Photo courtesy of USGA
This week’s US Open Championship at the Country Club, Brookline in Massachusetts, will see nine Australians taking to the fairways of the 123 year old layout which will host its 4th US Open, the last of which was played in 1988 and won by Curtis Strange.
In world ranking order, Cameron Smith, Adam Scott, Lucas Herbert, Marc Leishman, Ryan Fox, Min Woo Lee, Danny Lee, Jed Morgan and Todd Sinnott will tee it up with Min Woo Lee, Sinnott and Morgan playing their very first US Open Championships.
Smith will play his 7th US Open but despite his rapid rise in the game’s standings in that time, his best finish and only top ten in the event came in 2015 at Chambers Bay where he essentially earned the right to play the US PGA Tour.
Smith has never finished better than 38th at his other five starts but he is in the middle of his best year on the PGA Tour and is expected to be some sort of factor despite his most recent form falling away a little.
Since his impressive 3rd place finish at Augusta National Smith has been twice 13th, missed the cut on one occasion and at last week’s Canadian Open he finished in 48th place.
Smith has however shown that he can mix it with the game’s best when he is at his best and his performance this week will again be under the watchful eye of Australian golf fans.
Cameron Smith practising this week – photo USGA Kathryn Riley
Adam Scott will play his 21st US Open and his 84th consecutive major (a remarkable record). Like Smith, however, his US Open record does leave a little to be desired despite the many attempts he has had to contend, having finished inside the top ten on only three occasions in those 20 previous starts.
His best effort came when he tied with Smith for 4th at Chambers Bay but his combined record and immediate form suggests that he will again battle to contend.
Scott has played well in patches in 2022, improving just a few places in the world ranking but with only one top ten in his last seven starts on the PGA Tour there is cause for concern.
Lucas Herbert is a rapid riser amongst the Australasians in over the last eighteen months or so, winning on the PGA Tour and in Ireland in 2021.
Herbert’s best in two attempts at the US Open was when 31st at Winged Foot in 2020 and his most recent form, like Scott’s, has been below that of earlier in the season.
Lucas Herbert signing autographs at The Country Club Brookline – photo USGA Kathryn Riley
Marc Leishman gets to play his 11th US Open but with only one top 20 finish in his previous ten it is hard to get excited about his chances this week.
Leishman’s form over the last three months has been well below his capabilities, also, having slipped from 36th in the world ranking to just outside the top 50.
There has been not one top twenty finish in his last eight PGA Tour events so it is hard to imagine, given his record in the event and his current form, that things are going to get a lot better.
New Zealand’s Ryan Fox is another to have made big improvement in 2022 having improved from 213th at the beginning of the year to his current standing in the world ranking of 62nd.
There has been a series of fine performances on the DP World Tour during that time including a win and two runner up finishes, so, in many respects, he is perhaps the in form golf amongst the Australasians.
Fox played well at the USPGA Championship before eventually finishing 54th following a final round slump but he showed early in that event that he can at least foot it with many higher ranked players.
Fox will play his 4th US Open having missed the cut in two and finished 41st on debut in 2018.
Min Woo Lee has focused nearly all of his attention on the PGA Tour in 2022 but having missed seven of nine cuts in the US he is struggling to find his feet, despite a very impressive 14th place at Augusta National on debut in April.
He is on his US Open debut at The Country Club so there is not much expectation of him doing well although that could also have been said re his Masters appearance but he proved us wrong.
Danny Lee played his way into the US Open via Sectional Qualifying and, as if boosted by that effort, he followed up with his first top ten finish in nearly seven months when 10th at last week’s Canadian Open.
The former US Amateur Champion might have found something in his game that could lead to a better finish than the only time he made the weekend in three attempts at this historic championship.
Jed Morgan earned his way into the event courtesy of his Australasian Tour money list title and will play his first ever major championship ahead of another start at the Open Championship in July.
Morgan has played only three events as a professional outside the US, missing the cut in both and finishing well back at the LIV Golf event last week. He will be better for the run as they say.
Todd Sinnott picked up one of the last places in the field by earning his way into the championship via Final Qualifying in Japan.
Sinnott has two professional wins to his name, the first in Myanmar five years ago and the most recent being earlier this year in a PGA Tour of Australasia TPS event in Victoria. He has begun to play well in events in Asia in recent months and has done well to make the field for his first major championship.
Sinnott is a very talented player and the exposure and experience he gains in playing an event of this level this week will prove invaluable as his career progresses.
