Champions Lee and Park pose with their trophies – photo Golf Australia – click to open
For some time now, Perth’s, Min Woo Lee, has been considered Australia’s next golfing star and his two-shot victory at the ISPS Handa Vic Open at 13th Beach this weekend further confirmed this reputation.
It was 21 year old Lee’s first victory as a professional and provides full status for him on the European Tour for the next two seasons having just missed out on full status despite an impressive rookie season there in 2019.
Lee’s best European Tour finish prior to this win was when 3rd at the recent Australian PGA Championship on the Gold Coast but with this win he will improve to 130th in the world ranking, an improvement of some 230 positions from this time last year.
A former US Junior Champion the Perth golfer was an impressive performer in the amateur ranks despite not winning many titles but this week’s victory opens the door for a very successful professional career especially with the confidence it will bring.
“I’m pretty proud of the way I played,” said Lee. “I thought coming in I had a really good chance because I was hitting it really good, but I think I impressed myself with the game this whole week. Hopefully I’ll have more of these over my whole career.
“I felt really comfortable just because if I did exactly the same as I did yesterday, I felt pretty hard to stop. I started off really hot out the gate and was pretty comfortable those last few holes. I got a bit nervy, but I’m pretty proud of the way I finished.
“I hit one shot at a time. It’s a cliché, but it’s just that. You can’t really worry about anything else. I hit it so well, I’d give myself nine out of ten for ball striking this week. Coming into today I knew I could just stay calm and just hit every shot the same as the last three days.
“I was pretty calm until, you know, the last hole. I wasn’t nervous, just on my toes a little bit. I thought it’s a par five, straight downwind, the ball’s not going to curve much off the tee – stripe one down and I thought I had it in the bag from there.”
New Zealander Ryan Fox only just made the cut heading into the final 36 holes but weekend rounds of 69 and then 64 on Sunday, the best of the day by three shots, saw him storm through the field to grab second place, three shots ahead of Australians Marcus Fraser and Travis Smyth and Frenchman Robin Sciot-Siegrist.
Fox’s round was made even better by the demands of the strong winds that buffeted the course throughout the weekend, an eagle at his final hole the icing on the cake of an exceptional effort on the final day.
“That was probably the best round I’ve played in a tournament,” said Fox. “I would not have thought 64 was out there at the start of the day. I think the only saving grace with this wind direction is you either play a hole straight down or straight into.
“I made a couple of eagles, which was nice. I hit a lot of shots inside of 15‑foot and made a couple of those, which is not really what you expect to do today. I never really felt like I was under any pressure out there which, in conditions like this, that’s always nice.”
The women’s Vic Open was won by Korean Hee Young Park who survived a three person playoff to win her third LPGA Tour title after regaining her playing privileges at the LPGA Tour School in December.
She defeated fellow South Koreans Hye Jin Choi and So Yeon Ryu with a par at the 4th hole of extra time.
Park has seriously considered giving the game away last year, but she gave Tour School another chance and finished second there and now her career is very much alive once again.
“I wasn’t going to just to put off Q‑School because I thought this is enough, my golf career, but I tried the Q‑School, made the Q‑School, finished second. That kind of gave some other confidence. And then I just want to ‑‑ got the feeling with the rookie year feeling, you know?
“Back to refreshed instead of like overall. This is my almost 13th year on the tour, so kind of too used to it on the tour, but after Q‑School I have something new feeling, so I think that gave to me a lot of things.”
The leading Australians in 6th place were Minjee Lee, the sister of the men’s champion, Su Oh and Robyn Choi who recorded her best ever LPGA Tour finish when sharing the honours of leading Australian.
Hannah Green worked her way through the pack over the weekend to tie for 11th.
The LPGA Tour moves now to Adelaide for this coming week’s Women’s Australian Open while for the Australasian Tour they head to Toowoomba for the Queensland PGA Championship and for the European Tour, their next event will be in Oman beginning on February 27th.
Adam Scott Returns to Top 10 with Genesis Win
Adam Scott’s two shot victory at the Genesis Invitational in Los Angeles in his very first event of 2020 has seen the 39-year-old Australian return to the world top 10 for the first time since May of 2017, the victory today his first on the PGA Tour in nearly four years.
Scott took a share of the 54 hole lead into the final day and although he began well with two early birdies, a bogey at the 4th followed by a double at the 5th threatened to ruin his chances of a return to the winner’s circle.
Scott had, of course, won the Australian PGA Championship at RACV Royal Pines on the Gold Coast two months ago but although he has gone close on occasions a win at this level has eluded him in recent times.
