The entrance to Torrey Pines
The Farmers Insurance Open and its venue, Torrey Pines, have been good to Australians over recent years, not only in terms of the wins it has produced but also in terms of several other meritorious performances at the Southern Californian venue.
Jason Day has won the event twice, Marc Leishman once, and in their rookie years on the PGA Tour, both Nathan Green and Andrew Buckle led the event until late in the final round.
Day and Leishman have also been runner-up at the venue.
Day and Buckle were also winners of Junior World Golf Championships at Torrey Pines and so the North and South Course clifftop layouts have provided several Australians early exposure and great success.
This week, the $US9.3 million Farmers Insurance Open is played, and Day is firming as one of the favourites given his history in the event and his recent good form, which including a third-place finish at the American Express event last week.
Day and Aaron Baddeley are the only two Australians in this week’s field.
“I am looking forward to the week, said Day today in his pre-event press conference. “It’s always fun to come back to a place that I’ve been coming to since I was pretty much 16 years old. It’s nice, it’s a fun place to play. It is very difficult. Obviously U.S. Open style golf course on the South and then the course conditions are fantastic right now, so I’m looking forward to hopefully a successful week.
“It’s obviously nice to see all the work — I took, what, four months off pretty much, three and a half months last year at the end of the year and worked very, very hard on my swing,” said Day in his media conference today.
“That was one thing that was holding me back last year. Even though I had some pretty good stats around the short game area, could have improved dramatically with the irons. So it was nice to be able to see that pay off.
“Even though I didn’t get the results that I wanted to at Sentry, it was nice to be able to get the results at Palm Springs and try to take that forward here even though this is a very difficult golf course, both sides actually since it changes on the North.”
Day was asked where the Farmers Insurance stands now there appears to be a two-level tour developing following the introduction of the Signature Series
“Well, there are two tours within a tour now if you could understand that. I think you have the top guys playing the Signature Events and you have the other side of it, too. I think that just happened purely because of the way that when LIV came about, and it’s unfortunate but that’s what — ultimately that’s what we’re dealing with now.
“I don’t know if I speak for the Tour, you know, as well as some of the other guys because I sometimes — sometimes the Tour sends me emails and I don’t even read ’em. I know there’s guys out there that are a lot more qualified than me to answer for that reason. Yeah, it is tough. “The two tours is difficult. I mean, ultimately I think at the end of the day you would probably, you know, if you wanted everyone to play in a tournament, you have to shrink the schedule down dramatically.
“You can’t have 40-plus events or I’m not sure where 5 it is, it used to be 48 events on the schedule and you knew that it wasn’t — you weren’t going to have the best players in the world.
“The only way you’re going to get the best players in the world is shrink the schedule down dramatically, and I think essentially that’s kind of what they’re doing now within the Tour is that you have the Signature Events and you have the major championships and then you throw in your Memorials, your Bay Hills, your Tiger events, all that stuff, those bigger events within that offer three-year exemptions instead of the typical two-year exemptions.
“Then you might sprinkle in some golf tournaments that you actually like and play well in. Then the rest of the guys that are not quite in those Signature Events yet. So like I said before, I would love to give you the correct answer, but I just don’t know where they’re even taking it.
“I just typically just keep my head down, I keep my mouth shut and try and play good golf because I’ve got a hard enough time trying to keep the ball down the middle of the fairway.”
Baddeley is playing the event for the 20th occasion having recorded top tens on two occasions.
Tee Times
Jason Day moves into contention on demanding day at Torrey Pines
Jason Day – file photo – now in contention after a round of 69 in tough conditions – image PGA of Australia
After a disappointing opening round of 74 over the South Course in the Farmers Insurance Open at Torrey Pines, Jason Day began round two some eleven shots from the lead set by Sweden’s Ludvig Aberg. However, by the time he walked from the course on day two, he was within just five of the halfway lead.
Several players have yet to finish their rounds due to weather delays and darkness preventing play on day two, but this will have little impact on the current leaders.
