Lucas Herbert in full flight today – image Getty Images
Victorian Lucas Herbert and New South Welshman Blake Windred lead their respective European events after opening rounds overnight.
Herbert, fresh from a campaign on the PGA Tour where he has been able to earn starts via invite, Monday qualifying and other means while still a non-member of that tour began this week’s Dubai Duty Free Irish Open at Mount Juliet with a round of 64 to lead by one over Johannes Veerman of the USA.
Herbert, has recorded encouraging top twenty finishes at each of his last two starts in the US, including a 19th place at last week’s Travelers Championship after having to Monday qualify to gain a start in the field for that event.
Herbert, currently ranked 91st in the world, is not only eying the title this week, but currently he does not have an exemption into this month’s Open Championship and the top three players not otherwise exempt at the end of this week’ championship will click their ticket to Royal St Georges on June 15th.
“It was a bit of a slow start,” said the 25 year old. “Even sort of the first eight holes, I birdied 15, made a nice putt and then 17, hit it in there pretty tight for eagle and missed it. Even the first eight holes felt a little bit slow out there, only hitting the two-ball with Laurie, and we just both felt like we are hitting it quite nice and couldn’t make any putts.
“I made a really long one on 18 for birdie and that kind of sparked things and got things going. Was able to play really nice that last nine holes. Felt like I was trying to get to 5- or 6-under and I didn’t really want to try and just attack really, really hard.”
The change from the style of courses he has been playing in the US appeared to play into Herbert’s hand.
“You can see in the fairways, even walking up the 9th there, starting to get some fairways that look like some pretty typical Irish Open stuff. It’s always fun when you come out and play some firm, fast golf courses. Coming from America, the rough is not as thick as probably been used to but it definitely up enough to make you interested out there.”
Perth’s Jason Scrivener, another of Australia’s brightest stars in Europe over the past couple of years, has also made a strong start with an opening round of 67, while Min Woo Lee had 68 and Maverick Antcliff 69.
Antcliff, playing on the secondary European Challenge Tour, continues to impress in the early stages of his professional career. An opening round of Kaskáda Golf Challenge in the Czech Republic.
The Australian birdied the final hole of his round to join German duo Marcel Schneider and Freddy Schott at the top of the leaderboard, the latter of whom will need to finish his opening round on Friday after only being able to complete 12 holes due to thunder and lightning at Kaskáda Golf Resort.
Newcastle’s Windred, who is playing in his maiden European Challenge Tour season, secured a career-best tie for second place at the Challenge de España last month and continued riding that wave of momentum into today’s round.
“I am very happy,” said the 23 year old who turned professional 18 months ago. “I feel like my game has been trending the last couple of weeks, that’s for sure, and having no bogeys out there definitely helps. I rolled a few putts in but in saying that, I gave myself a lot of opportunities and I was able to make six of them, so I’m pretty pleased with that.
“It’s a difficult course. If you miss a few tee shots, it can cost you a few shots. The play is to just stay aggressive. There are a few tee shots where you just have to smoke driver down the middle.
“It was a couple of hours’ delay and I just got some Netflix in, a bite to eat and then wheeled back out there. I didn’t think it was too bad.”
Windred also recorded top fives at two events earlier in the year in Australia including a runner-up finish at the Queensland Open and has improved his world ranking from outside the top 1000 at the start of the year to now inside the top 500.
He is now 27th in the Race to Mallorca rankings, the top twenty at season’s end earning European Tour cards for next season.
Blake Windred in action during round one – image courtesy of Getty Images
Irish Open Scores
Challenge Tour Scores
Lucas Herbert claims Irish Open and an Open Championship start
Lucas Herbert with his Irish Open trophy – Photo Getty Images
Australian Lucas Herbert has not only won his second European Tour title and his second as a professional, but his victory today at the Dubai Duty Free Irish Open at Mount Juliet Estate in County Kilkenny has earned the 25-year-old Victorian a start at the Open Championship at Royal St Georges in two weeks’ time.
Herbert extended his 54-hole margin of one to an eventual three shot win with a final round of 68 but having led the event from his opening round of 64, Sunday provided plenty of drama as he fought off a number of early challengers and his own demons during the final round.