The significant amount of world ranking points he earns because of the strength of the field this week will see move to 7th in the world ranking.
Scott fought off challenges from Matt Kuchar, Sung Kang and Scott Brown on a day where the famed Riviera Country Club bared her teeth as the golf course firmed up and the notorious California greens played havoc late in the day.
A bogey from the middle of the fairway on the 15th, however, threatened Scott’s lead but he gave himself one final cushion when he pitched to 10 feet at the par 5 17th and converted for birdie to give himself a two shot advantage playing the last.
The chasers were unable to put any further pressure on the leader and Scott was able to safely par the last to win by two.
It was Scott’s 14th PGA Tour title and takes his earnings to US$56.5 million on the PGA Tour. He is the 7th highest earner of all time on the PGA Tour.
Brown, Kuchar and Kang tied for 2nd two shots from Scott, while Hideki Matsuyama, Rory McIlroy, Max Homa, Bryson De Chambeau and Joel Dahmen were in a group in 5th place another shot back.
Marc Leishman was the only other Australian to make the cut when he finished in 43rd place.
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Inbee Park Wire to Wire Winner in Adelaide
Inbee Park – photo Golf Australia
South Korean, Inbee Park, staked her claim early in pursuit of her first Women’s Australian Open with an eagle at her very first hole on Thursday and from that point on she was never really headed.
She was, admittedly, caught through 36 holes but she drew clear again through 54 holes and although she battled to a round of 74 on the final day she was not alone in the demanding conditions of Sunday and eventually won by three over American Amy Olson and by four over Frenchwoman Perrine Delacour.
For the 31 year old Park it was her 20th LPGA Tour title but one that means a lot to her for several reasons.
“It’s always great to put my name on a beautiful trophy, especially have such nice winners on that trophy. It’s great to be part of,” said the champion.
“The Australian Open is a national title for Australia and I would love to have the title with me. It’s a great honour to put my name among these legends in golf and hopefully later, 10, 20 years later, everybody look at those names and maybe one of my name, and then everybody think that it is their honour to be on there.”
“I think it’s really the joy that I am feeling and the relief, I guess. Because I just didn’t know when it was going to come. It took almost two years to come. I have been missing them quite a lot. So,yeah, really good to have the trophy again.”
Hannah Green finished as the leading Australian when sharing 13th place after she too battled to a final round of 74.
The West Australian talked afterwards of the added pressure and attention that being a major champion brings.
“It’s definitely something you need to get used to. Even last week at the Victorian Open, having my face everywhere and then this week having my face around, it’s definitely something I haven’t experienced before.
“I don’t know, I think it’s probably sometimes a good thing to have a little bit of pressure, just to make sure that it really means something to you. This is definitely one of my favourite events that we get to play all year round, so I’m really happy when I have a good result, and I think I do have a good result because I’ve got so many people here supporting me.”
Green’s fellow West Australian, Minjee Lee, was the next best in 34th place.
The LPGA Tour now has several week’s off as a result of the Corona Viras forcing the postponement of events in Asia, their next event being the Founders Cup in Arizona in a month’s time.
Michael Sim Last Man Standing At QLD PGA
Michael Sim – photo PGA of Australia
At the completion of an epic final round of the 2020 Queensland PGA Championship at the City Golf Club in Toowoomba, Gold Coast based West Australian, Michael Sim, has emerged the winner of the Tier 2 event following a four-hole playoff with Sydney’s Scott Arnold.
Arnold and Sim were left as the last men standing at the completion of 72 holes of regulation play after the man who had led for 70 holes of the event, Brad Kennedy, fell victim to a horror finish in which he dropped four shots in his final three holes.
Sim parred the 4th extra hole despite missing the green only to watch his close friend and 2009 Australian Amateur Champion and former leading world amateur, Arnold, three putt for bogey after both had, at times, looked the winner earlier in the playoff battle.
For Sim, it is his second PGA Tour of Australasia title following his 2017 Queensland Open victory although he did win the WA Open in 2019 but that event had lost its PGA Tour of Australasia status.
“Walking off 15 I thought any chance of winning was almost gone,” Sim admitted after a par at the fourth playoff hole was enough to defeat Arnold, a close mate who is hitching a lift back to the Gold Coast on Sunday evening.
“Everything just happened so fast. I stood on the 18th tee at 11 (under) and Scott was in at 13. I actually asked Graeme Scott the tournament director whether Scott had finished at 13. He’s a mate of mine and I thought I was gone but he said he’d actually finished at 12.
“Brad was over in the trees and I saw him lay up and I thought, I’ve got a chance here if I hit a good shot and birdie it, which I did.
