Robert MacIntyre chasing a return to Augusta National


Robert MacIntyre faces the media today – image Australian Golf Media 

Having never had the opportunity to hear Scotland’s Robert Macintyre speak, other than in television interviews, I was looking forward to today’s media conference at the Australian PGA Championship and I wasn’t let down by the 27-year-old’s beautifully understated manner.

The two-time winner and three-time runner-up on the DP World Tour and one of the stars in Europe’s year’s defeat of the Americans at the Ryder Cup in Rome has been a regular to Australia throughout his amateur and professional career, family in Melbourne making the trip just that much more special.

Currently 56th in the world ranking, one of the motivations for his appearance in this event and next week’s Australian Open, both jointly sanctioned between the PGA Tour of Australasia and the DP World Tour, is to elevate himself inside the top 50 by year’s end, guaranteeing himself another trip to the Masters where, as a left-hander, he has a great chance of building on his already impressive record at Augusta National.

“Yes, I get to see family and I’m chasing top 50 in the world,” said Macintyre when asked the motivation for coming to Australia so late in the year.

“If I can achieve that in the next two weeks I get in The Masters come April, so, I’ve got a lot to play for.  There’s a lot on the line and I also get to see some family within that.  For me, the biggest thing is getting to Augusta come April.

“I mean, I had a great opportunity in Qatar four weeks ago, I had a great opportunity in Dubai last week and I didn’t finish the way I wanted to. My wedge play has been, to be honest with you, abysmal.

“Last week on Sunday I dropped four shots inside 140 yards, on the Sunday.  There are four shots, there’s eight World Ranking points that would have taken me up to say 52nd in the world.  It’s such fine margins.

On the possibility of finishing inside the top 50 by year’s end and stamping his ticket to the Masters?

“I think if I win this week it’ll be very close.  I’m not sure, I’ve not seen what the world ranking points are going to be, but I’m sure it’s – I mean, it should be more than 10.  It should be, I’m guessing, 14, 15 with the new structure, 14, 15 with the new structure, which isn’t much, but it would be enough to get across that line.”

Macintyre now has a PGA Tour card courtesy of finishing inside the top 10 of the DP World Tour money list not otherwise exempt for the PGA Tour.

His schedule is going to change significantly but he is already looking ahead to just that.

“Yeah, so I’ve actually just signed my first rental property in the US. When I started playing golf, started playing professional golf, I never – I knew I was decent, I knew I was at a certain level. I’ve dreamed of playing certain events, winning certain events.  Did I believe it was going to happen – no.  To be honest, I didn’t.  It was just a dream; you dream as a kid.

“Things have started to happen and it’s been incredible but it’s moving fast.  I’m 27 year old, I’m not that young anymore but it is moving fast. I like home comforts. I’ve got my whole family, friends, I’m from my hometown.  I’ve not really got anyone outside of that and me and my girlfriend will move to Orlando in January and try and work things out and kind of wing it as much.”

The PGA Tour’s gain is definitely the DP World Tour’s loss, his first DP World Tour event not likely to be until the Scottish Open in July depending on how things go in the US.

“Potentially Scottish Open is probably (my first) – it’s so hard.  Only the best, best players in the world can juggle two tours and with everything going on in the PGA Tour and things, I think when you’re first starting out, you’ve got to go all in.

“Obviously, the European Tour is giving you that safety net.  It’s almost an invitation to go all in in the PGA Tour.  You obviously have to play your minimums to be eligible in case you don’t have a good year on the PGA Tour, that you can get your fallback.”

On the issues faced by left-handers and whether some courses suit better than others MacIntyre responded; “There’s one of these when I go back to Augusta, because I feel like the odds are stacked with you more than against you.  The majority of golf courses I feel are designed by ex-right-handed golfers, so the way they shape the greens are almost the opposite of Augusta.

“I’ve played it (Augusta National) twice now and finished something like 12th and 25th and I see it in my eyes.  It’s a dream that’s – one of my life goals was to play the Ryder Cup and win the Ryder Cup.  I achieved that.

“I’ve got another few goals, but one of them is to win a green jacket and I think I can do it. People around me think I can do it.  The hardest part is getting there.  Once you get there, you’ve got every chance of doing it. Yeah, it would be a lifelong dream.”

First things first however, and having produced such a good season in Europe and with such an incentive of Augusta and that he has made his way to the PGA Tour, then the performance of MacIntyre at Royal Queensland this week will be watched with interest by a large group of golf fans and not just Scots.