Herbert birdied his second and third holes to open up a three-shot lead but a bogey at the 5th and strong challenges from American Johannes Veerman, Scotland’s Grant Forrest and eventual runner-up Sweden’s Rikard Karlberg, kept the result in doubt until late in the day.
Herbert was unable to build on the early momentum and made the turn in 35 but as the challenges began to fade he would birdied the 10th, 15th and 17th to put the result beyond doubt.
He did well to maintain his lead through the middle of his round where he lost control of his tee shots, in fact he was lucky to find his ball on a couple of occasions, but he dug deep to steady the ship over the closing holes to win for the first time since his win in Dubai in February of 2020 and just his second win in his nearly five year professional career.
Until this week, Herbert’s 91st place world ranking was unable to earn a place in the Open Championship field but the leading four players this week not otherwise exempt to Royal St Georges now have a ticket to the big show on July 15th. It will be Herbert’s second Open Championship and his 7th major appearance.
Herbert earns €484,000 ($A765,000) and will move just outside the top 50 in the world ranking – his highest ever.
“It’s an unbelievable feeling,” said Herbert. “It’s just so – it’s a bit fulfilling, really. I felt like I was at one of my low points in my life when I played here two years ago at Lahinch in the Irish Open, and now to feel like I’ve done full swing and come back around and won the event that I was at a pretty low point at, it’s pretty satisfying. I’m very happy standing here right now.
“Obviously chip-out on seven and then make that really nice putt for par. And then just scrambled all the way down eight and made that; that could have been the turning point of the day, if those two putts don’t go in, you make two bogeys. To keep that card really clean out there and not come back to the field and give them a chance, I’m happy about that.
“And later the bunker shots on 15 and 16, I felt like I scrambled so nicely all day. I didn’t feel like I holed a lot of putts yesterday, so to feel I holed the putts today, so good, so good.
“A lot of soul searching out there. Trying to go back through anything that me and the coach have worked on before, and I lost one right there on five. So I played around with a couple of feels and they didn’t work. I hit one down 12, and I said to myself, that’s the one – stick with that feel the rest of the round, and I did. And it felt like we were back to where we were at yesterday.”
The next best of the Australians was Jason Scrivener who continued his very good season when he tied for 9th, while Min Woo Lee finished 17th.
The European Tour now heads to Scotland for the Scottish Open at the Renaissance Club in North Berwick.
SCORES
Stephanie Kyriacou seals the deal in the Netherlands
Stephanie Kyriacou with her trophy – photo Ladies European Tour
Sydney’s Stephanie Kyriacou has won her first event as a professional but her second Ladies European Tour title with a two shot win over Finland’s Sanna Nuutinen at the Big Green Egg Open in the Netherlands.
Kyriacou, who either led or shared the lead after each of the four rounds of the €200,000 event, birdied the 16th and 17th holes to regain the lead she lost to Nuutinen after her joint 54 hole leader had birdied three in a row to grab the outright lead at the 15th.
20 year old, Kyriacou, won the Ladies European Tour’s Bonville Classic in Coffs Harbour in New South Wales by eight shots as an amateur 16 months ago and turned professional soon after but this would be her first win in the paid ranks.
2021 is just her second season on the Ladies European Tour but in 2020 she was the Rookie of the Year, further highlighting the significant promise she possesses.
She earned €30,000 for the victory and moves to second place on the Race to Costa Del Sol points table behind the woman she defeated today, Nuutinen.
“I’m buzzing! I forgot what it was like to win, it has been a little bit of time,” said Kyriacou. “There was some great golf out there, Sanna [Nuutinen] played really well, and she holed some really long putts. It was pretty tight, and I was a bit nervous.”
Kyriacou’s victory was made even more special given her father Nick was on the bag to watch his daughter achieve another milestone in her promising career.
“It is something pretty special. He has been there since day one. He spent all his time and energy when I was little so to have him on the bag for a win is pretty special. All my friends stayed up to watch my score! I’m very grateful for the support team I have.”