“I didn’t have my best stuff today – I don’t really think anyone near the top of the leaderboard did. Everyone kept falling away and it was nice to hit a great 8-iron into the last there in regulation and give myself a chance in the playoff.”
Sim was once an outstanding amateur himself and quickly gained access to the then Web.Com Tour and PGA Tour soon after.
His career since, however, has been plagued with injury and loss of form and after battling to return to his former best he took up a bridging course with the PGA of Australasia after the responsibility of family saw the need to find a way to provide for his wife and youngster.
He has, however, shown in recent times that his game is returning to the level that saw him as one of Australia’s brightest young prospects in the late 2000’s and this week’s win further confirms just that.
“I’m doing my bridging program at the moment and I’m halfway through that but I seem to have been playing well since I started my traineeship. I’m not too sure what the future holds.
“There’s a lot of emotion. I never thought I’d be here and to come away with the trophy is just amazing.”
For Arnold he too is on the comeback trail after battling away on the Japan Development Tour of late. Earlier in his career he won on the European Challenge Tour and at the inaugural dual gender Vic Open at 13th Beach.
Scott Arnold
Four players including New Zealander Michael Hendry and long-time leader, Kennedy, both of whom three putted to last to finish one behind, Dimi Papdatos and New Zealand based Korean Chang Ji Lee tied for 3rd.
The PGA Tour of Australasia now heads to Caloundra on the Sunshine Coast for the Tier 2 Queensland Open followed by the Tier One New Zealand Open in Queenstown the following week.
Adam Scott’s Impressive Return at Riviera
Adam Scott has made an impressive return to tournament golf with a second round of 64 at the Genesis Invitational in Los Angeles to finish the opening 36 holes in a share of 5th place at 6 under and just three from the lead of Matt Kuchar.
Scott, whose last event was when successful at the Australian PGA Championship in mid-December, produced the best round of the day, a homeward nine of 31, at one stage giving him a share of the lead.
An opening round of 72 perhaps removed some of the rust from a seven-week break but today things were much sharper and with an impressive record at Riviera Country Club, then things might get even better over the weekend.
Scott has been a winner and twice runner-up in this event and today he again displayed a liking for the highly regarded layout.
Kuchar leads by two over Harold Varner 111, Wyndham Clark and Rory McIlroy, McIlroy looking particularly threatening as the recently crowned world number one looks to improve on his 4th place last year and continue his current run of form.
Marc Leishman was the only other Australian to make the cut when he completed his opening 36 at even par and in a share of 45th place.
Jason Day was unable to follow up his good start a second round of 76, seeing him miss the weekend.
Brad Kennedy in Control in Toowoomba
Brad Kennedy – file photo
Queensland’s Brad Kennedy has extended his four-shot opening round lead at the Queensland PGA Championship in Toowoomba and after a weather and darkness interrupted second round was completed on Saturday morning, he leads by five over Victorian David Bransdon, New South Welshmen Callan O’Reilly and Queenslander Damien Jordan.
Kennedy was required to finish 6 holes of his second round early on Saturday morning and recorded three birdies and two bogeys to finish off his round.
Jordan was the other player amongst the leaders required to finish off his second round round on Saturday although he was unable to advance from his overnight position.
Kennedy won this event at this venue in 2013 when defeating New Zealander Michael Hendry by two shots with a stunning score of 254 for 72 holes on the low scoring City Golf Club.
Following a missed cut at last week’s Vic Open, where he had finished runner-up twelve months earlier, Kennedy bounced quickly back to form with an opening round of 61 on Thursday and now takes a commanding lead into the weekend.
The City Golf Club has yielded some very low rounds over the years and much ground can be made up over the closing 36 holes although Kennedy is a multiple winner of events in Australia and Japan and as the leading world ranked player in this field he is the man to beat for more reasons than just the lead he holds.
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Park And Shadoff One Ahead At Women’s Australian Open
Jodi Ewart Shadoff – tied for the lead – photo Golf Australia
Korean superstar Inbee Park and Englishwoman Jodi Ewart Shadoff have a one-shot lead at the Women’s Australian Open at the Royal Adelaide Golf Club in Adelaide, the pair one shot ahead of American Jillian Hollis and two ahead of American Marina Alex and Korean Ayean Cho.
Park, who missed the cut in her opening two starts of the 2020 season, is chasing her 20th LPGA Tour title (seven of those majors) and after beginning the tournament with an eagle on the first hole on Thursday morning has continued to build on her remarkable start.
