possible switch to the professional ranks.

“It’s something to think about,” he said. “I don’t want to try and dwell on it too much now. I think I’m going enjoy my night. I’ve got an early flight tomorrow which I won’t be crash hot for out to Adelaide. It’s something to talk over with the parents, the coaches, team, and go from there.”

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Stephanie Kyriacou performing well ahead of LPGA Tour debut

Stephanie Kyriacou in action this week – photo Ladies European Tour

Sydney’s Stephanie Kyriacou, now a fully-fledged member of the LPGA Tour, is back in the happy hunting ground for her of the Ladies European Tour this week and she is again performing well.

The 21-year-old from the St Michael’s Golf Club in Sydney, finds herself in fourth position and just three shots from the 36-hole leaders, England’s Georgia Hall and Czechoslovakia’s Kristyna Napoleaova in the US$1 million Saudi Ladies International at the Royal Greens Golf and Country Club in Saudi Arabia.

Kyriacou, already a two-time winner on the Ladies European Tour, played her way onto the LPGA Tour late in 2021 but has yet to play an event there as a cardholder although she is entered for an event in California next week.

Kyriacou recovered from a slow start to the event and added a second round of 66 to her opening 75 to close on the leaders. She took advantage of the relatively good conditions early but gusty winds soon kicked in and her equal best round of the day (66) was very impressive.

“At the start of the round, it actually wasn’t that windy, but as we got onto our 8th hole, it started picking up,” said Kyriacou after her round.

“Because of the direction of the wind, we caught back all the sand, and it was just not fun at all. It was really hard. It was about 40 Ks. It doesn’t sound like a lot, but it’s pretty windy when you’re trying to play golf.”

Played adjacent to the desert she not only had to contend with the wind but the sandstorms also.

“It was just annoying really. Every time I’d look up, if I didn’t have sunnies — so every time I’d look up, something is going in my eye. I went home, there’s dust in my ears, my nose. It’s disgusting.”

Whitney Hillier is the only other Australian in the field and she is currently tie for 16th.

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Collyer and Crowe show the way at Concord Golf Club

Blake Collyer – in action today – photo Golf NSW

Victorian, Blake Collyer, and exciting Sydney amateur, Harrison Crowe, have the halfway lead at the Golf Challenge NSW Open at the Concord Golf Club in Sydney’s inner west.

The pair are tied at 14 under par through 36 holes in what has been a low scoring event to date, the cut falling at 3 under and thirteen of those players within four shots of the lead.

Collyer played in the morning field on day two and produced a round of 62 to add to his opening round of 66 and was joined later in the day by Crowe who has been bogey free over his opening 36 holes.

Collyer’s opening round of 66 on Thursday included a hole in one and today he produced another eagle when he holed out from 80 metres or so at the near driveable par 4 5th.

Crowe added a second consecutive 64 during his afternoon round on day two.

The leading pair is ahead by two over recent PGA Tour of Australasia winners, Dimi Papadatos and Jarryd Felton along with NSW’s Jordan Zunic and Queensland based Victorian Deyen Lawson.

Both Papadatos and Zunic are former New Zealand Open winners and Felton a winner of the NZ PGA Championship in addition to his win at the TPS Sydney, the NSW PGA Championship and the WA PGA Championship.

Collyer, now into his third year as a professional, has yet to record a win on a recognised tour as such, but he has played well in the few events he has played in 2022, finishing 4th at both the Victorian PGA Championship and the TPS Victoria, both events on the PGA Tour of Australasia.

Crowe, from the southern suburbs of Sydney, recently won the NSW Amateur, the Australian Master of the Amateurs and the Port Phillip Open and Vic Amateur Championship and is therefore considered one of Australia’s brightest and hottest amateur prospects and is currently ranked third amongst the Australians in the world amateur rankings.

The event is currently one of the more lucrative on the PGA Tour of Australia’s schedule given the impact Covid has had over the past two years, only the Australian PGA Championship worth more to date in 2022.

As such, a victory and the $72,000 first prize will go a long way to cementing a place amongst the all-important top three on the PGA Tour of Australasia, that group to gain access to the DP World (European) Tour in 2023 and so this weekend may prove crucial for several of those chasing that milestone.