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Cameron Davis well placed at Rocket Mortgage Classic
Cameron Davis – file photo Bruce Young
Sydney’s Cameron Davis is just two from the halfway lead at the PGA Tour’s Rocket Mortgage Classic in Detroit in Michigan, consecutive rounds of 68 having the 26-year-old former Australian Open and Australian Amateur champion in a share of 6th place.
Davis has struggled in recent months to produce the sort of form which saw him record his best PGA Tour finish to date when 3rd in the American Express tournament early in the year but he appears to have things heading in the right direction again having recorded 12 birdies in his opening 36 holes.
Davis is in his third season on the PGA Tour having graduated there from the Korn Ferry Tour in 2018. He gives regular signs that the precocious talent he displayed when winning the Australian Open in late 2017 is about to yield big results and that his powerful game is geared for this tour.
Davis trails England’s Tom Lewis and Chile’s Joacquin Niemann who share the lead at 10 under.
Davis’ fellow Australians, Aaron Baddeley and Matt Jones, are 34th while Jason Day, who opened with a solid 67 on day one, could only add a round of 73 today to be 46th, with Cameron Percy 46th.
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Herbert and Kyriacou retain European leads
Lucas Herbert during today’s second round – photo Getty Images
Australians Lucas Herbert and Stephanie Kyriacou have retained the lead in their respective events on the European and Ladies European Tours.
Herbert added a second round of 67 at the Dubai Duty Free Irish Open at Mount Juliet Estate, Thomastown in Co Kilkenny and at the halfway stage leads by two over Scotland’s Grant Forrest and Englishman Andy Sullivan in the €3 million ($A4.75 million) event.
Herbert’s round consisted of eight birdies but a double bogey at his third hole had him on the back foot early and he did well to fashion his 5 under par round.
“It was a little frustrating but also felt like I did pretty well to scrap 67 out of that,” said the 25 year old Victorian, who, by finishing inside the top three this week and not already exempt to the Open Championship in two weeks’ time, will earn a start at Royal St Georges.
“ Yeah, I holed some really nice putts and missed some that I thought were good chances to make; obviously the double on three.
“For a round that hopefully is not the better one of the week, I felt like I did really well to get a lot out of it and put myself into a very good position going into the weekend.
“I think it’s definitely something that comes with a win where you know you’ve proved to yourself that you can win, you can hit shots under pressure and actually win. So I’ll be taking a lot of experience from that into the weekend and try and draw on that confidence, as well.”
The win Herbert was referring to is his win at the Dubai Desert Classic in early 2019, his only win to date in a professional career littered by top three finishes.
Herbert’s fellow Australians, Perth’s Min Woo Lee and Jason Scrivener are also nicely place in a share of 9th place at 8 under and five behind Herbert’s lead.
Queensland’s Maverick Antcliff also made the cut but is well back in 58th place.
In the Czech Republic, Sydney’s Stephanie Kyriacou added a third round of 65 at the Big Green Egg Open to retain a share of the lead with her co 36 hole leader Finland’s Sana Nuutien, the pair drawing four shots clear of the third placed Atthaya Thitikul; of Thailand.
Kyriacou had a two-shot lead with two to play but a two-shot swing when the Australian bogeyed the par 5 17th saw the two draw level.
Kyriacou, the 2020 Rookie of the Year on the Ladies European Tour, is chasing her first professional win although her second on the LET Tour having won the Bonville Classic in Australia as an amateur before turning professional.
“I was having fun out there; I was holing some long putts which is always enjoyable,” said the 20 year old.
“I am pretty excited, we both played really well so it was anyone’s game the whole day. It will be interesting tomorrow. I haven’t thought about what it would mean but it would be great to get my first professional win.”
SCORES IRISH OPEN
SCORES BIG GREEN EGG OPEN
Stephanie Kyriacou – photo Ladies European Tour (Tristan Jones)
Stephanie Kyriacou contending again in Europe
Stephanie Kyriacou during her second round today. – photo LET
While Lucas Herbert and Blake Kindred are this week making headlines in their respective European men’s events, yet another Australian is achieving similar results on the Ladies European Tour.
