Afternoon trio edge ahead at Australian PGA Championship

Min Woo Lee – one of three leaders at the completion of day one – photo PGA of Australia

One of the features of the opening day of the Fortinet Australian PGA Championship was the consistency of conditions throughout the day.

From the early starters who ventured out onto the Royal Queensland layout at 6.00m to the afternoon who began their rounds at 1.00pm, gentle breezes and warm conditions prevailed, ensuring scoring over the par 71 layout would be good and so it was.

At the completion of the day’s play three players are tied at the top of the leaderboard at 6 under, further highlighting that conditions were no worse for the afternoon field than was the case in the morning.

Adam Scott was the best of the morning wave of players but it would be Perth golfers, Min Woo Lee and Jason Scrivener and NSW’s John Lyras who emerged as the day one leaders following their afternoon rounds of 65 to lead by one over Scott, fellow Queenslanders Brad Kennedy and Anthony Quayle, Korean Jeunghung Wang and South Australian Peter Cooke.

Lee is one of Australian golf’s brightest prospects, often living in the shadow of his US Women’s Open winning sister Minjee although slowly but surely emerging as a star on the DP World Tour in his own right having won two events there.

The 25 year old was delighted with his effort and after finishing his 2022 DP World Tour season off strongly in recent weeks he brings form to the event, along with a 4th place finish over this layout when the event was played here earlier in 2022.

“No, it was awesome,” said Lee.  “Very solid, one mistake, a bad drive on 10, but other than that, it was a very solid day approach-wise and off the tee and a very good day on the greens.  So, if I can do that the next few days, it will be very nice.”

Lee made reference to the benefit of having played the RQ layout previously.

“Just going back to a course that you’ve already played, it is a very beneficial thing.  Just to know where to miss it and just the ins and outs of the course.  So yeah, it definitely was helpful.”

Scrivener has also played the DP World Tour in recent years but by his own admission he has not had a good season perhaps diluting his focus on Europe by playing in the US when opportunities arose.

Until this year he had steadily been making good progress in Europe and intends to focus more on that tour in 2023 with just the occasional visit to the Korn Ferry Tour in the US where he now has conditional status.

When asked what his goals are heading forward he responded; “A lot of statistical goals and process goals that I’ve put in place with my team.  Probably going to focus on Europe next year more so than this year.  I tried to do a bit of Korn Ferry and a bit of European Tour, so my goal is definitely to get one of those PGA Tour cards at the end of the year.  That’s probably the main focus.”

Scrivener has played the layout previously and benefited with a round at Royal Queensland with defending champion Jed Morgan recently.

“I played in the Australian Amateur here years ago, but very different; a lot firmer and trickier than it was back then.  I had a practice round with Jed (Morgan) the other day, which really helped.  He’s a local and kind of helped us out, which is really important around here.  Local knowledge is pretty valuable.  Yeah, I played smart, picked my chances today to be aggressive and then others I was quite conservative.”

Lyras has been performing consistently in PGA Tour of Australasia events in recent months including when contending before finishing 5th at this year’s Vic Open. He made mention of such in his post round media chat.

“My form’s been pretty good,” he said. “I probably hit my irons as good as I’ve hit them in a long time today.  First, 10, 11 holes it could have been really, really low.  I struggled with the speed of the greens a little bit and had to kind of make some adjustments coming in.  It’s nice to hit a few good putts coming into the last four, five holes, but there was a lot of potential to be a lot lower today.

“It’s (The Vic Open) definitely an experience that has definitely helped me grow, a bit of character building.  It just helps me realise that I’m good enough to be out here and I belong.  That’s all I can ask for – just keep coming out here and putting in the work, doing the work behind closed doors and being able to put myself out here.

Scoring was very good on the opening day thanks to a golf course that perhaps needs wind to defend itself.

A massive 68 players are under par at the completion of the opening day suggesting a cut score of around 1 or 2 under will be required to make it to the weekend.

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Organisers dream gets Australian PGA Championship underway


Adam Scott acknowledges the large crowd at Royal Queensland this morning – photo PGA of Australia

The tournament promoters at the Australian PGA Championship could not have scripted a better start to the Fortinet Australian PGA Championship any better.

The two star attractions in the event, locals Adam Scott and Cameron Smith, completed their morning rounds in 66 and 68 respectively and as they left the course at 10.40 they held the first and second positions on the leaderboard.

