Ogletree wins third Asian Tour event of year, Matt Jones 4th


Andy Ogltree – making a habit of winning trophies – image Paul Lakatos

American Andy Ogletree, a former US Amateur Champion, has further consolidated his lead on the 2023 Asian Tour Order of Merit with an emphatic seven-shot win at the International Series event near Newcastle in England.

For Ogletree, it was his third win of the season after earlier victories in Qatar and Egypt and he had to overcome a slow start on Thursday to do so, producing a total of 17 under par over the closing 54 holes to spreadegled the field.

“I don’t think I could hit it much better than I did this week,” said the 25-year-old, who banked US$360,000.

“The greens were super bumpy so it’s hard to tell exactly how my putting was, but I was pleased with how I played and my speed control coming down the stretch today was awesome. And it was nice to see a few putts go in, so we’re just gonna keep trying to get better every week. My game is in a really good spot against a world-class field, super honored to play the way I did.”

The field was littered with some of the lesser lights on the LIV Golf Tour and for Ian Poulter it was a chance to get back into contention again, the Englishman finishing runner-up, albeit seven shots back of the American.

Australia’s Matt Jones who has generally struggled on the LIV Golf Tour, finished in a share of 4th place some nine shots back of the winner.

Jones headed a large contingent of Australian and New Zealand players in the field, Victorian Terry Pilkadaris finishing the next best when he tied for 11th place.

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Daniel Gale wins second PGA Tour of Australasia title


Daniel Gale with his rather unique trophy – image Australian Golf Media 

New South Wales golfer, Daniel Gale has won his second PGA Tour of Australasia event by bookending his week with rounds of 65 to take out the NT PGA Championship at the Palmerston Golf Club near Darwin.

Gale opened with a round of 65 on Thursday and was still ahead of the field on Friday but fell two off the pace when Victorian Andrew Kelly took the lead through 54 holes.

Gale though would reel off another round of 65 on Sunday and despite a bogey at the last was able to comfortably win by four over Queensland’s Chris Crabtree.

Kelly would eventually finish in a share of 3rd place with Queensland’s Tim Hart, Victorian Matias Sanchez, and West Australian Ben Fergusson.

For Gale the win comes five years after his breakthrough victory at the PNG Open in 2018 but he has been four times runner-up in the meantime and this victory is seen as a deserved win.

Gale has recently returned from several months in the US where amongst other things he Monday qualified for the PGA Tour’s 3M Open in which he recorded a round of 60 just to get into the tournament. Although he missed the cut in that event, it was further experience for the talented 27-year-old.

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South Australian Jack Thompson starts well in International Series event


Jack Thompson – well placed at the halfway mark in England – file photo Australian Golf Media

South Australian, Jack Thomson, who earlier in the year led the Asian Tour’s Q School, finds himself just one shot from the lead at the halfway mark of the Asian Tour’s International Series event at Close House near Newcastle on Tyne in the northeast of England.

Thompson added a second round of 67 to be tied for 3rd place in the US$2 million event and just one off the lead held by American Jason Kokrak and Spain’s David Puig, both of whom are part of a large contingent from the LIV Golf Tour in this weekend’s event.

Thompson, who has missed his last three cuts in Asian Tour events, is a former winner of a PGA Tour of Australasia event when successful at the Gippsland Super 6 event in 2021 but after claiming a place on the Asian Tour in 2023 he has struggled to play to that level until now.

Thompson shares 3rd place with the current Asian Tour Order of merit leader, Andy Ogletree, former Australian Open Champion Abraham Ancer, and James Piot.

Both Ogletree and Piot are former US Amateur Champions while joint leader, Kokrak is a former winner of the Houston Open on the LIv Tour so Thompson is in elite company as he heads into the weekend.

Matt Jones and Travis Smyth are the next best of the Australians in a share of 9th place and two shots behind Thompson.

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Daniel Gale chasing second Australasian Tour title in Darwin


Daniel Gale – file photo by Bruce Young

New South Welshman Daniel Gale leads the second event of the 2023 / 2024 PGA Tour of Australasia schedule at the Halfway mark of the NT PGA Championship in Palmerston near Darwin.

Gale is chasing his second win on the PGA Tour of Australasia having won the PNG Open five years ago and having finished runner-up in this event that same season he has a liking for the venue.

