Lucas Herbert – photo courtesy of Getty Images
Less than two months and after just three events as a PGA Tour member, Australian Lucas Herbert has broken through for his first PGA Tour victory with a narrow but impressive one-shot win at the Butterfield Bermuda Championship in Southampton in Bermuda.
In wet and gusty conditions, Herbert fought off strong late challenges from New Zealand’s Danny Lee and American Patrick Reed to win by one over that pair and claim the first prize of US$1.17 million and perhaps more importantly cement his standing on the PGA Tour.
Herbert will likely move to 44th in the world ranking once the latest rankings are revised later today, the highest ranking of his career to date.
Since gaining full status to the PGA Tour during the Korn Ferry Tour Finals in early September, Herbert has missed the cut in his first two starts as a PGA Tour member but this week he contended throughout and began the final round in a share of second place but four shots behind Canadian Taylor Pendrith.
Well ahead on the golf course, after starting his final round an hour ahead of Herbert, Lee and Pendrith, Reed was putting together a stunning final round of 65, made all the better as it was compiled in such demanding conditions.
When Reed had finished his round Herbert still had several holes to play but a birdie at the 14th gave him the lead and when he managed to par the 15th, 16th and 17th and hit his approach to 5 feet at the last it was all over. He would miss that putt, but the victory was his.
“Like it’s really tough to keep your mind from jumping too far ahead and thinking, you know, what are you going to say in the winner’s speech or what’s the photo going to look like with the trophy, I mean, it’s pretty unbelievable,” said Herbert trying to come to terms with such a significant milestone.
“Just so hard out there today and I just, it was one of those ones you couldn’t even let yourself kind of get ahead and think that you’ve won the tournament early because conditions were just so brutal that you could have hit a shot anywhere at any time offline and it was just, it was just good to survive I guess is probably the way to describe it.
“I had to make sure that I kept myself in check, there’s still a tournament to be played. Obviously, Danny was making a real run there and even when he hit it left on the last, I said to my caddie, we’re going to expect him to hole that, we’ve got to make ours. I just tried to keep myself really present, not let myself get too far ahead. Once I was able to get over that putt with two putts to win on the last, it was kind of, that was a bit of fun.”
The victory earns Herbert the right to play the Masters for the first time next April, along with starts at the USPGA Championship and other key events such as the Arnold Palmer Invitational and the Sentry Tournament of Champions.
“Definitely gets me into the Masters?” questioned Herbert when confirming that this event earns that right. “Okay. I mean, the next 12 months are going to be really cool.
“I’ve never played Augusta, so being able to play the Masters is going to be pretty cool. Getting to play in — we just talked about Kapalua, getting to play in a few of these events that I’ve watched growing up on TV, it’s just going to be a cool experience. No matter how I play, it’s just going to be phenomenal to play in those tournaments. It’s going to be lots of fun.”
Herbert made special mention of his long-time coach Australian Dom Azzopardi who made the journey to the USA recently to work on Herbert’s game after missing his first two cuts as a PGA Tour member.
“Yeah, my first two wins on the European Tour, Dom wasn’t there so to sort of experience a win with him here. Especially we missed the past two cuts before this in a row, my game was really, really struggling and I decided to call in and get him out over here. By the time it looked a bit dicey trying to get him back into Australia once we got him out.
“So for him to make that commitment to come out and help me out a lot with my golf swing, we hit a lot of balls over the last two or three weeks getting ready for this event. To have it pay off so quickly and to share that win with him, that was really special.”
Lee appeared to blow his chances of a second PGA Tour title when he dropped four shots in three holes in the middle of his closing nine to drop four behind but birdies at the 15th, 16th and 17th had him just one back.
He was unable to find that one extra birdie he would need to force a playoff but for the 31 year old it was a week of some significance given he is currently playing without full status.
The New Zealander has been playing on a Minor Medical exemption after losing his status at the completion of last season and had just two more events after this one to regain his PGA Tour playing rights so despite the near miss the week has been very important.
“A lot of good and a lot of bad,” said Lee referring to his roller coaster round.
“I fought really hard for it, just 12 through 14 was a very, very tough stretch for me. I hit a really, really good shot on 12, just went over the green by I don’t know how much, but it was kind of a tough shot from back there. Made a silly double there.
