The City Golf Club in Toowoomba – home of the QLD PGA
Three events come under consideration today as we chase a winner at the Women’s Australian Open, the Genesis Invitational and the Queensland PGA Championship.
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Matt Jones – file photo – click to expand
Australians Jason Day and Matt Jones have finished 4th and 5th respectively at the AT&T Pebble Beach Pro-Am, for Day it was his best finish in a PGA Tour event since a similar performance at Pebble Beach twelve months ago while for Jones it was his best since sharing 4th at the Barbasol Championship in July of last year.
Admittedly, Day finished eight shots from the winner Nick Taylor of Canada but there was a lot to like about just his second tournament in the last three months.
For Day it also continues an impressive record at the Pebble Beach event and reverses a trend which had seen him slip to 46th in the world ranking. This week’s finish will see him now at 38th.
It was Day’s 4th top 4 finish in his last five starts at the AT&T Pebble Beach Pro-Am and was made even more impressive by the fact that this was just his second start since the Mayakoba Classic in mid-November.
Jones moves inside the world top 100 for the first time since October of 2016, the Sydney golfer now in 91st place.
Day began the day three behind the leader and eventual winner, Taylor, but could never really build any forward momentum early in the final round and blew any chance of contending for the title with a horror start to his closing nine, a bogey at the 11th followed by a double at the 12th sealing his fate.
Jones had a better final day but he too stumbled with a double bogey at the 8th after making an impressive start with four early birdies. A chip-in birdie at the last saw him eventually finish in a share of 5th with two others and it was an encouraging week for the current Australian Open Champion.
The winner, Taylor, led from wire to wire to win his second PGA Tour title, more than five years after his first.
Taylor won by four shots over Kevin Streelman with Phil Mickelson another shot back in 3rd place alone.
Mickelson had a chance to pressure the leader and playing partner Taylor over the closing holes but even though Taylor opened the door with several dropped shots of his own, Mickelson was unable to capitalise and eventually lost ground while Streelman produced one of the better rounds of the day to grab second place.
Other Australians who made it into the final round were Aaron Baddeley who finished 25th alongside New Zealander Tim Wilkinson, Cameron Davis who finished 38th and John Senden who was 67th.
For Senden it was just his second cut made in his last eleven starts.
Champions Lee and Park pose with their trophies – photo Golf Australia – click to open
For some time now, Perth’s, Min Woo Lee, has been considered Australia’s next golfing star and his two-shot victory at the ISPS Handa Vic Open at 13th Beach this weekend further confirmed this reputation.
It was 21 year old Lee’s first victory as a professional and provides full status for him on the European Tour for the next two seasons having just missed out on full status despite an impressive rookie season there in 2019.
Lee’s best European Tour finish prior to this win was when 3rd at the recent Australian PGA Championship on the Gold Coast but with this win he will improve to 130th in the world ranking, an improvement of some 230 positions from this time last year.
A former US Junior Champion the Perth golfer was an impressive performer in the amateur ranks despite not winning many titles but this week’s victory opens the door for a very successful professional career especially with the confidence it will bring.
“I’m pretty proud of the way I played,” said Lee. “I thought coming in I had a really good chance because I was hitting it really good, but I think I impressed myself with the game this whole week. Hopefully I’ll have more of these over my whole career.
“I felt really comfortable just because if I did exactly the same as I did yesterday, I felt pretty hard to stop. I started off really hot out the gate and was pretty comfortable those last few holes. I got a bit nervy, but I’m pretty proud of the way I finished.
“I hit one shot at a time. It’s a cliché, but it’s just that. You can’t really worry about anything else. I hit it so well, I’d give myself nine out of ten for ball striking this week. Coming into today I knew I could just stay calm and just hit every shot the same as the last three days.
“I was pretty calm until, you know, the last hole. I wasn’t nervous, just on my toes a little bit. I thought it’s a par five, straight downwind, the ball’s not going to curve much off the tee – stripe one down and I thought I had it in the bag from there.”
New Zealander Ryan Fox only just made the cut heading into the final 36 holes but weekend rounds of 69 and then 64 on Sunday, the best of the day by three shots, saw him storm through the field to grab second place, three shots ahead of Australians Marcus Fraser and Travis Smyth and Frenchman Robin Sciot-Siegrist.
