Steve Alker moves to third in Schwab Cup


Steve Alker – file photo courtesy of Montana Pritchard

Steve Alker has today produced his fourth runner-up finish of the season when completing the Constellation Furyk and Friends event in Jacksonville, Florida just one shot from the winner, Brett Quigley.

Quigley needed an impressive up and down at the last to hold off Alker who produced one of the better final rounds to all but catch him.

The finish has moved Alker to 3rd place in the Schwab Cup behind only Steve Stricker and Bernhard Langer with earnings of US$1,856,000 and although well behind the leader, Stricker, it has already been another successful year for the New Zealander.

In addition to the four runner-up finishes, came the win at the Insperity event in April along with a 3rd place finish at the event which started it all for him two years ago, the Boeing Classic in August, and so Alker continues on his remarkable resurgence in the professional ranks since joining the PGA Tour Champions as a qualifier in August of 2001.

“Yeah, the game’s just started coming around, said the 52-year-old.” The ball-striking has been the best the last few weeks it’s been for a while, so tidy that up. This week was just a few more putts here and there, an up-and-down, it was that kind of week. So nice putt there by Quigs on the last, that was a huge up-and-down, so credit to him.

“I had a few weeks off, St. Louis and Sioux Falls, which gave me just time to regroup and get things together. I’ve got some golf courses coming up I like. Richmond obviously I’m defending and home game in Phoenix, so some nice weeks coming up.”

Rod Pampling was the next best of the Australasians when he finished 10th

SCHWAB CUP STANDINGS

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Australians miss PGA Tour cards at Korn Ferry Tour Championship


Rhein Gibson – leading Australian but will now head to Q School in the hope of a PGA Tour return – file photo

The four Australians in this week’s Korn Ferry Tour Championship in Indiana have missed out on a chance to gain their PGA Tour playing rights for 2024, failing to finish inside the top 30 in the season-long race for the right to play at the higher level.

Rhein Gibson finished the season in 40th place, Brett Drewitt, 43rd, Curtis Luck 47th and Dimi Papdatos 67th.

Papadatos did best of the four this week when he finished 14th but he would move only two places to his final 67th position.

Luck was 20th this week, Gibson 36th and Drewitt 60th.

All four will however have another chance with Gibson, Drewitt and Luck advancing to the Final Stage of the reintroduced PGA Tour School in December and Papadatos tackling the Second Stage of that same Tour School in November.

Final Points Table 

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Ruffels LPGA future confirmed Choi narrowly misses

Gabi Ruffels – tops the Epson Tour money list – image USGA

Queenslander Robyn Choi’s share of 14th place at the Epson Tour’s season-ending Tour Championship in Florida has seen her narrowly miss a return to the LPGA Tour via the secondary tour.

Needing to be inside the top ten on the money list at season’s end in order to return to the LPGA Tour in 2024, Choi likely needed a top ten this week to get the job done but despite a desperate late charge in which she finished birdie, eagle for a round of 67 she has slipped to 12th in the overall rankings.

Choi will still have one last chance however when she tees it up in the LPGA Tour’s Q Series in December where the leading 45 players gain their LPGA Tour playing rights.

The only Australian to graduate therefore was Victorian Gabi Ruffels who did it in style with three wins for the Epson Tour season to top the money list and she is expected to be a welcome and successful addition to the Australian contingent on the LPGA Tour.

SCORES

FINAL ORDER OF MERIT

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Simon Hawkes wins WA Open and takes early Order of Merit lead

Simon Hawkes – photo PGA Tour of Australasia

Tasmanian Simon Hawkes is the 2023 WA Open Champion following a tightly fought final round at the Joondalup Country Club north of Perth.

Hawkes, who began the day four shots ahead of the field, had to fight off a spirited challenge from Scottish-born West Australian Connor McKinney, the 2022 Australian Amateur Champion, and South Australian Jason Norris to win his second event on the PGA Tour of Australasia having won the Vic Open in 2018.

Hawkes, currently ranked outside the top 2000 in the world, put together three consecutive rounds of 67 to establish a sizable lead over Norris heading into the final round but managed to hold on to win by two after an outstanding up and down after a lengthy bunker shot at the last led to a final birdie.