It is once again hard to past Cameron Smith as the logical choice to do best amongst the Australasians given his capacity to play the big events well and, despite a recent drop off in the brilliant form he showed earlier in the year, logic suggests he is the man to beat amongst the ‘down under brigade’ at least.
Round 1 Tee times
Lydia Ko adds yet another top 5 finish
Lydia Ko – building towards another win – file photo Darren Carroll
Lydia Ko has recorded a third consecutive top five finish when recording a 4th place finish place at the LPGA Meijer Classic in Belmont in Michigan, the New Zealander finishing one shot behind the playoff between Nelly Korda, Leona Maguire and Jennifer Kupcho.
A closing nine of 3 under par 33 earned Ko her sixth top ten in eleven starts this season but she has developed a vein of consistency which should lead to another win before long and this coming week’s KPMG PGA Championship is a likely target.
Hannah Green in 18th position and Minjee Lee 18th were the next best of the Australasians in the field.
The event was won by Jennifer Kupcho who won her second LPGA Tour title after defeating Korda and Maguire in the playoff.
SCORES
Min Woo Lee moves to edge of contention at US Open
Min Woo Lee in action this week – photo Robert Beck USGA
He might be six shots from the lead and in a share of 17th place at the US Open near Boston, but Perth’s Min Woo Lee’s third round of 69 has moved him within striking distance of contention at the Country Club, Brookline and with so many of those ahead of him moving in the other direction today, he now stands a chance of something special if he was able to repeat the dose tomorrow.
Birdies at his final two holes on one of the more demanding days and layouts he will have played in his career to date may prove crucial as he chases the title as not only the leading Australasian this week but, potentially, something even better.
Lee made the cut on the number yesterday at 3 over par but on a day where the Country Club well and truly bared her teeth, his under par effort moved him from a share of 53rd to his share of 17th and a similar round or better on day four might well see him inside the top ten or better.
This is Lee’s first US Open and comes on top of an impressive debut effort at The Masters where he tied for 14th so he continues to impress as one of Australia’s rising stars along with Lucas Herbert and tomorrow provides a great opportunity to advance that reputation.
Six bogeys and four birdies led to a round of 72 for Adam Scott and he finds himself at 4 over and tied for 35th, while two late bogeys completed a disappointing round of 74 for Marc Leishman and he is tied with Scott.
Todd Sinnott, who had done so well in his opening two rounds of 71, was very much in the thick of things when he made the turn today at 1 under for the round and 1 over for the event and not far off the pace, but he would struggle on his way into the clubhouse with a back nine of 40 including a frustrating double bogey at the last to finish at 6 over and in 45th place.
The event is led through 54 holes by Matthew Fitzpatrick and Will Zalatoris, Zalatoris, playing more than two hours ahead of the final group reeling off a best of the day round of 67 today to make a huge move and when he had finished his round he was alone in the lead.
Fitzpatrick, however, who when winning the 2013 US Amateur Championship over this layout defeated Australian Oliver Goss in the final, birdied three of his last five holes to take the lead before a bogey at the last has him tied at with Zalatoris at 4 under.
The story of the last moments of day three however would be told by Jon Rahm who, when he birdied 14, 15 and 17, had taken a one shot lead into the 54th hole.
Rahm found the bunker with his tee shot at the last and, perhaps trying to get too much out of his attempt to reach the green, left his 2nd in the bunker and then found the greenside bunker with his third. His 4th finished 25 feet behind the hole and he would double-bogey to finish one off the lead and alone in 3rd place.
SCORES
Leishman edges clear to lead Australasians at Brookline
Marc Leishman in action this week – photo Kathryn Riley USGA
Marc Leishman has emerged as the leading Australasian after the completion of day two of the US Open at the Country Club, Brookline outside of Boston.
Leishman’s late birdie at the 17th eased him clear of fellow countrymen Adam Scott and Todd Sinnott to lead them by one and at 1 over for the championship he finds himself in a share of 31st place but just six off the 36 hole lead held by Collin Morikawa and Joel Dahmen.
Leishman’s strong finish on Thursday and his solid, if unspectacular, effort today leave him well placed to make further progress over the weekend and perhaps record his first top ten in eleven starts at the US Open.
Scott added second round of 73 to finish at 2 over and seven from the lead while Sinnott added a second consecutive 71 to complete an impressive start to his first major championship to share 40th position with Scott.
