Daniel Hillier – photo Getty Images – European Tour

23 year old New Zealander Daniel Hillier earlier this week won his first European Challenge Tour event, the Challenge Costa Brava in Girona in Spain, and as a consequence jumped to 18^th in the Road to Mallorca rankings and opened up the possibility of earning his way to the 2022 European Tour.

For Hillier it was his first professional win outside of New Zealand having won three Charles (Sir Bob Charles) Tour events, one of those as a 15 year old amateur.

The Wellingtonian has long promised to be an outstanding prospect for New Zealand golf, having won both the Australian and New Zealand Junior titles and the New Zealand Amateur Championship twice.

In 2019 Hillier finished third in the individual at the Eisenhower Trophy and turned professional a year later with one of New Zealand golf’s best amateur careers behind him.

He has qualified for both the US Open and the Open Championship through the rigorous qualifying process for both events and in 2021 has proven to be an absolute workhorse having now played 28 events with still more to come.

In order for Hillier to earn the right to play the European Tour with full status in 2022, he must finish inside the top 20 on the Road to Mallorca but his performances this year have already guaranteed him the right to play significantly more European Tour events next season even if they might be the lesser events.

A good finish to the season at the upcoming 2021 Rolex Challenge Tour Grand Final supported by The R&A. (Nov 4^th – 7^th) however will cement his position inside that all important milestone and have him join his fellow New Zealander Ryan Fox as a New Zealander with full playing rights in Europe next season.

The leading 45 players from the Road to Mallorca rankings will contest the season ending event at the completion of which the immediate future of many of the European Tour’s future stars is determined.

The importance of Hillier’s great week in Girona is further emphasised by the fact that leading into the week he was in a precarious 45^th position in the Road to Mallorca rankings and flirting with the possibility of missing out on the Grand Final event.

Hillier was forced to hole a four foot birdie putt to complete a round of 65 and defeat Denmark’s Marcus Helligkilde, with a further three shots back to the players tied in third place.

“I’m pretty overwhelmed at the moment to be honest,” he said. “It’s been a pretty unreal week from the get go. We had some tough conditions to battle with but I managed to battle through that and probably had the round of my life in round three. To follow that up today and to hole a nice put on the last is just unbelievable, I can’t really believe I’m standing here right now.

“I’m shaking in my boots really, (the final putt) it was massive and just the fact that I’ve been over here since April away from family, I spent the first three months on my own and then my girlfriend came over and she’s been a massive help and has made everything a lot easier.

“It’s probably been one of the most mentally taxing year that I’ve ever had so to get a win at the end of the season, I’m just more than grateful that I am standing here right now.

“It’s absolutely amazing,” he said. “I’ve dreamt of playing professional golf since I was a youngster and to have the opportunity to get straight onto the main Tour after coming here and just playing off invites on the Challenge Tour – it’s amazing, and hopefully I can give it another good run next week. But I am just going to celebrate now and worry about that later.”

Scores

 

 

Min Woo Lee – continues his impressive European Tour season.

West Australian Min Woo Lee and New Zealand’s Ryan Fox have both recorded to four finishes at the Estrella Damm Andalucia Masters at the Real Club Valderrama in Sotogrande in Spain.

Lee finished joint runner-up and three shots behind the winner, Matt Fitzpatrick, while Fox was another shot back and in a seven-way tie for 4^th.

Lee was on track to challenge for the lead midway through his final round but three bogeys in four holes through the middle of his round on the demanding Valderrama layout cost him the chance for his second win of the season.

The €249,000 ($A 390,000) however has moved him 4 places to 6^th in the Race to Dubai standings, much of that as a result of his win at the Scottish Open and another impressive effort this week.

Only Collin Morikawa, Billy Horschel, Jon Rahm, Tyrrell Hatton and Matt Fitzpatrick stand ahead of Lee on the star studded Race to Dubai list.

Fox recorded his best finish of 2021 when he recovered from a third round of 74 for a 2 under 69 today and improved 6 places from his overnight share of 12^th although a bogey at the last would prove very costly given the number of golfers, he eventually shared his 4^th placing with.

Fox earned €93,000 ($A 145,000) for his effort, however, his biggest cheque of the year for just his second top ten and moves him to 74^th in the Race to Dubai rankings although indications earlier in the week were that Fox will play only one more event this season.

Results

 

 

 

Guan Tianlang – with the trophy that got him to Augusta National – photo APAC

In 2012 I was contracted by Augusta National to join host Bill Macatee and analyst Frank Nobilo on the commentary team for the Asia Pacific Amateur Championship at the Amata Springs Golf Club outside of Bangkok.

Augusta National had funded the event since first being staged in 2009, the winner on each occasion being invited to play the Masters at Augusta National the following year.