New South Welshwoman, Stephanie Kyriacou, a member of the St Michael’s Golf Club on Sydney’s Eastern beaches, shares the lead through 36 holes of the interestingly named Big Green Egg Open in the Netherlands.
A second round of 72 lost Kyriacou the outright lead she held by two after an opening round of 66 but she is now tied in the lead with Finland’s Sanna Nuutinen.
The leading pair are two shots clear of the brilliant Thai youngster Atthaya Thitikul, a winner last week in the Czech Republic.
“I feel okay, I feel like I could have played a lot better but I’m sure everyone can say that,” said Kyriacou at the completion of her round. “I did miss a couple of small putts, but then I holed a couple of long ones to make up for it. It was really steady golf.
“It was raining a little bit more this morning than it was last night. The greens were a little bit slow, and I think I struggled there. If it is going to be good weather, then I should be okay. There are still two more rounds and especially on this course, with it being so tight anything can happen in 36 holes of golf.”
Kyriacou, is in her fifth event of the 2021 season in Europe after playing there for the first time in 2020 and in her four starts to date she has finished no worse than 15th and recorded two top tens.
The 20-year-old has already won a Ladies European Tour event, that coming when successful at the Ladies Classic in Bonville in Coffs Harbour in early 2000 before joining the LET.
Today Kyriacou birdied her opening hole and appeared to be in full control of proceedings when reaching the turn in 35 but a homeward nine of 37 has her sharing honours with Nuutinen who is in stunning form herself in 2021, recording five consecutive top tens in her last five appearances.
Whitney Hillier was the only other Australian to make the cut although she is back in 35th place as the event enters its final 36 holes.
SCORES
Herbert and Windred lead respective European events
Lucas Herbert in full flight today – image Getty Images
Victorian Lucas Herbert and New South Welshman Blake Windred lead their respective European events after opening rounds overnight.
Herbert, fresh from a campaign on the PGA Tour where he has been able to earn starts via invite, Monday qualifying and other means while still a non-member of that tour began this week’s Dubai Duty Free Irish Open at Mount Juliet with a round of 64 to lead by one over Johannes Veerman of the USA.
Herbert, has recorded encouraging top twenty finishes at each of his last two starts in the US, including a 19th place at last week’s Travelers Championship after having to Monday qualify to gain a start in the field for that event.
Herbert, currently ranked 91st in the world, is not only eying the title this week, but currently he does not have an exemption into this month’s Open Championship and the top three players not otherwise exempt at the end of this week’ championship will click their ticket to Royal St Georges on June 15th.
“It was a bit of a slow start,” said the 25 year old. “Even sort of the first eight holes, I birdied 15, made a nice putt and then 17, hit it in there pretty tight for eagle and missed it. Even the first eight holes felt a little bit slow out there, only hitting the two-ball with Laurie, and we just both felt like we are hitting it quite nice and couldn’t make any putts.
“I made a really long one on 18 for birdie and that kind of sparked things and got things going. Was able to play really nice that last nine holes. Felt like I was trying to get to 5- or 6-under and I didn’t really want to try and just attack really, really hard.”
The change from the style of courses he has been playing in the US appeared to play into Herbert’s hand.
“You can see in the fairways, even walking up the 9th there, starting to get some fairways that look like some pretty typical Irish Open stuff. It’s always fun when you come out and play some firm, fast golf courses. Coming from America, the rough is not as thick as probably been used to but it definitely up enough to make you interested out there.”
Perth’s Jason Scrivener, another of Australia’s brightest stars in Europe over the past couple of years, has also made a strong start with an opening round of 67, while Min Woo Lee had 68 and Maverick Antcliff 69.
Antcliff, playing on the secondary European Challenge Tour, continues to impress in the early stages of his professional career. An opening round of Kaskáda Golf Challenge in the Czech Republic.
The Australian birdied the final hole of his round to join German duo Marcel Schneider and Freddy Schott at the top of the leaderboard, the latter of whom will need to finish his opening round on Friday after only being able to complete 12 holes due to thunder and lightning at Kaskáda Golf Resort.