They, along with the second highest world ranked player in the field, Ryan Fox, enjoyed near perfect scoring conditions after teeing off at 6.00am Queensland time in front of a large crowd, attracted by the international success of Cameron Smith in particular who is not only a local Brisbane golfer but a member of Royal Queensland.

But it was Adam Scott who produced many high quality iron shots to take the early lead with an outward nine of 31 to take the lead at 4 under before adding another at the 2nd hole (his 11th) to move to 5 under.

Bogeys at his 13th and 14th holes were followed by another birdie at his 16th and one final birdie at the last for his round of 66 and as he left the course at 10.40  he led by two over Cameron Smith whose closing nine of 32 allowed him to recover from a sluggish start to the round.

Scott acknowledged the perfect conditions and his pleasure at the manner in which he played.

“Yeah it was good, I mean, conditions couldn’t be better and you want to take advantage of those morning rounds.  Overall, there was some pretty solid play from me today.  A couple of squirrely shots on the back nine but yeah, I’m very pleased with that.  It was all really solid stuff.”

Scott also made mention of the return of Steve Williams to his bag and the ease of how they have slotted back into their old routine.

“Yeah, it was great. He obviously hasn’t been out at any events for quite a long time, so I think he was pretty excited. We came out and played Tuesday morning, it’s quite easy. I may have changed, but I know he’s not and so I knew what to expect when we came out and to fall back into familiar routines was pretty good.  So, it was a good start and hopefully we’ve got a few more good ones in it.”

Scott also paid credit to the manner in which Smith is handling his increased profile after such a great year, an experience he himself has had after winning the Masters in 2013.

“Cam has had a rise to stardom this year. He’s being pulled in all kinds of directions I’m sure, but it’s something he’s probably learnt pretty quickly to manage at big events.

“I get to observe from fairly nearby to Cam as practice round buddy or whatever, he does a really good job of focusing when he needs to focus and he has a good support team around him to take care of a lot of distractions.

“I really don’t have too many worries about Cam, but hopefully he can enjoy the experience as well, because that month of golf or so when I came home that year is one of the great memories of my career.  You bringing it up jogs my memory of it and I just had a great month kind of celebrating with everybody.”

Smith himself suggested it took him a while to get into the groove of things on day one.

“Definitely felt a little bit tired this morning, just the brain was a little bit foggy,” said Smith. “I kind of found it hard I guess to really concentrate out there and commit to shots.  I was actually hitting the ball pretty nicely on the range and just didn’t feel that comfy out there.  But it came round the back nine and finished off well.”

“I’ve definitely enjoyed it, but it for sure has been long,” added Smith referring to a week where he has had a lot of commitments.

“I had yesterday afternoon off; I couldn’t wait to get home and have a big nap.  So, I did that and had a good sleep last night.  Another afternoon off, another good rest, teeing off a little bit later tomorrow so hopefully the brain and the body are working tomorrow and we can go out there and try and chase them down.”

One of the latter players in the morning field, Maverick Antcliff, was another to shine. The Beaudesert golfer who has played the DP World Tour in recent years but who has struggled in 2022, played collegiate golf in the US before winning events in China and then joining the European Tour.

This season, however, he has lost status on the DP World Tour and unable to regain his card via the recent Q School in Spain, he is resigned to playing events on the Challenge Tour in 2023 unless of course something very special happened this week in an event jointly sanctioned by the DP World Tour.

Antcliff moved into a share of second place with China’s Yan Wei Liu when the morning field was done, his round of 67 having him just one behind Scott and one ahead of a large number at 3 under.

“To be honest, I don’t particularly love the golf course, it doesn’t really suit my eye, said Antcliff despite his impressive start. It’s in great condition though.

“But I’ve been playing well for a while, to be honest, I just haven’t really been putting that well.  So just to see a few go in and stuff like that.  Yeah, I’ve been putting in a lot of hard work, so I’m not really surprised, no.”

Liu is currently ranked 900th in the world and earned his place in the field as a result of making it to the final stage of DP World Tour qualifying recently. He missed out on gaining full status but gets a start courtesy of making it to the final anyway.

The afternoon field headed out in still near perfect warm conditions with gentle breezes, chasing the leader Scott who has made an ideal start in pursuit of his third Australian PGA Championship.