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Harrison Crowe shares the lead – photo Golf NSW

 

 

 

 

 

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NSW Open victory could open important door for many

Defending champion Bryden Macpherson playing well enough to contend again – photo Golf NSW

One of Australian golf’s more iconic titles is to be decided this week at the Concord Golf Club in Sydney, the Golf Challenge NSW Open one of the more lucrative of the PGA Tour of Australasia after Covid had taken its toll on the pre-pandemic schedule.

The $400,000 event and its $72,000 first prize cheque will play a key role in the finalisation of the Order of Merit to be decided later this year, more especially because the leading three players at season’s end will earn the right to play the DP World Tour in 2023.

The leading three currently are Jed Morgan, Andrew Dodt and Dimi Papdatos although a win this week by any of the leading twenty or so could catapult them into that all important top three.

The Concord Golf Club has staged this event just twice in the past 35 years, Victoria’s Bryden Macpherson winning in 2021 and Greg Norman the previous winner in 1988.

Redesigned in recent years by one of the modern-day greats of golf course design, Tom Doak, Concord’s location in the inner west of Sydney and revamp, make it one of Sydney’s most sought-after clubs and its reallocation of such a significant event reflects its revised standing in NSW golf.

This week’s event brings together the typical line-up of Australasian golfers seen at recent events on the schedule although in this case the women are not involved, their own NSW Open being played at Coolangatta Tweeds Heads in early May as part of the WAPGA and Ladies European Tour.

Former British Amateur Champion, Macpherson, defends the title he won by three shots over Elvis Smylie and Jack Thomson twelve months ago. Macpherson has played well enough of late to be a consideration this week having recorded two top tens in recent starts in the TPS Series of events. He has now won two PGA Tour of Australasia events and twice on the China Tour so has the credentials to add another NSW Open to his resume.

Recent Australian PGA Championship winner, Jed Morgan, Queensland PGA Champion Anthony Quayle, recent rejuvenated winner of the TPS Sydney, Jarryd Felton, last week’s TPS Hunter Valley winner, Aaron Pike, 15 time Japan Tour event winner, Brendan Jones and up and coming New Zealander, Denzel Ieremia, are others who could be considered amongst the likely contenders.

 

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Cameron Smith’s standing in world golf taken to another level

Cameron Smith being interviewed after his win

28 year old Cameron Smith was arguably amongst the game’s elite even before his historic victory over an equally determined India’s Anirban Lahiri in today’s final round of the Players Championship, but his hard-fought one shot victory in golf’s richest tournament takes him to a career high 6th place in the world ranking, adds another US$3.6 million to his already bulging bank account and provides a five year exemption to the PGA Tour, amongst many other rewards.

Just six years after first joining the PGA Tour in 2016, Smith has amassed earnings of more than US$23 million but, more importantly, he has proven himself at the highest level by beating one of the game’s strongest fields and in the process, showing the sort of game, guts, determination and game that might well see him joining the likes of Greg Norman, Adam Scott and Jason Day as Australian world number ones in the years ahead, perhaps even sooner.

Smith has already displayed a capacity to contend at the pointy end of major championships having already recorded top five finishes on three occasions at the Masters and the US Open and given the manner in which he handled a demanding week of delays and, at times, horror conditions this week, suggests he may well be contending for a major title in 2022.

The first of those of course will be when he heads to Augusta National in three week’s time a venue which has already seen him finish runner-up and 5th.

Smith began today’s final round in a share of 7th place and two shots behind Lahiri who was looking for his first PGA Tour title and who began the week in 322nd place in the world ranking but jumped to 89th as a result of his brilliant week at the TPC Sawgrass.

Five birdies in his first six holes swept Smith to the lead today but Lahiri was not going away and when Smith bogeyed the 7th and 8th holes the pair was tied at 10 under. Lahiri struck trouble when he double-bogeyed the 8th and by the turn Smith who would also bogey the 9th was tied with Paul Casey at 9 under one ahead of Adam Hadwin, Keegan Bradley, Patrick Hovland and Lahiri.

Smith would begin his closing nine in the same manner he began his round, two and a half hours earlier. Four birdies from the 10th gave him the outright lead but neither Lahiri nor Casey were about to lay down.

Lahiri eagled the 11th from 15 feet and joined Smith in the lead although, soon after, Smith birdied the 12th to grab the lead again.

Smith always appeared to have the edge over the closing holes but it would be his stunning tee shot at the dangerous par 3 17th that set up a birdie and a three shot lead.

