Cam Davis in action during round three – image Getty Images
Cam Davis and Adam Scott have recorded impressive 18-under-par totals for the opening 54 holes of The Sentry at the Plantation Course in Hawaii. Their respective rounds of 64 over the par 73 layout improved them from 20th through 36 holes to a share of 9th as the opening event of the season heads into tomorrow’s final round.
That’s the good news, but the bad news is that they are a massive nine shots from the lead of Hideki Matsuyama, whose third round of 11 under par 62 on the par 73 layout leaves him one ahead of Collin Morikawa, who matched Matsuyama’s third-round score.
Matsuyama, whose rounds of 65, 65, and 62 over the opening three days have set the lowest 54-hole total in the event, is now just a round of 65 away from breaking the tournament record at the Plantation Course, set by Cam Smith in 2022.
Matsuyama recorded three top 4 finishes in this event earlier in his career but in recent years he has not been quite as good although he has been in great form this week.
Davis has recovered from a slow opening round of even par 73 with consecutive rounds of 64 to be in line for a significant cheque to start his season, even 10th place will earn US$550,000.
Davis recorded two eagles in his round including one at the par 4 14th where he pitched in from just off the green at the driveable hole.
Just really good, solid golf,” said Davis after his round. “Pretty much the same as yesterday. I feel like when the wind’s down like this you kind of need to play pretty attacking golf and get a good round going.
“Especially with the way I started the tournament, I had a really rough first round, so I pretty much have been able to free-wheel it a little bit, and it’s really nice to put back-to-back good rounds up on the board.”
Scott recorded an opening nine of 29 today before a bogey at the 10th slowed the momentum but he added three more birdies to finish with 64 to be tied with Davis.
Jason Day is the only other Australian in the restricted field event and is in 33rd place at 11 under par and seven behind his fellow countrymen.
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Nick Taylor takes Sony Open in playoff
Canadian Nick Taylor produced a dramatic finish at the 72nd hole of the Sony Open in Honolulu when pitching in for an eagle from just off the back of the green, joining his fellow playing partner Nico Echavarria of Colombia in a playoff for the second event on the new PGA Tour season.
Both players started twenty minutes ahead of the final group of the day and three off the lead held by J.J. Spaun. In what developed into a tense shootout over the final round, as many as a dozen players still had chances heading into the final nine holes.
A birdie by Echavarria and the hole out for eagle by Taylor set the target for those behind but when Spaun and Stephen Jaeger failed to record the birdie they needed to join the playoff, just Taylor and Echavarria headed back to the 18th tee to decide the outcome.
Both players birdied the first extra hole but when Taylor birdied the par 5 the second time around it was all over.
For the 36 year old Taylor it was his 5th PGA Tour title and opens the door for the riches of Signature events for the remainder of the year on the PGA Tour.
“Not making top 50 I knew would make the next year just not where I wanted to be,” said Taylor referring to a poor second half to last season. “Not making the Presidents Cup definitely hurt. I felt like my play — I had more myself to blame. I felt like I put Mike (Weir) in a tough situation.
“Yeah, on top of that I had to play more in the fall than I had originally planned and away from family a few times.
“Put some work in in the off-season and really wanted to be ready to go. Not that you’re ever expecting necessarily to win right away out of the gates after some time off, but I knew my west coast — because I was in the first two Signature Events, that my west coast was going to be great and a lot of golf courses I played well on and enjoy.
“So, again, to have this good of a start is awesome.”
For the two Australians in the field, there was not a lot of joy; Aaron Baddeley finished last among those who made the cut, and Cam Davis missed out on weekend play.
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Jordan Doull breaks through after recent form struggles
25-year-old Perth golfer, Jordan Doull, has emerged from a tough final-round battle to win his first 72-hole event on the PGA Tour of Australasia in a playoff at Royal Fremantle south of Perth.
The Mount Lawley Golf Club golfer secured his Australasian Tour card at the 2024 Australasian Tour School and, even before today’s win he was on track to retain his playing privileges for the coming season which starts midyear.
Doull played collegiate golf in the USA at the University of Columbus State University before returning to Perth in 2022.
Late in 2024, he finished runner-up at the WA PGA Championship in Kalgoorlie (again after a playoff) and heading into this week he was 20th on the Order of Merit. This week’s win however will take him inside the top ten (9th) and with another eight events this season he could challenge for one of the DP World Tour cards handed out to the leading three players on the Order of Merit not otherwise qualified for a card in Europe.
Doull won after a three-hole playoff with his fellow West Australian Haydn Barron, who was also chasing a first PGA Tour of Australasia title, but, when Doull holed an 16 footer from just off the green at 3rd extra hole, it was all over.
Barron has made the cut in only three of his last 22 starts worldwide so despite not winning this result may well see him turning the corner in his career. Barron
Kristen Rudgeley led the females in the joint event for both sexes when she tied for an impressive share of 3rd with the in-form Anthony Quayle.