On the other hand, Shadoff, a former star during her time at the University of New Mexico, has yet to win on the LPGA Tour although she does have a runner-up finish to her name at the 2017 Women’s British Open and a 4th place finish at the US Open so she has shown a capacity to handle strong golf courses well.
“A bogey-free round today was good,” said Park. “It was a little bit more calm this morning, so it was nice to play out there. Yeah, my putting was consistent, like last couple of days, so it was good. I just love the golf course and the atmosphere here. So, hopefully I can pull it off on the weekend.”
Hollis is playing just her third LPGA Tour event as a cardholder after advancing from the Futures Tour last year where she won twice.
The Australians are headed by Hannah Green who is tied for 8th place at 6 under and four shots from the lead.
Hannah Green
“I’ve actually never played with Inbee before, so I was trying to get as close to her as possible,” said Green. “She’s obviously a great player. Yeah, it’s going to be very challenging, considering all she’s achieved in her career. It’s not the first time she’s led after two rounds. So, hopefully, Ican have some putts drop and be in contention.
“I know the conditions are going to be very tough this weekend, so I’ve just got to stay patient and put myself in good positions, I guess, for Sunday.
Minjee Lee is the next best of the Australians tied for 24th at 4 under and six shots from the leaders.
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Betting Thoughts for Women’s Aust Open, Genesis and QLD PGA
The City Golf Club in Toowoomba – home of the QLD PGA
Three events come under consideration today as we chase a winner at the Women’s Australian Open, the Genesis Invitational and the Queensland PGA Championship.
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Top Five Finishes for Day and Jones at Pebble Beach
Matt Jones – file photo – click to expand
Australians Jason Day and Matt Jones have finished 4th and 5th respectively at the AT&T Pebble Beach Pro-Am, for Day it was his best finish in a PGA Tour event since a similar performance at Pebble Beach twelve months ago while for Jones it was his best since sharing 4th at the Barbasol Championship in July of last year.
Admittedly, Day finished eight shots from the winner Nick Taylor of Canada but there was a lot to like about just his second tournament in the last three months.
For Day it also continues an impressive record at the Pebble Beach event and reverses a trend which had seen him slip to 46th in the world ranking. This week’s finish will see him now at 38th.
It was Day’s 4th top 4 finish in his last five starts at the AT&T Pebble Beach Pro-Am and was made even more impressive by the fact that this was just his second start since the Mayakoba Classic in mid-November.
Jones moves inside the world top 100 for the first time since October of 2016, the Sydney golfer now in 91st place.
Day began the day three behind the leader and eventual winner, Taylor, but could never really build any forward momentum early in the final round and blew any chance of contending for the title with a horror start to his closing nine, a bogey at the 11th followed by a double at the 12th sealing his fate.
Jones had a better final day but he too stumbled with a double bogey at the 8th after making an impressive start with four early birdies. A chip-in birdie at the last saw him eventually finish in a share of 5th with two others and it was an encouraging week for the current Australian Open Champion.
The winner, Taylor, led from wire to wire to win his second PGA Tour title, more than five years after his first.
Taylor won by four shots over Kevin Streelman with Phil Mickelson another shot back in 3rd place alone.
Mickelson had a chance to pressure the leader and playing partner Taylor over the closing holes but even though Taylor opened the door with several dropped shots of his own, Mickelson was unable to capitalise and eventually lost ground while Streelman produced one of the better rounds of the day to grab second place.
Other Australians who made it into the final round were Aaron Baddeley who finished 25th alongside New Zealander Tim Wilkinson, Cameron Davis who finished 38th and John Senden who was 67th.
For Senden it was just his second cut made in his last eleven starts.
Lee and Park Vic Open Champions
Champions Lee and Park pose with their trophies – photo Golf Australia – click to open
For some time now, Perth’s, Min Woo Lee, has been considered Australia’s next golfing star and his two-shot victory at the ISPS Handa Vic Open at 13th Beach this weekend further confirmed this reputation.
It was 21 year old Lee’s first victory as a professional and provides full status for him on the European Tour for the next two seasons having just missed out on full status despite an impressive rookie season there in 2019.
Lee’s best European Tour finish prior to this win was when 3rd at the recent Australian PGA Championship on the Gold Coast but with this win he will improve to 130th in the world ranking, an improvement of some 230 positions from this time last year.
A former US Junior Champion the Perth golfer was an impressive performer in the amateur ranks despite not winning many titles but this week’s victory opens the door for a very successful professional career especially with the confidence it will bring.
“I’m pretty proud of the way I played,” said Lee. “I thought coming in I had a really good chance because I was hitting it really good, but I think I impressed myself with the game this whole week. Hopefully I’ll have more of these over my whole career.