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Amy Yang elevates standing with Tour Championship win


Amy Yang – understated success as an LPGA Tour player – image Getty Images 

The CME Group Tour Championship win today by 34-year-old South Korean Amy Yang, her 5th on the LPGA Tour but her first on American soil, comes nearly 18 years after her playoff victory as a 16-year-old amateur at the Australian Ladies Masters at Royal Pines on the Gold Coast.

Such was the convincing nature of her win back in 2006, that many felt Yang would advance quickly to the elite of the game after turning professional later that year as the then-youngest member of the Ladies European Tour.

It has taken time to do so but this win in such a prestigious and lucrative event and against such a strong field takes her to another level in the female game and will do wonders for her as she looks to finally win a major title in 2024 after so many near misses.

Interestingly, her win today made her the oldest player to win on the LPGA Tour this season.

Yang’s connection to Australia and more especially the Gold Coast goes further however than just her spectacular victory all those years ago. Yang moved to Australia as a 15-year-old and attended Robina State High School where she has been one of the success stories of that school’s golf programme.

Yang was coached early in her time on the Gold Coast by Lawrie Montague who guided her to her Royal Pines success and then David Nable during her latter stages as an amateur and in the early stages of her professional career.

After winning twice on the Ladies European Tour, the status for which she earned as a result of her win on the Gold Coast, Yang finally earned full LPGA Tour status for the 2009 season and has held that status ever since.

While not winning as often as many felt she might, Yang had career earnings of close to US$12 million prior to this week where she has added another US$2 million as the first-place cheque for this week’s CME Group Tour Championship in Naples, Florida.

Yang is now the second-highest career earner amongst the South Koreans on the LPGA Tour, behind only Inbee Park.

21 times she has been inside the top ten (12 of them top 5’s) in major tournaments highlighting a capacity to play the big events well but perhaps unable to finish off the events as well as she might.

Yang, perhaps attempting to right that wrong, sought out assistance from mental coach Paul Dewland as she fought to focus on the present rather than the outcome.

“Yeah, at one point I was really stressed about my golf game and really didn’t know what to do. I thought maybe it’s a good time to see a mental coach and listen to what he thinks.

“Previously I worked are other mental coaches before and they were teaching me about stay positive and all this stuff. Paul was different. Paul was different.

“He encouraged me to accept all the negative stuff and help me with what things I can control and what things I cannot control.”

Today she discussed her nerves as she battled Nasa Hataoka and Alison Lee down the stretch and while her three-shot winning margin might suggest a relative ease of victory, she was engaged in a closely fought battle until birdies at her final two holes saw her draw clear.

A hole out for eagle from the fairway at the 13th assisted her cause but her win and the lucrative US$ 2 million first prize was not only richly deserved but well received by those who see her as one of the ‘good guys’ on the LPGA Tour.

“I still can’t believe I did it,” said Yang. “So great to have, and I am feeling honoured to have my first win in the U.S., especially CME Group Tour Championship, yeah.

“You know, not until I made the birdie putt on the 17th. You know, Nasa is such a great player and showed a lot of like good performance out there and I was feeling really nervous.

“You know, really like I had no idea where this was going. All I could do was just stick to my game and trust it.”

Yang has battled confidence and injury issues in her lengthy (17-year) professional career, in fact, two years ago she was wondering if she would be able to continue after suffering tennis elbow caused by a newly found interest in rock climbing.

“Maybe almost a year,” said Yang referring to her injury and the activity. “But towards the end I got really into it. I thought it was very fun so I overdid it. My forearm started hurting and it got up to tennis elbow.

“Back then, maybe like a year or two. Like I couldn’t hit the ball through. I couldn’t hit through the ball. I lost a lot of distance and scared about going for it and it took a while. I’m fully back now.”

Minjee Lee finished as the best of the Australians when she shared 8th place and earned another US$98,000, taking her season’s earnings to US$1,650,000.

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Ben Campbell’s impressive follow up in Jakarta


Ben Campbell – continues a late season resurgence – file photo Australian Golf Media

New Zealand’s Ben Campbell has followed up his outstanding win at last week’s Hong Kong Open by finishing 3rd in this week’s BNI Indonesia Masters and picking up another US$85,000.

It was not only that Campbell produced such an impressive follow-up to arguably the most important week of his golfing career, but, rather, the manner in which he did so.

A first round of 75 at the Royal Jakarta Golf Club could have been excused as the aftermath of such a win last week but he bounced back with rounds of 65, 63 and 65 to finish in 3rd place behind the tearaway winner, Gaganjeet Bhullar of India.