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Ryan Fox keen to finish off an already great year in style

Ryan Fox – smiling all the way to the bank in 2022 – photo PGA of Australia

It has been a long and successful year for New Zealand’s Ryan Fox but he is hoping there is enough juice remaining in the tank for a good finish to the year in Australia over the next few weeks.

One of golf’s biggest movers in 2022, Fox began the year outside the top 200 in the world and is now 27th after two wins and four runner-up finishes resulted in the 35-year-old finishing behind only Rory McIlroy in the standings on the DP World Tour.

Fox has this week’s Australian PGA Championship (in which he enters as the second highest world ranked player in the field behind Cameron Smith) next week’s Australian Open and a pro-am style events at the Cathedral Golf Club in Melbourne remaining on his playing schedule followed by an extended break at home in Auckland before embarking on 2023 with a schedule which will include more play in the USA.

Fox gets the chance to showcase his improved game in tomorrow’s opening round where a large crowd is expected to follow he, Cameron Smith and Adam Scott when that trio hits off at 6.00m Queensland time.

Today, Fox spoke to the media ahead of tomorrow’s opening round and indicated that whilst he is enjoying the prospect of a break after his commitments in Australia over the next two weeks, he is keen to finish the year off in the manner he has been playing all year.

“I hope so,” he answered when asked if there was enough petrol left in the tank. “I’ve tried to take it pretty easy this week, to be honest.  The golf game’s in decent shape, so I was just trying to get some rest and I will be straight back to bed after this I think.  Yes, we’ll see.

“I haven’t done a whole lot of long haul travel this year.  I’ve been based in the UK for the most part, so I don’t know how the body and the brain’s going to cope with the next couple of days. As I mentioned earlier, six o’clock is a pretty early start tomorrow, but I feel like if I can get some good rest tonight, I should be OK.  As I said, the golf game’s still in decent shape after the last couple of weeks, so hopefully I can contend this week.

“It should be easy to get up in the next couple of days at least, playing with two Aussie legends.  There’ll be plenty of support out there for them and hopefully a few Kiwis out there as well for me.  I’ll hopefully wake up and be fine on the first tee tomorrow.  I’d love to be in contention come Sunday afternoon.”

When asked if he has been able to come to terms with his success in 2022 Fox would say. “It’s definitely a blur at the moment.  Yeah, it still feels a bit surreal.  Obviously it’s not on the goals list to finish in the top 10 on the order of merit, to be honest.

“After the last couple of years I had where I was probably more trying to keep a card than finish high up.  I guess the big goal at the start of the year was to get another win and I got that under the belt pretty quickly and that just let everything kind of free roll the rest of the year.”

Fox’s progression in the game has been one of the features of world golf in 2022 and when asked what the main differences were he responded: “There’s a few things going on now.  Putting has been the big thing this year obviously as you said, but all my other stats have improved a little bit as well, which is kind of a nice thing.

“Obviously it’s been a tough couple of years travel-wise so having that all sort of disappear this year, felt like it went back to normal for the most part.  I’ve never been one of those guys that can compartmentalise it that well.  If I was struggling a little bit off the golf course, I’d kind of take it onto the golf course and that’s what I felt the last couple of years.

“So in terms of all of that going this year and knowing that when I was away I could get back home and see the family if anything happened or my family could travel and we could have our parents travel up and stuff like that.  So that made everything a lot easier and I think that just made it easier to play well on the golf course.

“Probably, the other thing was that I started working with Jamie Gough at The Open last year and that was purely because of COVID.  I work with Marcus Wheelhouse at home and still work with Marcus, but he couldn’t travel with COVID, couldn’t get back in the country, so I hadn’t seen him in about six months at The Open – maybe not quite six, maybe four months at The Open – last year and I was struggling a little bit.

“I started working with Jamie and he was travelling most weeks. I think just having eyes on basically every week on tour just sort of kept me on the straight and narrow a little bit more.

With his success this season, opportunities are opening up for Fox in terms of playing in the USA on a more regular basis.

“Obviously, I’ll get a few more starts in the States with those top 50 events, hopefully next year.  That actually probably makes my travel a little bit easier.  It’s only one flight instead of two or one and a little connecting flight to wherever in the States.

“My family’s probably going to stay at home for quite a while next year and I’ll do a couple of hit and run missions to the States, maybe four or five weeks, which I’ve always kind of enjoyed doing that.  Playing four or five weeks in a row doesn’t bother me too much.  It will be cool to get that experience over there and hopefully I can build on what happened this year.