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Davis and Baddeley fly Australian flag in Honolulu
Aaron Baddeley – runner-up in this event on debut 23 years ago
Following the rather inauspicious debut of TGL in the past few days, the PGA Tour will be keen to get their full-field events underway for 2025 when the Sony Open at the Waialae Country Club in Honolulu gets underway on Thursday.
The event has traditionally been the second of the year on the PGA Tour schedule following the limited field Sentry Tournament and as such offers many debutantes the opportunity of exposure to regular life on the PGA Tour for the first time.
Perhaps surprisingly only two Australians, Cam Davis and Aaron Baddeley are in this week’s field, Davis looking to overcome the disappointment of a wrong ball incident late in the Sentry last week which cost him perhaps a top-five finish.
The event has often seen numerous Australasians in the field but Davis and Baddeley, a runner-up in the event in one of his very first appearances as a PGA Tour member in 2002, will be the only to fly the Australian flag.
Davis has been a regular in the event since gaining his playing rights on the PGA Tour, this week’s appearance his 7th although there has been only one top 20 finish that being in 2020 when 9th.
Baddeley will play the Sony Open for the 11th occasion but other than the runner-up finish in 2002 and a 7th place finish in 2023 there has not been a lot to get excited about.
There will be a great deal of sadness this week as the man who would have been the defending champion, Grayson Murray, took his own life in May of 2024 after ongoing battles with depression.
Following his emphatic win in Hawaii last week, Hideki Matsuyama looks to repeat his 2022 victory at the Waialae Country Club and looks the strong favourite to do so in what is a relatively weak field by PGA Tour standards.
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Royal Freemantle gets second half of Australasian Tour underway
Can the leading Order of Merit player in the field, Jack Buchanan, add a second title in WA this season?
The PGA Tour of Australasia begins the second half of its 2024/2025 season when the Webex Player Series Perth hosted by Min Woo Lee gets underway at the Royal Freemantle Golf Club on Thursday.
The event is being played for the first occasion but forms part of a series of events which have played a key role in the development of so many young Australians since Covid, many of those players without a substantial tour on which to play prior to the introduction of the Webex Series.
The $250,000 event has failed to attract the leader of the current Order of Merit, Elvis Smylie, but with the well performed Jack Buchanan, Curtis Luck, Anthony Quayle and Phoenix Campbell in the field then there is sure to be a lot of interest in the result especially given the benefits of Order of Merit positions at the end of the season.
Nine more events remain on this season’s schedule, the standout being the NZ$2 million New Zealand Open in late February, now the second richest event on the PGA Tour of Australasia.
Like other Webex Series events, the tournament will also boast a field of women golfers who will play against the men.
Tee Times
Order of Merit
American Gilligan and Korea’s Yang Master of Amateurs champions
Ian Gilligan in action in a PGA Tour event in 2024
Foreigners have prevailed at the Master of the Amateurs events at the Southern Golf Club in Melbourne, American Ian Gilligan taking the men’s title by a narrow one shot and South Korean Hyojin Yang winning the women’s title by two.
Gilligan who attends the University of Florida in the US where he is a standout and the winner of the Western Amateur in 2024, held on to finish one ahead of Queensland’s Kai Komulainen who is also now based in the US at the University of Tennessee.
Gilligan led by two into today’s final round and was three ahead of Komulainen heading into the back nine but was forced to withstand a final nine push by Komulainen to take the title.
Brisbane’s Harry Takis who is also now at college in the US finished 3rd, one shot behind Komulainen and two from the winner.
The women’s event went to Hyojin Yang who recently finished 3rd behind Jiyai Shin at the Women’s Australian Open as an amateur, the Korean coming from behind heading into round four to defeat NSW’s Ella Scaysbrook by two.
Defending champion Rianne Maxili of the Philippines finished 3rd.
Gilligan and Yang pose with their trophies – image Australian Master of the Amateurs – Anthony Powter
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Wrong ball incident proves costly for Cam Davis
Ma
Hideki Matsuyama wins his 11th PGA Tour title and sets all time scoring record
Hideki Matsuyama wins 11th PGA Tour title and sets new all-time scoring record
Australia’s Cam Davis was moving into contention for a possible finish inside the top during the final round of the Sentry Tournament at Kapalua Resort on the island of Maui when he and Will Zalatoris were involved in a costly incident for both.
Both players hit their second shots just short of the green at the par 5 15th hole but after playing their third shots it was discovered that both had hit each other’s ball and, instead of recording a birdie, both were required to play their 5th shots from what would have been their thirds.
The mistake cost both players two shots and instead of a potential finish inside the top 5 where he was at the time of the incident, Davis finished tied for 13th the difference in prizemoney potentially as much as US$340,000.
For Davis, who had been making an impressive move up the leaderboard prior to the incident with five birdies in his first 14 holes, the incident unsettled him and he bogeyed the 17th before hitting a fine second to the last to record one final birdie in his round of 69 and a share of 13th.
Adam Scott finished one shot behind Davis after his final round of 70 while Jason Day was the only other Australasian in the field and finished 40th.
The winner and the man to set a new course and PGA Tour record was Hideki Matsuyama whose final round of 65 saw him finish at 35 under par on the low scoring par 73 layout.