Campbell moves up one spot to 3rd on the 2023 Asian Tour Order of Merit.

Bhullar finished five shots ahead of his fellow Indian Karandeep Kochhar with Campbell another shot back in 3rd place.

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David Micheluzzi picks up where he left off with Vic PGA victory


David Micheluzzi – photo Australian Golf Media 

Victorian David Micheluzzi has essentially picked up where he left off seven months ago with a come-from-behind win at the Vic PGA Championship at Moonah Links on the Mornington Peninsula.

Micheluzzi was the leading player on last season’s PGA Tour of Australasia Order of Merit and returned to this tour two weeks ago after a lengthy break to finish runner-up in the Queensland Open after two wins and two runner-up finishes in the first few months of 2023 in the second half of the 2022 / 2024 PGA Tour of Australasian Order of Merit.

By topping the Australasian Tour’s Order of Merit last season, Micheluzzi earned full membership of the DP World Tour season beginning on November 23rd at this week’s Australian PGA Championship and he has shown in his first two events of the new Australasian season that he may well be a force to be reckoned with at the Australian PGA and Open Championships in the next two weeks.

His win today came after starting the final round six shots behind the immensely talented New Zealander Kamura Kobori who only turned professional two weeks ago after winning the 2023 Australian Amateur Championship, the 2023 Western Amateur (US) and leading the individuals at the World Amateur Teams Championship several weeks ago in Abuh Dhabi.

A double bogey at his second hole after taking three to extract himself from a greenside bunker gave little evidence as to what was to come for Micheluzzi who added seven birdies in his next twelve holes to move one clear of his fellow Victorian Ben Eccles and held that position over the closing few holes.

22-year-old Kobori felt the pinch today after a bogey at the first hole and as is so often the case with the sort of lead he enjoyed when ahead by six through 54 holes, such can disappear quickly as it is often a question of the leader not knowing whether to attack or defend the lead.

Kobori is however a significant talent who will learn from the experience and there will be many occasions in the future where the experience he gained today will assist him to many wins. Let’s not forget also he defeated a not-dissimilar field to win the New Zealand PGA Championship as a 17-year-old amateur.

For Micheluzzi however, he will move to 3rd on the 2023 /2024 PGA Tour of Australasia Order of Merit behind only today’s runner-up Ben Eccles and The Gippsland 6 winner Kerry Mountcastle.

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Minjee Lee poised at CME Group Tour Championship


Minjee Lee in action in round two – image Getty Images 

Australia’s Minjee Lee is just one shot off the pace at the halfway stage of the US$7 million CME Group Tour Championship in Naples, Florida.

Lee added a second round of 67 to her opening 64 to trail only Alison Lee and Nasa Hataoka in the season-ending event, sharing 3rd place with Amy Yang and Ruoning Yin.

Lee has found a rich vein of form late in the season having won two events and been runner-up and 6th in four of her last five starts to be in 6th place in the race to the CME Globe entering this week’s event at the Tiburon Golf Club.

Lee has played the event limited to the leading 60 players on the season-long Race to the Globe on eight occasions for a best of 5th two years ago, but given the manner in which she is playing currently and the position she has created over the opening two days a breakthrough win in the lucrative event is a strong possibility.

“My putting, it kind of — wasn’t as hot, say, the first half of the year,” said Lee after her round.

“So I feel like I worked really hard in that area of my game, so to see it all kind of coming together at Kroger and Korea and even here, I’m feeling like — it feels good because you get rewarded for how much effort you but you have put into that area.”

It is a significant event on the LPGA Tour schedule and Lee is keen to improve on her previous showings.

“It’s pretty great to be obviously a part of the LPGA and be a part of a tournament that Terry has elevated to such great heights.

“So, you know, to win it would be such a great honour. Obviously just winning on the LPGA is really hard, so it’s always special and always good if you’re able to be at the top of the leaderboard come the last day.

“So, yeah, no, hopefully it’s a good weekend and we get to be in that position come the end of the day on Sunday.”

Other Australians in the field are Grace Kim 16th, Hannah Green 33rd, Sarah Kemp 52nd and Stephanie Kyricaou 55th.

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Kazuma Kobori’s immediate impact as a professional

Kazuma Kobori – in action this week – image Australian Golf Media

New Zealand’s recently turned professional, Kazuma Kobori, has made yet another statement early in his career in the paid ranks by leading the Vic PGA at the halfway mark.

Kobori, from Rangiora near Christchurch, turned professional immediately after the Asia Pacific Amateur Championship two weeks ago and in his first outing at last week’s Queensland PGA Championship, he finished 9th.

