Steve Alker – file photo Bruce Young

New Zealand’s Steve Alker has continued the remarkable start to his career on the PGA Tour Champions when again finishing inside the top ten in an event on the tour for the over-fifties.

Just over a month ago Alker began his PGA Tour Champions career without status and Monday qualified for the Boeing Classic in Washington.

Since then has reeled off five consecutive tens, each allowing him to play the following event and that will be again be the case as a result of his 5^th place at this week’s Pure Insurance Championship at Pebble Beach.

Alker’s final round of 67 improved him from 12^th overnight to his share of 5^th and the money he earns this week will take his earnings in five on the PGA Tour Champions close to US$400,000 for his 7^th place at the Boeing Classic, his 3^rd place the following week at the Ally Championship, his 9^th place at the Ascension Championship, a 7^th place at the Sanford event and this week’s 5^th place.

Alker has moved to 59^th in the projected standings in the Schwab Cup and while that will not yet earn him full status for next season, he is well on his way to doing so.

If he is to move inside the top 54 by season’s end, he will have access to as many as half the events in 2022 and if he was to finish inside the top 36 he will be eligible to play all events next season.

Even now, he might have the occasional event to play in 2022 but gaining full status without having to tackle the demanding tour qualifying school will be the initial aim.

A game built around fairways and greens has worked well for the just turned 50 year old and even though he struggled to keep pace with the longer hitters on the Korn Ferry Tour in recent seasons, now that he is playing PGA Tour Champions events he is proving more than competitive once again.

“I’ve just been out there grinding with the young guys, and it (The Korn Ferry Tour) really deserves a lot of the credit for keeping my game where it’s at,” Alker told Bob McLellan of the PGA Tour from Pebble Beach this week.

“I’m one of the shorter hitters out there, but on PGA TOUR Champions I’d probably says I’m at least above average, probably in the top 30 off the tee.”

Alker, a four times winner on the Korn Ferry Tour including when his win at the 2009 NZPGA Championship was part of that tour, lives with his family in Arizona and has continued to compete on the Korn Ferry tour since although he did play on the PGA Tour in 2003 after a good year on the then Nationwide Tour in 2002.

West Australian Stephen Leaney finished as the next best of the Australasians this week when he finished in a share of 13^th and moved to 44^th in the Schwab Cup standings.

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Anthony Quayle – file photo NZPGA

The Japan Golf Tour never really gets the exposure it perhaps deserves and in this time of Covid related restrictions, that obscurity has been heightened, as, for much of the 2021 season, the tour featured mainly Japanese players without the significant contingent of foreigners who would otherwise ply their trade there.

In more recent months several of those international players have again appeared and in yesterday’s Panasonic Open in Kyoto, Queensland’s Anthony Quayle recorded his best finish in eleven Japan Tour starts in 2021 when finishing 11^th.

Quayle is in what is effectively his third season on the Japan Tour having been unable to play in 2020 due to Covid restrictions but he has proven himself to be a player capable of winning, having recorded top three finishes in events such as the Crowns and the Casio World Open in his career there to date.

Quayle’s second round of 64 was the second-best round recorded by any player at this week’s Panasonic Open and followed a slow start to the event on Thursday when opening with a round of 74.

His third round of 67 opened the door for possible contention but a round of 71 on Sunday saw him slip to his share of 11th. It was, though, his best finish of the year to date and no doubt provides a lot of hope for the lucrative end of season events ahead.

Of the other Australians in the event, Dylan Perry finished 47^th, Todd Sinnott 53^rd and Scott Strange 57^th.

The tournament was won by former Australian Amateur Champion (2018) Keita Nakajima who like Hideki Matsuyama and Takumi Kanaya before him has won an event as an amateur on the Japan Tour in recent times and a lucrative professional career no doubt awaits the 21 year old.

Nakajima won after a playoff against Ryutaro Nagano.

Nakajima could turn professional and earn his Tour Card right away if he so chose, but he will remain an amateur so that he will be invited to US Open and The Open with the privileges of being World’s No.1 Amateur. Also, if he wins the Asian Amateur Championship in November, he will be invited to The Masters.

Keita Nakajima – the winner of the Panasonic Open – file photo

 

 

 

Minjee Lee – photo Kyle Rivas Getty Images

Yesterday it was Australia’s Katherine Kirk who shared the lead at the LPGA’s Walmart NW Arkansas Championship, today it is her fellow countrywoman, Minjee Lee, who has that honour, the West Australian tied for the lead with one round remaining in the event in Rogers, Arkansas.

Lee made the turn in 30 in today’s second round and added two further birdies on the way home for a round of 63 and a share of the lead with Japan’s Nasa Hataoka.

Lee, who has had nearly a month away from tournament golf since finishing in 5^th place at the AIG Women’s Open Championship at Carnoustie, improved from 16^th after her opening round of 67 to her joint position at the top of the leaderboard.

“I think I really, really needed that month off,” said Lee, referring to a hectic month or so beforehand which included her breakthrough major victory at the Evian Championship.

“Two weeks felt like it was two days pretty much, so I didn’t touch a club for 15 days, so I just practiced the last two weeks and then came here. So, no, it was nice. It was a nice break, a nice kind of prep time before they next couple tournaments I have coming up.