“But regardless, to get that opportunity to be able to play in probably all the Majors and a bunch of those PGA Tour events that I grew up watching at home, THE PLAYERS and the Match Play and stuff like that, is going to be a pretty cool opportunity.  Obviously I’ll  have a lot of European stuff to play later on in the season and feel like I’ve probably got two bites at a PGA Tour card next year.

“We’ve got 10 spots for the ’24 season from the Order of Merit and I’ve also got a chance to play my way on through getting some PGA Tour starts as well.  So, it’s going to be an exciting year next year.

Fox will play the Masters for the first occasion in 2023 and like all golfers the prospect is a bucket list item for him.

“I mean, I’ve made bets with my mates before I turned pro, if I ever get to Augusta I’m taking you and then didn’t realise quite how many people I’d made that bet with.  Then I remember walking off the green at Dunhill and Tim Barter kind of interviewed me straight away and he goes, “That’s locked in The Masters” and I hadn’t thought about it at the start, I was just trying not to hit it over a fence on those last four holes and going, “Oh, OK” and then sort of started thinking about it from there and got a few things organised, which was pretty nice.

“It’s the bucket list for any golfer, whether to watch it or to play in it.  I probably thought it had passed me over a couple of years ago, that I maybe missed my opportunity and at 35 I’d probably be a bit more of a journeyman and never get that chance, but still enjoy what I do.

“Obviously this year’s been a little bit different in that regard and I’m certainly looking forward to all of next year, but definitely Augusta.”

First thing is first however and if Fox can find a way to finish off this year’s schedule in the manner in which he has been playing for so much of it there are more riches in store and the possibility of adding to the three titles he has won in Australia to date, the WA Open, the Queensland PGA and the Perth Super 6’s is a lot stronger than it might have been at the beginning of the year.

There will be a lot of New Zealanders and perhaps even Australians on both sides of the Tasman hoping that the affable long hitter is able to do just that.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

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Australian PGA Championship shaping as something very special


Cameron Smith’s international success in 2022 and his local background will ensure huge crowds at RQ – Getty Images

Irrespective of how one feels about the impact of Liv Golf on the traditional golf tours of the world, there is little doubt that the breakaway tour has had a positive impact on this week’s Australian PGA Championship at Royal Queensland in Brisbane.

In January of this year it was announced that the PGA Tour of Australasia had formed a strategic alliance with the DP World Tour, designed in some respects to counter the arrival of Liv Golf and one of the spin offs is an increase in prizemoney from the A$1 million of January to now $A2 million this week and the joint sanctioning of both the Australian PGA Championship and the Australian Open following with the DP World Tour.

Not that such an increase is of any real interest to the likes of Cameron Smith, Adam Scott, Marc Leishman etc as they are playing for ten times that on the LIV Tour and in the case of Scott more than five times that figure on the PGA Tour.

Those players are also likely to have been paid a significant fee just to tee it up this week and justifiably so given the level of interest they bring and their presence as home grown players with significant success internationally providing a great dynamic to the event.

Admittedly, the events clash with other DP World Tour events in South Africa over the next two weeks but the joint sanctioning provides a few additional European Tour players and a pathway, should a lesser Australasian player luck out and win the title (as was the case in January when Jed Morgan won the PGA Championship) the chance for status on the DP World Tour and other international opportunities.

It also provides the highest level of prizemoney on the PGA Tour of Australasia this season and the opportunity for many of this country’s fledgling professionals to play for a comparatively higher purse than has been the case for them previously.

The field is headed by two time winner, Cameron Smith but another two time winner, Adam Scott, with New Zealander Steve Williams back on the bag, has the chance to add to his two Australian PGA Championship titles.

New Zealand’s Ryan Fox, a two time winner in Europe this season and runner-up in the DP World Tour standings for 2022, Cameron Davis, Marc Leishman, Min Woo Lee, Lucas Herbert, add lustre to this week’s field, as do DP World Tour winners in brothers Nicolai and Rasmus Hojgaard and Adrian Meronk, although the latter three are three of very few Europeans in the field with full DP World Tour status.

The 2022 Australian PGA Championship is arguably, however, the strongest field we have had at the Australian PGA Championship for many years with most of those in this week’s field also playing the Australian Open in Melbourne next week.

After a very hot start to the week when temperatures soared into the mid 30’s, the balance of the week will still be hot and in the late 20’s although the strong winds of Monday are expected to lessen in intensity.