“I was just kind of a little confused with my putting. Had three holes I didn’t (inaudible) in my putting, I don’t know why I did that, but after that I just bite my tongue and I just try to grind it out.
“There’s so many times when that time comes or whenever that disappointment happened, I just kind of half-assed it all the way in, so this time I didn’t want to do that. I gave 120 percent all the way in.”
“I guess it’s very good,” added Lee referring to where this now leaves him as far as playing opportunities are concerned. “ I have a lot more opportunity than what I had before, I think. I guess I think I got two more medical starts left and next week is Cancun, which I do very well lot of the years, so I’m looking forward to playing in that next week.”
SCORES
Depleted Asia Pacific Amateur Championship returns in Dubai
The Asia Pacific Amateur Championship trophy at Dubai Creek – photo AAC
The Asia Pacific Amateur Championship returns in Dubai this week after the 2020 event at Royal Melbourne was cancelled due to Covid issues.
The event is being played for the 12th occasion, bringing together the leading available amateurs from the Asia Pacific region with the carrot of one of the amateur’s most prestigious titles and a start at the 2022 Masters and Open Championship on offer to the winner.
A field of 93 will face the starter at the Dubai Creek Golf and Yacht Club in Dubai, the first occasion the event has been staged in the Middle East, previous host nations including, China (three times), Singapore (twice), Japan, Thailand, Australia, Hong Kong, South Korea and New Zealand.
Players representing 28 of the 42 countries included in the Asia Pacific Golf Confederation countries are assembled in Dubai, the field reduced in 2021 as a result of the constraints some countries have faced due to the issues surrounding Covid.
The leading world ranked amateur is in the field, Japan’s Keita Nakajima, who is looking to become the third Japanese player to win the title, although one of those, Hideki Matsuyama, won the event twice in 2010 and 2011.
Japan’s last win was in 2018 when Takumi Kanaya won in Singapore before turning professional twelve months ago and becoming one of the Japan Golf Tour’s most successful players since with two victories as a professional in addition to his win on that tour as an amateur in 2019.
Matsuyama is undoubtedly the most successful player to emerge from the Asia Pacific Amateur Championship, winning eight PGA Tour titles including his historic Masters win at Augusta National in 2021.
Two-time winner of the event, China’s Yuxin Lin, will take his place in this week’s field looking to become the first three time winner of the event, the 21 year old left-hander having won in Wellington (NZ) in 2017 and again in his homeland in 2019.
While some countries are unable to meet their quota of six players, Australia has been able to do so. The leading six available Australians based on their standing in the world amateur ranking are invited and will tee it up on Wednesday.
Chinese and Japanese golfers have won the event on three occasions each, Australia having won twice, in 2014 (Anthony Murdaca) and in 2016 (Curtis Luck).
The Australian line-up this year includes Lukas Michel, Hayden Hopewell, Haydn Barron, Lachlan Barker, Andree Lautee and Connor McKinney.
Michel is the leading ranked amateur amongst the Australians playing this week, the 2019 US Mid-Amateur Champion and 2021 Master of the Amateurs champion to play the event for the first occasion.
New Zealand is represented by just one player, Jimmy Zheng although several ranked higher than him were unavailable due to quarantine issues.
The Asia Pacific Amateur Championship has produced several PGA Tour winners including Matsuyama, Cameron Smith, Chinese Taipei’s C.T. Pan and most recently Lucas Herbert, which, along with the exploits of players such as Kanaya who is playing with such success in Japan, highlights the effectiveness of the event in developing the strength of golf in the Asia Pacific Region.
The event is played over 72 holes and begins on Wednesday the 3rd of November.
Lucas Herbert claims first PGA Tour title
Lucas Herbert – photo courtesy of Getty Images
Less than two months and after just three events as a PGA Tour member, Australian Lucas Herbert has broken through for his first PGA Tour victory with a narrow but impressive one-shot win at the Butterfield Bermuda Championship in Southampton in Bermuda.
In wet and gusty conditions, Herbert fought off strong late challenges from New Zealand’s Danny Lee and American Patrick Reed to win by one over that pair and claim the first prize of US$1.17 million and perhaps more importantly cement his standing on the PGA Tour.
Herbert will likely move to 44th in the world ranking once the latest rankings are revised later today, the highest ranking of his career to date.
