Cameron Smith – file photo PGA of America
Cameron Smith has elevated his world ranking to an all time high with his outstanding performance to finish runner-up in this morning’s delayed final round of the Northern Trust event at the Liberty National Golf Club in New Jersey just across New York Bay from New York City.
Smith is now 23rd in the world ranking, surpassing his previous best of 24th after finishing 6th at the WGC Championship in Mexico in February of 2019.
The recently turned 28-year-old Queenslander produced a final round of 67 in the gusty conditions which followed yesterday’s damaging Hurricane Henri and finished tied for the lead with Tony Finau at the completion of 72 holes.
Smith, who was tied for the lead with Jon Rahm through 54 holes, began his round well when he holed a lengthy birdie putt at the second but at the 5th hole he pulled his tee shot into the hazard left and eventually settled for a double bogey.
He made the turn in even par but raced home in 31 for his round of 4 under 67 to catch Finau who had finished in the group ahead following that player’s closing nine of 30 and a round of 65 to set the mark for those behind.
Finau has been a perennial bridesmaid since his only previous PGA Tour title in Puerto Rico in 2016 having racked up ten runner-up finishes in that time, three of those in 2021 and as Smith stood over a 25-foot birdie putt at the 72nd hole to win the event outright there was a feeling whether it might happen again.
His putt finished a couple of feet short and it was off to extra holes to decide the winner of the first of three FedEx Cup Playoffs.
Finau’s drive was perfect at the first extra hole but Smith’s was so bad he was forced to play a provisional and was behind the eight-ball from that point.
Finau found the green with his approach and when he two putted for par the title was his.
Smith took the loss on the chin. After all he has advanced his cause in the FedEx Cup standings and the pursuit of riches they provide to third place, and he is very well positioned as the Playoffs head to Maryland this week for the BMW Championship and to Atlanta in ten days’ time for the Tour Championship.
“Just a terrible swing, mate,” said Smith when asked about the wild drive at the first playoff hole. “Just a mis-hit, and in these conditions, you can’t mis-hit the ball. Got a little bottom-y and a little bit heal-y and just blew up in the wind and went a long ways right.
“You know, my driver has cost me a few tournaments this year. That makes me more determined to try and figure it out before the end of the year.
“Luckily for us there’s always next week, and we’ve got two events left to try to make another move, so looking forward to it.”
It was Smith’s second runner-up finish of the season along with a similar finish at the Masters late in 2020 in addition of course to his win in New Orleans. He earns US$1.035 million for his runner-up finish however and takes his season’s earnings on the PGA Tour to US$5.8 million and into 9th place on the money list standings.
Finau’s victory moves him to number one in FedEx Cup standings and gets a massive monkey off his back where he has been unable to seal the deal given the many chances he has had to do so.
“Yeah, it’s extremely special,” said Finau. “It seems like I was a totally different player in 2016 than I am now. So there’s a lot of good things I think that have transpired. I worked my tail off to put myself in this position again, and it’s really nice to have — you know, I turned in my lowest nine on the back nine today and that’s going to give me a lot of confidence moving forward in contention.
“That was the goal on the day was to get to 20-under, and we thought that was going to have a legitimate chance to win the golf tournament. And 21-under would have done it outright, but I was able to hit some clutch shots in the playoff and win the tournament.”
“I’ve never been in this situation,” he added referring to his position at the top of the FedEx Cup rankings. “I had a chance in 2018 and played great in the Playoffs and was in the top five going into THE TOUR Championship and had a chance to win the FedEx Cup then.
“This is obviously going to be my best position going into the BMW, and then on to THE TOUR Championship. I’m excited about that opportunity. I’ve never played that golf course next week, so we’re back at work tomorrow, and you know, to try and get ourselves in position to win another golf tournament, the BMW and then on to THE TOUR Championship from there.