It is expected that the success of Cameron Smith in particular in world golf this season and that he is a local is destined to make this week’s staging one of the most attended Australian PGA Championships since the days of Greg Norman.

 

 

 

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Lydia Ko completes NZ golf’s finest year

Lydia Ko  – Getty Images

Lydia Ko has completed a remarkable year for herself and New Zealand golf with a two-shot victory over Leona Maguire at the LPGA’s season ending CME Group Tour Championship in Naples in Florida.

Ko’s win, along with Steve Alker’s domination of the PGA Tour Champions and Ryan Fox’s runner-up finish to Rory McIlroy in the season long European Tour points table, continues New Zealand’s finest collective year in professional golf.

Ko began to day’s final round in a share of the lead with Ireland’s Leona Maguire and although she fell behind with a bogey at the first, she was able finish the opening nine with a one shot lead and with birdies at the 16th and 17th holes she broke two clear and maintained that to the finish.

“I really wanted to play the best golf I can, and there were so many big names that were chasing Leona and I, so I knew that it would be a tough battle,” said Ko. “Especially with how tough the conditions were as well, but I just tried to focus on my game.

“It didn’t matter if somebody made a bogey or a birdie. I just wanted to make my share of birdies, and if I did make a mistake, to know that there was another hole I could recover from.

“This year has been an incredible year. I really could never ask for more to win so early in the season and then to have won in Korea and then win the last event of the year. I couldn’t have drawn it up any better. There has been so many exciting things in my life that’s been going on.

“It will be my last win as a single lady (cheering). So I wanted to do this for my family. This has been one of the most consistent and solid years I’ve had. I’m excited that my photo from winning here in 2014 with the glasses could get updated (laughing). Better photo this year.”

The US$2 million Ko earned for her victory (the largest ever winning cheque in the women’s game) takes her to US$4.3 million for the 2022 season and past Australia’s Minjee Lee who had led for so much of the year as a result of a fine first half of the year including a win in the lucrative US Women’s Open.

Ko finished the season with eleven top tens in addition to her three victories and atop most of the more significant categories, including Race to the Globe, Player of the Year, Money list and Scoring average honours.

Minjee Lee continued a disappointing finish to the year after what had been a brilliant first half. The Perth golfer finished in a share of 33rd this week with her fellow West Australian Hannah Green.

After dominating the LPGA Tour through the first six months of 2022 when recording two wins, two runner-up finishes and one 3rd place, Lee’s form dropped away over the latter stages of the season, recording just one top ten in her last nine starts.

Her win at the female game’s most significant event cannot be underestimated, however, and although a season of two halves, it has still been a fine season both financially and personally.

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Rahm wins in Dubai but McIlroy claims top place in Europe, Fox 2nd

Rahm with his third DP World Tour Championship – photo Getty Images

Jon Rahm completed a third win in the DP World Tour Championship or its equivalent with a two shot victory over Tyrrell Hatton and Alex Noren at the season ending championship in Dubai.

But, in finishing 4th this week, Rory McIlroy confirmed his place atop the DP World Tour rankings with New Zealand’s Ryan Fox finishing this week’s event off strongly to finish 19th in the event to retain his number two position in season long standings and complete a remarkable season, not only for him but for New Zealand golf with Steve Alker winning the Charles Schwab Cup and Lydia Ko on track to win the LPGA Tour Race to the Globe.

Rahm extended his one shot 54 hole lead to two with a final round of 67 after beginning the day with three consecutive birdies and will finish in 3rd place in the rankings behind McIlroy and Fox.

“Hopefully people can stop telling me that it was a bad year,”said Rahm. “Three wins world wide, three wins in three different continents, yeah, it wasn’t a major championship but it’s still a really, really good season. You know, had a second boy this year, a lot of changes at home — it also helps.

“Because of COVID I never got a chance to defend my 2019 title and even though I decided not to come last year, I came with the mentality that, well, nobody beat me in the last two years, so they are going to have to beat me again. I came in with that confidence; a lot of similarities to the past.”

Despite not winning this week, McIlroy was delighted to have officially claimed the title as Europe’s leading player

“It means a lot,” said McIlroy. ”It has been seven years since I’ve last done it. Obviously, this is my fourth one, but it’s been a while. I’ve won three FedEx Cups since the last time I won, which was The Race to Dubai back then.

