Smith and Herbert boost NSW Open’s appeal


Cam Smith in action during Wednesday’s Pro Am – image David Tease Golf NSW

The Challenger PGA Tour of Australasia returns this week with the staging of the NSW Open at the Murray Downs Golf and Country Club, the event being taken to regional NSW for the second consecutive year following the event being held at Rich River in early 2023.

After missing out on a place in the 2023/2024 Australasian Tour schedule, given it was played early in the 2023 year, the event is back in its rightful place as a significant tournament on the schedule.

The participation of two of Australia’s now best players, Cameron Smith and Lucas Herbert adds substantially to the standing of the event and will attract arguably greater interest than has been the case in the last twenty years or so.

Smith and Herbert are both now heavily involved in LIV Golf events but that tour’s scheduling has freed up their availability for events such as this and the recent Queensland PGA Championship, Herbert, though, playing his first non-LIV Tour event since the USPGA Championship in May where he made the cut but finished midfield.

Smith finished an impressive 6th at the Masters in April. Still, other than the recent Queensland PGA Championship, where he finished 3rd, the last non LIV Golf event he played was when missing the cut at the Open Championship in July.

Herbert is a three-time DP World Tour winner and a winner on the PGA Tour while Smith’s great career to date includes three Australian PGA Championships, the 2022 Open Championship, a Players Championship and the Sentry Championship (PGA Tour’s Tournament of Champions) and reaching the #2 position in the world.

Despite their current world ranking, which has blown out due to being unable to play world ranking events for most of the season, the pair are recognised amongst Australia’s best and will be a welcome boost to the event.

The balance of the field consists of those involved in most of the early season events of the 2024 / 2025 PGA Tour of Australasia including recent winners and exciting future prospects for Australian golf, Jack Buchanan, Elvis Smylie and Phoenix Campbell.

The tournament’s prizemoney has increased to $800,000 from the $400,000 it carried when last held in March of 2023.

The Murray Downs Golf and Country Club is located near the Murray River and is just a short drive from the Victorian town of Swan Hill, its closest population centre.

Leaderboard

 

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67 year old Langer brilliant but Alker wins season long Schwab Cup

Steve Alker – image Getty Images

He might have fallen victim to yet another stunning performance by the 67-year-old Bernhard Langer at the Charles Schwab Cup Championship but New Zealand’s Steve Alker wrapped up the season-long Schwab Cup points race by sharing second with Australian Richard Green this week and topped that Championship for the second time in three years.

Langer broke the hearts of both Alker and Green when he holed a 35-foot curling left to right for birdie at the final hole to win by one at the Phoenix Country Club, Green’s final round of 65 appearing to give him a great chance of claiming a first PGA Tour Champions title but it was not to be.

Alker might have failed to successfully defend the Charles Schwab Cup Championship after winning it twelve months earlier but, by taking the season long title for the second time in three years, he earns another US$1 million in addition to the US$276,000 for sharing second with Green this week and the US$2.447 million he has in earnings for the season.

“Yeah, very special,” said Alker when asked to describe his feelings.  “You win one and you go, well, can I do another? It’s a season-long race, there’s a lot of golf to be played and the competition’s getting better, so to have No. 2 is pretty special.

“The support’s been amazing, to have a home game. It would be nice to win it all today, the whole lot, but hey, I’ve got the Schwab Cup and that’s important to me.

Alker is a resident of the Phoenix area, and he is tremendously proud of his accomplishments in his adopted home city.

“Yeah, extra special because friends and family are here, you’re sleeping in your own bed. It kind of feels like there’s a little bit of extra pressure maybe with everybody out, friends and family, what we’re playing for, going for No. 2. You win it, you win a lot, so that was the goal for the week. And I was defending champ, too, so there were extra bonuses there if I did win.”

For Langer this was his 47th victory on the PGA Tour Champions since joining the tour for the over 50’s in 2007 and winning for the first time just a few events into his career at this level.

Langer has won at least one event in each of the 18 seasons he has played the Champions Tour.

“Winning never gets old,” said Langer when asked how special the win was after such a long career. “People say why am I still playing. Well, this is why, because I enjoy the adrenaline, I enjoy being in the hunt and I still feel like I can win and be there on the leaderboard.

“I’ve just proven that again becoming the oldest winner again and again out here. It’s been great to compete against these guys.”

Richard Green has finished the season without a win but with five runner-up finishes and many other impressive performances, he has accumulated US$2.168 million.

The Victorian left-hander produced a final nine of 30 to come from five shots off the pace at the turn to nearly claim his first victory. It has been a great season for the 53-year-old, who is in his second season on the PGA Tour Champions.