Fox’s round was made even better by the demands of the strong winds that buffeted the course throughout the weekend, an eagle at his final hole the icing on the cake of an exceptional effort on the final day.
“That was probably the best round I’ve played in a tournament,” said Fox. “I would not have thought 64 was out there at the start of the day. I think the only saving grace with this wind direction is you either play a hole straight down or straight into.
“I made a couple of eagles, which was nice. I hit a lot of shots inside of 15‑foot and made a couple of those, which is not really what you expect to do today. I never really felt like I was under any pressure out there which, in conditions like this, that’s always nice.”
The women’s Vic Open was won by Korean Hee Young Park who survived a three person playoff to win her third LPGA Tour title after regaining her playing privileges at the LPGA Tour School in December.
She defeated fellow South Koreans Hye Jin Choi and So Yeon Ryu with a par at the 4th hole of extra time.
Park has seriously considered giving the game away last year, but she gave Tour School another chance and finished second there and now her career is very much alive once again.
“I wasn’t going to just to put off Q‑School because I thought this is enough, my golf career, but I tried the Q‑School, made the Q‑School, finished second. That kind of gave some other confidence. And then I just want to ‑‑ got the feeling with the rookie year feeling, you know?
“Back to refreshed instead of like overall. This is my almost 13th year on the tour, so kind of too used to it on the tour, but after Q‑School I have something new feeling, so I think that gave to me a lot of things.”
The leading Australians in 6th place were Minjee Lee, the sister of the men’s champion, Su Oh and Robyn Choi who recorded her best ever LPGA Tour finish when sharing the honours of leading Australian.
Hannah Green worked her way through the pack over the weekend to tie for 11th.
The LPGA Tour moves now to Adelaide for this coming week’s Women’s Australian Open while for the Australasian Tour they head to Toowoomba for the Queensland PGA Championship and for the European Tour, their next event will be in Oman beginning on February 27th.
Jason Day – file photo Henry Peters
Canadian Nick Taylor has retained the two shot lead he established after round one of the AT&T Pebble Beach Pro Am, a second round of 66 at Pebble Beach Golf Links today leaving him two ahead of Jason Day and three ahead of defending champion, Phil Mickelson, with one round to play before the cut is made and the field returns to the host venue at Pebble Beach.
Day also played Pebble Beach Golf Links on day two and produced a superb display of putting in his round of 66, a pitch in for eagle at the uphill par four 14th the feature of the day.
Day is playing just his second tournament after a enforced break through injury and continued what has already been a good record at this event.
He recorded six birdies and the eagle in his round and with six top ten finishes in six starts in this event he looms as a great prospect for possible contention come Sunday.
Mickelson also produced a round of 64 but he played the Monterey Golf Club layout on day two, a dropped shot at his final hole costing him the chance to share second place with Day.
The leader, Taylor, has won one event on the PGA Tour but that was six years ago and with just one top ten in the last eighteen months this was quite a turnaround but this a an event and venue he loves.
“This is one of my favourite events of the year every year,” said Taylor after his opening round of 63. People ask me my favourite golf course. Pebble is definitely the top of the list.
“I just, growing up in the Northwest, I don’t know if is that and, you know, the rain doesn’t bother me, if that’s in the forecast. I think this week we’re going to be extremely lucky with that. But I just love these heavy golf courses. Growing up on poa annua, it suits my eye, so I always enjoy coming here.”
Aaron Baddeley is the next best of the Australians in a share of 20th place.
Madelene Sagstrom – photo Golf Australia
The Men’s and Women’s Vic Opens being played on the Bellarine Peninsula south west of Melbourne have reached the halfway stage with Frenchman Robin Sciot Siegrist ahead by two in the men’s event and Sweden’s Madelene Sagstrom leading by one in the women’s event.
Sciot-Siegrist secured his playing rights for Europe at the Tour School late last year after narrowly missing out on the top 15 on the Challenge Tour in 2019, a feat which would have given him his first European Tour card.
