Connor McKinney in action in round two – photo AAC

Perth’s Connor McKinney is just one off the halfway lead at the Asia Pacific Amateur Championship in Dubai, the 19-year-old Scottish born golfer, reeling off a round of 65 over the Dubai Creek layout to trail only China’s Bo Jin at the completion of 36 holes.

McKinney, who moved to Australia with his family six years ago, heads the six strong Australian contingent in the prestigious event in which the winner receives a start at the Masters and the Open Championship in 2022.

The highlight of McKinney’s round came at the par 5 13^th where he pitched in for eagle from 103 yards and although he bogeyed the 15^th to drop out of what would have been a share of the lead he is delighted with his position.

“Yes, I am just where I wanted to be after 36 holes,” said McKinney. “I got off to a pretty good start. I holed a couple of good putts. I played pretty solid and didn’t put myself in any bad positions. If I did, I recovered pretty well.

“At the start of the week, I thought it would be pretty cool (to win this event). I’m in a great position to do it but still 36 to go. Just sticking to the game plan, doing what I do.”

Although how representing Australia, McKinney’s heritage is very much Scottish, having been born and raised in Fife and having played much of his formative golf in the British Isles even in more recent years.

Just two years ago as a 17-year-old McKinney represented Great Britain and Ireland in a Boys match against Europe but he is now in the Australian camp. In 2021 McKinney has also played several events in the US where his best finish included a 3^rd place finish at the Southern Amateur Championship.

Two shots behind McKinney, is yet another Perth golfer, Hayden Hopewell, who added a round of 69 to his opening 68 to be three from the lead and tied for 10^th.

Victorian Lukas Michel is another shot back in a share of 15th place although the former US Mid Amateur Champion will be ruing dropping threes shots at the final two holes including a double bogey at the last after finding the water to drop four shots from the halfway lead.

All six of the Australians made the cut restricted to the leading 50 players and ties.

Andree Lautee is tied for 22nd, while Lachlan Barker and Haydn Barron are tied for 41st at 1 over and nine shots from the lead.

New Zealand’s only competitor in the event, Jimmy Zheng is also well enough placed in a share of 15th and just four from the lead. Two late birdies saw him recover from a slow start on day two for a round of even par 71 after he had opened with a round of 67 on Wednesday.

“I’m definitely going to take notes from today’s round,” said Zheng. “I’m going to work on keeping myself calm and stable, throughout the round. I started off a bit fiery, trying to make multiple birdies. It didn’t really work out that well. I will just stick to my game plan and stay calm and try to keep the ball close to the hole, while keeping it safe at the same time.”

The leader, Bo Jin is the younger brother of Cheng Jin, winner of the 2015 AAC at Clearwater Bay Golf and Country Club in Hong Kong. A sophomore at Oklahoma State University, Bo also happens to be a very good friend of Rayhan Thomas, the 2018 AAC runner-up who holds the course record at Dubai Creek.

At the Mena Tour’s Dubai Creek Open in 2017, Thomas fired a 61 that included a record-breaking run of nine consecutive birdies in a professional tournament.

“I have learned a lot from Cheng but when we get to the golf course, I definitely want to beat him. When he won the championship, I was so excited because it meant that I could go to the Masters at Augusta National Golf Club along with him.

“Obviously, he hasn’t told me much about this golf course but I get plenty of good insight into life and golf from him and yes, I want to win the championship like he did,” said Jin, who made five birdies on the back nine.

“The biggest change from the first round was the double bogey I made on the ninth hole yesterday. It was mental mistakes really. And I am happy that I did not repeat them today.”

World number one amateur, Japan’s Keita Nakajima, is just one off the lead and also tied for second place while two time winner of the event, Yuxin Lin, is tied for 15th and four behind the leader.

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Jason Scrivener – file photo Bruce Young

The final stage of qualifying for the 2022 Korn Ferry Tour begins in Georgia on Thursday and while all 149 of those who have made it to the final are assured of some level of status on the Korn Ferry Tour next season there is still a lot to play for this week.

The final finishing positions in this week’s 72 hole event will determine just where players stand in regards to their priority ranking on what is essentially the ‘feeder’ tour for the 2023 PGA tour.