Hawkes, who has worked on the construction of the new Seven Mile Beach Course in his home state of Tasmania, collected a cheque for A$31,500 and established an early lead in the 2023 / 2024 Challenger PGA Tour of Australasia Order of Merit ahead of NT PGA winner Daniel Gale.

It was a welcome return to contention for Norris who has been playing events on the European Senior Tour this year but who put together several good finishes on last year’s PGA Tour of Australasia including when 10th at the Australian Open won by Adrian Meronk.

For McKinney, the Australian Amateur Champion 18 months ago, this is a continuation of a solid start to his professional career having produced several good finishes in his rookie Australasian Tour season and playing Challenge Tour events in Europe this year.

The Australasian Tour stays in WA for this coming week’s WAPGA Championship at the Kalgoorlie Golf Course.

 

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Australian PGA Tour hopes fade at Korn Ferry Tour Championship

Dimi Papadatos – doing best of Australians this week but PGA Tour hopes all but gone – image Bruce Young

The fate of Australians attempting to gain their PGA Tour cards via the Korn Ferry Tour hangs in the balance this morning after the season-ending Korn Ferry Tour Championship in Indiana reached the halfway stage.

The leading 30 golfers on the season-long points table earn the right to play at the higher level next season but all four Australians in the field have a serious if impossible task over the final 36 holes if they are to do so.

Rhein Gibson entered the event in 36th place in the season-long standings and needed a solo 21st or better if he was to return to the PGA Tour but in 55th place at the halfway stage this week he needs something special over the weekend.

Brett Drewitt began the week in 39th place but has slipped to 42nd following his opening 36 holes, he too in a share of 55th place heading into the weekend. He needs a finish of solo 17th or better if he is to regain the PGA Tour card he had previously.

Curtis Luck began the week in 47th place and needing a solo 4th or better his chances now appear very slim as he is in 33rd place at the halfway stage.

Dimi Papadatos essentially needs to win this week and after a good start on day one, he has slipped a share of 17th and is currently seven shots from the leader.

SCORES

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Robyn Choi starts well in LPGA Tour card quest

Queenslander Robyn Choi began this week’s Epson Tour Championship Florida in 11th place in season-long standings and, knowing she needed a good solid week to jump inside the top ten, she has begun the 72-hole event well and at the halfway stage she finds herself sharing 15th place with rounds of 69 and 67 at the LPGA International in Daytona Beach.

Whether that will be good enough by week’s end to gain one of the ten LPGA Tour cards for next season remains to be seen but she has made a good start to what is one of the most important events of her career.

Victoria Ruffels, already a three-time winner on the Epson Tour this season and guaranteed graduation to the bigtime next year, is well placed in 4th position after 36 holes and trailing leader Michelle Zhang of China by four shots.

SCORES

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Harrison Endycott finds crucial late season form in Mississippi

Harrison Endycott – file photo Bruce Young

Sydney golfer Harrison Endycott entered this week’s Sanderson Farms Championship in Jackson Mississippi knowing he needed something special in the remaining PGA Tour events he had access to this season if he was to retain his playing privileges for next season.

Endycott has struggled for much of his rookie season on the PGA Tour and has in fact come off a run which has seen him miss his last five cuts in succession.

Beginning this week’s event Harrison was 131st on the FedEx Cup points table and if he is to regain his card for next season he needs to be inside the top 125.

Somehow, after such a difficult run of late Endycott, a member of the Australian Eisenhower Trophy winning team in 2016, put together an opening round of 67 and followed it up with a round of 65 today at the Country Club of Jackson to be tied in 2nd place and one shot off the lead held by American Ben Griffin in the US$8.2 million event.

While it is still early days yet, Endycott has improved to 100th in the standings from his opening 131st.

“Yeah, look, I’ve been putting in some really hard work over the last couple weeks, said the  I think I was dead last in putting in Napa after Friday and it wasn’t like I was putting bad. It felt a lot closer than what it was. They just weren’t going in.

“When the coach rang me and said, what’s going on, I don’t know. Like they’re just not going in. So did some really good work over the last couple weeks. Swing feels great.

“Game has just been trending in the right spot, and it was nice to play well the last couple days.”

“It’s been really frustrating over the last few months, the last few tournaments leading into Wyndham. It just was not happening. So much was going wrong out there. I didn’t feel like I was doing 100 percent a great job off the golf course, too, and just results were kind of taking control of that.