“You know, very familiar with this place. I have great housing here so I just really love coming back. Just the hospitality is always nice and the fans are always great to us. I just think that really makes the tournament special and I just really like coming back.”

Kirk who opened with a round of 63 herself was unable to maintain that momentum but a late birdie after a mid-round struggle kept her in touch although she is now four from the leading trio and tied for 9^th.

Lydia Ko is at 4 under and tied for 35^th, Su Oh had two eagles in the opening nine of her round of 66 to also be in 35^th place and Sarah Jane Smith made the cut in 47th place.

 

 

 

 

 

 

The Ryder Cup – photo PGA of America

As has been so often the case, even over the 42 years since the Ryder Cup developed in 1979 into a contest between Europe and the USA rather than just Great Britain and the USA, the Americans will start the on-paper favourites at this week’s edition of one of sports’ most intriguing battlegrounds.

One look at the respective line-ups of the two sides highlights why the Americans command such respect by those making books for betting on the event but as the last 42 years have shown, what is on paper is often irrelevant in the heat of this most tense of encounters.

This week the Americans can boast 11 of their 12 players inside the top sixteen in the current world ranking while the Europeans claim just three in that category.

The lowest ranked American is rookie Scottie Scheffler at 21 in the world while for the Europeans, eight of their 12-man line-up are ranked lower than Scheffler and their lowest ranked, Bernd Wiesberger currently stands 63.

Disparity of this sort has been the norm over the last 36 years since the Europeans first won the Cup in 1985 and, despite it, in the 17 encounters between the sides including and since 1985, the Europeans have dominated the contest, winning on 11 occasions losing five and forcing a tie once.

The change in fortunes came about when a decision was made for the 1979 cup allowing Great Britain and Ireland to become a European side and when players such as Seve Ballesteros, Bernhard Langer, Jose Maria Olazabal, Sergio Garcia, amongst others, helped balance the respective strengths of the sides, the Ryder Cup developed into one of sport’s greatest contests and spectacles.

The inclusion of World Golf Championships in 1999 also aided the cause of the Europeans as those events allowed greater access to events to international where the best played against the best and players from the European Tour developed a greater belief in their ability to compete as individuals against the Americans.

In 2021 the Americans have a home-town advantage. At Whistling Straits, on the shores of Lake Michigan, this year’s event is likely to command one of the most passionate and partisan fan-bases seen in a Ryder Cup for many years.

It is about now, and because of the global reach of the contest, that every sports fan, golfer or not, becomes an expert, rolling out all sorts of statistics as to why the Americans will dominate this event from the start but in the heat of a Ryder Cup battle, recent history has shown that statistics only matter after the event and not before and there will be plenty of Monday morning quarter backs saying why whatever result eventuates was predictable.

For many years this contest gained its popularity because of its David and Goliath appeal but in the modern day it is a case of just who is David and who is Goliath?

Common sense suggests the Americans should and will start as red hot favourites to reclaim the title they lost in Paris in 2018 but this contest is not so much about common sense but rather the raw ingredients of a contest of the highest order when bodies and reputations are on the line.

There is little doubt that, on any given day, any one of the combinations in the fourballs or foursomes or individuals in the single match-ups are capable of beating their opposite number. That unpredictability is what makes the Ryder Cup what it has now become.

In the many years between 1927 and 1979, there was a predictability about the result that ensured the biennial contest was little more than an exhibition which allowed golf in Great Britain the opportunity to see the great Americans on their soil every four years.

It is far from an exhibition now .

USA Team

European Team

The fans in Paris in 2018 – photo PGA of America

 

Marc Leishman – file photo

Australia’s Marc Leishman produced eight birdies in the first 14 holes of his final round of the Fortinet Championship in Napa in California and although he was unable to secure the extra birdie or two he needed to contend for the title over the closing holes at the Silverado Golf Club, his round of 65 would see him finish in a share of 4^th place and four shots from the winner, Max Homa.

Leishman began the final day two hours ahead of the final group and with an outward nine of 32 he was challenging for the lead in the opening event of the new PGA Tour season. After further birdies at the 10^th, 11^th and 14^th holes, the possibility of a huge come from behind victory, as he had done previously on the PGA Tour, was becoming a possibility.

The momentum slowed however and after missing makeable chances at the 16^th and 17^th his chance of victory was gone although it was an impressive day all the same.

Leishman had mixed emotions at the completion of his round. “A little disappointed with the last three holes, a few birdie opportunities there, could have really put some pressure on,” said the Victorian. “Yeah, definitely happy with the week and good start to the season.”

With so long to wait before the final few groups finished, it gave Leishman the chance to reflect on the year to date.

“Wherever I finish, to play golf like I have the last two days was really pleasing. Hasn’t been the greatest year I would say. There’s been patches of good stuff, third at the Travelers and top-5 at the Masters, I believe, but other than that it’s been pretty lame. So good to put some good scores together, get a sniff again. It’s nice to get in the hunt, get the juices flowing. I love that, that’s what we do, that’s why we do it.”

Leishman will play three more PGA Tour events before ending his 2021 campaign. Two of those events are in Las Vegas and one in Houston.

Aaron Baddeley played this event on invite as he now has very limited status on the PGA Tour and finished 36^th while Cameron Percy was 64^th.

The PGA Tour will now head to the Sanderson Farms Championship in two weeks’ time, the break necessary because of this coming week’s Ryder Cup.

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