“I was a model of consistency the whole way through the year. A lot of top finishes. I think my worst finish of the DP World Tour events I played this year was 12th at the start of the year in Abu Dhabi. A really consistent season putting in good performances. Would have been nice to get one win in there at the end of the year here. But Jon obviously played an incredible tournament and fully deserved it. I’m really proud of my year, and excited for 2023.

“One of the things I’m really proud of over the last few years is I don’t feel I have to rely on one aspect of my game. I think if my driving isn’t there, then my putter bails me out. If my putter isn’t there, my iron play bails me out. I feel like when you get to this level, it’s like, okay, how can you make those incremental improvements to get better, and I think my goal has been to just become a more complete golfer and I feel like I’m on the journey to doing that.

“I’m as complete a golfer as I feel like I’ve ever been, and hopefully I can continue on that path.”

For Fox it has been a stunning season with two wins and eight other top tens and he acknowledges the improvement he has made.

“Yeah, if you had given me that at the start of the year, I would have jumped at it obviously. The big goal at the start of the year was to get a win and to get in that Top-50, and I knocked those off pretty quickly this year.

“Probably felt like a year I may have let a couple other chances to win slip. But it’s pretty hard to win out here, and to get a couple is pretty cool.

“It’s just a great experience to be in contention all the time. I started to feel a lot more comfortable in that position than I had in previous years, so hopefully I can build on it a little bit more for next year.

“Probably a little disappointed this week. I probably came in playing nice. Last week, I think it just took it out of me physically a little bit. Felt good out there today but probably took a bit longer than expected to find it.

“You know, considering I had a pretty good chance to win the rankings, obviously beating Rory is pretty hard to do but coming into this week with a chance is pretty cool and probably exceeded my expectations for the year.”

Min Woo Lee finished as the leading Australian when he tied for 12th this week and finished the year in 32nd place and as the leading Australian in the season long standings.

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Aaron Wilkin survives playoff for breakthrough QLD PGA win

Aaron Wilkin enjoying his breakthrough win – photo PGA of Australia

In his nearly seven years as a professional, 29-year-old Brisbane golfer, Aaron Wilkin, has battled away in an attempt to sustain himself in a career where he has shown the occasional glimpses of his capabilities but nowhere near enough to be confident about his future.

There has been the occasional good finish including a runner-up finish in a PGA Tour of Australasia event in Papua New Guinea in his first year in the paid ranks and a couple of top five finishes in China but today might just have been the catalyst for a significant change of future fortunes.

Wilkin won a two hole playoff against talented New South Wales golfer, Justin Warren, to win the Queensland PGA Championship at the Nudgee Golf Club adjacent to the Brisbane airport and not only will the $45,000 be a godsend, so too will the confidence of knowing he can win and win in a tight finish where several players still had chances to win over the closing stages.

Wilkin and Warren finished the 72 holes tied at 4 under and one ahead of the man who lead virtually throughout the event until he double bogeyed the dangerous par 3 final hole, Jak Carter, to finish one shot out of the playoff which would have also given him his first win on the PGA Tour of Australasia.

Both Wilkin and Warren bogeyed the 18th at the first playoff hole but after missing the green the second time around, Warren was unable to match the two putt par of Wilkin’s and the title went to the Queenslander.

“It’s just the monkey off the back,” Wilkin told the PGA of Australia. “I’m definitely good enough, I just needed to do something like this maybe. It lets me know that I can do it.

“I didn’t know four (under) was going to be enough but I thought if I got myself to four (under) I’d be a chance.

“I’ve been in that position before, coming down the last with the lead and I’ve screwed it up so I knew it wasn’t going to be easy for Jak.

“I wouldn’t say I’ve been knocking at the door but I’ve just been wanting to win for a while. It’s good to do it in front of my family and friends.”

For Warren who finished 4th in this event at this venue in January, it was a close call and although the elusive first win on the PGA Tour of Australasia evaded him again, there is an element of class about his game and if he was the break though this summer it would be no surprise.

“One of us had to win, one of us had to lose, either way it was going to be a good result for us so happy to see him win,” said Warren.

“This week was pretty tough conditions, tough course, tough set-up, just pretty brutal but I was really proud of the way I fought back yesterday.

“I had a good back nine and played phenomenal today. I could sit here in hindsight and pick out the ones I left out there and obviously had a putt on the first playoff hole to get it done but the 18th hole with that wind is tricky.