Since gaining full status to the PGA Tour during the Korn Ferry Tour Finals in early September, Herbert has missed the cut in his first two starts as a PGA Tour member but this week he contended throughout and began the final round in a share of second place but four shots behind Canadian Taylor Pendrith.
Well ahead on the golf course, after starting his final round an hour ahead of Herbert, Lee and Pendrith, Reed was putting together a stunning final round of 65, made all the better as it was compiled in such demanding conditions.
When Reed had finished his round Herbert still had several holes to play but a birdie at the 14th gave him the lead and when he managed to par the 15th, 16th and 17th and hit his approach to 5 feet at the last it was all over. He would miss that putt, but the victory was his.
“Like it’s really tough to keep your mind from jumping too far ahead and thinking, you know, what are you going to say in the winner’s speech or what’s the photo going to look like with the trophy, I mean, it’s pretty unbelievable,” said Herbert trying to come to terms with such a significant milestone.
“Just so hard out there today and I just, it was one of those ones you couldn’t even let yourself kind of get ahead and think that you’ve won the tournament early because conditions were just so brutal that you could have hit a shot anywhere at any time offline and it was just, it was just good to survive I guess is probably the way to describe it.
“I had to make sure that I kept myself in check, there’s still a tournament to be played. Obviously, Danny was making a real run there and even when he hit it left on the last, I said to my caddie, we’re going to expect him to hole that, we’ve got to make ours. I just tried to keep myself really present, not let myself get too far ahead. Once I was able to get over that putt with two putts to win on the last, it was kind of, that was a bit of fun.”
The victory earns Herbert the right to play the Masters for the first time next April, along with starts at the USPGA Championship and other key events such as the Arnold Palmer Invitational and the Sentry Tournament of Champions.
“Definitely gets me into the Masters?” questioned Herbert when confirming that this event earns that right. “Okay. I mean, the next 12 months are going to be really cool.
“I’ve never played Augusta, so being able to play the Masters is going to be pretty cool. Getting to play in — we just talked about Kapalua, getting to play in a few of these events that I’ve watched growing up on TV, it’s just going to be a cool experience. No matter how I play, it’s just going to be phenomenal to play in those tournaments. It’s going to be lots of fun.”
Herbert made special mention of his long-time coach Australian Dom Azzopardi who made the journey to the USA recently to work on Herbert’s game after missing his first two cuts as a PGA Tour member.
“Yeah, my first two wins on the European Tour, Dom wasn’t there so to sort of experience a win with him here. Especially we missed the past two cuts before this in a row, my game was really, really struggling and I decided to call in and get him out over here. By the time it looked a bit dicey trying to get him back into Australia once we got him out.
“So for him to make that commitment to come out and help me out a lot with my golf swing, we hit a lot of balls over the last two or three weeks getting ready for this event. To have it pay off so quickly and to share that win with him, that was really special.”
Lee appeared to blow his chances of a second PGA Tour title when he dropped four shots in three holes in the middle of his closing nine to drop four behind but birdies at the 15th, 16th and 17th had him just one back.
He was unable to find that one extra birdie he would need to force a playoff but for the 31 year old it was a week of some significance given he is currently playing without full status.
The New Zealander has been playing on a Minor Medical exemption after losing his status at the completion of last season and had just two more events after this one to regain his PGA Tour playing rights so despite the near miss the week has been very important.
“A lot of good and a lot of bad,” said Lee referring to his roller coaster round.
“I fought really hard for it, just 12 through 14 was a very, very tough stretch for me. I hit a really, really good shot on 12, just went over the green by I don’t know how much, but it was kind of a tough shot from back there. Made a silly double there.
“I was just kind of a little confused with my putting. Had three holes I didn’t (inaudible) in my putting, I don’t know why I did that, but after that I just bite my tongue and I just try to grind it out.
“There’s so many times when that time comes or whenever that disappointment happened, I just kind of half-assed it all the way in, so this time I didn’t want to do that. I gave 120 percent all the way in.”
“I guess it’s very good,” added Lee referring to where this now leaves him as far as playing opportunities are concerned. “ I have a lot more opportunity than what I had before, I think. I guess I think I got two more medical starts left and next week is Cancun, which I do very well lot of the years, so I’m looking forward to playing in that next week.”