Scott’s round of was a roller coaster of sorts with four bogeys and a double bogey, the highlight being a 40 foot curling putt for birdie at his 13th hole to get himself back to even par before a bogey at his 16th, a missed opportunity for birdie at the 17th and another bogey at the last, left him in a share of 38th place.
Perhaps the talk of the nine strong Australasian brigade however should be of 30 year old Victorian Todd Sinnott.
Playing in his first major championship and having had to fight his way through a Sectional Qualifier in Japan to get there, Sinnott’s round today was highlighted by an eagle at his 17th hole (the 8th) which came at a time when he was heading for a potential missed cut after a series of bogeys.
His effort to be around for the weekend, only seven shots from the lead and behind just one of the Australasians, all of whom were higher ranked than him, is an effort that deserves respect and was made even more impressive by the fact that he got the perhaps tougher side of the draw.
Min Woo Lee’s round was highlighted by an eagle at his 17th hole (the 8th) and came at a perfect time as he was outside the cutline at the time. Lee, finished at 3 over and is in 53rd place and right on the cutline which fell at 3 over after the conditions improved for the afternoon field.
Of the other Australasians Ryan Fox did his best to recover from an opening 74 and nearly did so, but his round of 71 saw him fall two short of the cutline.
Cameron Smith who came into the event as one of the favourites and certainly the Australasian most expected to do well. The world # 6 need something special to get back into contention after his opening 72 but instead he went the wrong way early in today’s round and was 3 over through six holes and was unable to build momentum.
After a good driving round yesterday, Smith hit only 6 of 14 fairways today and that proved to be his nemesis as he fell three short of making the weekend.
New Zealand’s Danny Lee was unable to build on the momentum of last week’s top ten in Canada and finished six shots from the cutline after rounds of 76 and 75.
Victorian, Lucas Herbert, appeared unable to recover from a horror triple bogey at his final hole on Thursday and when he returned to the course early today he played his front nine in 42 and his week was all but over. He finished with 79 which was disappointing given his growing standing in the game and his impressive week at the PGA Championship a month ago.
Queenslander, Jed Morgan, was playing his first major championship and after the unsettling start he made with an opening round of 82 on Thursday he did well to record a round of 74 today, more especially his back nine of 33 will have him leaving The Country Club in much better spirits than was the case 24 hours ago.
The leaders Morikawa and Dahmen have broken clear of a large group which includes Rory McIlroy and Jon Rahm while world number one Scottie Scheffler rebounded from an opening even par round to produce one of the best morning rounds today to keep alive his chances of adding this title to that of The Masters he won in April.
A massive 39 players are within six hots of the leaders however, no doubt all of them believing they have a chance to be in the mix on Sunday.
SCORES
Collin Morikawa (pictured) leads along with Joel Dahmen – photo Robert Beck USGA
Adam Scott leads Australasians after day one at Brookline
Adam Scott hits to the 6th hole today – photo Robert Beck USGA
Adam Scott leads the nine Australasians at the completion of day one of the 2022 US Open at the Country Club, Brookline in Massachusetts.
Scott’s opening round of 1 under par 69 has him in a share of 14th place but, importantly, just three from the lead held by Canadian Adam Hadwin.
Scott played in the slightly easier conditions faced by those of the morning field, a strong putting round assisting him to his two birdie, one bogey round and although there have been only three top tens in his twenty previous starts in this event, he is at least nicely positioned in the early stages of this event to improve on that stat.
Marc Leishman has also begun the championship well, recovering with two late birdies in his morning round to be at even par and tied for 26th and just four from the lead.
Marc Leishman in action today – photo Kathryn Riley USGA
Three weeks ago, a start at the US Open and in his first major was likely beyond the wildest dreams of Victorian Todd Sinnott, but he managed to claim one of the three Sectional Qualifying for this event in Japan and today he justified that inclusion by producing an opening round of 71. A great up and down to save par at the last completed what was no doubt a very satisfying day for the Asian Tour player.
Given that Sinnott bogeyed three of his first six holes today, it was a classy effort to recover in the manner he did for the 30 year old who won on the PGA Tour of Australasia earlier this year.
Cameron Smith finished with a round of 72 to be tied for 57th but he made a reasonable recovery after a horror start in which he reeled off four bogeys in his first seven holes. A bogey at his last hole took the gloss off what might otherwise have been a solid start but he will have the advantage of an early start in day two to get himself back into the thick of things.
Perth’s Min Woo Lee, playing his first US Open, was in great shape heading into his final few holes at even par but three bogeys in his final four led to a round of 73 and in a share of 79th position he has work to do in his first ever US Open if he is to be around for the weekend.