Newcastle’s Windred, who is playing in his maiden European Challenge Tour season, secured a career-best tie for second place at the Challenge de España last month and continued riding that wave of momentum into today’s round.
“I am very happy,” said the 23 year old who turned professional 18 months ago. “I feel like my game has been trending the last couple of weeks, that’s for sure, and having no bogeys out there definitely helps. I rolled a few putts in but in saying that, I gave myself a lot of opportunities and I was able to make six of them, so I’m pretty pleased with that.
“It’s a difficult course. If you miss a few tee shots, it can cost you a few shots. The play is to just stay aggressive. There are a few tee shots where you just have to smoke driver down the middle.
“It was a couple of hours’ delay and I just got some Netflix in, a bite to eat and then wheeled back out there. I didn’t think it was too bad.”
Windred also recorded top fives at two events earlier in the year in Australia including a runner-up finish at the Queensland Open and has improved his world ranking from outside the top 1000 at the start of the year to now inside the top 500.
He is now 27th in the Race to Mallorca rankings, the top twenty at season’s end earning European Tour cards for next season.
Blake Windred in action during round one – image courtesy of Getty Images
Irish Open Scores
Challenge Tour Scores
Deyen Lawson and Daniel Hillier added to Open field
Deyen Lawson – file photo PGA of Australia
The already sizeable group of Australasians eligible to play this year’s Open Championship at Royal St Georges in Kent was added to overnight when Gold Coast based Victorian, Deyen Lawson, and New Zealand’s, Daniel Hillier, graduated through Final Qualifying at venues across England.
Both Lawson and Hillier led the qualifiers at their respective venues where a total of twelve players earned their way into the Open Championship, all but one of them to make their debuts in the event beginning on July 15th.
For Lawson it was a great bounce back after missing the cut in Germany last week, the two extra days he had for preparation perhaps a blessing in disguise.
Hillier finished 23rd at last week’s European Challenge Tour event and is generally considered one of the most exciting young talents to come out of New Zealand for several years.
“I’ve got goosebumps hearing that [I’ve qualified], which pretty much sums it up,” said Hillier. “It’s been a pretty crazy day. I got pretty hot on the back nine in the morning and held on through the front nine in the afternoon, then picked up a few birdies coming home which was really nice.
“My dad [in New Zealand] was up to see the end of my first round, which was pretty cool. He sent me a message saying keep going, keep your head down and I’m sure the majority of my friends and family are just waking up now – I’m looking forward to talking to them about it. It’s a shame they can’t come over for The Open but I’m sure they’ll be following closely.
“It’s a dream come true. I’ve always wanted to play in Major Championships and this will be my second one, so I’m really excited to get into it.”
That pair will join Cameron Smith, Adam Scott, Marc Leishman, Jason Day, Matt Jones, Brad Kennedy, Aaron Pike and Hillier’s fellow New Zealanders, Ryan Fox and Danny Lee as players qualified to tee it up.
Smith, Scott and Leishman are in the field as a result of their recent performances and their current world ranking, Day gets a start due to his 2015 PGA Championship win, Jones and Pike due to their top three finishes at the 2019 Australian Open (carried over from last year) and Kennedy and Fox because of their top two finishes on the Australasian Order of Merit in 2019.
Opportunities still exists for late inclusion at this week’s Dubai Duty Free Irish Open, next week’s Scottish Open, the 2021 Le Vaudreuil Golf Challenge and the John Deere Classic in the US.
Royal St Georges was last used for the Open Championship in 2011 when Darren Clarke was successful and earlier in 2003 when Ben Curtis was a surprise winner. In 1894 the venue became the first outside of Scotland to host the event. This will be the 15th time the Open Championship has been played at the course on the English Channel.
For Hillier, this will be his second major championship after playing the 2019 US Open at Pebble Beach while for Lawson, who has struggled with limited category on the European Tour in 2021, this will be his first.
Marc Leishman’s narrow miss at Travelers Championship
Marc Leishman – so close to a second Travelers title – photo Getty Images
Marc Leishman has fallen one short of a potential second Travelers Championship victory after a brilliant final round of 64 at the TPC River Highlands in Connecticut left him alone in third place and just one behind a playoff between eventual winner, Harris English, and runner-up Kramer Hickok, that pair requiring eight extra holes before a winner was decided.