The lefthander has played the Challenge Tour in the past three years after a successful collegiate career in the US at the University of Louisville. He has recorded one win on the Challenge Tour but this is his first foray into the European Tour and this his 4th event as a cardholder.
He is one of the few Europeans to have ventured down for the one-off event but given his standing on the European Tour he needed to take advantage of the start at 13th Beach.
Robin Sciot-Siegrist – photo Golf Australia
“Because I didn’t get in too many events the last couple of weeks, I mean, there was Saudi Arabia, Dubai and everything and I didn’t get into these events,” said the leader.
“So I wanted to play, I needed to play. And yeah, I mean, in the end like just wanted to come here, you know, and see if I can do something. And I’ve never been to Australia, so it’s nice to be here for the first time.”
The lead is by two over New South Welshman Travis Smyth and recently crowned Australian Amateur Champion Jediah Morgan from Queensland.
Matthew Griffin, Min Woo Lee and Jake McLeod are another shot back in 4th place.
For Morgan, who won the Australian Amateur Championship at Royal Queensland three weeks ago and led the qualifiers at the NSW Amateur Championship the following week , things just keep getting better.
“It feels awesome,” said the 20 year old whose parents owned a small country golf course west of Brisbane. “It’s obviously what you do, like what you want to happen through the first couple rounds of a pretty big tournament.
“I haven’t been in the last group of a tournament as big as this before, so I’m excited. I’m a bit scared, but it’s all going to come in sort of one hit and I’m going to try and just sort of I guess learn as much as I can from the players that are around me, because they’re all a little bit better so they’ve obviously been in that situation a few more times.”
Sagstrom shared the lead after day one of the Women’s Vic Open and added a second round of 67 to her opening 65 to lead by one over American Solheim Cup player Ally McDonald.
Australia’s Robyn Choi, Korean Ayean Cho and Swede Linnea Strom are tied for 3rd.
Sagstrom, though, has picked up where she left off at her breakthrough LPGA Tour win in Florida recently and is beginning to fulfill the promise she showed when winning several events on the Symetra Tour before joining the LPGA Tour three years ago.
“I mean, winning definitely gives you the biggest confidence boost ever,” said Sagstrom. “I think I’ve kind of done really well to keep it going this week. I’m really confident out here. I’m clearly trusting my game and trusting my commitment and decisions, so I’m really happy.
“I think I’m staying very patient. I know that there’s good golf in my system right now obviously from having good form, but I think that just taking one shot at a time, really committing to everything. And then, I mean, I know I’m striking it well, so when I kind of get out of that worry zone and just go for it, that’s why I’m playing real well.”
Australia’s Minjee Lee is nicely placed at 9 under and just four form the lead, the two-time winner of this event nicely poised heading into the final 36 holes.
Greg Chalmers – continues return from lengthy injury break
Australians, Greg Chalmers, Jason Day and Matt Jones have made sloid starts at the AT&T Pebble Beach Pro Am on the Monterey Peninsula.
Day and Chalmers played the Monterey Peninsula layout on day one while Jones was at Pebble Beach Golf Club this morning.
Chalmers continues his return to tournament golf after a lengthy break away from the game with an arthritic back complaint.
Although his record in this event since first playing in 2004 is ordinary, his return to tournament golf when 5th at the recent Australian Open after more than a year away from the game has seen occasional glimpses of the form that saw him win two Australian Opens and two Australian PGA Championships.
Day has also had a break from the game returning when 16th at Torrey Pines two weeks ago when finishing 16th. Day enjoys a good record at Pebble Beach and his start today. He was forced from the Presidents Cup team with injury in December and essentially had more than two months from the game before the Farmers Insurance event.
Jones won his second Australian Open late in 2019 and although recording only two top tens in 12 starts in this event he could well improve on that stat this weekend.
New Zealander Tim Wilkinson and Aaron Baddeley are the next best of the Australasians in a share of 24th place and one behind the Australian trio.
The leader is Canadian Nick Taylor whose round of 63 at Monterey Peninsula leaves him two ahead of Patrick Cantlay and Chase Seiffert, Seiffert playing the event for the first occasion.
Pre-tournament favourite Dustin Johnson opened with a round of 69 at Spyglass Hill.