Lahiri would also birdie the 17th a few minutes later and although Smith found the water when laying up from the trees at the 18th, he managed to hit a magnificent 4th shot to three feet and when he converted for a bogey his lead was still one and Lahiri need a birdie to tie.

It was not to be and Smith was the winner by one shot over Lahiri with another shot back to Casey.

Smith’s press conference may be heard and watched below but he described his approach to the final round in this way.

“I think I just knew that the golf course was going to kind of let up a few — there were a few pin spots out there that were very gettable, and being the way that the course played with all the rain, just soft and sticky, I just knew I had to make plenty of birdies.

“I was a few behind, I think, going into the start of the round, and just needed to get after it basically.”

His elevation to 6th in the world is a tremendous accomplishment and Smith was asked how it feels.

“I feel as though I’m playing the best that I’ve ever played. It’s kind of weird to think like that, being kind of the — probably the last three or four years being the guy that kind of goes from 20th to 40th in the World Rankings, and then all of a sudden to be 6th is kind of weird.

“But I feel as though I’ve put in the work and I feel as though I’ve done a lot of work on my body and I’ve put in the time. Yeah, it’s nice to see all that stuff paying off.”

The final two holes at the TPC Sawgrass have provided plenty of drama over the years and today was no exception with Smith hitting a shot under the most intense of pressure to five feet and converting then hitting his escape from the trees on the 18th into the water.

“I mean, on 17 I hit a really good shot. The wind didn’t quite hit it as much as what I thought it was going to. Kind of left it alone there for a long time and just kind of helped me out there at the end.

“I’d be lying if I said I was aiming there. I was probably aiming 10 feet left of that. But still wanted to stay aggressive, still wanted to make birdie.

“18, just a hole for me that doesn’t really suit my eye. I like to work the ball left to right off the tee. That’s where I feel comfortable, and I feel as though I can’t hit that shot down there. Just haven’t quite figured that hole out.

“I hit Driver, just because I just wanted to get it down there as far as I could basically. If it did turn over, I was going to have a short shot in, and it just didn’t quite turn over.”

Lucas Herbert was the only other Australasian to make the cut and on debut he did well to do so despite finishing 68th.

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Smith with his trophy – Getty Images

 

 

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Aaron Pike wins playoff for TPS Hunter Valley title

Pike with his TPS Hunter Valley trophy – photo PGA of Australia

Queensland’s 37-year-old Aaron Pike has today won his third PGA Tour of Australasia title with a playoff victory over 22-year-old New Zealander, Momoka Kobori, in the mixed gender event, the TPS Hunter Valley, played at the Cypress Lakes Resort in Pokolbin, New South Wales.

It took three playoff holes before the deadlock could be broken after both players finished at 8 under par in the weather reduced 54 hole event, Pike eventually taking the title with a short birdie putt to claim the first prize of $36,000 dollars.

“I didn’t feel like I was doing much wrong to be honest”, the 36-year-old said following the victory.

“This golf course doesn’t give its shots up easy so I knew someone in front of me might be playing well but they’re not going to be seven or eight-under through 10 holes.

“I couldn’t believe she was four-under through nine. I don’t know what golf course she was playing. She’s obviously playing like a gun at the moment.”

“It’s a matter of time until she wins, not if.”

Pike’s last victory came when successful at the NT PGA Championship in the state in which he was raised in the Northern Territory in late 2020, but his form in the early part of 2022 has been solid with a 6th place at the Australian PGA Championship and an 8th place at the Vic Open.

Pike was a teammate of Jason Day during the period both attended the Hills International College in Jimboomba south of Brisbane in the early 2000’s and gained attention when he led then finished 4th behind Justin Rose at the Australian Masters in 2006 as a 20 year old amateur.

Injury has been a constant companion in the career of Pike but he has shown that when healthy, he has the game to finish as high as third in the Australian Open in 2019 and that amazing finish at Huntingdale in 2006.

Kobori was born in Karuizawa in Japan but raised in Rangiora north of Christchurch before attending Pepperdine College in California where she accrued a very successful collegiate golfing career.

The 22-year-old has played well in the combined gender events on the PGA and WAPGA Tours in recent weeks and will no doubt look to taking her game internationally before long.

Kobori’s brother Kazuma won the New Zealand PGA Championship as a 17 year old amateur she fell just short of becoming the very first brother and sister duo to win events on the PGA Tour of Australasia or anywhere for that matter.