The following outlines just what is being played for at the Landings Club in Savannah.

• The medalist (and ties) this week receive fully exempt status on the 2022 Korn Ferry Tour.
• Finishers 2-10 (and ties) are guaranteed entry into the first 12 events of the 2022 Korn Ferry Tour Regular Season.
• Finishers 11-40 (and ties) are guaranteed entry into the first eight events of the 2022 Korn Ferry Tour Regular Season.
• The remainder of the field receives conditional status on the 2022 Korn Ferry Tour.

Two Australasians have made it into the final field following the completion of Stage Two Qualifying two weeks ago and they will be joined by another who qualifies for the final via this year’s Korn ferry Tour.

Perth’s Jason Scrivener and Sydney’s Justin Warren have done well to earn a card of some sort but their task this week will be to finish as high up to ensure as many guaranteed starts as possible in order to position themselves for one of the 25 2023 PGA Tour cards handed out at the completion of the regular 2022 Korn Ferry Tour season.

Scrivener has continued to build on his impressive European Tour record in 2021 and currently stands in 15^th place in the Road to Dubai, thus qualifying to play the season ending DP World Championship in two weeks’ time.

Scrivener has yet to win on the European Tour but has been runner-up (Abu Dhabi) and 3^rd (Denmark) this season, highlighting the progression he has made and the quality of player he is.

Warren, from Picton just outside of Sydney, played collegiate golf in the USA in both Arizona and Arkansas before qualifying to play the PGA Tour of Australasia while still an amateur.

Like so many other young players at his stage of a professional career, however, the 26 year old has been hamstrung by the lack of opportunities Covid has caused although earlier this year he did finish runner-up in one of the PGA Tour of Australasia’s Tier Two events, the Moonah Links PGA Classic.

Harrison Endycott was a member of Australia’s Eisenhower Trophy winning team in 2016 but has struggled to make the immediate progress in the professional ranks that many felt he would although as a result of finishing inside the top 100 on this season’s Korn Ferry Tour points table he is already assured of reasonable status next season but is no doubt looking for a greater level of surety in terms of starts in 2022.

Endycott has failed to make the weekend in his last ten starts in 2021 but he has shown enough on occasions over his four years in professional golf to suggest he will make the grade eventually.

 

 

 

 

 

Lucas Herbert – photo courtesy of Getty Images

Less than two months and after just three events as a PGA Tour member, Australian Lucas Herbert has broken through for his first PGA Tour victory with a narrow but impressive one-shot win at the Butterfield Bermuda Championship in Southampton in Bermuda.

In wet and gusty conditions, Herbert fought off strong late challenges from New Zealand’s Danny Lee and American Patrick Reed to win by one over that pair and claim the first prize of US$1.17 million and perhaps more importantly cement his standing on the PGA Tour.

Herbert will likely move to 44th in the world ranking once the latest rankings are revised later today, the highest ranking of his career to date.

Since gaining full status to the PGA Tour during the Korn Ferry Tour Finals in early September, Herbert has missed the cut in his first two starts as a PGA Tour member but this week he contended throughout and began the final round in a share of second place but four shots behind Canadian Taylor Pendrith.

Well ahead on the golf course, after starting his final round an hour ahead of Herbert, Lee and Pendrith, Reed was putting together a stunning final round of 65, made all the better as it was compiled in such demanding conditions.

When Reed had finished his round Herbert still had several holes to play but a birdie at the 14^th gave him the lead and when he managed to par the 15th, 16th and 17th and hit his approach to 5 feet at the last it was all over. He would miss that putt, but the victory was his.

“Like it’s really tough to keep your mind from jumping too far ahead and thinking, you know, what are you going to say in the winner’s speech or what’s the photo going to look like with the trophy, I mean, it’s pretty unbelievable,” said Herbert trying to come to terms with such a significant milestone.

“Just so hard out there today and I just, it was one of those ones you couldn’t even let yourself kind of get ahead and think that you’ve won the tournament early because conditions were just so brutal that you could have hit a shot anywhere at any time offline and it was just, it was just good to survive I guess is probably the way to describe it.