SCORES
Greg Norman behind Asian Tour boost
West Palm Beach, October 29: Former world #1 and World Golf Hall of Fame member, Greg Norman, has today been announced as CEO of a newly formed company, LIV Golf Investments, a move which will set in motion a number of momentous developments for professional golf worldwide.
Norman’s first order of business is the announcement of a ground-breaking series of 10 new marquee events to be staged annually on the Asian Tour over the next 10 years, representing a total commitment of over US$200million to support playing opportunities and prize funds. The move represents one of the single biggest investments in the history of professional golf.
The series will be added to the Asian Tour schedule from 2022 onwards, with new events across Asia, the Middle East and Europe. It has been designed to drive greater engagement amongst fans, attract new commercial interest and to help stabilize professional golf following a sustained period of worldwide disruption and uncertainty.
“This is only the beginning,” commented Norman. “LIV Golf Investments has secured a major capital commitment that will be used to create additive new opportunities across worldwide professional golf. We will be a cooperative and respectful supporter of the game at every level, and today’s announcement alongside the Asian Tour is the first example of that.
“I have been a staunch supporter and believer in playing and developing golf in Asia for more than four decades. The Asian Tour is a sleeping giant and we share ambition to grow the series and unlock what we believe is significant untapped potential. We see our promotion of these new events as a vital first step in supporting emerging markets, creating a new platform, rich with playing opportunities that create valuable player pathways.”
LIV Golf Investments has been established with group companies in the USA, UK, with Asian offices to follow. Several high-profile C-Suite executives have already been appointed, with further announcements to follow in due course. PIF, one of the world’s largest sovereign wealth funds with a diverse international investment portfolio, is the majority shareholder in the new company. Plans are in place to introduce further investment partners, who share the passion and belief in how new opportunities in professional golf can create widespread benefit for fans and players.
“This is the single biggest development in the history of the Asian Tour and a major milestone for professional golf,” said Cho Minn Thant, Commissioner and Chief Executive Officer, Asian Tour. “The opportunity will secure unprecedented new playing opportunities, establish new player pathways, allow us to compete commercially with other sports, and enhance our social agenda.
“We are particularly excited at the prospect today’s landmark announcement brings to the amateur game, providing new inspiration to aspiring players through a new level of top-flight professional competition in the region.”
The series will add to the Asian Tour’s backbone of established events to comprise a 25-event season, expected to represent a record-breaking combined prize-fund in 2022. Each of the 10 new events will be broadcast live across the globe, with plans to attract an international field of headline talent through an open eligibility category regardless of Tour affiliation so opportunities are available to the broadest cross section of players.
Today’s announcement closely follows the striking of a new 10-year partnership between the Asian Tour and Golf Saudi, the organisers of the Saudi International powered by SoftBank Investment Advisers, which will see the event become the flagship tournament on the Asian Tour, featuring an impressive increased prize fund of $5m. The Saudi International will not be one of the 10 new events to feature as part of the new series but will itself provide enhanced exemption requirements.
Further signals of increased prosperity for the Asian Tour also came recently with the announcement that competitive play will soon recommence following a postponement due to the COVID-19 pandemic. Its suspended 2020/21 season will draw to a close with the staging of two new tournaments in Thailand in November and December 2021, and two further tournaments planned for Singapore in January 2022.
The new series of 10 events will take place throughout 2022, with all full-field events contributing towards the Order of Merit ranking.
Injury Free Danny Lee improves sharply in Bermuda
Danny Lee – file photo Bruce Young
New Zealand’s Danny Lee is currently playing the PGA Tour on a Minor Medical exemption having missed out on regaining his full status via the Korn Ferry Tour Finals, but today he made just his 9th cut in 24 starts in 2021 when adding a second consecutive 67 at the Butterfield Bermuda Championship.
Lee finds himself three shots from the lead held by Canadian Taylor Pendrith and in a share of 4th place as the field heads into the weekend in Southampton in Bermuda.
Another shot back is Australian Lucas Herbert who is now playing as a full-fledged member of the PGA Tour, the Victorian’s second round of 65 sealed with an eagle birdie finish to have him tied for 6th.
For Lee it is an encouraging return to the sort of form he is known for after a rib injury curtailed much of his progress in 2021.