“All I can do is focus on the positives. I shot one of the lowest scores on the course today, I clutched up and stepped up in some tough conditions and was able to put myself in contention and had a shot there in the playoff.”

The PGA Tour of Australasia now joins forces with the DP World Tour for this coming week’s Australian PGA Championship at the nearby Royal Queensland Golf Club where so many of Australia’s current leading players will compete, including Open Champion and two time winner of the event, Cameron Smith and another two time winner, Adam Scott.

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Lydia Ko chasing clean sweep of major LPGA awards


Ko during today’s second round – photo LPGA / Getty Images

Lydia Ko’s brilliant run in recent weeks on the LPGA Tour continued this morning when she established a five shot lead at the halfway mark of the closing event of the LPGA Tour season, the CME Group Tour Championship.

Already leading in the Player of the Year and Race to the Globe standings, Ko added a second round of 66 to her opening 65 to break clear of the chasing pack headed by Hyo Joo Kim.

Ko has finished inside the top five finishers in 11 of her 21 starts this season including her two victories in 2022 and with US$2 million for the winner this week, she has the opportunity to add the money title to her list of achievements with such a rich vein of form.

“I think I stayed really patient out there today,” said Ko.

“Obviously not bogeying the first was a better start than yesterday. But, you know, with the wind direction being pretty similar and the strength being similar, I felt like I knew — I already knew going into the day that it could be tricky, but at the same time because I played really solid in the back nine, I knew that if I did make any mistakes, there were birdieable holes coming in.

“That’s kind of the goal for me this week is not let one hole or one shot phase me. You know, this is the last tournament of the season. It’s my ninth year on tour, so I want to finish the season well and also just want to finish it without any regrets. You know, just playing really freely out there. I think that’s a big key for me.”

Ko explained the improvement in her putting while at the same time keeping that in perspective.

“I think during the times when I wasn’t hitting it as good, my short game improved. So it’s good and bad, but I don’t feel like I’m the best putter in the world. I feel like there is so much room for improvement.”

When asked if she was a better player than was the case when she was number one in the world Ko responded.

“I don’t know about better. I do know that I am more experienced now. Me playing as an amateur on the LPGA, I wanted to make the cut, and it was such a cool experience to play alongside these ladies that I had watched on TV or I would open the Golf Magazine, and they were right there.

“It was a very different perspective. I played less than, like, a full schedule, so it’s just different. I do feel a little bit experienced. Wiser? I don’t know about that either, but I am playing differently. I hit it a little bit further than then.

“I’m sure there were parts then when I was younger and even in 2015 that I was better at both, so some parts that I have improved over that time. But it’s just trying to bring it all together.

“I think everybody has improved, or it’s hard to even keep your card because the level of play is just so good. To win it’s a whole new level.

“Yeah, I do hope I’m better, and I do hope my mom is joking when she says I played better when I was 15, yeah.”

Australia’s Minjee Lee currently leads the money list, much of that because of her win in the very lucrative US Women’s Open but with the richest first prize in women’s golf up for grabs this week, Ko has the opportunity to overtake the long time leader and clean up the significant awards on the LPGA Tour this season.

Minjee Lee added a second round of 68 to move into a share of 10th albeit eight shots from Ko’s lead.

Having won the Annika Major Award at a dinner last night Lee was buoyed by the boost it had given her. “I mean, actually, the video that they played actually gave me goose bumps. So I was, like, oh, that’s just so cool. It just gave me a little bit of inspiration I think coming into today and the rest of the week. It was just really nice.”

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Ryan Fox loses ground in Dubai – Min Woo Lee improves


Matthew Fitzpatrick and Tyrrell Hatton – joint leaders through 36 holes – photo Getty Images 

At the halfway stage of the DP World Tour Championship in Dubai New Zealand’s Ryan Fox faces a mammoth task if he is to have any chance of holding on to his current second place in the DP World Tour standings.

Fox finds himself six shots behind the leader leading into this event, Rory McIlroy, and a massive 13 shots from the leaders Tyrrell Hatton and Mathew Fitzpatrick in the season ending event.

In the projected standings through 36 holes Fitzpatrick has taken over as the potential winner of the DP World Tour rankings and McIlory has slipped to 2nd while for Fox, who entered the week within striking distance of McIlroy, he is now in a projected 3rd place after opening rounds of 73 and 72 to find himself in a share of 37th position in this week’s 50 player field.