Top six finishes at both the New Zealand Open and PGA Championships earlier in the year highlighted the 22-year-old’s readiness for life as a professional followed by topping the PGA Tour of Australasia Q School but he remained amateur and in recent weeks was the leading individual at the World Amateur Teams Championship (Eisenhower Trophy).

Kobori, the current Australian Amateur Champion, has already won a professional event on the PGA Tour of Australasia when successful as a 17-year-old at the New Zealand PGA Championship and his future already looks assured.

Today at Moonah Links on the Mornington PeninsulaKobori added a second consecutive round of 67 to open up a three-shot lead over Victorian-based Queenslander and tournament invite, James Gibellini and former DP World Tour player Maverick Antcliff of Queensland.

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Sam Jones and Haydn Barron earn DP World Tour cards

Haydn Barron – file photo Australian Golf Media

New Zealand’s Sam Jones and West Australian Haydn Barron have secured the right to play the DP World Tour next season by finishing inside the top 25 and ties following the completion of 108 holes in Tarragona, Spain.

In all 33 players finished inside the required mark.

27-year-old Jones, from Taranaki in New Zealand’s North Island, played collegiate golf in the US but has won on New Zealand’s Charles Tour as an amateur and this year represented New Zealand at the World Amateur Teams Championship (Eisenhower Trophy).

Jones finished in a very impressive 7th place this week while Barron tied for 10th place in the exhaustive qualifying process.

Jones’ performance was made even more meritorious as he went through all three stages of qualifying to claim his DP World Tour card.

Barron, who finished 4th at last year’s Australian Open in Melbourne and earned the right to play the Open Championship this year, gave an indication his game was in good shape when he finished runner-up at the recent West Australian PGA Championship in Kalgoorlie.

When asked how he felt after securing his card Barron would say; “I don’t know really. It has been a stressful week. I just tried to hang in there and make pars but I am just so happy. It’s a dream to play the DP World Tour and am just speechless.”

West Australians Hayden Hopewell and Connor McKinney made the 72-hole cut but finished outside the required mark and will earn conditional status.

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RSM Classic offers last chance saloon for Australians


Harrison Endycott – seemingly assured of conditional status but a big week would help – file photo Golf NSW

The final event of the 2022 / 2023 PGA Tour season begins on Thursday when the RSM Classic on St Simons Island in Georgia gets underway.

The event provides one last chance for those on the bubble as far as their status for next season is concerned to either maintain or improve their standing in their quest for starts on the PGA Tour in the new season.

Amongst the field this week are four Australians, Aaron Baddeley, Harrison Endycott, Cameron Percy and Greg Chalmers with only Baddeley assured of retaining full status in 2024.

The leading 125 on the season-long FedEx Cup points standing at the completion of this event gives players access to all Full-Field Events and THE PLAYERS Championship next season. Nos. 126-150 will earn conditional status, unless otherwise exempt.

Baddeley at 107 appears safe but for Endycott, while safe for conditional status, he needs a big week if he is to regain the full status he earned via the Korn Ferry Tour in 2022.

Percy at 159 needs a very good week to sneak back inside the top 50 and be assured of at least conditional status while Chalmers, at 219, will continue to rely on his Past Champions status to gain at least a few starts next season.

FedEx Cup Standings

 

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Four Australasians in season ending DP World Tour Championship

Ryan Fox – file image courtesy of USGA

The 2023 DP World Tour’s schedule comes to an end this week when the season’s finale, the DP World Tour Championship, is played at the Jumeira Estates in Dubai.

The leading fifty players on this year’s Race to Dubai, following last week’s Nedbank Challenge in South Africa, are eligible to play the event in which three-time winner Jon Rahm will start as the favourite along with two-time champion Rory McIlroy and Viktor Hovland.

Four Australasians have played their way into the field headed by New Zealand’s Ryan Fox followed by Australians Min Woo Lee and Lucas Herbert and New Zealand’s Daniel Hillier.

Fox will play the event for the 4th occasion, Lee and Herbert their third while Hillier is on debut after his great win at the British Masters this year has been the catalyst for his inclusion.

The best any of the Australasians in this week’s field have done in this event was when Lee finished 12th last year.

The winner this week takes home a US$3.3 million first-place cheque in addition to his share of a bonus pool for the final placings in the season-long Race to Dubai.