Leishman began the final round four shots behind the lead held by three-time winner of the event Bubba Watson and a man yet to win on the PGA Tour, Hickok.
Just as he had nine years ago when winning this event to claim his first title on the PGA Tour, Leishman put together a final round that would sweep him into the lead and although English and Hickok would birdie their final hole to move ahead, it was another great week for the 37-year old Victorian.
Leishman knew he might well be one short when he failed to birdie the 17th and 18th to get to 13 under and so it would transpire with English holing from 30 feet at the last and Hickok from eight feet to edge clear of Leishman and head into a playoff.
Leishman produced a final round of 62 in 2012 to come from six shots back and talked after his round today of the benefit coming from behind provides on a course like the TPC River Highlands.
“Yeah, I think you can have the lead after 54 holes, but generally by the time you tee off you’re not leading,“ said Leishman. “So that’s kind of an interesting thing about this course. 1, 2, 3, 6, 7 are all birdie holes, so if you get out two, three hours before the leaders you can get ahead of them early and put a little bit pressure on them, make them have to push.
“I mean, I’ve been close to the lead here and have done exactly what nearly everyone else has and struggled, and every time I’ve seemed to have played well here I’ve come from behind. I guess you play a lot freer when you’re behind. It’s just, yeah, it’s nice to be able to do that and have a little less pressure.”
Leishman knew he likely needed a birdie at the last to force the issue and although he found the front bunker he was not unhappy about his strategy in attacking a flag tucked just over the bunker.
“Yeah, I’m not the kind of guy that’s going to hit a sand wedge to the middle of the green and try and two-putt. Trying to make a 30-footer. I wanted to hit that close, possibly make it. Needed three more yards.
“I can live with myself a lot easier if I go for it than if I maybe play a shot — a more conservative shot and not make birdie that way. I would rather do what I did. I would rather make birdie obviously.”
Jason Day was the next best of the Australians after a second consecutive round of 70 left him in a share of 10th place.
Day again struggled with the back issue that has plagued him for so much of his career and although he seemed a little freer today than was the case yesterday it is clearly still restricting him, both mentally and physically.
Adam Scott only just made the cut on Friday after holing a birdie putt at his 36th hole to secure a place in the weekend field. He made the most of that by producing rounds of 67 and 67 over the weekend to climb to 13th, his equal best finish in his last nine starts on the PGA Tour.
Lucas Herbert continues to play events on the PGA Tour despite not being a member. He was forced to Monday qualify for this event and did so by claiming one of the five available places in the field then took advantage by finishing in a share of 19th.
Cameron Smith struggled from his opening bogey today and eventually finished with a round of 74 on a golf course where low scores were the norm. He finished 30th after beginning the day tied for 3rd and just one behind the lead.
Matt Jones was 36th and Cameron Percy 56th.
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Nelly Korda claims first major and top world ranking
Nelly Korda – photo PGA of America Montana Pritchard
Nelly Korda has been one of the most dominant players on the LPGA Tour over the past three years but despite winning five LPGA Tour titles and reaching 3rd in the Rolex World Rankings she had failed to secure a major title – until today that is.
The 22-year-old Korda won the KPMG Women’s PGA Championship outside of Atlanta by three shots over her fellow American, Lizette Salas, and in doing so not only claims that first major, she has also reached the number one standing in women’s golf, becoming the first American to do so since Stacy Lewis in 2014.
The victory comes on top of her win at the Meijer Classic last week and two weeks after missing the cut at the US Women’s Open.
Korda and Salas had the event to themselves for much of the final 36 holes, the third placed golfers, Hyo Joo Kim and Giulia Molinaro finishing six shots behind the second placed Salas.
Korda earned a massive US$675,000 for her win and takes her earnings for the year to date to nearly US$1.8 million.
“It’s been amazing, honestly,” said Korda. “The past few days, the battle with Lizette, it’s been a lot of fun. It’s been stressful. I think it’s had everything. But I just can’t believe it. I’m still in shock.