Alejandro Canizares – photo Kirsty Wrice GA
The opening round of both the men and women’s ISPS Handa Vic Opens has been completed at the 13th Beach Golf Club on the Bellarine Peninsula in Victoria, both fields recording an impressive run of scoring on the Beach and Creek Courses being used for the opening two days.
Spain’s Alejandro Canizares was out in one of the last two groups of the day in the men’s field and put together ten birdies in his round of 63 to lead by one over long-time leaders on day one, Matthew Griffin, Travis Smyth, Justin Warren and Jake McLeod, all from Australia.
29 players however are within four shots of Canizares’ lead and 99 players broke par amongst the men and so no player has stamped their mark on the event at this early stage.
Canizares has been a two-time winner on the European Tour but the last of those came more than five years ago and he admits things have been tough over the past few years.
“Yeah, just surprised I played so crap the last three years,” he responded when asked if his play had surprised him. “It’s been complicated. I got injured three years ago and it took a while, then some other things, and I became a dad a year ago. Life changes, but I’m getting back to it, I’m starting to work harder.
“I’m still motivated, I still want to play. I’ve been on tour for 13, 14 years and I still really want to do it. Still got half of my career ahead of me, I think.”
The son of four-time Ryder Cup player, Jose Maria Canizares, Alejandro mentioned after his round that his father, who was amongst the group of continental Europeans to turn the tide of success for European against the USA, has had a significant impact on his own career.
“If he wouldn’t have been who he was, if I would have been here, so I’ve got to be really thankful for having a dad that has played four Ryder Cups and has played such a high level of golf. Grew up watching him, motivated, wanting to do the same thing and here I am, so really thankful for all that.”
Haeji Kang – one of leaders in women’s field
The women’s field is headed by recent LPGA Tour first time winner, Madelene Sagstrom of Sweden, and former Australian based Korean, Haeji Kang, who lead by one over Taiwan’s Peiyun Chien, American rookie Hayley Moore and Sweden’s Linea Strom.
Kang spent three years on the Gold Coast at High School there in the mid 2000’s and won the Australian Junior Championship during that period. She was a contemporary of the very successful Amy Yang.
Sagstrom won her first LPGA Tour title in Boca Raton in Florida recently and credits a new found confidence for her continuation of that form.
“Yeah, I think after my first win there definitely added confidence to everything, just knowing that I can compete out here, knowing that I can win on tour. I think that is definitely helping me out. It’s also created kind of a little bit of a calmness; just okay, it’s going to be fine, it will all work out, it’s the beginning of the season.”
Sydney amateur Stephanie Kyraciou leads the Australians after her round of 68 left her in a share of 15th place.
79 players broke par in the women’s field.
Those who played the Beach Course today will play the Creek Course tomorrow and vice versa before the final 36 holes of both events are player over the Beach Course.
Stillwater Cove – Pebble Beach
Three events take our attention this week, the AT&T Pebble Beach Pro Am and both the men’s and women’s Vic Opens in Victoria Australia.
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Last year’s champions, David Law and Celine Boutier – Golf Australia – click to expand.
This week will see the Australasian, European, LPGA, LET and ALPG Tours joining forces at 13th Beach on the Bellarine Peninsula for the ISPS Handa Vic Open, for the second occasion, the event offering a unique and trailblazing format to tournament golf.
While initially an experiment of sorts between the PGA Tour of Australasia, the Ladies European Tour and Australian Ladies Professional Golf when first played in 2013, the format has since expanded to include the LPGA and European Tours and now offers a concept being admired and considered in other areas of the world as a possible solution to improving economies of scale, attracting greater audiences and enticing the corporate dollar.
The Vic Open now brings together not only the Australasian and European Tours on the men’s side of the tournament but the LPGA, the LET and the ALPG also combine to provide just the second event of 2020 for the LPGA and the chance for several ALPG and LET members to play an LPGA Tour event and, potentially, earn an LPGA Tour card.
Prizemoney of A$1.5 million per event is up for grabs with the two courses (The Creek and Beach courses) at 13th Beach utilised on the opening two days before the event focuses on the Beach Course for the weekend.