It was a great gig for me and led to being involved in the role as on course commentator in the event over the next six years.

In that first event in Thailand a young 14-year-old would dominate the event from an opening round of 66 and eventually win by one shot over Chinese Taipei’s C.T. Pan with another two shots back to Australian Oliver Goss.

The two aspects of Guan’s game that stood out to me that week were his uncanny ability to manage his way around the layout despite being significantly shorter from the tee than most of his rivals and, secondly, being desperately slow in his decision making for and execution of shots.

Guan had already developed a reputation by being the youngest player to play in a European Tour event at the age of 13 when doing so at the 2012 Volvo China Open and he entered the Asia Pacific Amateur Championship few months later as one of the more favoured players but hardly the favourite.

Not only did he win but it was the dominant manner in which he led from the start that so impressed and although only just scraping home with a beautiful six foot sliding left to right putt for par at the last it was a victory that would open many doors.

This writer interviewing Guan after round three in Thailand

The most significant of those doors was a start at the Masters the following year. In earlier years Hideki Matsuyama had taken full advantage by making the cut at the Masters following his wins at the Asia Pacific Amateur in 2010 and 2011. Matsuyama played at Amata Springs in 2012 and finished five shots behind Guan in 4th place and not long after would turn professional.

And so it was on the Augusta for the Dongguan (S.E. China) youngster. Practice rounds with Tiger Woods and Ben Crenshaw did not appear to faze the debutante and so to the event itself where an opening round of 73 was impressive enough given his age (14 year and five months), lack of experience at Augusta National and that many felt his game was nowhere long enough to tackle the regularly extended Augusta National layout.

Guan’s second round of 75 was enough to see him make the cut on the number and although he would go on to finish 56^th out of the 61 who made the cut it remains in this writer’s eyes one of the most underrated performances in the history of the game.

He became the youngest ever player to make the cut at the Masters, surpassing the effort of Italy’s Matteo Manassero who at the age of 16 years and 11 months became the then youngest person to make the cut at the 2010 Masters.

That he was able to do so despite being penalised one shot for slow play during his second round further highlights what a magnificent achievement it was that week. I had written a piece on him just prior to the event highlighting my concern for his pedestrian approach to preparing for a shot and it was no real surprise that his M.O. had come under scrutiny.

He would also make the cut at the PGA Tour’s Zurich Classic soon after but, since, Guan has experienced a chequered career, finally turning professional in 2020 after some time at the University of Arizona.

In 2020 he qualified for and played events on the China Tour and, importantly, he is still only 22 with a world of experience behind him and hopefully ahead of him.

His performance at Augusta National more than eight years ago however remains as one that I believe deserves more recognition than it received.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Brett Coletta a winner of the Queensland Open as an amateur chasing Korn Ferry Tour status again

The long and winding road to earn the right to play the PGA Tour continues this week when Stage 2 qualifying for the 2022 Korn Ferry Tour gets underway at the first of five venues across the USA with several Australasians hoping to play their way into the Final Stage in early November at which point places on the 2022 Korn Ferry Tour are determined.

Each venue carries a field of around 75 with those successful, graduating to the Final Stage where they will be joined by players whose standing on the Korn Ferry or PGA Tour has given them the right to try again.

There has already been pre-qualifying at seven venues and Stage One qualifying at eleven venues across the USA just to get this far, highlighting the tremendous task involved in just getting to the Korn Ferry Tour, never mind the 2023 PGA Tour which can now only be accessed through a good year on the Korn Ferry Tour.

Australasians such a Victorian Brett Coletta and NSW’s John Lyras tee it up at the first venue in Brooksville in Florida this week, Coletta a winner of the PGA Tour of Australasia’s 2016 Queensland Open as an amateur and actually going close to gaining his PGA Tour card via the Korn Ferry Tour in 2020.

Lyras a 25 year old from Sydney actually pre-qualified to play the Wyndham Championship on the PGA Tour in 2019 and performed a similar feat when playing the AT&T Byron Nelson in Texas earlier this year.

Other than a 4^th place in a Tier 2 event on the PGA Tour of Australasia earlier this year however it has been a battle for the man from the St Michael’s Golf Club but he gets an opportunity to make further progress this week.

Others likely to tee it up over the next ten days include former Australian Open Champion Stephen Allan, former PGA Tour event winner and Presidents Cup team member, Mark Hensby, former PGA Tour player James Nitties, Tasmanian Mathew Goggin, who was also a member of the PGA Tour for several years,  NSW’s Travis Smyth, West Australian Jason Scrivener, who has been playing so well in Europe over the last three years or so, Ryan Ruffels and New Zealand’s Denzel Ieremia and Nick Voke.