“I had to make sure that I kept myself in check, there’s still a tournament to be played. Obviously, Danny was making a real run there and even when he hit it left on the last, I said to my caddie, we’re going to expect him to hole that, we’ve got to make ours. I just tried to keep myself really present, not let myself get too far ahead. Once I was able to get over that putt with two putts to win on the last, it was kind of, that was a bit of fun.”

The victory earns Herbert the right to play the Masters for the first time next April, along with starts at the USPGA Championship and other key events such as the Arnold Palmer Invitational and the Sentry Tournament of Champions.

“Definitely gets me into the Masters?” questioned Herbert when confirming that this event earns that right. “Okay. I mean, the next 12 months are going to be really cool.

“I’ve never played Augusta, so being able to play the Masters is going to be pretty cool. Getting to play in — we just talked about Kapalua, getting to play in a few of these events that I’ve watched growing up on TV, it’s just going to be a cool experience. No matter how I play, it’s just going to be phenomenal to play in those tournaments. It’s going to be lots of fun.”

Herbert made special mention of his long-time coach Australian Dom Azzopardi who made the journey to the USA recently to work on Herbert’s game after missing his first two cuts as a PGA Tour member.

“Yeah, my first two wins on the European Tour, Dom wasn’t there so to sort of experience a win with him here. Especially we missed the past two cuts before this in a row, my game was really, really struggling and I decided to call in and get him out over here. By the time it looked a bit dicey trying to get him back into Australia once we got him out.

“So for him to make that commitment to come out and help me out a lot with my golf swing, we hit a lot of balls over the last two or three weeks getting ready for this event. To have it pay off so quickly and to share that win with him, that was really special.”

Lee appeared to blow his chances of a second PGA Tour title when he dropped four shots in three holes in the middle of his closing nine to drop four behind but birdies at the 15^th, 16^th and 17^th had him just one back.

He was unable to find that one extra birdie he would need to force a playoff but for the 31 year old it was a week of some significance given he is currently playing without full status.

The New Zealander has been playing on a Minor Medical exemption after losing his status at the completion of last season and had just two more events after this one to regain his PGA Tour playing rights so despite the near miss the week has been very important.

“A lot of good and a lot of bad,” said Lee referring to his roller coaster round.

“I fought really hard for it, just 12 through 14 was a very, very tough stretch for me. I hit a really, really good shot on 12, just went over the green by I don’t know how much, but it was kind of a tough shot from back there. Made a silly double there.

“I was just kind of a little confused with my putting. Had three holes I didn’t (inaudible) in my putting, I don’t know why I did that, but after that I just bite my tongue and I just try to grind it out.

“There’s so many times when that time comes or whenever that disappointment happened, I just kind of half-assed it all the way in, so this time I didn’t want to do that. I gave 120 percent all the way in.”

“I guess it’s very good,” added Lee referring to where this now leaves him as far as playing opportunities are concerned. “ I have a lot more opportunity than what I had before, I think. I guess I think I got two more medical starts left and next week is Cancun, which I do very well lot of the years, so I’m looking forward to playing in that next week.”

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Danny Lee – file photo Bruce Young

New Zealand’s Danny Lee is currently playing the PGA Tour on a Minor Medical exemption having missed out on regaining his full status via the Korn Ferry Tour Finals, but today he made just his 9^th cut in 24 starts in 2021 when adding a second consecutive 67 at the Butterfield Bermuda Championship.

Lee finds himself three shots from the lead held by Canadian Taylor Pendrith and in a share of 4^th place as the field heads into the weekend in Southampton in Bermuda.

Another shot back is Australian Lucas Herbert who is now playing as a full-fledged member of the PGA Tour, the Victorian’s second round of 65 sealed with an eagle birdie finish to have him tied for 6^th.

For Lee it is an encouraging return to the sort of form he is known for after a rib injury curtailed much of his progress in 2021.

“I just pulled out at the John Deere Classic this year, I just couldn’t play anymore,” said Lee after his opening round yesterday.

“I finally took an x-ray with a doctor and he saw a fracture on my last right rib, so I guess I had that for a while, I just didn’t know about it. I had to take a couple months off and I’m injury-free now.”

Given the time away from the game Lee was granted a minor medical exemption for early events this season and after missing the cut at the recent Fortinet Championship he has improved sharply to contend this weekend.