Day’s 3 under round of 69 over the admittedly easier North Course was made more impressive by the fact that round was completed in the most demanding of conditions so much so that late in the afternoon play was suspended due to the high winds sweeping across the clifftop layouts high above the Pacific Ocean.
Day has a good record at Torrey Pijes winning two Farmers Insurance Opens and a Junior World Championship and given the form he displayed at last week’s American Express his opening round of 74 had him fighting to make the cut all day.
As the winds increased throughout the afternoon, however, the potential cut score slipped from 1 under to 1 over. When Day birdied two of his final three holes he was not only comfortably inside the required score, he had improved from outside the top 100 to a share of 28th and the leaders were now, all of a sudden, in sight.
Day’s round was one of only three in the 70s in gusting winds, which reached around 40 m.ph on occasions. At one stage, play was halted for nearly 90 minutes due to balls oscillating on the greens.
Aaron Baddeley was unable to produce the form he showed in round one and followed up his opening 67 with a round of 77 but it was about average over the South Course on day two and at even par he is just six shots from the lead.
Leaderboard
PGA Tour of Australasia resumes at Rosebud Country Club
Anthony Quayle – in form at present and a chance to improve his Order of Merit position.
The PGA Tour of Australasia resumes this week when the Webex Series Victoria event is played at the Rosebud Golf Club on the Mornington Peninsula.
With eight more events remaining before the 2024/2025 schedule winds up with the National Tournament at the National Golf Club, also on the Mornington Peninsula, there remains much to play for not only in terms of the prizemoney available but for Order of Merit positions at season’s end.
The winner of the event last year was New Zealand’s Kazuma Kobori whose fabulous run through this same stretch of events twelve months ago led him to the top of the Order of Merit and with it his card to play the DP World Tour.
Kobori is in the UAE this week where he will play the Ras Al Khaimah Championship, his first event of 2025 but in the meantime players such as the in-form Anthony Quayle, Corey Lamb. Jordan Doull and Harrison Crowe will look to advance their already encouraging standing on the Order of Merit to date.
The event is a mixed-gender event and some of the leading women include Kazuma Kobori’s sister Momoka, England’s Lydia Hall, Malaysian Ashley Lau, who finished runner-up to Kazuma Kobori last year, and Kelsey Bennett.
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Torrey Pines a favourite of Australians
The entrance to Torrey Pines
The Farmers Insurance Open and its venue, Torrey Pines, have been good to Australians over recent years, not only in terms of the wins it has produced but also in terms of several other meritorious performances at the Southern Californian venue.
Jason Day has won the event twice, Marc Leishman once, and in their rookie years on the PGA Tour, both Nathan Green and Andrew Buckle led the event until late in the final round.
Day and Leishman have also been runner-up at the venue.
Day and Buckle were also winners of Junior World Golf Championships at Torrey Pines and so the North and South Course clifftop layouts have provided several Australians early exposure and great success.
This week, the $US9.3 million Farmers Insurance Open is played, and Day is firming as one of the favourites given his history in the event and his recent good form, which including a third-place finish at the American Express event last week.
Day and Aaron Baddeley are the only two Australians in this week’s field.
“I am looking forward to the week, said Day today in his pre-event press conference. “It’s always fun to come back to a place that I’ve been coming to since I was pretty much 16 years old. It’s nice, it’s a fun place to play. It is very difficult. Obviously U.S. Open style golf course on the South and then the course conditions are fantastic right now, so I’m looking forward to hopefully a successful week.
“It’s obviously nice to see all the work — I took, what, four months off pretty much, three and a half months last year at the end of the year and worked very, very hard on my swing,” said Day in his media conference today.
“That was one thing that was holding me back last year. Even though I had some pretty good stats around the short game area, could have improved dramatically with the irons. So it was nice to be able to see that pay off.
“Even though I didn’t get the results that I wanted to at Sentry, it was nice to be able to get the results at Palm Springs and try to take that forward here even though this is a very difficult golf course, both sides actually since it changes on the North.”