Results 

Schwab Cup Final Standings

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Scott, Lee and Micheluzzi play Abu Dhabi Playoff


David Micheluzzi – has done well to qualify for this event in his rookie DP World Tour season

The DP World Tour plays the penultimate event of its 2024 season this week when the US$9 million Abu Dhabi HSBC Championship is played at Yas Links in Abu Dhabi.

The event is the forerunner to next week’s DP World Tour Championship in Dubai where the leading 50 in the Race to Dubai standings will compete.

The leading 70  in the standings are playing this week and therefore 20 players will lose the chance to play for the US$10 million and bonuses available next week.

Australians who have made this week’s field are Adam Scott, Min Woo Lee and David Micheluzzi.

The current leader in the Race to Dubai standings Rory McIlroy holds a 1,572.39-point advantage over closest challenger Thriston Lawrence with just 3,500 points available over the remaining two events, leaving him poised to equal Seve Ballesteros’ tally of six Harry Vardon trophies and move within two of Colin Montgomerie’s all-time record.

A runner-up finish from McIlroy in Abu Dhabi would be enough to wrap up the season title with a week to spare, with the 35-year-old already guaranteed to arrive in Dubai next week as the season-long leader regardless of how he performs in the latest Rolex Series event.

There are currently 36 players still with a mathematical chance of winning the Race to Dubai, although at least 20 of those require a victory in Abu Dhabi and for McIlroy to finish last of the 70-man field.

Leaderboard 

 

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Steve Alker chases Schwab Cup Championship defence


Steve Alker holds the 2023 Schwab Cup trophy following his win last year – image PGA Tour 

The 2024 PGA Tour Champions reaches its climax this week with the staging of the Charles Schwab Cup Championship, essentially the Tour Championship for the leading 36 players in the Schwab Cup standings for the season.

The US$3 million event with US$528,000 to the winner is being played at the Phoenix Country Club in Phoenix Arizona, the venue for the past six years,  and will see 35 players teeing it up, seven of them Australasians with New Zealand’s Steve Alker sure to start as one of the favourites given he is the defending champion.

Alker has had three starts in the event for his win last year, a 3rd place in 2022 and a runner-up finish in his rookie PGA Tour Champions season in 2021.

Australians in the event are Richard Green, Greg Chalmers, Mark Hensby, Rod Pampling, Stuart Appleby and Cameron Percy with Percy, Chalmers and Appleby making their first appearance in the event.

Ernie Els currently leads the Schwab Cup standings but his lead is a slim one over Alker.

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Phoenix Campbell successfully defends Queensland PGA title


Phoenix Campbell holds his QLD PGA Trophy – Image Australian Golf Media

Victorian Phoenix Campbell was playing in just his third event as a professional when he teed it up in this week’s Queensland PGA Championship at the Nudgee Golf Club in Brisbane’s eastern suburbs. However, with a runner-up finish at last week’s Webex Players Series South Australia event in Adelaide and now a playoff victory today, the 23-year-old will move to third place on the PGA Tour of Australasia’s Order of Merit.

Winning this same event as an amateur twelve months ago, Campbell will no doubt forever have fond memories of the relatively newly redesigned tournament course at the Nudgee Golf Club given what it has already meant to his exciting career prospects.

Campbell remained professional after winning last year despite the prospect of immediate full status on the PGA Tour of Australasia and played many of the key amateur events including the recent Asia Pacific Amateur Championship before turning professional after making the cut and finishing 34th at the Japan Open Championship in early October.

Today, the 23-year-old took a one-shot lead over the seemingly ever-present South Australian Jak Carter into the final round. The lead seesawed between the two throughout the final day to the point where both tied through 72 holes and still remained deadlocked after the first playoff hole.

Both missed the green the second time around but Carter was in an almost impossible position in the right-hand bunker and took three more to get down while Campbell produced an excellent par save to take the title.

The expected last round charge from the tournament’s marquee player Cam Smith failed to eventuate despite birdies at his opening two holes and he would eventually finish in a share of 3rd place with fellow Queenslander, Blake Proverbs and three shots from the playoff, with the in-form Elvis Smylie finishing alone in 5th place another shot back.

The victory will jump Campbell some 300 places in the world ranking from his current 1059th place and seemingly with a bullet.

For Carter, it was his third runner-up finish in PGA Tour of Australasia events and his ongoing progress this summer will be watched with interest.