“It’s exciting to be in this position. I’ve played great all season. No W throughout the season, but in the Playoffs, this is what makes the Playoffs, immense pressure, and a lot of things riding on these three events, and I’m happy to win this first one.”
Of the other Australians beside Smith, Cameron Davis completed a solid weekend with a round of 69 to finish 31st this week and is currently 36th in the FedEx Cup standings assuring him of a place at the BMW Championship in Maryland this week and an outside chance to make the top 30 at the completion of that event who earn the right to play the Tour Championship.
Marc Leishman finished 47th this week and is now 35th in the FedEx Cup standings.
Australia will therefore have Smith, Leishman, Davis and Matt Jones in the BMW Championship field.
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New Zealand’s Steve Alker starring on PGA Tour Champions
Steve Alker file photo – Bruce Young
New Zealander, Steve Alker, turned 50 just a month ago but in his first two attempts on the PGA Tour Champions he has already proven he could well be a force to be reckoned with.
Alker finished 6th in last week’s Boeing Classic in Washington State after Monday qualifying for the event and today, at the Ally Championship in Grand Blanc in Michigan, where he earned a start courtesy of his top ten last week, Alker recorded a third place finish just two behind the winner, Joe Durant, and one behind PGA Tour Champions legend, Bernhard Langer.
Alker will earn US$144,000, one of the biggest cheques of his career, and the finish inside the top ten should assure him of a start at the Ascension Charity Classic in St Louis in ten days’ time.
“Yeah, yeah, this week was great,” said Alker. “I just enjoyed the week and had fun. Just lucky to be here. Last week was a fun week as well, first week.
“I just kind of kept it rolling, I just kind of kept my nose clean most of the week. I think my first bogey was like on
my fifth hole today this week, so I was just pleased I could keep it in the fairway and had a lot of chances, so it was fun.
“I’m done with Korn Ferry and I’m just coming out here and joining the 50 Club and trying to keep it going”
Other than the amazing performance of Sir Bob Charles when he was one of the dominant forces on the then Senior Tour in the 1980’s and 1990’s, New Zealand has had little if any presence on the US tour for the over 50’s but Alker’s tidy game and outstanding golf swing appear to be suited to the slightly shorter courses in use on the PGA Tour Champions.
Alker does not yet have status on the PGA Tour Champions and dependent on how things develop over the next few weeks he will likely have to attend the Tour School but he is showing that by being competitive on the Korn Ferry Tour until the age of 50 (he finished 5th three weeks ago) he has the game to compete at this level.
Australians keep PGA Tour hopes alive
Curtis Luck- moves inside the all important top 25 – file photo
Curtis Luck, Aaron Baddeley and Rhein Gibson have kept alive their hopes of a return to the PGA Tour with solid weeks at the second of the Korn Ferry Tour Finals in Columbus in Ohio today.
Luck’s final round of 66 saw him finish in 16th place this week but importantly he has improved to 24th in the standings which provide the basis for the 25 PGA Tour cards for next season handed out at the completion of next week’s Korn Ferry Tour Championship.
Baddeley finished 22nd this week and jumps to 31st in the standings while Gibson who was forced to withdraw from last week’s opening Final event, the Boise Open, finished 34th in Columbus and is now 48th in the standings.
One good result can change it all for all three players and they will be keen to produce such next week in Newburgh, Indiana.
NSW’s Brett Drewitt also finished 22nd this week but he already has his PGA Tour card assured courtesy of finishing inside the top 25 in the regular season’s standings.
Lucas Herbert struggled to a final round of 74 this week and finished 58th but, despite flying into the wrong airport earlier in the week perhaps disrupting his preparation, has the benefit of knowing that his 4th place finish in the opening final last week has him on his way to the PGA Tour next season. He stands in 6th place and cannot lose the card he essentially earned in Boise.