“To be honest, I haven’t really made the cut in a while and I haven’t played in a while, so I was just trying to make it to the weekend. I was just grinding it out.

“Definitely where I’m at is a very good spot to be in after first two rounds. It was definitely a lot more gettable today than yesterday. Yesterday was — it was hard to walk on some of the holes,” added the 31-year-old former US Amateur Champion referring to the strong winds that prevailed on Thursday.

“It was definitely a lot easier today, I just made a couple silly mistakes on the first nine holes and I wasn’t — I was hitting a lot of good putts, I just didn’t make anything until I holed it out from 90 yards on No. — it was my back nine, so No. 5. I was just grinding it out out there. I haven’t seen the weekend in a while, so I was just trying to make the cut and all of a sudden after that hole-out on No. 5, everything just went smoothly.”

Lucas Herbert

For Herbert, who already has two European Tour titles to his name including this year’s Irish Open, his is nicely placed in just his third start as a PGA Tour member after missing the cut in his first two.

“I’ve always wanted to play on the PGA TOUR, so the opportunity to go to Finals was perfect,” said Herbert.

“Essentially you play well at one event and that’s a PGA TOUR card locked up. So yeah, it was obviously a great opportunity and we were fortunate to sort of take advantage of that straightaway and get somewhat of a schedule out here.

“It looks like it’s pretty tough for the Fall Series there to get some starts out of our category, but that’s kind of the way it is. I think for your first year out here as a rookie, you’ve just got to take what you get.

“Weeks like this where we do get a start, we have to take advantage of it. Sort of look forward to playing a lot of the venues through the year as well. Sort of watched them on TV since I was a kid, like it would be cool to sort of stand in some of those spots actually hitting the shots rather than watching on TV.”

Herbert now has the luxury of full status on both the European and PGA Tours and intends to play both where possible in the  remainder of 2021 and 2022.

“I want to try to play a bit of a combination. Europe have been great to me. I played out there as an affiliate member in 2018 and everyone’s welcomed me really well out there and I made a lot of good friends out there as well.

“I enjoy playing a few of the courses out there, so where the schedule permits, I want to try to play some of the bigger events back there, for sure. It’s going to be tricky I think this year. As I said, being a rookie, you’re probably going to be on the edge of whether you’re going to get into some of the events over here or not. Sort of just have to, you know, take it week by week in a way and just see what we can play.

“I mean even the PGA TOUR of Australia, I want to keep supporting Australian golf back home, too, where I can. So the world’s opening up a little bit more now, people are — obviously everyone’s getting vaccinated and countries are making it a little bit easier to travel, so it’s making it possible to play more of a worldwide schedule I think, too.”

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Queensland’s Karis Davidson has successfully negotiated her way through Stage Two qualifying for the LPGA Tour’s 2022 season and will now face the Final Stage beginning on November 29^th in Mobile in Alabama.

Davidson finished in a share of 25th in Venice in Florida today but safely inside the top 45 and ties who advanced to the Final.

Davidson has been Australia’s sole representative on the Japan Ladies Golf Tour over the last two years but has taken the decision test her luck on the LPGA Tour and having reached the Final Stage of qualifying she should at least have access to the secondary Symetra Tour in 2022.

Born and raised in Scotland until moving to Australia at the age of eight, Davidson has played six events on the Japan LPGA Tour this season, her schedule restricted due to Covid issues.

The Gold Coaster has made the cut in five of those six events with a best of 15^th at her last start there in July, although she had, earlier in her JLPGA Tour career, recorded several top tens and in 2018 finished runner-up at the Ladies European Tour’s Vic Open.

After a season in 2020 where she played virtually no events, Davidson has done well to potentially play her way onto the LPGA Tour although there remains work to do.

It was, however, an agonising day for Davidson’s fellow Australasians with Victorian Gabriela Ruffels and Perth’s Hira Naveed missing by one shot on a place inside the top 45 who advanced to the final.

Grace Kim and Julien Soo were another shot back, New Zealand’s Amelia Garvey’s final round of 74 costing her dearly, and Kirsty Hodgkins, Soo Jin Lee, Stephanie Na and Stephanie Bunque further back again.

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