The 27 year old led after an opening round of 65 yesterday and consolidated the lead with a round of 68 today to lead by one over former NSW Open and PGA Champion Aaron Townsend.

The round of the week thus far came today from Queensland’s Chris Wood whose 7 under par 64 allowed him to recover from an opening 75 and moved him into a share of 19th place and six from the lead. The round included nine birdies.

The $200,000 event is being played at the Palmerston Golf and Country Club.

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Karl Vilips knocked out early at US Amateur Championship


Vilips (right) shakes hands with the man who beat him in round one, Jackson Buchanan – image USGA

Australian Karl VCilips was the only Australasian to make it to the knockout phase of the US Amateur Championship at Cherry Hills in Colorado but unfortunately for the Stanford University golfer, he has lost his opening round encounter against American Jackson Buchanan.

Buchanan, who tied for the leading spot in the 36-hole qualifying strokeplay earlier in the week, was done early in the match after Vilips had birdied the 3rd hole but by the turn the match was all-square.

Buchanan then proceeded to win the 10th, 12th and 14th holes and although he lost the 13th, the margin proved too great for Vilips despite him clawing the margin back to 1 hole when he birdied the 17th.

Vilips would lose the last hole to lose the match 2 down.

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Karl Vilips rebounds to claim his place in US Am match play field.

Karl Vilips in action today – image courtesy of USGA

US-based Australian, Karl Vilips, is the only one of the six Australasians who began the 36-hole strokeplay phase of the US Amateur Championship to finish inside the top 64 and advance to the knockout stage of amateur golf’s most significant event.

Vilips, who is currently attending Stanford University in California, bounced back from an opening round of 75 with a round of 68 today and at even par finished in a share of 50th place amongst the 312 players who teed it up on Monday.

Vilips, born in Indonesia but raised in Perth before leaving for the US to attend high school and college, is a former quarter-finalist in this event, having reached that stage at the 2019 version at Pinehurst and at the age of just 15 won the Southern Amateur Championship in 2017.

Tomorrow Vilips faces a tough task when he takes on the man who shared the strokeplay honours, Jackson Buchanan of Georgia.

Australians Tony Chen and Jeffrey Guan and New Zealand’s Australian Amateur Champion, Kazuma Kobori, finished one shot from making it into the match play stage of the event.

New Zealand’s Josh Bai missed by five shots, and Sydney’s Asia Pacific Amateur Champion Harrison Crowe missed by a massive nine shots.

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Ruffels consolidates top spot on Epson Tour

Gabi Ruffels – file photo courtesy of PGA of America

The 2023 LPGA Tour has seen the emergence of two of Australia’s most promising young players in Grace Kim and Stephanie Kyriacou and in 2024 another will join the ranks when Victorian Gabi Ruffels takes up full membership.

Ruffels was already assured of graduating via the LPGA Tour’s feeder tour, the Epson Tour, even before this week’s event in Indiana but her third win of the season would appear to have locked in the top spot on the Epson Tour money list, and with the top ten moving on the LPGA Tour next season Ruffels is about to graduate to the next level.

Another seven tournaments remain on the Epson Tour schedule but Ruffels would appear to have a lock on the top spot and even if she was unable to retain that position she is guaranteed of graduating to the level her significant game has always promised.

Already the owner of four top twenty finishes in major events in women’s golf when she has had the opportunity, the former US Amateur Champion and runner-up has proven she has the game to handle the next level when she gets there.

Queensland’s Robyn Choi has produced four top tens in her last six starts (including an 8th place this week) to move to 16th position on the money list and opened up the door for herself to graduate at season’s end.

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Cam Davis stays alive in FedEx Cup Playoffs


Cam Davis – in fine, end-of-season form – file photo

Cam Davis’ impressive effort to share 6th place at the opening event of the FedEx Cup Playoffs in Memphis will ensure he progresses to next week’s BMW Championship in Illinois, the Sydney golfer’s final round of 67 having him in a seven-way tie for 6th.

Despite creating several opportunities over the closing nine holes, Davis was unable to secure the one birdie to follow his third birdie of the day at the 10th which would have allowed him to break clear of the large line-up in 6th place.

Davis will however pick up a cheque for US$584,000 in the US$20 million event and gets a chance at next week’s BMW Championship to advance inside the top 30 on the FedEx Cup table from his now 44th position and make it to the Tour Championship.