Queenslanders Lawry Flynn, Brad Kennedy, Victorian Ben Wharton and New South Wales Cassie Porter all tied for 3rd place.

The next event on the PGA Tour of Australasia will be next week’s NSW Open at the Concord golf Club in Sydney.

Momoka Kobori – photo PGA of Australia

 

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Cameron Smith creeping closer at Players Championship

Cameron Smith – just two from the lead – file photo IGF

Cameron Smith has played only one hole in round two of the Players Championship but a birdie from 25 feet at that hole has seen the Queenslander leap nine positions in the horrific conditions that prevailed on day three to a share of 6th in the US$20 million event.

Smith is now just two shots from the lead held currently by Tommy Fleetwood and Tom Berge (the latter of whom has yet to even commence his second round) after his opening round of 69 was just his second round in the 60’s in 13 attempts in an event which is played essentially in his backyard.

There are still several players to even begin their second round as a result of the weather enforced disruption to the event. Players will be required to return early on Sunday morning in what are forecast to be very cold and windy conditions to complete round two and hopefully most of round three before the tournament is completed on Monday US time.

Lucas Herbert was able to complete his second round in 74 but it would be a triple bogey 8 at the 9th hole that spoiled what has otherwise been an impressive debut in the event.

Herbert was required to finish off his opening round early on Saturday morning, a bogey at the final of the three holes he was required to complete saw him finish with a solid start of 2 under 70.

Herbert currently shares 55th place at even par but having completed round two, and with a majority of the field yet to do so, the demanding conditions are expected to take their toll and he will improve his standing significantly as he awaits the field to complete 36 holes.

Jason Day opened with a round of 69 yesterday which after the sadness of losing his mother last week was an impressive start but his round of 78 today included three double bogeys and an outward nine of 41.

Day is currently in 93rd place but there is a lot to play out in this event and it might be that making the cut is not yet out of the question given the conditions expected tomorrow and that more than fifty players will have to face those conditions as they complete round two.

Cameron Davis (76) and Marc Leishman (78) are also tied for 93rd with both having also completed 36 holes, New Zealand’s Danny Lee is 114th, while Matt Jones and Adam Scott have only just started their second rounds and are tied for 119th.

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Weather chaos at Players Championship

Jason Day – back after time away to mark the passing of his mother Denning

Play in the second round of the US$20 million Players Championship at the TPC Sawgrass at Ponte Vedra Beach in Florida was again disrupted by rain deluges and storms and at the end of day two more than forty players are yet to complete even their first round.

The result of the disruption will ensure play must now go into Monday US time to complete golf’s richest tournament, Sunday reserved for what will be the completion of the opening round and hopefully round two.

That is still very much dependent however on weather playing its part which appears only a remote possibility at this stage, so the future of the 2022 version remains uncertain.

Tommy Fleetwood and Tom Hoge have the lead at this early stage the pair tied at 6 under 66 although Brice Garnett has joined them on that score although after holing out from the fairway for eagle at his 13th hole he still has five holes to complete.

Cameron Smith, Jason Day and Lucas Herbert lead the Australians at 3 under although Day and Smith have yet to start their second round and Herbert still has three holes to play of round one.

Day’s performance was made all the more impressive given the passing of his mother just ahead of last week’s Arnold Palmer Championship.

Smith who is a resident of Ponte Vedra Beach, has not played the event well previously but he is after all the game’s 10th ranked player and improving that standing each and every year.

Herbert is in his rookie season on the PGA Tour and after an outward nine of even par he birdied three of his first five holes on the back nine to be at 3 under and with the opportunity to pick up a shot or two on Sunday morning.

Marc Leishman is at 2 under though 14 holes, Cam Davis 1 under with one hole to play, as is New Zealander Danny Lee with six holes to play while Adam Scott opened with a round of 78 and Matt Jones 79.

 

 

 

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Su Oh chasing first LPGA Tour title in Thailand

Su Oh – on course this week – photo Getty Images

A tap in eagle at her final hole of today’s second round of the Honda LPGA event in Thailand has given Victorian Su Oh a share of the halfway lead with Japan’s Nasa Hataoka at the Siam Country Club in Chonburi in Thailand and a chance at a first LPGA Tour tile.

The pair leads by one over Frenchwoman Celine Boutier and Denmark’s Nanna Koerstz Madsen with Oh chasing her first LPGA Tour title and Hataoka her 6th.