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Min Woo Lee leading Australian in Switzerland
Rasmus Højgaard – photo Getty Images
Min Woo Lee has finished as the leading Australian at the Omega European Masters in Crans-sur-Sierre in Switzerland, but, after being in excellent shape as the tournament entered the weekend, he will be disappointed in his final finishing position of 21st, despite a final round of 67.
His third round of 74, where he was actually 7 over through 12 holes on Saturday, proved costly but he remains in 10th place in the Road to Dubai standings, much of that the result of his win in the Scottish Open in July.
Lee finished seven shots from the winner, 20-year-old Rasmus Højgaard who at the age of just 20 has now won three European Tour titles. This win follows up a recent return to form when 3rd at the Cazoo Classic in London for the Danish golfer.
“At the moment it’s a bit surreal to be fair,” said the winner after his finish. “I didn’t expect to be in this position but it’s amazing. I knew I had to make a birdie (at the 18th) to have a chance to maybe get in the play-off, so we were just trying to set up a chance. I made a birdie and then we had a bit of a strange ending. It was crazy.
“That’s by far the most nervous I’ve been the whole day (over the putt at the 18th). But it’s so nice to have the crowds back to cheer you on. That was a great moment.
“I’m very proud. With some of the players who have won it, it’s very special. It’s an amazing place and I can’t wait to come back again.
“I’ve been struggling quite a bit the last few months. Had a good week in London, trying to find my game a little bit again and it was right here again.”
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Top tens for Hillier and Kyriacou in Sweden
Whitney Hillier – file photo Ladies European Tour
Australians Whitney Hillier (8th) and Stephanie Kyriacou (10th) have recorded top tens in the Ladies European Tour’s Didriksons Skafto Open on the island of Skafto in Sweden.
For the 30-year-old West Australian, Hillier, it was her first top ten in her last 23 starts on the Ladies European Tour and follows a very much improved showing when 15th in the recent combined LPGA Tour event, the Scottish Open.
Hillier finished six shots from the winner, Pauline Roussin Bouchard of France but consecutive weekend rounds of 65 saw a huge jump from her opening round of 72 in the low scoring layout.
For Kyriacou, her 10th place continues a superb season in Europe, this her 6th top ten in 12 starts this season including the win she posted at the Big Green Egg Open in the Netherlands in July. The NSW golfer remains in second position in the Race to Costa Del Sol standings.
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Australians behind eight-ball at BMW Championship
Matt Jones – leads the Australians early – file photo
When darkness eventually stopped play on day two of the BMW Championship in Maryland, three of the four Australians in the 70 man field had completed their rounds with only Cameron Smith required to return on Saturday morning to finish up his final three holes.
Smith faces a 12 foot birdie putt at the 16th when he gets back to the golf course, round two having been disrupted, initially, by bad weather then darkness.
Smith is in a share of 38th place at 4 under par and in terms of his projected ranking in the FedEx Cup table he has slipped two places to 5th based on his current scoring. That could change with a strong finish tomorrow morning.
Matt Jones leads the Australians in 26th place this week but he has slipped from 42nd to 47th in the FedEx Cup standings and with only the leading 30 making it through to next week’s Tour Championship he has some work ahead of him if he holds hopes of getting to Atlanta.
Cam Davis is in 38th place after his completed 36 holes this week and has dropped to 41st in the projected Fed Ex Cup standings and, like Jones, he has a big weekend ahead of him if he is to play the Tour Championship for the first time.
Marc Leishman struggled to a round of 76 today and is in 64th place this week and is now in 46th place in the FedEx Cup standings.
The leader is Bryson DeChambeau who had an opportunity to record a sub 60 round when he sat at 12 under through 16 holes on the par 72layout and faced a 15 footer for birdie at the 17th hole. That putt missed but he created another great chance to join the select sub-60 club when he hit a magnificent drive then an approach at the 18th which spun back 6 feet below the hole.
His putt however was a disappointing effort, not even threatening the hole but he was round in 60 and leads by one over Patrick Cantlay and Jon Rahm, the latter of whom has three holes to play on Saturday morning.