LEADERBOARD

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Defending champion Phoenix Campbell five ahead of Cam Smith at Queensland PGA


Phoenix Campbell in action on day two – image Australian Golf Media

In what is shaping as a fascinating final 36 holes of the Queensland PGA Championship at the Nudgee Golf Club in Brisbane, one of the game’s current greats, Cam Smith, finds himself five shots off the lead held by defending champion and recently turned professional Phoenix Campbell of Victoria.

Playing in the afternoon group on day two, Smith could only manage a round of even par 72 while Campbell added a second round of 68 to his opening 66 to head into the weekend one ahead of Gold Coast teenager and amateur, Billy Dowling.

Campbell, who recovered from an opening 75 in last year’s victory and began the weekend only two shots inside the cutline, played in the group ahead of Smith today and birdied three of his first seven holes to take the lead.

His only real mistake came at the 9th hole which he bogeyed but other than that blemish it was yet another solid round.

“I can’t really worry about what everyone else is doing,” Campbell told the PGA of Australia after his round.  “I’ve got to just stick to my game. That’s all I can control.

“I didn’t play quite as well as I did yesterday. I missed a couple of greens and made some really good up-and-downs, which kind of kept me in it.

“It wasn’t my best stuff, but I hung in there all day.”

Campbell turned professional after the recent Asia Pacific Amateur Championship in Japan and is playing in just his third event as a professional, one of those when runner-up in South Austalia last weekend.

Despite being five off the lead, Smith is happy with his performance over the opening 36 holes.

“It probably wasn’t as bad as what it looked,” said Smith. “It actually felt pretty good.

“It just seems like there’s a lot of birdie chances out there if you take driver. It’s what I did yesterday and kind of worked out and today not so much.

“The putter was a little bit cold. I hit a lot of lips but still feel like I played some pretty solid golf. Just wasn’t my day kind of thing.”

19-year-old Dowling has shown in the professional events he has played to date that he is perhaps a future star of Australian golf and, in fact, finished 15th in this event last year.

The cut fell at 3 over par with 55 golfers making through to the final 36 holes.

Leaderboard

Cam Smith with standing in caddy and long-time coach Grant Field – image Australian Golf Media 

 

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Cam Smith adds new dimension to Queensland PGA Championship


Cam Smith in action during practice this week – image Australian Golf Media

This week’s Queensland PGA Championship at the Nudgee Golf Club in Brisbane’s eastern suburbs promises to provide the Australian golfing public with a taste of what is to come over the next four weeks or so on the PGA Tour of Australasia’s schedule.

Arguably Australia’s number one golfer, Cameron Smith, gets to display his wares to a local audience, having been raised in Brisbane before his incredible and rapid rise to golfing fame has him now as a resident of Florida.

Smith plays his first PGA Tour of Australasia event since the Australian Open eleven months ago and his first event in Australia since the LIV event in Adelaide in April but he brings a level of attention to this particular event not seen in several years.

Smith will also play next week’s NSW Open followed by the Australian PGA Championship again in Brisbane and the Australian Open in Melbourne and so the 27 year old will get the opportunity to play an extended period of time in front of home fans and hopefully much of that in contention.

In two week’s time Smith will look to join an exclusive club of Australian golfers to have won the Australian PGA Championship on four occasions having previously won twice at RACV Royal Pines and once at Royal Queensland and the next two weeks provide a great opportunity for him to have his game peaking for Australian golf’s flagship events.

Only Norman Von Nida, Kel Nagle and Billy Dunk have won four or more Australian PGA Championships and while this week’s event is no doubt important for Smith to perform well in he is no doubt keen to have his game at its best later in November.

Smith stands out by some margin as the most credentialed player in the field but as has been the case over the last few weeks on the PGA Tour of Australasian schedule, the involvement of many of Australia’s next wave of potentially successful professionals will provide a glimpse of the future in Australian men’s golf.

Smith will also have a stand-in caddy this week as his long time coach Grant Field takes on bag duties.

Recent winners, Jack Buchanan, Elvis Smylie and defending champion, Phoenix Campbell, who only turned professional recently along with Quinton Croker and Jasper Stubbs will provide plenty of strong opposition for Smith.

Professional golf is certainly not an exact science and there is no such thing as a certainty, so even allowing for Smith’s tremendous pedigree there are plenty of young emerging professionals who will fancy their chances against one of the game’s best.

Fairways being accessible to the public this week presents a great opportunity for galleries to get up close and personal with the play throughout the week and to witness at close quarters what might well turn out a David and Goliath battle at the Queensland PGA Championship.

Tee Times 


Nudgee Golf Club’s final hole – image Bruce Young 

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Seven Australasians to play Charles Schwab Cup Championship


Cameron Percy – late dropped shots proved costly but through to Tour Championship

The penultimate event of the PGA Tour Champions season for 2025 was completed this morning in Little Rock in Arkansas in which only was the title of the Simmons Bank Championship at stake but also the prospect of making the final 36 in the Schwab Cup standing to advance to the Tour Championship in ten days’ time.