“I just pulled out at the John Deere Classic this year, I just couldn’t play anymore,” said Lee after his opening round yesterday.
“I finally took an x-ray with a doctor and he saw a fracture on my last right rib, so I guess I had that for a while, I just didn’t know about it. I had to take a couple months off and I’m injury-free now.”
Given the time away from the game Lee was granted a minor medical exemption for early events this season and after missing the cut at the recent Fortinet Championship he has improved sharply to contend this weekend.
“To be honest, I haven’t really made the cut in a while and I haven’t played in a while, so I was just trying to make it to the weekend. I was just grinding it out.
“Definitely where I’m at is a very good spot to be in after first two rounds. It was definitely a lot more gettable today than yesterday. Yesterday was — it was hard to walk on some of the holes,” added the 31-year-old former US Amateur Champion referring to the strong winds that prevailed on Thursday.
“It was definitely a lot easier today, I just made a couple silly mistakes on the first nine holes and I wasn’t — I was hitting a lot of good putts, I just didn’t make anything until I holed it out from 90 yards on No. — it was my back nine, so No. 5. I was just grinding it out out there. I haven’t seen the weekend in a while, so I was just trying to make the cut and all of a sudden after that hole-out on No. 5, everything just went smoothly.”
Lucas Herbert
For Herbert, who already has two European Tour titles to his name including this year’s Irish Open, his is nicely placed in just his third start as a PGA Tour member after missing the cut in his first two.
“I’ve always wanted to play on the PGA TOUR, so the opportunity to go to Finals was perfect,” said Herbert.
“Essentially you play well at one event and that’s a PGA TOUR card locked up. So yeah, it was obviously a great opportunity and we were fortunate to sort of take advantage of that straightaway and get somewhat of a schedule out here.
“It looks like it’s pretty tough for the Fall Series there to get some starts out of our category, but that’s kind of the way it is. I think for your first year out here as a rookie, you’ve just got to take what you get.
“Weeks like this where we do get a start, we have to take advantage of it. Sort of look forward to playing a lot of the venues through the year as well. Sort of watched them on TV since I was a kid, like it would be cool to sort of stand in some of those spots actually hitting the shots rather than watching on TV.”
Herbert now has the luxury of full status on both the European and PGA Tours and intends to play both where possible in the remainder of 2021 and 2022.
“I want to try to play a bit of a combination. Europe have been great to me. I played out there as an affiliate member in 2018 and everyone’s welcomed me really well out there and I made a lot of good friends out there as well.
“I enjoy playing a few of the courses out there, so where the schedule permits, I want to try to play some of the bigger events back there, for sure. It’s going to be tricky I think this year. As I said, being a rookie, you’re probably going to be on the edge of whether you’re going to get into some of the events over here or not. Sort of just have to, you know, take it week by week in a way and just see what we can play.
“I mean even the PGA TOUR of Australia, I want to keep supporting Australian golf back home, too, where I can. So the world’s opening up a little bit more now, people are — obviously everyone’s getting vaccinated and countries are making it a little bit easier to travel, so it’s making it possible to play more of a worldwide schedule I think, too.”
SCORES
The remarkable run continues for Steve Alker
Alker has played his way into the field for the Timber Tech Championship in Boca Raton beginning on November 5th followed a week later by the Charl Schwab Championship in Phoenix near Alker’s adopted hometown in Arizona.
The leading 54 players on the Charl Schwab list at the completion of this week’s event have made it to the Timber Tech with the leading 36 there advancing to the Charl Schwab Championship.
Alker’s finish in Virginia moved him 9 places to 46th on the Charl Schwab list with another high finish in Boca Raton not only earning him a start in Phoenix but the possibility of earning his way to full status on the PGA Tour Champions in 2022.
After leading through Friday’s opening round, Alker was still very much in contention for the title during today’s final round but a missed 6-foot birdie opportunity at the 15th was followed by failing to birdie the par 5 16th and when he bogeyed the 17th after finding the front trap his chance of victory had gone.
He would however hit two impressive shots flag high at the par 5 last and make a seven-foot birdie putt to finish in his share of 4th to record his 7th consecutive top ten since starting the PGA Tour Champions via qualifying in August.