Rahm has a 15-foot birdie putt at the 16th to join DeChambeau in the lead.
“I think in trying to hit your line I misread the putt so one of those things that it was an awesome opportunity,” said DeChambeau.
“I had a couple shots, a couple birdie opportunities at 17 and 18, and didn’t happen but still really proud of the way I handled myself, and it’s great to feel some pressure again which is awesome.”
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Luck and Gibson stake PGA Tour claim in Ohio
Curtis Luck – file photo Bruce Young
Perth’s Curtis Luck and Lismore’s Rhein Gibson have opened the door for a possible return to the PGA Tour by making a good start to the second of three Korn Ferry Tour Final events in Columbus in Ohio.
The series of events brings together the leading 75 from the Korn Ferry Tour’s 2020/2021 season and players ranked from 126 to 200 in the PGA Tour’s FedEx Cup standings, the leading 25 at the completion of the three finals who have not gained 2022 PGA Tour cards through the regular Korn Ferry Tour season earning PGA Tour cards for next season.
Luck, a former US Amateur Champion, played the PGA Tour in 2019 but has been back on the Korn Ferry Tour in 2020 and 2021 and only just made it into the top 75 who earned the right to play the Finals.
Luck is in a share of third place and just one shot from the lead at the Scarlet Course and currently has a projected standing of 10th in the race for one of the 25 PGA Tour cards.
That standing can swing significantly, dependent on how he finishes the event but if he can maintain his standing in this particular event, then he is assured of getting back to the PGA Tour.
Rhein Gibson – file photo Bruce Young
Lismore’s Rhein Gibson is another in a similar position to Luck. His rounds of 66 and 67 have paralleled the efforts of Luck and have moved him to a share of 3rd with Luck and others this week and he is now 11th in the standings as he too chases a return to the PGA Tour.
Inverell’s Brett Drewitt already secured his return to the PGA Tour through the regular Korn Ferry Tour season but he can improve his standing by playing well in the Finals and today he did just that with a second round of 65 to be tied for 11th this week.
Aaron Baddeley is 27th this week and 34th in the projected overall standings, Lucas Herbert only just made the cut but has slipped to 7th in the overall standings after his great week in Boise last week had him in 3rd place.
Herbert is secure in terms of gaining a PGA Tour card for the first time but any improvement over the weekend and in next week’s Tour Championship will elevate him up the standings which is important in terms of gaining early season starts.
New Zealand’s Danny Lee and Australian Greg Chalmers missed the cut and will need something special at next week’s Tour Championship in order to regain PGA Tour playing privileges.
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Min Woo Lee well placed in Switzerland
Min Woo Lee – file photo European Tour
Min Woo Lee finds himself just four shots from the halfway lead at the Omega European Masters in the alpine ski / tourist town of Crans-sur-Sierre in Switzerland.
Lee added a second round of 67 to his opening 66 and at 7 under he trails the leader Dean Burmester of South Africa by four and shares 9th place.
Lee, who won the Scottish Open in July, missed the cut in his only previous attempt in this historic event, but reflecting the game which now sees him ranked 63rd in the world, Lee is nicely placed for a weekend assault on the €2 million event.
Lee followed up his win in Scotland with a missed cut at the Open Championship and two weeks ago played the WGC event in Memphis where he finished well back in the limited player field, so he has played sparingly in recent weeks but is well and truly back in the thick of things this week.
If Lee was to go on and win this week, he would become the third West Australian to win the event following the win by Graham Marsh in 1970 and 1972 and Brett Rumford in 2007.
Queensland’s Maverick Antcliff is four shots behind Lee and tied for 32nd along with Victorian Bryden MacPherson while Wade Ormsby is 46th.