The winner this week was Padraig Harrington who won his third event of the season by two shots over Y.E. Yang but several Australasians have assured themselves of starts at the Charles Schwab Cup Championship in Phoenix starting on November 7th.

Victorian Cameron Percy, in his first season at this level, finished in a share of 5th this week but perhaps equally as important was that his finish saw him just scrape into 36th position in the standings and assure him not only a start in the Charles Schwab Cup but full status on the PGA Tour Champions in 2025.

Percy raced to 7 under through 14 holes of today’s final round to get within one of leader Harrington but then dropped three consecutive shots to fall out of the top 36 in the standings.

A little help from others late in the day saw his place in the standings return to the top 36 and he has completed a successful first season.

Steve Allan, Steve Alker and Rod Pampling tied for 12th this week, Alker retaining his second position in the rankings, Pampling finishing 33rd in the standings and Allan just missing out when 39th overall.

Richard Green was not so good this week when 16th but such has been his game in 2024 he is in 6th place for the season and advances to Phoenix.

Michael Wright completed the final event of his rookie season in 24th place but has finished 54th in the overall standings and while not regaining full status for 2025 he will hopefully earn enough starts to take advantage of the experience he has gained this season.

Stuart Appleby finished 26th this week and is 33rd and on his way to Phoenix.

David Bransdon who finished 3rd last week to gain a start in this week’s event finished 34th this week and unfortunately just missed out in 38th place overall.

Greg Chalmers and Mark Hensby finished well back this week but had done enough in earlier events to be inside the top 36 and will also tee it up in Phoenix.

This week’s leaderboard

Schwab Cup Standing

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Voke and Antcliff improve Asian Tour standing in Bangkok

New Zealand’s Nick Voke – image courtesy of Asian Tour

Queensland’s Maverick Antcliff and New Zealand’s Nick Voke have finished in a share of 7th place in this week’s International Series Thailand event in Bangkok, each player earning US$44,000 and improving their standing on the Asian Tour’s Order of Merit.

Antcliff will move up four places to 23rd in the standings while Voke, who recorded his second 7th place in succession will jump to 45th in just five events on this season’s schedule.

Voke’s 7th place at Black Mountain last week earned the 30-year-old Auckland golfer a start this week, and he took advantage with a final round of 64 to advance his cause for status for 2025 on the Asian Tour.

31-year-old Antcliff birdied his final three holes of round four after a slow start to the final round, the strong finish making a considerable difference to his payday.  Antcliff had been just one off the lead through 36 holes.

Both Voke and Antcliff had been multiple winners on the China Tour earlier in their career.

Queensland’s Jed Morgan, a former Liv Tour golfer and the 2022 Australian PGA Championship winner, recorded his second-best finish of 2014 when he tied for 13th.

RESULTS

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Jack Buchanan’s hometown win his second in three weeks


Jack Buchanan – image courtesy of Australian Golf Media 

In what was a barnstorming finish to the Webex Player Series South Australia at the Willunga Golf Club south of Adelaide, South Australian Jack Buchanan has added a second PGA Tour of Australasia title to his young career with a final round of 62 to win by three over Victorian Phoenix Campbell, New South Wales’ Corey Lamb  and the leading woman Kathryn Norris.

Just two weeks ago, Buchanan  won the WA PGA Championship in Kalgoorlie and today, in front of his home fans, produced a round of eight birdies and an eagle to burst clear of a congested leaderboard and win and take a healthy lead in the PGA Tour of Australasia’s Order of Merit.

Buchanan played the Tartan Pro Tour in Scotland in 2024 and finished 3rd and 2nd in two events but on his return to Australia has shown the benefit of playing internationally with a stunning start to the summer of golf in his homeland.

Buchanan, a member of the Glenelg Golf Club in Adelaide, turned professional twelve months ago after representing Australia at the Eisenhower Trophy and recording a stellar amateur career, including runner-up at the Australian Amateur Championship in 2022.

Buchanan began the final round five shots off the lead held by Queenslander Brett Rankin but reached the turn in 31 to join the lead and built on that momentum with a final nine 31 to walk away with the title.

Last year’s Queensland PGA Champion as an amateur but now a professional and playing his first event for money, Phoenix Campbell, also flew home with a final round of 64 to share second with NSW’s Corey Lamb and the leading woman Kathryn Norris of WA in the mixed-gender event.

Results and Prizemoney 

 

 

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