Scores
Gold Coast’s Karis Davidson graduates to LPGA Tour Final Qualifying
Davidson finished in a share of 25th in Venice in Florida today but safely inside the top 45 and ties who advanced to the Final.
Davidson has been Australia’s sole representative on the Japan Ladies Golf Tour over the last two years but has taken the decision test her luck on the LPGA Tour and having reached the Final Stage of qualifying she should at least have access to the secondary Symetra Tour in 2022.
Born and raised in Scotland until moving to Australia at the age of eight, Davidson has played six events on the Japan LPGA Tour this season, her schedule restricted due to Covid issues.
The Gold Coaster has made the cut in five of those six events with a best of 15th at her last start there in July, although she had, earlier in her JLPGA Tour career, recorded several top tens and in 2018 finished runner-up at the Ladies European Tour’s Vic Open.
After a season in 2020 where she played virtually no events, Davidson has done well to potentially play her way onto the LPGA Tour although there remains work to do.
It was, however, an agonising day for Davidson’s fellow Australasians with Victorian Gabriela Ruffels and Perth’s Hira Naveed missing by one shot on a place inside the top 45 who advanced to the final.
Grace Kim and Julien Soo were another shot back, New Zealand’s Amelia Garvey’s final round of 74 costing her dearly, and Kirsty Hodgkins, Soo Jin Lee, Stephanie Na and Stephanie Bunque further back again.
Scores
Lydia Ko’s impressive 2021 continues in Korea
File photo LET
Lydia Ko’s impressive 2021 has continued with a share of 3rd place at the BMW Ladies Championship in Busan in South Korea.
Ko finished five shots from the playoff between the eventual winner, Jin Young Ko, and Hee Jeong Lim but for the 24-year-old New Zealander the finish was her 11th top ten in her 19th start of 2021 and continues her climb in the Rolex World ranking after being outside the top 50 during 2020.
Ko was ranked 8th heading into this week’s event and may well improve another spot when the rankings are revised later today but either way her return to the form which had become so synonymous with her earlier career has been impressive.
“My ball striking has been really good leading up to this week,” said Ko. “And the first day I really didn’t feel like it was there, and my iron play wasn’t good.
“Normally, if my iron play has been — like driver or irons, one of the two, have been working. But the first day I really didn’t have any of them. And when I made a mistake, I kind of kept topping it up with another mistake. So it was really hard to feed off of any momentum that first day.
“But I talked to Sean on my drive over to the golf course on the second day, and he said the swing is looking fine, so just be really aggressive. And that’s what Dave thought as well.
“So I just tried to play aggressive. And I think when I did that, even though I miss it, I felt like it was solid, and that’s a good place to be with my long game. And when you see putts start falling, I think that’s a good mindset to be in. And I felt like I putted really solid, and I think that was something that I could kind of lean on, even if I did miss a green.”
Minjee Lee finished 12th and as the leading Australian, Hannah Green was 29th, Su Oh 61st and Sarah Kemp 79th.
Lee currently heads the Australasians in the Rolex World Ranking, her best standing in over a year and should retain that spot following her solid week in Korea.
For the winner, Jin Young Ko, the victory continues a remarkable run of late, this victory her 4th in her last eight starts and although still trailing Nelly Korda in terms of world ranking, the momentum she has might see her regain her number one seeding in the next few weeks.
Scores
Warren and Scrivener Australian Stage Two Korn Ferry Tour qualifiers
Justin Warren – file photo courtesy of Anthony Powter Master of the Amateurs
New South Wales golfer, Justin Warren, and West Australian Jason Scrivener are the only Australasians to have successfully negotiated their way through Stage Two qualifying for the Korn Ferry Tour and in finishing 8th at their respective venues in California and Florida they will graduate to the Final Stage beginning on November 4th in Georgia to determine if he will earn the right to play the Korn Ferry Tour in 2022.
Warren was one of some dozen or so Australasians at five venues across the USA from which the leading 19 of 70 or so players at each venue would their way to the Final Stage, further highlighting the demands of just getting to the Korn Ferry Tour which is in turn the feeder tour for the 2023 PGA Tour.
“I can’t describe the feeling when I walked off 18 and pulled out my phone to check the leaderboard and saw that -10 was safe,” a relieved Warren told David Tease of Golf NSW
“I don’t think there are words to describe the roller coaster of emotions that q school provides especially when you’re around the number.”