“Having some time off after Wyndham really — didn’t change anything, but practiced a little bit smarter and just getting a little bit better with that has definitely helped.

“I definitely feel like it’s building in the right direction. I was playing some good golf with the guys and it was nice to take some money off some friends last week.

“It’s heading in the right direction, and I’m looking forward to tomorrow.”

SCORES

 

 

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Ryan Fox well placed to defend Alfred Dunhill Links Championship


Will Ryan Fox be sitting on the Swilcan Bridge again on Sunday? File photo Getty Images 

At the halfway stage and with one round to go before the cut is made at the Alfred Dunhill Links Championship in and around St Andrews, defending champion, Ryan Fox, is nicely placed to repeat his heroics of twelve months ago.

The New Zealander, who has an excellent record on links layouts, is in a share of 6th place and four shots off the pace being set by successful Ryder Cupper, Matthew Fitzpatrick.

Fox added a 69 at the Kingsbarns Course today to his opening 66 at Carnoustie on day one and with just the Old Course at St Andrews to go before those making the cut play the final round at St Andrews, he is on track for a possible repeat of last year’s win in which he finished the event strongly.

Fitzpatrick, playing with his mother in the pro-am format, leads by one over Spain’s Elvira Nacho and Scotland’s Grant Forrest, the Englishman reeling off a second round of 64 at Kingsbarns. Playing the event for the 7th occasion Fitzpatrick has yet to record a top ten but he is the one they have to beat this weekend.

David Micheluzzi, the leader of the PGA Tour of Australasia Order of Merit and who becomes a DP World Tour member next season, is the next best of the Australasians at 6 under and three behind Fox after his round of 68 at St Andrews today.

SCORES

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Australians face important Korn Ferry Tour week

Rhein Gibson – file photo

The final event of the 2023 Korn Ferry Tour season, the US$1.5 million Korn Ferry Tour Championship, is played in Newburgh, Indiana this week with PGA Tour cards up for grabs for the 75 players (73 after two pulled out) who have made it to this, potentially, career-changing week.

At the completion of the event on Sunday the leading 30 players on the season-long points race will have their PGA Tour playing rights for next season and therefore access to the riches which that tour offers.

Amongst that group are four Australians and the scenarios each face in order to finish inside the top 30 are as follows.

Rhein Gibson is currently 36th on the list and needs to finish solo 21st or better to be on his way back to the PGA Tour. Early in the season, after he had won an event and finished inside the top ten in four other starts at about the same time, Gibson looked a shoe in to be back on the bigtime, but he has not made the weekend in any of his last five cuts and will need a turnaround if he is to get the job done.

Likewise, Brett Drewitt was flying at the start of the season with numerous top tens but his form too has fallen away of late, missing 14 of his last 16 cuts and if he is to return to the PGA Tour he needs to finish solo 17th or better this week.

Curtis Luck produced a season-best finish when runner-up recently, giving him hope to get to the PGA Tour but in 47th place currently he needs to finish solo 4th  better to do so.

Dimi Papadatos finished runner-up in Chile early in the season to give him hope of making it to the PGA Tour for the first time but there have been plenty of missed cuts since and he will need to win this week.

Leaderboard

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LPGA Tour cards up for grabs at Epson Tour Championship

Gold Coast’s Robyn Choi – faces a big week – file photo

2023 LPGA Tour cards are up for grabs at this week’s Epson Tour Championship in Daytona Beach in Florida, with the leading ten players on the Epson Tour money list at the completion of this week’s event on their way to the LPGA Tour next season.

Victorian Gabi Ruffels is already guaranteed of a move to the next level courtesy of a magnificent season during which she has won on three occasions and been inside the top 6 on three other occasions.

Ruffels currently leads the money list and is one of three players who are assured of graduation irrespective of this week’s results.

For Queenslander, Robyn Choi, however, she faces an important week in her career. Currently 11th on the money list she is only US$200 behind the 10th place player and will likely need only a top 50 or so from the field of 108 to be assured of heading to the LPGA Tour.

The former University of Colorado golfer has been very consistent this season recording six top tens including a runner-up finish two starts ago.

New Zealand’s Amelia Garvey is currently 33rd on the list and likely needs to win this week to have any chance of gaining higher playing privileges next season and even that might not be enough.

Race for the Card Money List

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