After a rather lacklustre effort by many of the leading LPGA players in 2019 to support the event when first involving their members, quoting too many events in a row as part of their concern, there is a greater participation of leading players in 2020 although, on the men’s side, the representation from European based players remains disappointing.
China’s Haotong Li, who won the Dubai Desert Classic in 2018 and the latest Dubai Desert Classic Champion, Lucas Herbert, are the leading world ranked players in the men’s field while, in the women’s side of things, two players from the top ten of the Rolex World Ranking, JeongeunLee6 (7) and Australia’s Minjee Lee (8) will head the field in terms of ranking strength.
The women have the benefit of a follow-up event at next week’s Women’s Australian Open in Adelaide and notable players such as major champions, Inbee Park, So Yeon Ryu, Stacey Lewis and Jiyai Shin are also taking their place. So they should, with the event providing a possible solution to a long held aggrievance by many members of the LPGA regarding the disparity in prize-money between men’s and women’s golf.
When the opportunity arose last year, however, there was a notable lack of effort by many to display their support in the best way possible, although to be fair to them it had been a late decision to include the LPGA.
Australian great, Karrie Webb, will be joined by her fellow Australian LPGA Tour players, Hannah Green, Katherine Kirk, Su Oh and Sarah Kemp.
The men’s Vic Open has struggled in attempting to join forces with the European Tour but as has been the case with the Australian PGA Championship, the difficulty in attracting leading players to a one-off event on the other side of the world without the lure of significant appearance money is proving problematic.
What the association with Europe does offer, however, is the prospect of worldwide coverage of the event through the distribution channels of the European Tour, ensuring the Victorian Government, who have played such a key role in the funding and growth of the event, are kept happy.
Tony Finau had the 2020 Waste Management Phoenix Open won everywhere but where it counted – the finish.
Webb Simpson wore down the luckless Finau to win his 6th PGA Tour title with birdies at his final two holes in regulation and another in extra time.
Finau had taken a one shot lead over Simpson into today’s final round at the TPC Scottsdale in the northeastern suburbs of Phoenix and although he led by just one at the turn he had extended his lead to two when walking to the reachable par 4 17th.
His tee shot there found the bunker some 60 meters short of the hole. From there he could only make par while Simpson’s more aggressive approach from the tee paid off in the form of a birdie and the gap was just one.
The 18th hole would see Simpson hole a birdie putt from 12 feet and when Finau was unable to match him from 7 feet the pair was tied and extra time was required.
It would take only one hole to decide the fate of the title. Simpson winning his 6th PGA Tour title and a cheque for US$1,314,000.
It would also see Simpson jump to 7th in the world ranking, up from 19th at this event last year and the highest he has been since August of 2012.
The victory goes some way to atoning for the playoff loss to Hideki Matsuyama by Simpson in this event in 2017.
For Finau it was yet another agonising near miss. The winner of only one event has now recorded seven runner-up finishes on the PGA Tour but he did little wrong today and was beaten by Simpson whose powerful finish was too hot to handle.
“I had two weeks of rest coming in,” said Simpson referring to his state of mind at the start of the week. “I flew out to see Butch Harmon (coach) in Vegas so I started the week off right getting a check -up form him.
“When I drove it in the water of 15 I knew it wasn’t over but I had to do something special to win it and thankfully I birdied the last two and then repeated in the playoff.
“I’ve picked up a mile and a half an hour (swing speed) in the last two years but I have been keen not to do it overnight as I do not want to lose what is my strength when playing well and that is hitting fairways.
“I hired a trainer three years ago and set out on a journey to get longer but very carefully as distance control, precision, accuracy etc is very important for me as I don’t hit it that far.
“We have the luxury on the PGA Tour to pick where we want to play which is a great luxury to have so I on purpose stay away from places that I don’t think give me a good chance to win.
“Playing well the last couple of years has been a lot of being smart about where I am playing.”
Justin Thomas and Bubba Watson both finished strongly to share third three shots from the playoff pair.
New Zealander, Danny Lee, was the leading Australasian when he finished 25th while former winner, Aaron Baddeley, was the only Australian to make it to the weekend and finished 40th.
The PGA Tour now heads back to the West Coast for the AT&T Pebble Beach Pro Am.