Warren, from Picton in southwest Sydney, turned professional in mid-2019 after an amateur career which included time in the US at the South Mountain Community College in Arizona before switching to the University of Arkansas at Little Rock in 2017.
Warren closed his final season in Little Rock taking his place as one of the top golfers in program history. He finished the 2018-19 season with a 71.41 scoring average – the lowest ever by a Trojan and ranking fourth in the Sun Belt Conference.
Warren returned to Australia in mid-2019 and took advantage of the status he had secured on the PGA Tour of Australasia while still an amateur late in 2018, so the demands of tour qualifying were not new to him this week.
Highlighting the progress his game had made while in the collegiate system in the USA, Warren produced several top tens in PGA Tour of Australasian Tour events in the last eighteen months including a runner-up finish at the Moonah links event earlier this year.
A member of the Australian Golf Club and coached there by highly regarded Gary Barter, the 26-year-old still has a big task in two weeks time where those successful this week will be joined by unsuccessful players from the 2021 PGA and Korn Ferry Tours as they attempt to gain full access to the Korn Ferry Tour. He continues to impress in everything he does however and he might yet prove to be a real ‘Smokey’ amongst Australia’s emerging players.
Scrivener has, of course, built a successful career in Europe over the last five years where he has recorded eight top five finishes including a runner-up finish in Abu Dhabi earlier this year.
Less than 48 hours before the start of this week’s qualifying in Plantation in California, Jason had made all four rounds at the Andalucia Masters in Spain making his effort all the more impressive.
Scrivener’s only victory as a professional came when winning the 2017 NSW Open but he has built an impressive level of consistency in Europe and appears ready to take his game to the PGA Tour if he is able to graduate through the Korn Ferry Tour next season while no doubt keeping his European Tour status if possible.
Scrivener led after the opening round at his venue with a round of 65 on Tuesday which, given he had travelled from his tie for 58th in Spain on Sunday, set up the chance to progress to the final stage.
Earlier this year the South African born but Perth raised Scrivener crept inside the top 100 in the world and currently sits in 114th in the world ranking. He is also in 15th position on the Race to Dubai so he has already established a successful professional career with no doubt a lot more to come for the 32 year old.
Others amongst the large Australasian contingent did not fare so well with John Lyras, Brett Coletta, Steve Allan, Ryan Ruffels, James Nitties, Mathew Goggin, Grant Booth, Travis Smyth and New Zealanders Denzel Ieremia failing to graduate to the final stage.
Workhorse Hillier on verge of European Tour card
Daniel Hillier – photo Getty Images – European Tour
23 year old New Zealander Daniel Hillier earlier this week won his first European Challenge Tour event, the Challenge Costa Brava in Girona in Spain, and as a consequence jumped to 18th in the Road to Mallorca rankings and opened up the possibility of earning his way to the 2022 European Tour.
For Hillier it was his first professional win outside of New Zealand having won three Charles (Sir Bob Charles) Tour events, one of those as a 15 year old amateur.
The Wellingtonian has long promised to be an outstanding prospect for New Zealand golf, having won both the Australian and New Zealand Junior titles and the New Zealand Amateur Championship twice.
In 2019 Hillier finished third in the individual at the Eisenhower Trophy and turned professional a year later with one of New Zealand golf’s best amateur careers behind him.
He has qualified for both the US Open and the Open Championship through the rigorous qualifying process for both events and in 2021 has proven to be an absolute workhorse having now played 28 events with still more to come.
In order for Hillier to earn the right to play the European Tour with full status in 2022, he must finish inside the top 20 on the Road to Mallorca but his performances this year have already guaranteed him the right to play significantly more European Tour events next season even if they might be the lesser events.
A good finish to the season at the upcoming 2021 Rolex Challenge Tour Grand Final supported by The R&A. (Nov 4th – 7th) however will cement his position inside that all important milestone and have him join his fellow New Zealander Ryan Fox as a New Zealander with full playing rights in Europe next season.
The leading 45 players from the Road to Mallorca rankings will contest the season ending event at the completion of which the immediate future of many of the European Tour’s future stars is determined.