Cameron Smith reaches highest ranking following 2nd place in New Jersey
Cameron Smith – file photo PGA of America
Cameron Smith has elevated his world ranking to an all time high with his outstanding performance to finish runner-up in this morning’s delayed final round of the Northern Trust event at the Liberty National Golf Club in New Jersey just across New York Bay from New York City.
Smith is now 23rd in the world ranking, surpassing his previous best of 24th after finishing 6th at the WGC Championship in Mexico in February of 2019.
The recently turned 28-year-old Queenslander produced a final round of 67 in the gusty conditions which followed yesterday’s damaging Hurricane Henri and finished tied for the lead with Tony Finau at the completion of 72 holes.
Smith, who was tied for the lead with Jon Rahm through 54 holes, began his round well when he holed a lengthy birdie putt at the second but at the 5th hole he pulled his tee shot into the hazard left and eventually settled for a double bogey.
He made the turn in even par but raced home in 31 for his round of 4 under 67 to catch Finau who had finished in the group ahead following that player’s closing nine of 30 and a round of 65 to set the mark for those behind.
Finau has been a perennial bridesmaid since his only previous PGA Tour title in Puerto Rico in 2016 having racked up ten runner-up finishes in that time, three of those in 2021 and as Smith stood over a 25-foot birdie putt at the 72nd hole to win the event outright there was a feeling whether it might happen again.
His putt finished a couple of feet short and it was off to extra holes to decide the winner of the first of three FedEx Cup Playoffs.
Finau’s drive was perfect at the first extra hole but Smith’s was so bad he was forced to play a provisional and was behind the eight-ball from that point.
Finau found the green with his approach and when he two putted for par the title was his.
Smith took the loss on the chin. After all he has advanced his cause in the FedEx Cup standings and the pursuit of riches they provide to third place, and he is very well positioned as the Playoffs head to Maryland this week for the BMW Championship and to Atlanta in ten days’ time for the Tour Championship.
“Just a terrible swing, mate,” said Smith when asked about the wild drive at the first playoff hole. “Just a mis-hit, and in these conditions, you can’t mis-hit the ball. Got a little bottom-y and a little bit heal-y and just blew up in the wind and went a long ways right.
“You know, my driver has cost me a few tournaments this year. That makes me more determined to try and figure it out before the end of the year.
“Luckily for us there’s always next week, and we’ve got two events left to try to make another move, so looking forward to it.”
It was Smith’s second runner-up finish of the season along with a similar finish at the Masters late in 2020 in addition of course to his win in New Orleans. He earns US$1.035 million for his runner-up finish however and takes his season’s earnings on the PGA Tour to US$5.8 million and into 9th place on the money list standings.
Finau’s victory moves him to number one in FedEx Cup standings and gets a massive monkey off his back where he has been unable to seal the deal given the many chances he has had to do so.
“Yeah, it’s extremely special,” said Finau. “It seems like I was a totally different player in 2016 than I am now. So there’s a lot of good things I think that have transpired. I worked my tail off to put myself in this position again, and it’s really nice to have — you know, I turned in my lowest nine on the back nine today and that’s going to give me a lot of confidence moving forward in contention.
“That was the goal on the day was to get to 20-under, and we thought that was going to have a legitimate chance to win the golf tournament. And 21-under would have done it outright, but I was able to hit some clutch shots in the playoff and win the tournament.”
“I’ve never been in this situation,” he added referring to his position at the top of the FedEx Cup rankings. “I had a chance in 2018 and played great in the Playoffs and was in the top five going into THE TOUR Championship and had a chance to win the FedEx Cup then.
“This is obviously going to be my best position going into the BMW, and then on to THE TOUR Championship. I’m excited about that opportunity. I’ve never played that golf course next week, so we’re back at work tomorrow, and you know, to try and get ourselves in position to win another golf tournament, the BMW and then on to THE TOUR Championship from there.
“It’s exciting to be in this position. I’ve played great all season. No W throughout the season, but in the Playoffs, this is what makes the Playoffs, immense pressure, and a lot of things riding on these three events, and I’m happy to win this first one.”