An eagle at the 18th hole in today’s second round after an approach to 3 feet at the par 5 has been the only real highlight for Fox over the opening two days and he will need something very special over the weekend it he is to improve his standing in the season long race.

McIlroy is seven shots from the lead at 5 under after a second round of 68 but he will need improvement himself and a little help from Fitzpatrick if he is to claim the title as Europe’s top golfer in 2022.

If Fitzpatrick were to win a second Rolex Series title in Dubai, he would need World Number One Rory McIlroy to finish worse than second. However, if the 28-year-old were to finish runner-up, McIlroy would need to finish the week worse than seventh for Fitzpatrick to end the year as European Number One for the first time.

So there is still much to play for over the closing 36 holes at Jumeirah Golf Estates.

The only Australian in the field, Min Woo Lee, improved with a second round of 67 to be tied for 8th at 6 under and six off the lead.

“I didn’t start very good. I made a double on 4 yesterday,” said Lee. “Other than that hole, I’ve played very solid throughout the other 32 holes. So I’m pretty happy with where I am, and hopefully a couple more birdies on the weekend and get myself up there.”

Also at stake for Lee over the next few weeks is the possibility in this event and events in Australia to force his way into the top 50 in the  world ranking which would guarantee him starts in the majors next year and he is very much aware of that.

“Yeah, it’s obviously in the back of my mind, getting into the Masters next year and getting into a few of the majors,” said the Perth golfer. “I’m happy with the way my game is now. I’m not putting too much pressure on myself the last few months and it’s working out.

“I’m out there enjoying. Kids are following, and I was telling my caddie, that was me ten years ago. Just put a smile on their face, and keep playing good golf and hopefully it fixes everything.”

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Three way tie atop the QLD PGA leaderboard

Nick Voke – photo PGA of Australia

Three players have a share of the halfway lead at the Queensland PGA Championship at the Nudgee Golf Club in the eastern suburbs of Brisbane, South Australian Jak Carter, Queensland’s Kade McBride and New Zealander Nick Voke all tied at 6 under and one ahead of New South Welshmen, Josh Armstrong and John Lyras and Voke’s fellow countryman Denzel Ieremia.

The layout is staging this event for the second occasion, the Jim Wilcher designed redevelopment of the historic Nudgee Golf Club into a 36 hole facility completed in 2021. The course still has a lot of maturing to do and players found the windswept course more than a handful but with 36 holes so close to the CBD of Brisbane the Nudgee Golf Club is making its mark.

Carter is playing just his fourth event as a professional but having missed the cut in his last two at the WA Open and the Vic PGA, this has been an encouraging turnaround.

Carter is currently completing a Membership Pathway Programme for the PGA of Australia at the Stirling Golf Club in South Australia and has already won PGA State Associate Championships in NSW and South Australia although this is of course another level again.

“It’s through the Membership Pathway Program that I had the opportunity to play some events,” explained Carter, who is already exempt into next week’s Australian PGA Championship at Royal Queensland.

“That really helped me leading into Qualifying School. I felt relaxed to head to an event and play something like that, that really helped.

“I’ve certainly learnt that this is where I belong. Which is something that I had felt in the past but to be actually out here and doing it and feeling reasonably comfortable is something that does feel nice.”

Voke is a fine young New Zealand golfer who starred during his time at Iowa State University and, although he has struggled in his two seasons to date on the Korn Ferry Tour, he has at times shown glimpses of his capabilities.

As a result of winning three times on the China Tour in 2018 he played his way to the Korn Ferry Tour where he has recorded the occasional top ten but the past twelve months have been tough for the 28 year old.

Voke is considering tackling the Asian Tour qualifying rather than another year in the US in 2023, the opportunities in Asia now more lucrative then has the case in the past courtesy of that tour’s stronger association with Liv Golf but he knows that a good summer in Australia and New Zealand might change all that.

“If you’re high enough on this Order of Merit some really good doors will open,” Voke acknowledged.

“That’s the beauty of coming back to Australia. I was really looking forward to this. I had probably two events the last two or three months in the States and I knew there was a long stretch of events over here for the summer.

“I was excited because it’s so much more casual, so much more chill, lot more familiar faces, lot more laughs and a bit of banter.”

Kade McBride has also experienced good fortune in China in the past and although yet to record a win on a recognised tour as such, there have been numerous top tens. The Sanctuary Cove based player is an elegant player with a lot more game than his results to date have shown.

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