“I felt really comfortable just because if I did exactly the same as I did yesterday, I felt pretty hard to stop. I started off really hot out the gate and was pretty comfortable those last few holes. I got a bit nervy, but I’m pretty proud of the way I finished.
“I hit one shot at a time. It’s a cliché, but it’s just that. You can’t really worry about anything else. I hit it so well, I’d give myself nine out of ten for ball striking this week. Coming into today I knew I could just stay calm and just hit every shot the same as the last three days.
“I was pretty calm until, you know, the last hole. I wasn’t nervous, just on my toes a little bit. I thought it’s a par five, straight downwind, the ball’s not going to curve much off the tee – stripe one down and I thought I had it in the bag from there.”
New Zealander Ryan Fox only just made the cut heading into the final 36 holes but weekend rounds of 69 and then 64 on Sunday, the best of the day by three shots, saw him storm through the field to grab second place, three shots ahead of Australians Marcus Fraser and Travis Smyth and Frenchman Robin Sciot-Siegrist.
Fox’s round was made even better by the demands of the strong winds that buffeted the course throughout the weekend, an eagle at his final hole the icing on the cake of an exceptional effort on the final day.
“That was probably the best round I’ve played in a tournament,” said Fox. “I would not have thought 64 was out there at the start of the day. I think the only saving grace with this wind direction is you either play a hole straight down or straight into.
“I made a couple of eagles, which was nice. I hit a lot of shots inside of 15‑foot and made a couple of those, which is not really what you expect to do today. I never really felt like I was under any pressure out there which, in conditions like this, that’s always nice.”
The women’s Vic Open was won by Korean Hee Young Park who survived a three person playoff to win her third LPGA Tour title after regaining her playing privileges at the LPGA Tour School in December.
She defeated fellow South Koreans Hye Jin Choi and So Yeon Ryu with a par at the 4th hole of extra time.
Park has seriously considered giving the game away last year, but she gave Tour School another chance and finished second there and now her career is very much alive once again.
“I wasn’t going to just to put off Q‑School because I thought this is enough, my golf career, but I tried the Q‑School, made the Q‑School, finished second. That kind of gave some other confidence. And then I just want to ‑‑ got the feeling with the rookie year feeling, you know?
“Back to refreshed instead of like overall. This is my almost 13th year on the tour, so kind of too used to it on the tour, but after Q‑School I have something new feeling, so I think that gave to me a lot of things.”
The leading Australians in 6th place were Minjee Lee, the sister of the men’s champion, Su Oh and Robyn Choi who recorded her best ever LPGA Tour finish when sharing the honours of leading Australian.
Hannah Green worked her way through the pack over the weekend to tie for 11th.
The LPGA Tour moves now to Adelaide for this coming week’s Women’s Australian Open while for the Australasian Tour they head to Toowoomba for the Queensland PGA Championship and for the European Tour, their next event will be in Oman beginning on February 27th.
Jason Day Closes In On Pebble Beach Lead
Jason Day – file photo Henry Peters
Canadian Nick Taylor has retained the two shot lead he established after round one of the AT&T Pebble Beach Pro Am, a second round of 66 at Pebble Beach Golf Links today leaving him two ahead of Jason Day and three ahead of defending champion, Phil Mickelson, with one round to play before the cut is made and the field returns to the host venue at Pebble Beach.
Day also played Pebble Beach Golf Links on day two and produced a superb display of putting in his round of 66, a pitch in for eagle at the uphill par four 14th the feature of the day.
Day is playing just his second tournament after a enforced break through injury and continued what has already been a good record at this event.
He recorded six birdies and the eagle in his round and with six top ten finishes in six starts in this event he looms as a great prospect for possible contention come Sunday.
Mickelson also produced a round of 64 but he played the Monterey Golf Club layout on day two, a dropped shot at his final hole costing him the chance to share second place with Day.
The leader, Taylor, has won one event on the PGA Tour but that was six years ago and with just one top ten in the last eighteen months this was quite a turnaround but this a an event and venue he loves.
“This is one of my favourite events of the year every year,” said Taylor after his opening round of 63. People ask me my favourite golf course. Pebble is definitely the top of the list.
“I just, growing up in the Northwest, I don’t know if is that and, you know, the rain doesn’t bother me, if that’s in the forecast. I think this week we’re going to be extremely lucky with that. But I just love these heavy golf courses. Growing up on poa annua, it suits my eye, so I always enjoy coming here.”
Aaron Baddeley is the next best of the Australians in a share of 20th place.
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