“I was doing my best,” said Davis when asked about that elusive one extra birdie. “I mean, I had a rough sort of estimate of where I felt like I needed to finish based on little things that I had seen throughout the day, but I wanted one more birdie, but it looks like I didn’t need it.

“That was a nice stressful but, at the same time, well-played sort of day for me.

“I would say the last three Sundays in a row have all been about the same level of stress and the same level of achievement for me. I’ve managed to put really good clean rounds together when the pressure has been on to keep moving forward, and yeah, it’s really satisfying to be able to know that I’ve got a tee time next week, so I can start looking forward to that.”

Jason Day was the only other Australian in the field and, although finishing 52nd this week, is now 21st on the FedEx Cup list and will also be at the BMW Championship. Day produced a final round of 66 and heads to Chicago with the confidence that will bring.

The winner of the event was Lucas Glover who birdied the first extra hole of a playoff to win his second event in succession following his win in Greensboro seven days ago and advanced to #4 in the FED Ex Cup standings after being outside the top 100 two weeks ago.

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Four Aussies and two New Zealanders in field for US Am


The US Amateur Trophy – Image Chris Keane USGA

Four Australians and two New Zealanders have made the field for this week’s US Amateur Championship at the Cherry Hills Country Club in Cherry Hills Village south of Denver in Colorado.

The 36-hole stroke-play phase begins tonight following which the leading 64 players advance to the knock-out, match play rounds.

Australians Harrison Crowe, Karl Vilips, Jeffrey Guan and Tony Chen will be joined by New Zealanders Kazuma Kobori and Josh Bai as they seek to emulate the deeds of Nick Flanagan (2003), Danny Lee (2008) and Curtis Luck (2016) as champions of golf’s greatest amateur event.

Crowe is the current Asia Pacific Amateur Champion and former NSW Open Champion, Vilips plays his golf at Stanford University and is a former winner of the Southern Amateur and a Quarter Finalist at the US Amateur, Jeffrey Guan qualified to gain a start this week via qualifying in New Jersey and Tony Chen moved to Australia from China as an 8-year-old but now plays collegiate golf in California and played his way into the field via qualifying in California.

Of the two New Zealanders in the field, Kobori is the current Australian Amateur Champion and qualified via qualifying before winning the recent Western Amateur near Chicago and Bai finished runner-up at the recent US Junior Amateur Championship.

Cherry Hills Country Club is no stranger to USGA events having staged nine previously including a women’s US Open and has been the home of three PGA Championships.

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Golf’s new star Lilia Vu adds second major of year


Lilia Vu with her second major trophy of 2023 – image Ladies European Tour

25 year old American, Lilia Vu, continued her breakthrough 2023 season overnight by winning not only the third LPGA Tour event of her career and of the season but her second major following on from her win at the Chevron Championship in April.

Vu not only won the AIG Women’s Open at Walton Heath she dominated the final day’s play after sharing the lead through 54 holes with England’s Charley Hull.

A final round of 67 saw her win by six over Hull with Korea’s Jiyai Shin another shot away in third place.

After struggling with her game for much of the time since her win at the Chevron, Vu was overcome with the win.

“It feels surreal to have this kind of Sunday and just to come out with a win, given the past couple months, I’ve been struggling with my game and just feeling good, and yeah, I’m really happy.

“Honestly I just wanted to win golf tournaments out here on the LPGA. It’s just been a crazy year for me, just doing pretty well at the beginning of the season and just hit a lull in the middle, just struggling. I thought at the U.S. Open after I played so bad, I didn’t know if I could ever win again.

“I mean, I was still just getting out the scar tissue from the U.S. Open and just playing so horribly there, and just not feeling like myself. I thought the Chevron and winning in Honda and Thailand, that was going to be it for me for my career.”

It is projected that Vu will vault up to #1 in the world following this victory, another milestone she is coming to terms with. After being outside the top 30 at the start of the year it has been an amazing surge.

“I never even imagined that I would win that honour and to be here today with that is so amazing. I just really want to thank my team for believing in me and helping me get to this point.”

The leading Australian was eventually Grace Kim who tied for 36th in an otherwise disappointing week for the Australasians.

Minjee Lee who began the week so well and was well placed heading into the weekend faded to finish in a share of 50th.

Kim and Lee were the only two of seven Australasians to make the weekend.

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