Day was asked where the Farmers Insurance stands now there appears to be a two-level tour developing following the introduction of the Signature Series
“Well, there are two tours within a tour now if you could understand that. I think you have the top guys playing the Signature Events and you have the other side of it, too. I think that just happened purely because of the way that when LIV came about, and it’s unfortunate but that’s what — ultimately that’s what we’re dealing with now.
“I don’t know if I speak for the Tour, you know, as well as some of the other guys because I sometimes — sometimes the Tour sends me emails and I don’t even read ’em. I know there’s guys out there that are a lot more qualified than me to answer for that reason. Yeah, it is tough. “The two tours is difficult. I mean, ultimately I think at the end of the day you would probably, you know, if you wanted everyone to play in a tournament, you have to shrink the schedule down dramatically.
“You can’t have 40-plus events or I’m not sure where 5 it is, it used to be 48 events on the schedule and you knew that it wasn’t — you weren’t going to have the best players in the world.
“The only way you’re going to get the best players in the world is shrink the schedule down dramatically, and I think essentially that’s kind of what they’re doing now within the Tour is that you have the Signature Events and you have the major championships and then you throw in your Memorials, your Bay Hills, your Tiger events, all that stuff, those bigger events within that offer three-year exemptions instead of the typical two-year exemptions.
“Then you might sprinkle in some golf tournaments that you actually like and play well in. Then the rest of the guys that are not quite in those Signature Events yet. So like I said before, I would love to give you the correct answer, but I just don’t know where they’re even taking it.
“I just typically just keep my head down, I keep my mouth shut and try and play good golf because I’ve got a hard enough time trying to keep the ball down the middle of the fairway.”
Baddeley is playing the event for the 20th occasion having recorded top tens on two occasions.
Tee Times
Day’s encouraging form continues when 3rd at American Express
Jason Day – file photo courtesy of PGA of Australia
Jason Day has finished in a share of 3rd place at the American Express Championship in La Quinta, his best finish in now four visits to the event but he had numerous chances over the closing round to put pressure on the eventual and impressive winner, Sepp Straka.
Day began the final round four shots behind Straka but despite an early birdie it took some time for his round to catch fire. He birdied holes 8, 9 and 11 to remain four back but with Straka seemingly incapable of making a mistake he would need something special over the closing few holes if he was to bridge the gap.
Unfortunately for Day he would bogey the 14th and although he had his chances especially through holes 15, 16 and 17 he reached the last three behind and it was a case of the bridge being too far.
Day bogeyed the last hole to fall back into a share of 3rd place with Justin Lower, three behind runner-up Justin Thomas and three from the winner.
Day’s play throughout the week however gave rise to some great holes over the next few weeks, especially given a return to next week’s venue at Torrey Pines where he has twice won the Farmers Insurance event and been once runner-up in addition to winning a World Junior event there as an amateur.
“I hit it very nice. A lot of the stuff that I was working on has definitely carried over, which is good, definitely, from Sentry, and just work out the putting. I feel like I gave myself a lot of opportunities out there, I’m a good putter, so I just didn’t capitalize on the opportunities.
“I could tell that something was off when the initial hit of the putts I could hear the putts jumping, so when you hear like kind of, it’s not like a skid, it’s like more of a (makes noise) like that, that’s when it’s difficult to control speed.
“When it’s jumping around a little bit, it’s difficult to get the correct speed, and then obviously when you don’t have the correct speed, then it’s hard to hole the putts. I could probably do a better job of painting a better picture before I hit the shot too, just being able to see the putt go in a little bit better.
“Overall, very happy with the week, yeah, good start to the year, so just moving to Torrey Pines.”
Day has had his family with him this week staying in their luxurious bus and Day enjoys having the family with him.
“It’s definitely nice to have them on the road. We’re very fortunate to be able to travel in a bus together, very fortunate to be able to home school, so that we can have them out there.
“Hat’s off to my wife, because she does all that work. It can get lonely out here, and that’s why I think if they were at home I probably wouldn’t play too long, you know, just because I wouldn’t be able to see my kids grow up, and then I just don’t like being on the road by myself, so I’m very fortunate to be able to have them on the road with me.”