Oh began the day in a share of the lead after an opening round of 63 and although she would birdie five of her first 12 holes on day two it would not be until her three wood approach to the par 5 last finished less that two feet from the hole that she was assured of retaining a share of the lead.

14 birdies, one eagle and no bogeys highlighted an impressive day although, interestingly, she was not all that happy with her ball striking.

“The impact wasn’t very good today,” said the 25 year old Oh. “I was just kind of scrambling really well out there.

“I was like, come on, you want to hit some good shots before going into tomorrow. Such a long day, so I don’t think I would want to hit balls after.

“So just some things that I’ve just been working on in my swing, and I think it was just more the will of like hitting the ball solid.

“So, yeah, and I kind of had a really good yardage to that back pin at the last. Didn’t matter how hard I hit my 3-wood, it wouldn’t have carried on top, so I think that helped.

“I knew it was going to cover the front and then I knew I would have to get lucky, but it was pretty good number so I was like, Come on. Just hit the ball solid.

“So, yeah, kind of worked out really well.”

Oh is playing her fourth LPGA Tour event of the season after winning the Women’s Australian PGA Championship in Brisbane in January and although yet to win on the LPGA Tour in her six year career, she has opened the door for such a possibility.

This event has hardly been a great venue for her with a best of 62nd in her four previous starts.

“I don’t know,” added Oh when reminded she had not played well in Thailand previously. “Maybe that’s why – zero expectation.

“I know this golf course. You kind of have to hit it long, like it’s a long hitter’s course. So, I literally tried to hit it really hard on off the tee every shot.

“I actually didn’t drive it that great, but, I mean, it wasn’t bad clearly, so I knew — I just — you don’t really have to be that straight here. You can just hit it really far, and then you have such a big advantage.

“So I just tried to hit it pretty long. Yeah, I just knew I was like, Oh, it’s such a hard event to miss since you’re in Singapore. Yeah hopefully this — you know you don’t have to keep playing well. You just need one good week.”

Minjee Lee is tied for 8th and five shots of the lead, Hannah Green is 15th and two shots further back and Sarah Kemp withdrew after an opening round of 80.

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Eight Australasians chasing record US$20 million Players purse

Adam Scott – previous winner and playing well – file photo European Tour

The Players Championship, the USPGA Tour’s flagship event, has long been considered one of golf’s most significant tournaments, not only for the fascination the TPC Sawgrass provides to television viewers and on-course fans, but that the field is typically one of the strongest of any event worldwide.

In 2022, another dimension is added when increased prizemoney takes it to the most lucrative in the game by some margin. This year’s purse is a massive US$20 million, a jump of US$5 million from the 15 million on offer in 2021 with the winner to take home US$3.6 million.

The next highest purse on the PGA Tour is likely to be that offered by the US Open and although that event’s prizemoney for 2022 has not yet been announced it is expected to be around $14 million, ensuring the Players Championship is head and shoulders above the next best in that regard.

The field of 144 will include seven Australians and one New Zealander headed by Cameron Smith the world’s 10th ranked player and he will be joined in world ranking order by Adam Scott, Marc Leishman, Lucas Herbert, Matt Jones, Cameron Davis, Jason Day and New Zealand’s Danny Lee.

The Australasians in this field to have won the event are Adam Scott who, in his third start at the Players he got up and down after finding the water at the last to win by one over Padraig Harrington, and Jason Day, who in 2016 lead by four at the halfway mark and went on to win by that margin over Kevin Chappell.

Scott has been very solid with his form in recent times missing only two cuts in his last 32 starts worldwide and his recent 4th place at Riviera suggests he is not too far from where he needs to be to contend this week.

Jason Day played well recently when 3rd at Torrey Pines and although the passing of his mother, Denning, last week will be playing on his mind this week it might also serve to inspire him to greater things given the role she played in getting him established in the game.

Cameron Smith’s best in four starts has been when 17th last year, Marc Leishman has recorded only one top ten in 11 starts at the TPC Sawgrass, Matt Jones a best of 17th in seven appearances, Cameron Davis missed the cut in his only start in 2021, Lucas Herbert plays the event for the first occasion and Danny Lee was 7th in 2018 but has missed three of has other five cuts.

There have been several surprise winners of the Players Championship including and none more so than New Zealand’s Craig Perks, who in 2002 finished eagle, birdie par to defeat Stephen Ames by two.

 

 

 

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