Lucas Herbert, too, had something special going until he reached his final hole, the 9th. He was through the green with his approach from 180 yards and found trouble which eventually led to a triple bogey 7 which turned a solid start into a near disaster.
New Zealand’s Ryan Fox came into this week with hopes of another good finish to go with what he been a strong year to date in 2022 but he would record a disappointing round of 74 and needs perhaps a round of 71 or better tomorrow if he is to play all 72.
Fox’s fellow countryman Danny Lee could not follow up his good week in Canada last week and had 76 and the Australian PGA Champion, Jed Morgan was unable to recover from a horror start to his day and was round in 82 in his first major championship appearance.
The cut appears as if it will fall around the 4 or 5 over mark so it is hoped that several Australasians can still make the weekend.
SCORES
Eclectic mix of Australasians tackle US Open
Photo courtesy of USGA
This week’s US Open Championship at the Country Club, Brookline in Massachusetts, will see nine Australians taking to the fairways of the 123 year old layout which will host its 4th US Open, the last of which was played in 1988 and won by Curtis Strange.
In world ranking order, Cameron Smith, Adam Scott, Lucas Herbert, Marc Leishman, Ryan Fox, Min Woo Lee, Danny Lee, Jed Morgan and Todd Sinnott will tee it up with Min Woo Lee, Sinnott and Morgan playing their very first US Open Championships.
Smith will play his 7th US Open but despite his rapid rise in the game’s standings in that time, his best finish and only top ten in the event came in 2015 at Chambers Bay where he essentially earned the right to play the US PGA Tour.
Smith has never finished better than 38th at his other five starts but he is in the middle of his best year on the PGA Tour and is expected to be some sort of factor despite his most recent form falling away a little.
Since his impressive 3rd place finish at Augusta National Smith has been twice 13th, missed the cut on one occasion and at last week’s Canadian Open he finished in 48th place.
Smith has however shown that he can mix it with the game’s best when he is at his best and his performance this week will again be under the watchful eye of Australian golf fans.
Cameron Smith practising this week – photo USGA Kathryn Riley
Adam Scott will play his 21st US Open and his 84th consecutive major (a remarkable record). Like Smith, however, his US Open record does leave a little to be desired despite the many attempts he has had to contend, having finished inside the top ten on only three occasions in those 20 previous starts.
His best effort came when he tied with Smith for 4th at Chambers Bay but his combined record and immediate form suggests that he will again battle to contend.
Scott has played well in patches in 2022, improving just a few places in the world ranking but with only one top ten in his last seven starts on the PGA Tour there is cause for concern.
Lucas Herbert is a rapid riser amongst the Australasians in over the last eighteen months or so, winning on the PGA Tour and in Ireland in 2021.
Herbert’s best in two attempts at the US Open was when 31st at Winged Foot in 2020 and his most recent form, like Scott’s, has been below that of earlier in the season.
Lucas Herbert signing autographs at The Country Club Brookline – photo USGA Kathryn Riley
Marc Leishman gets to play his 11th US Open but with only one top 20 finish in his previous ten it is hard to get excited about his chances this week.
Leishman’s form over the last three months has been well below his capabilities, also, having slipped from 36th in the world ranking to just outside the top 50.
There has been not one top twenty finish in his last eight PGA Tour events so it is hard to imagine, given his record in the event and his current form, that things are going to get a lot better.
New Zealand’s Ryan Fox is another to have made big improvement in 2022 having improved from 213th at the beginning of the year to his current standing in the world ranking of 62nd.
There has been a series of fine performances on the DP World Tour during that time including a win and two runner up finishes, so, in many respects, he is perhaps the in form golf amongst the Australasians.
Fox played well at the USPGA Championship before eventually finishing 54th following a final round slump but he showed early in that event that he can at least foot it with many higher ranked players.
Fox will play his 4th US Open having missed the cut in two and finished 41st on debut in 2018.
Min Woo Lee has focused nearly all of his attention on the PGA Tour in 2022 but having missed seven of nine cuts in the US he is struggling to find his feet, despite a very impressive 14th place at Augusta National on debut in April.
He is on his US Open debut at The Country Club so there is not much expectation of him doing well although that could also have been said re his Masters appearance but he proved us wrong.
Danny Lee played his way into the US Open via Sectional Qualifying and, as if boosted by that effort, he followed up with his first top ten finish in nearly seven months when 10th at last week’s Canadian Open.