Day earns a cheque for US$519,000.
Cam Davis raced into contention with an opening nine 30, but his closing nine of 39 included a double bogey at the last and he finished in a share of 18th.
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Daniel Hillier impresses despite not winning in Dubai
Daniel Hillier – file photo Photosport NZ / NZ Open
He might not have won the event he led for so long, but New Zealander Daniel Hillier’s impressive runner-up finish at the Hero Dubai Desert Classic is a further indication of just how far the 26-year-old Wellingtonian might go in his professional career.
Hillier finished just one shot behind Tyrell Hatton but the manner in which he and Hatton traded blows throughout the final 18 holes at the Emirates Golf Club was yet another platform on which Hillier can look back on as he moves forward.
Beginning the day one ahead of Hatton, who was playing his 200th DP World Tour event compared to Hillier’s 68 starts, both players bogeyed the opening hole but, by the turn, Hatton was two ahead.
Hillier grabbed one back when he birdied the 10th and 11th and although both would bogey the 12th Hatton birdied the 16th to go two ahead playing the last.
Hatton was forced to lay up at the par 5 last while Hillier from the middle of the fairway missed the green long. Hatton’s 3rd finished some 40 feet from the hole and when Hillier got up and down for birdie Hatton was left with a 4 footer for the win.
Hatton’s win was second in his last four DP World Tour starts, which also included a runner-up finish. It was his eighth career victory. It took his career earnings beyond €25 million.
Hillier’s cheque for €961,000 for his runner-up finish was the biggest of his career to date (he won547,000 for his 2023 British Masters victory) and will move him to second place in the Race to Dubai rankings for the season.
“It’s bittersweet, that’s for sure,” said Hillier referring to the near miss. “Yeah, I didn’t have my best today, obviously, but I fought hard all day. Yeah, just barely gave myself a chance down the stretch.
“Hats off to Tyrrell. He was pretty solid down the stretch there. He’s class. We will done to him.
“One of my goals is to get off to a better start than I did the last couple of seasons. Kind of been playing catchup from the second half of the year, and yeah, it’s just nice to start off solid and come back here and have one of my best performances.”
England’s Laurie Canter closed with a round of 68 to finish 3rd just one behind Hillier.
Australian David Micheluzzi closed with round of the day 65 to finish in a share of 8th and earned €207,000 while Ryan Fox was the next best of the Australasians in a share of 10th place.
RESULTS
Hillier stumbles then regains lead at Dubai Desert Classic
Daniel Hillier – file photo courtesy of DP World Tour
Despite dropping three shots in succession through the middle of his closing nine holes, New Zealand’s Daniel Hillier leads the Hero Dubai Desert Classic at the Emirates Golf Club into tonight’s final round.
Hillier began round three one behind Scotland’s Ewen Ferguson but took the lead immediately when he birdied the first two holes and went further ahead when he birdied the 5th.
Hillier bogeyed the 6th but another birdie at the 10th had him in front by four.
Tyrell Hatton eagled the 2nd hole when he drove the green at the short par 4 and holed from 8 feet but he would struggle to the turn before a final nine rush saw him take a share of the lead at the 16th before heading into round 4 just one behind Hillier.
Hillier recovered from his stumble through holes 13,14 and 15 with birdies at his final two holes to re-establish his lead over Hatton in the US$9 million event, a cheque of US$1.62 million awaiting if he is to hold on to his one-shot lead over Hatton and two over Ferguson.
Ryan Fox and England’s Laurie Canter at 9 under are just four from the lead and not without hope, in fact, nine players are within five of the lead and subject to the play of Hillier and Hatton all may feel they have a chance to win this significant event.
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Jason Day starts well at American Express
Jason Day – file photo courtesy of Australian Golf Media
The American Express Championship is not an event that has featured often on the schedule of Jason Day until recently, but following an impressive start to the event in La Quinta this week it might be somewhere he plays more regularly from now on.
Day finds himself two of the lead through 36 holes of the tournament played over three courses.