The importance of Hillier’s great week in Girona is further emphasised by the fact that leading into the week he was in a precarious 45th position in the Road to Mallorca rankings and flirting with the possibility of missing out on the Grand Final event.
Hillier was forced to hole a four foot birdie putt to complete a round of 65 and defeat Denmark’s Marcus Helligkilde, with a further three shots back to the players tied in third place.
“I’m pretty overwhelmed at the moment to be honest,” he said. “It’s been a pretty unreal week from the get go. We had some tough conditions to battle with but I managed to battle through that and probably had the round of my life in round three. To follow that up today and to hole a nice put on the last is just unbelievable, I can’t really believe I’m standing here right now.
“I’m shaking in my boots really, (the final putt) it was massive and just the fact that I’ve been over here since April away from family, I spent the first three months on my own and then my girlfriend came over and she’s been a massive help and has made everything a lot easier.
“It’s probably been one of the most mentally taxing year that I’ve ever had so to get a win at the end of the season, I’m just more than grateful that I am standing here right now.
“It’s absolutely amazing,” he said. “I’ve dreamt of playing professional golf since I was a youngster and to have the opportunity to get straight onto the main Tour after coming here and just playing off invites on the Challenge Tour – it’s amazing, and hopefully I can give it another good run next week. But I am just going to celebrate now and worry about that later.”
Scores
Adam Scott produces second best finish of 2021
Adam Scott – file photo Bruce Young
Birdies at the last two holes of his final round of this week’s CJ Cup at The Summit in Las Vegas in Nevada has seen Adam Scott record a 5th place finish, his second best of 2021.
Scott was in 3rd place heading into today’s final round and just three behind the then leader, Rickie Fowler. The 41-year-old was unable to build any momentum early in his round, the impressive putting of the opening three days no longer evident as he struggled on the greens for much of today.
The two birdies to finish, however, were important as they moved him from a 14th place finish to his four-way share of 5th and a cheque for US$342,000.
“It was a great week,” said Scott. “I mean, I played a lot of good golf. Anytime you reach 20 under par, there’s not too much going wrong, but going for the win today, I simply just did not have a good day on the greens.
“I played well, I gave myself all the opportunities and I didn’t make any of them and that was the difference. I think I played well enough to contend, but just left it all on the greens today.
“I was starting three back today so I had my work cut out for me, but it’s a course where you can get hot and run the tables and that didn’t happen for me, so I’m happy with my form. Hopefully with a couple more starts by the end of the year I can get a win.
“Those starts are likely to be the Houston Open and the RSM event.”
Cameron Smith finished one behind Scott in a share of 9th, while Marc Leishman’s final round of 64 moved him into 38th place along with Matt Jones, with Jason Day and Cameron Davis finishing 64th.
“Yeah, pretty good, very solid,” said Smith referring to his week. “I can’t say my prep was too good the last four or five weeks, but the game progressively felt better and better. The course got trickier and trickier and I was able to be there in contention, I guess, come Saturday, Sunday.”
The winner Rory McIlroy secured his 20th PGA Tour title with a one shot victory over Collin Morikawa the latter of whom produced a last round of 62 and just failed to earn him a place in a playoff against the man from Northern Ireland.
McIlroy was at his brilliant best, his win coming just a couple of weeks after what was a gut wrenching result for him at the Ryder Cup.
“I feel like a couple weeks ago at the Ryder Cup it was a big week for me in a lot of ways,” said the winner.
“I feel like I learnt a bit about myself, and there was a bit of reflection done over the last couple weeks. I felt like I started to work on the right things on my game. I didn’t think that it would translate into a win this quickly, but I’m thankful that it did.”
“It’s quite an achievement,” said McIlroy referring to his now 20 wins.
“I still need a couple more years on Tour to get that lifetime exemption, but at least I’ve got the wins. I was asked that question at the start of the week and it is a pretty big carrot. I think to get to 20 wins out here is a big achievement.
“Yeah, I mean, I didn’t know if it was going to be this week, but I knew if I just kept my head down and kept playing well and doing the right things, eventually I’d get there. Yeah, I’ve been close to starting my season with a win before, I think I finished second or third like eight times, so to get a win, yeah, it’s great. It feels really good, some validation of what I’ve done the last few weeks and just keep moving forward.”
Scores