Of the other Australians beside Smith, Cameron Davis completed a solid weekend with a round of 69 to finish 31st this week and is currently 36th in the FedEx Cup standings assuring him of a place at the BMW Championship in Maryland this week and an outside chance to make the top 30 at the completion of that event who earn the right to play the Tour Championship.
Marc Leishman finished 47th this week and is now 35th in the FedEx Cup standings.
Australia will therefore have Smith, Leishman, Davis and Matt Jones in the BMW Championship field.
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Rod Pampling wins first PGA Tour Champions title
Rod Pampling – file photo
Queensland’s Rod Pampling has added a PGA Tour Champions victory to his three PGA Tour titles with a final round of 66 at the Boeing Classic in Snoqualmie south of Seattle in Washington State.
Pampling’s one shot victory over Tim Herron, Billy Mayfair and Jim Furyk earned the 51 year old US$315,000 and completes a run of events where he has recorded three top tens in his last four events.
Pampling’s earnings for the combined 2020/2021 season are now close to US$1.5 million and he has moved to 11th place in the standings on the PGA Tour Champions for the season.
Immediately after his victory and before his closest challengers were finished, Pampling was asked how he felt about the day and his prospects of winning.
“It was good. I hit everything good, felt in control most of the time. You know, it’s golf, sometimes it works out. And hopefully no one else will do any other birdies and I’ll at least have a chance still in a playoff.”
He needn’t have worried as although several tried no one was able to catch him and he would add this title to the International, the Arnold Palmer Invitational and the Shriners Hospitals for Children titles he won on the PGA Tour.
Pampling made the best possible start to his final round as he set out after the leader Woody Austin with an eagle birdie start. On a low scoring day, he maintained the momentum until the turn and although he would bogey the 10th and 16th holes he added three other birdies and had done enough to hold off late challenges from several players.
New Zealand’s Steve Alker, playing in his very first PGA Tour Champions event after turning 50 last month, made an excellent debut when finishing 7th to earn US$64,000. Alker’s final 9 of 32 swept him into a top ten finish to get his Champions Tour career underway provided of course he can earn his playing rights there over the next few months.
Of the other Australians in the field David McKenzie was 26th, Robert Allenby 56th, John Senden 61st and Stephen Leaney 67th.
Lucas Herbert starts well in pursuit of PGA Tour card
Lucas Herbert – laying claims to a PGA Tour card – file photo Asian Tour
Lucas Herbert’s share of 4th place in the opening event of the Korn Ferry Tour Finals, the Albertson’s Boise Open in Idaho, leaves him well placed to gain one of the 25 cards that will be handed out at the completion of the series at the Korn Ferry Tour Championship in two weeks’ time.
Herbert, who is in the field courtesy of his performances while playing events as a non-member of the PGA Tour, birdied four of his last six holes for a round of 66, improving eight spots from his overnight position.
The finish will go a long way to ensuring he finishes inside the top 25 players in the combined field of 150 eligible contenders from this year’s Korn Ferry Tour list and from those finishing between 126th and 200th on the FedEx Cup points table at the completion of the Finals.
If he is to do so, then he will earn a PGA Tour card for next season and further elevate his standing in the game
Historically, one good finish such as this in the previous four event series has been enough to graduate and given Herbert has two more chances to consolidate his position then not only does his PGA Tour card appear secure so too does the opportunity to advance his potential standing amongst the graduates.
Herbert finished three shots from the winner, Greyson Sigg of the USA, after a round that included eight birdies.
Aaron Baddeley finished 48th this week, New Zealand’s Danny Lee 60th and Curtis Luck 79th.
Other Australians in the field but who did not make the cut were Brett Drewitt, Greg Chalmers and Rhein Gibson.
Drewitt has already secured his 2020/2021 PGA Tour card via the regular season Korn Ferry Tour events.