After an opening round of 64 over the La Quinta Country Club on day one, Day negotiated the Nicklaus Tournament course in 66 today and finds himself in a share of 6th place and two behind the joint leaders Charley Hoffman and Filipino Rico Hoey.
“It’s nice to be able to get here, because I’m obviously in the desert anyways before that,” said Day when questioned on his lack of play in the event. So it’s nice to be able to get here, get some work done, kind of see where things are progressing heading into the start of the season.
“If you can play well here, great. That usually propels you into Torrey and Pebble, which is usually my schedule that I would play before I would play this one.
‘It’s nice to be able to come here where there’s no wind and it’s perfect weather all the time. The crowds are great, the tournament’s fantastic, and then getting into the West Coast, the meat of the West Coast Swing.
Day will play the more demanding Stadium Course on days three and four and is aware of the challenge it will offer.
“They’re saying that it’s playing around even par. That’s definitely a big change compared to the lasttwo days. So the game plan’s probably going to have to change a little bit, going to have to play a little bit more conservative to some of the pin locations.”
Cam Davis is the next best of the Australians in a share of 40th position.
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Australasians well placed at Dubai Desert Classic
Daniel Hillier – file photo courtesy of Photosport / NZ Open
All seven of the Australasians who began the Hero Dubai Desert Classic have made the weekend. For three or four, their expectations for the final 36 holes of the US$9 million event are now considerably higher.
New Zealand’s Daniel Hillier leads the way, the 26-year-old Wellingtonian just one shot off the pace held by Scotland’s Ewen Fergusson after rounds of 68 and 65.
Hillier is playing this event for the third occasion, but having missed the final day in 2003 and the weekend last year his start represents quite a turnaround in fortunes at the Emirates Golf Club.
Hillier, who is in his third season on the DP World Tour after graduating from the Challenge Tour in 2002, has already won a flagship event in Europe when successful at the 2023 British Masters and this offers a chance for a perhaps even more lucrative breakthrough
“Two very different days of golf,” said Hillier. “I think day one, striped it off the tee and gave myself a lot of chances. Just a solid round of golf. Today a few extra putts went in than I was expecting. Yeah, it’s nice to see those drop and hopefully they keep dropping.
“I feel I definitely had a good break. Had four and a half, five weeks at home. Sticks didn’t come out very often to be honest but I usually need it around that time of the year. It’s just nice to hang out with family and friends and get right for the season.”
Three shots further back but in a share of 3rd place is West Australian Jason Scrivener who has played well here on occasions and likes the layout.
“I love it here,” said Scrivener. “I’ve had mixed results. Yeah, I think it’s a course that suits me. I’m generally a straight driver, and if I can roll a few putts in, really does suit me.”
Scrivener has struggled in Europe the last couple of years after one or two good seasons but indicated that things might be about to change in that regard.
“Last year I got sick a couple of times. Two kids probably changed life a little bit, as well.
“So it’s been nice to step away from the game a little bit. But now I’m kind of re-invented myself in a way and enthusiastic to improve and get back to where I was.”
Min Woo Lee is just one shot further back in a share of 7th place, now with the services of Shane Lowry’s former caddy.
A double bogey at his final hole was a disappointing finish to an otherwise impressive round of 66 by Lee which included an outward nine of 6 under 31.
Ryan Fox and David Micheluzzi are at 6 under and six shots from the lead in a tie for 12th, Micheluzzi unable to match the brilliance of his opening round of 65 which had given him a share of the lead after dropping four shots in four holes early in his back nine.
Adam Scott and Elvis Smylie are at 2 under and in a share of 44th place.
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Multi award winning Alker the man to beat in Hawaii
Steve Alker – outstanding record in this event
Steve Alker, Rod Pampling and Mark Hensby are the three Australasians in the field for the opening event of the 2025 PGA Tour Champions schedule at Hualulai on the Big Island in Hawaii.
The US$2 million Mitsubishi Electric Championship brings together a field of 42 of the leading available players on the PGA Tour Champions and, if previous years are anything to go by, New Zealand’s Steve Alker is the man to beat.