The former US Amateur Champion might have found something in his game that could lead to a better finish than the only time he made the weekend in three attempts at this historic championship.
Jed Morgan earned his way into the event courtesy of his Australasian Tour money list title and will play his first ever major championship ahead of another start at the Open Championship in July.
Morgan has played only three events as a professional outside the US, missing the cut in both and finishing well back at the LIV Golf event last week. He will be better for the run as they say.
Todd Sinnott picked up one of the last places in the field by earning his way into the championship via Final Qualifying in Japan.
Sinnott has two professional wins to his name, the first in Myanmar five years ago and the most recent being earlier this year in a PGA Tour of Australasia TPS event in Victoria. He has begun to play well in events in Asia in recent months and has done well to make the field for his first major championship.
Sinnott is a very talented player and the exposure and experience he gains in playing an event of this level this week will prove invaluable as his career progresses.
It is once again hard to past Cameron Smith as the logical choice to do best amongst the Australasians given his capacity to play the big events well and, despite a recent drop off in the brilliant form he showed earlier in the year, logic suggests he is the man to beat amongst the ‘down under brigade’ at least.
Round 1 Tee times
Sweden’s Linn Grant first female winner on DP European Tour
Grant with the trophy following her historic achievement – photo Getty Images
Linn Grant made history in front of her home fans as she stormed to a stunning nine-shot victory at the Volvo Car Scandinavian Mixed to become the first female winner of a DP World Tour event.
The 22-year-old Swede produced a nerveless display of front-running on Sunday to keep a host of DP World Tour stars at bay and claim her third Ladies European Tour title in just six starts this season.
Grant earned €319,000 for her emphatic victory.
Grant did not put a foot wrong at Halmstad Golf Club on day four, stretching her overnight lead from two shots to seven with five birdies in the first six holes.
She managed to keep her card clean with three successive pars as the rain poured down over the next few holes before making another birdie on the tenth.
Spurred on by the enormous crowds that followed her wherever she went, Grant picked up further shots at the 11th and 14th to sign for a flawless 64, topping the leaderboard at 24 under par to win by the biggest margin on the DP World Tour so far this season.
Home hero and tournament co-host Henrik Stenson finished in a tie for second on 15 under alongside Scotland’s Marc Warren, with back-to-back birdies at the 17th and 18th helping Stenson to a closing 70.
Australian Jason Scrivener who lead at the halfway mark of the event eventually finished tied for 4th and earned Euro €80,000.
Scrivener’s fellow West Australian Whitney Hillier finished 29th (€17,020) and NSW’s Zach Murray picked up his first cheque of the 2022 European Tour season (€11,297) when he finished tied for 37th.
SCORES
Brad Kennedy runner-up in Japan
Brad Kennedy continuing a very consistent season – photo Japan Golf Tour.
Despite throwing all he could at the eventual winner, Tomoto Ikemura, Australian Brad Kennedy has finished runner-up at the Japan Golf Tour’s ASO Iizuka Challenged Golf Tournament in Fukuoka.
The evergreen 47-year-old has claimed his third top-four finish in four starts after settling for joint runner-up to Tomoyo Ikemura in the thrilling finale.
In 13 starts in events in Japan and Australia in 2022 the Gold Coast based professional has been inside the top ten on eight occasions.
Kennedy fell just short of capping a fine week with a victory despite closing with a brilliant seven-under-par 65 for 22-under-par 266 total.
He was pipped to the title by just one stroke by Ikemura, who shot a 68 to clinch a wire-to-wire victory.
Kennedy can certainly take heart after moving up to eighth in the season’s money list on the back of his efforts.
“My game is very good at the moment. There are some very good swing thoughts, and I feel comfortable contending. I just need to find a few more chances,” said Kennedy.
“The course this week, you really had to shape your ball, which is what I love doing. The greens were great. I kept attacking but came up just short. I’m happy with my process this week, and I just need to work on my wedges, which is normally my strength.”
Following a hectic eight tournament schedule since early April, Kennedy will skip the Japan Players Championship by Sato Shokuhin in a fortnight and head back to Down Under to prepare for The Open Championship in which he has a start courtesy of his good finish at the recent Mizuno Open.
“For the first half of the season in Japan, I really wanted to prove to myself that I’m still able to compete at a high level,” he said.
“I know I can improve, and a victory will be around the corner.”