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Steve Alker’s amazing run continues in Phoenix


Steve Alker – photo Getty Images 

Steve Alker’s 7th PGA Tour Champions victory in Phoenix this past weekend at the Charles Schwab Cup Championship to finish the 2023 season as the runner-up in the season-long Charles Schwab Cup, further highlights what a remarkable 27 months it has been for the 52-year-old New Zealander since first joining the tour for the over fifties in August of 2021.

Nobody, not even Alker himself I would think, could have imagined the level of success he has reached in such a short time and, in many cases, against and ahead of players who were considerably more credentialed before they too embarked on a career amongst the over fifties.

Alker began the final round of the final Charles Schwab Cup event of the season with a four-shot lead but as is so often the case that sort of lead can quickly disappear despite the manner in which he had been playing over the first 54 holes.

He would though hold off strong challenges from Stephen Ames and Ernie Els to win by one to claim the US$528,000 first prize and the US$500,000 bonus for finishing runner-up in the season long series.

“You know, just trying to get my swing together a little bit, it wasn’t quite there today,” said Alker after the win when asked about a birdie at the 9th to settle things down after a struggling start to his final round. “But the putt was huge and just kind of settled me down I hit a great tee shot on 10 and kind of felt good after that. I made it exciting here at 18, but that wasn’t the plan, I tell you.”

“Another multiple-win season,” said Alker when asked if he could have imagined his success when embarking on this journey.

“I didn’t get it done this year. but Stricker had an amazing year, he was phenomenal, so we were chasing him all year. But to get second after going first last year, that means a lot just to keep the consistency. And I get a couple of wins, it’s nice. The guys are just getting better out here and just pushing harder, so you’ve just got to try a little bit better every year.”

The Charles Schwab Cup had already been claimed even before last week’s first shot was hit in anger with Steve Stricker so far in front of his rivals that even the forced withdrawal due to an illness to his father could not prevent him from claiming the trophy.

For Alker however, it followed a 2022 season in which he had won the Charles Schwab Cup and finished 3rd behind Padraig Harrington in the 2022 version of this week’s event.

The most stunning aspect of Alker’s success on the PGA Tour Champions is the turnaround of what had been a relatively mediocre regular tour career into one of the most successful in the early stages of a PGA Tour Champions career.

In August of 2021 Alker, like so many other hopefuls turning the age of 50, threw his hat in the ring at the Boeing Classic in Washington State in the hope of pre-qualifying for the event. He managed to do that by earning one of the only four spots available that week.

Not only did he secure a start he took full advantage by finishing 7th behind Rod Pampling and guaranteed himself a start the following week. In a total of ten starts in the remainder of the 2021 season, Alker recorded nine top tens including a win and the rest as they say is history.

Alker now owns 7 PGA Tour Champions titles, and has accrued US$7.3 million in earnings in just 27 months and, although some US$27 million behind the all-time PGA Tour Champions money leader, Bernhard Langer, given Alker has played just 53 events compared to the 340 by the German golfer he is making considerable headway on the now 66-year-old Langer.

But, it is not only the number of wins for Alker, it has been his amazing consistency recording 31 top-five finishes in his 53 starts.

Alker turned professional in 1995 and won a small tournament in the Pacific Islands before winning the Queensland Open late that year. This writer happened to be the on-course commentator for the ABC’s coverage of that event at Windaroo Lakes south of Brisbane and so impressed was I with the immaculately tidy game of the then 24-year-old I figured a highly successful career lay ahead.

Alker has admittedly been successful but he struggled to reach the elite level. After the then almost obligatory couple of years in Europe he headed to North America where he played in Canada and on the then Buy.Com Tour before graduating to the PGA Tour in 2003.

Unable to retain his playing privileges Alker returned to the Nationwide Tour (name change in 2003) before heading back to Europe in 2007 and returning to the USA in 2010 for good after a win at the co-sanctioned NZPGA Championship in Christchurch. He regained his PGA Tour playing rights for 2014 but again it was short-lived and he played out his regular tour career on the Web.Com and Korn Ferry Tour.

By playing competitively until he turned 50 in August of 2021 he was tournament sharp when the opportunity arose to qualify for a PGA Tour Champions event and he has subsequently become one of the dominant figures since his arrival along with the likes of Bernhard Langer, Padraig Harrington, and Steve Stricker.

Alker possesses a very simple but technically sound and effective golf swing in which very little that can’t be fixed in a hurry can go wrong and this along with his fitness and health has worked wonders for him at this level.

It is hard to imagine that this level of success can not continue for several more years to come for the affable now Arizona-based man from Hamilton in New Zealand’s Waikato province.

Charles Schwab final standings 

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