Alker is playing the event for the third occasion, but with a win and two runner-up finishes in those starts and as the 2024 Charles Schwab Cup Champion, the Player of the Year, the Arnold Palmer Award for being the leading money winner and Ben Hogan Award winner for the leading scoring average, then provided he has not overindulged during the off-season, he is surely the man to beat.
“Yeah, it doesn’t get old coming here,” said Alker. “This is my fourth year and it’s a pretty special place. I’ve just got my wife here this year. We’re just relaxing, meeting up with people, old friends.
“Yeah, big week. It’s a hard week because you don’t want it to be too much vacation, but at the same time you’ve got a golf tournament to play and you’ve got to get that nice balance. Yeah, I’m defending champ, I’ve come here to try to win again. I’ll be doing my best, for sure.
“It’s a Nicklaus course so second shot’s always very important. Just coming here and just being so relaxed and having a start to the year, it’s always — you don’t quite know what your game is like when you come out the first one after a bit of a break.
“I tend to do a little bit more preparation offseason for the whole season, so I’m kind of, I like to think I’m ready for the tournament. So I just like the golf course, I love the place. That’s a good combination for being relaxed and having a good week.”
Alker will face his regular adversaries, Ernie Els, Bernhard Langer and Steve Stricker in addition to other high quality Champions Tour players.
Hensby has played the event once for a 12th place finish last year while Pampling is teeing it up for the 4th time with a best of 28th.
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Smylie and Micheluzzi play first Dubai Desert Classic
Elvis Smylie – yielding the benefits from his impressive win in Brisbane
This week’s Hero Dubai Desert Classic at the Emirates Golf Club in Dubai will feature a typically strong field involving the best of European golf.
Four-time winner Rory McIlory will be joined by Jon Rahm, Tyrrell Hatton, Tommy Fleetwood, Viktor Hovland, Robert McIntyre, and the like, but there will be healthy representation from our part of the world, with Adam Scott, Min Woo Lee, Ryan Fox, Daniel Hillier, Jason Scrivener, Elvis Smylie, and David Micheluzzi to tee it up.
Previous winners of the event from Australasia are Richard Green and Lucas Herbert, but Adam Scott, who will play the event for just the fifth occasion, recording top-ten finishes in each of the past two years, appears to have a good chance of contending at some stage.
Scott finished 3rd at the DP World Tour Championship in Dubai in November and was 15th two weeks ago at the Sentry Tournament at Kapalua in the first week of January in his only event since. He appears to be playing some very good golf at present and while he faces a particularly strong field, the event has proven to be a good starting point to his golfing year in recent times.
Min Woo Lee was perhaps disappointing during his Australian campaign but will play this event for the third time, a solid 13th place finish two years ago suggesting this golf course holds no fears and a great place to kick off his 2025 ahead of a return to the PGA Tour.
Ryan Fox now has full status on the PGA Tour but has played this event on eight occasions. Although he has finished no better than 20th in those appearances, he clearly sees this as a great way to start his year.
Daniel Hillier has missed the cut in each of his two appearances here and although he has been playing reasonably well in recent times (he has made his last eight cuts), he might struggle to improve his record at the venue.
Jason Scrivener played last week’s Australasian Tour event in Perth ahead of his return to the DP World Tour and will play this event for the ninth time. Scrivener has finished inside the top ten on two occasions at the Emirates Golf Club, but that aside, there has not been a lot to get excited about. He is a fine player however and could possibly contend at various stages during the week.
David Micheluzzi and Elvis Smylie will play the event for the first occasion, both only recently earning the right to play the lucrative (US$9 million) event.
Micheluzzi now has full DP World Tour status this season, courtesy of heading the 2022/2023 PGA Tour of Australasia Tour money list and Smylie’s win at the Australian PGA Championship earning him status in Europe.
Smylie finished 5th at the Australian Open the week after his victory in Brisbane and 14th in South Africa a week later, while Micheluzzi was 5th at the Australian PGA Championship and midfield in two subsequent events.
Smylie is seen as a genuine future star Australian golf and his progress this week and indeed this year will be followed with interest.
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