Korda talked of her mindset that has been so important to her and that the burden of becoming America’s first number one in so long was not an issue today.
“I didn’t really think about it too much. I mean, when you have a good team around you, they try to implement a mindset of just go out and play golf, have fun. I’ve told my caddie Jason from day one, I was like, I’m the type of player that likes to take it shot by shot.
“Sometimes you get away from it, and he actually told me today, he’s like, you’re thinking 40 minutes ahead. He’s like, you told me when you hired me we’re taking it shot by shot. It’s very simple and people are like, oh, that’s boring, but it’s really important when you’re out there.”
Korda’s sister Jessica has also been a highly successful professional, both players former Australian Women’s Open champions and today, in a nice moment, Nelly talked of the importance of having Jessica in her life.
“She has a heart of gold. She’s the most selfless person out there. I mean, she’s five years older, so she has showed me the ropes of the LPGA, the ropes of professional golf, and I’ve been super lucky to have been showed that because a lot of people don’t get that opportunity.
“If I’m struggling, she’s right there for me. I can’t thank her enough for everything she has done and for how selfless of a person she is.”
Rookie professional Gabi Ruffels led the Australasians when she finished 33rd, Minjee Lee 40th, Lydia Ko 52nd and Su Oh 63rd.
Scores
Smith and Day just one behind lead at Travelers Championship
Australians Cameron Smith and Jason Day begin tomorrow’s final round of the Travelers Championship near Hartford just one shot behind the joint 54 hole leaders, Bubba Watson and Kramer Hickok.
Another two shots back is yet another Australian, Matt Jones, and so tomorrow’s final round might well produce yet another PGA Tour title for Australia.
Day began today’s third round one ahead of the field but once again he struggled with his ongoing back issue, gingerly walking and reaching for the ball when holing out or replacing it to line up putts. That he remains so much in contention is a credit to a man who has suffered so much with injury and illness throughout his career.
Day and his wife, Ellie, have recently welcomed the birth of their fourth child, one of the reasons, along with an enforced withdrawal from the Memorial with his back issue, for him missing the recent US Open at Torrey Pines.
“I think obviously I wanted to be at the U.S. Open,” said Day. “I mean, it was nice to be at home with the birth of my son, you know, just spending quality time. Obviously I wanted to be there.
“It was killing me to watch the U.S. Open sitting at home. I said that to my wife. I’m just trying to slowly work my way back to where I need to be. Right now I feel where I’m at world ranking-wise, I just needed to go and take some time off and just try and get my game back to where it should be.
“Before this hiccup that I had at Memorial, I felt bulletproof, 100%, like I never had a back pain in my life. I was just doing exercise and unfortunately tweaked it, and hadn’t had time — in the middle of the season you don’t have time to kind of get it ready.
“I’m not 21 anymore, so it doesn’t recover like it used to. I’m really high on the FedEx, so got to try and do something to get myself into the Playoffs. Definitely got to try and do something to get myself inside the top 50 so I can get back into the majors.
“It’s a pretty critical time for me. It’s just hard to have an injury like this or not even an injury, but have a stiff back knowing that I have to go out and play. So I just got to suck it up and just do it.”
Smith, too, is reversing some recent disappointment having missed the cut at both the Memorial Tournament and the US Open last week.
Despite that, Smith expressed confidence in his game, his third round of 66 today reflecting a game that is in better shape than his recent missed cuts suggest.
“I’m pretty confident. I’m confident, probably the most confident I’ve been over the driver for a long time, which is a big thing for me.
“I feel if I can get it in the fairway the rest of the game kind of takes care of itself. So that’s really nice, to stand over the ball with driver and think you’re going to hit a good one.”
Joint leader Bubba Watson has won twelve times on the PGA Tour, three of those victories at this venue which was also the scene of his first PGA Tour title. He has also been runner-up in this event in addition to the three victories so he is clearly the man to beat tomorrow.
Hickok is a progressive player, advancing through the Mackenzie Tour in Canada and the Korn Ferry Tour, having won on both tours ahead of advancing to the PGA Tour in 2020.
Scores