SCORES
Schwartzel wins inaugural Liv Golf Invitational Smyth earns US500,000
Charl Schwartzel – photo Getty Images
Charl Swartzel has won the inaugural staging of the Liv Golf Invitational Series held at the Centurion Club near London this week.
The 37 year old former Masters Champion held on to win the event by one shot over his fellow South African Hennie Du Plessis and in the process pocketed a first prize of US$4 million and another US$750,000 for his share of the teams’ prize he jointly won with Du Plessis, Louis Oosthuizen and Branden Grace.
Branden Grace and Peter Uilhein tied for 3rd place in the individual, two shots from the winner.
Wade Ormsby finished as the leading Australian in the event when he tied for 23rd and wins (US$170,000), Matt Jones was 28th (US$160,000), Jed Morgan 30th (US$156,000), Travis Smyth 35th (US$146,000), Kevin Yuan 37th (US$142,000) and Blake Windred 47th (US$122,000).
Travis Smyth however finished runner-up in the Team’s Competition and earns another US$375,000 for his share of the US$1.5 million for his team of Richard Bland, Peter Uilhein and Phachara Khongwatmai and himself being runner’s up, albeit 14 shots behind the wining team.
SCORES
Jason Scrivener finds form in Sweden
Jason Scrivener – file Getty Images
West Australian Jason Scrivener has struggled for much of the 2022 season to date, but a second round of 64 has given the 33 year old South African born, but now Perth based golfer a two shot lead in the European Tour’s Volvo Car Scandinavian Mixed event at the Halmstad GC, in Tylösand, Sweden.
As the name would suggest, the event brings together male and female golfers competing against each other for the same purse but off different golf course set-ups in consideration of gender in the $US2 million event.
By his own ever-improving standards, 2022 has been a frustrating one for Scrivener who has recorded just one top ten in eleven starts in 2022 and he is currently outside the top 100 in the DP World Tour rankings.
“It has been a frustrating couple of months, and I felt a round like this was close and I am pretty happy with it,” said Scrivener.
“I have been playing decent just not really holing any putts and making a few mistakes here and there, and not putting a score together, so for it all to come together today it was nice.”
Sweden’s Linn Grant and Italian amateur Carolina Melgrati are the leading women and just two behind Scrivener and tied for 2nd place with Frenchman Mike Lorenzo Vera.
SCORES
Brad Kennedy in the mix again in Japan
Brad Kennedy during today’s second round – photo JGTO
Brad Kennedy remains firmly in contention for the inaugural ASO Iizuka Challenged Golf Tournament in Fukuoka after signing for a successive six-under-par 66 on Friday.
The 47-year-old Australian, who is chasing his fourth JGTO title, reached the halfway stage at the ASO Iizuka Golf Club on 12-under 132, just one shot off second round leader Tomoyo Ikeura, who signed for a 68.
Kennedy has been in good form of late having recorded seven top ten finishes in 11 starts in 2002, three of those in succession at his last three starts.
The Gold Coast based, three time winner on the Japan Tour backed up his solid opening day effort with six birdies in her second round, including three on the trot from the get-go.
He then reeled off nine straight pars before gaining his next stroke on 13 before rounding off his day with glorious back-to-back birdies at the final two holes.
“It was a great start. I birdied one, two and three, but in the middle of the round, it went a little bit flat, but it wasn’t from the lack of trying,” said Kennedy, whose last triumph came at the Shigeo Nagashima Invitational SEGA SAMMY Cup in 2018.
“I’ve been hitting a lot of good shots, just not quite get it close enough. Sometimes, that’s what happens. I still try to make as many birdies as I can.
“It’s nice to have another two good days and prepare for the weekend.”
Being in contention at the weekend for the third time in his last four starts, Kennedy knows he cannot afford to get ahead of himself if he is to stand a chance of hoisting the trophy on Sunday.
Kennedy could only settle for solo third and joint-fourth at the Golf Partner Pro-Am Tournament and Mizuno Open, although he headed into the final round, tying for second in both tournaments.
Kennedy could only settle for solo third and joint-fourth at the Golf Partner Pro-Am Tournament and Mizuno Open, although he headed into the final round, tying for second in both tournaments.
Asked if he feels he is getting closer to his first victory in four years, said Kennedy: “It’s always a good being in contention, and it means I’m doing a lot of really good works.
“I can’t control what anybody else is doing. I can only do what I can and put myself in that position in the back nine on Sunday.
“I hope I can play well under pressure and be there at the end.”
Amongst the other Australasians Michael Hendry and Adam Bland made the cut but are well back.
SCORES