Matsuyama bettered the previous record of Cam Smith’s set in 2022 and won his 11th PGA Tour title and earned US$3.6 million with his three-shot victory over Collin Morikawa.
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Adam Scott and Cam Davis improve standing at Kapalua
Cam Davis in action during round three – image Getty Images
Cam Davis and Adam Scott have recorded impressive 18-under-par totals for the opening 54 holes of The Sentry at the Plantation Course in Hawaii. Their respective rounds of 64 over the par 73 layout improved them from 20th through 36 holes to a share of 9th as the opening event of the season heads into tomorrow’s final round.
That’s the good news, but the bad news is that they are a massive nine shots from the lead of Hideki Matsuyama, whose third round of 11 under par 62 on the par 73 layout leaves him one ahead of Collin Morikawa, who matched Matsuyama’s third-round score.
Matsuyama, whose rounds of 65, 65, and 62 over the opening three days have set the lowest 54-hole total in the event, is now just a round of 65 away from breaking the tournament record at the Plantation Course, set by Cam Smith in 2022.
Matsuyama recorded three top 4 finishes in this event earlier in his career but in recent years he has not been quite as good although he has been in great form this week.
Davis has recovered from a slow opening round of even par 73 with consecutive rounds of 64 to be in line for a significant cheque to start his season, even 10th place will earn US$550,000.
Davis recorded two eagles in his round including one at the par 4 14th where he pitched in from just off the green at the driveable hole.
Just really good, solid golf,” said Davis after his round. “Pretty much the same as yesterday. I feel like when the wind’s down like this you kind of need to play pretty attacking golf and get a good round going.
“Especially with the way I started the tournament, I had a really rough first round, so I pretty much have been able to free-wheel it a little bit, and it’s really nice to put back-to-back good rounds up on the board.”
Scott recorded an opening nine of 29 today before a bogey at the 10th slowed the momentum but he added three more birdies to finish with 64 to be tied with Davis.
Jason Day is the only other Australian in the restricted field event and is in 33rd place at 11 under par and seven behind his fellow countrymen.
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Sentry gets 2025 PGA Tour season off to fast start
The Plantation Course finishing hole – image Gettys
The PGA Tour’s 2025 season begins on Thursday (Friday morning Australian time) when the field of 60 of the PGA Tour’s achievers in 2024 take to the fairways of The Plantation Course at Kapalua on Maui in Hawaii.
Previously known as the Tournament of Champions, because it brought together the winners of events on the previous year’s schedule, the event now includes not only the winners but those golfers finishing inside the top 50 in the FedEx Cup standings.
Now one of eight Signature events on the 2025 PGA Tour schedule the event carries a purse of US$20 million with the winner to pocket US$3.6 million to get his season off to the best possible start.
As has often been the case with this event or its equivalent one or two of the game’s leading players are missing from the field, some preferring to start their season a little later despite the attraction of the significant purse although this year the absence of world number one Scottie Scheffler is due to a hand injury which is expected to be healed within a month.
World number three Rory McIlroy is another to not play the event, his decision by choice rather than an enforced injury or such.
Xander Schauffele will therefore start to event as the highest ranked player in the field and with a win and a runner-up finish over the Plantation Course in his seven starts there he deserves favouritism.
Australia will have three players in the field although interestingly only Cam Davis has won in 2004, his victory coming in the Rocket Mortgage Classic.
Adam Scott, Jason Day and Davis will tee it up with Scott playing for the 9th occasion.
Scott plays the event for the 9th occasion, his best coming in 2007 when finishing runner-up.
Day has had four top tens in his previous 6 starts in the event with a best of 3rd in his stellar year of 2015.
Davis gets to play his third Sentry Tournament his best coming on debut when 10th in 2022.
Tee Times
Master of the Amateurs gets 2025 underway
Last year’s women’s champion and world number three amateur Rianne Malixi – will attempt a title defence
The Australasian golfing year begins this week in Melbourne where the Australian Master of the Amateurs takes place at the Southern Golf Club on Melbourne’s sandbelt.
The event has become one of Australian and indeed world golf’s most significant amateur events, boasting an impressive line-up of former champions since first played in Queensland in 1997, but more importantly since its switch to Melbourne in 2002.
Previous winners in the men’s event include the likes of Jason Day, Brendan Jones, Nathan Holman, Zach Murray, David Micheluzzi, Sahith Theegala and the defending champion Phoenix Campbell.
Players to compete in the men’s event have included Rickie Fowler, Tommy Fleetwood, Bryson DeChambeau and Ryan Fox.
A women’s version of the event was introduced in 2018 with players such as outstanding now Japanese LPGA Tour player , Yuka Yasuda and New South Wales’ Stephanie Kyriacou prevalent on the honours board.
The defending champion this year is Rianne Maxili of the Philippines currently ranked number three in women’s amateur golf
The events are played over 72 holes with a cut through 54 holes
In recognition of the strength of the 2025 Men’s field and the shared passion to create pathways for Men in Golf, Gavin Kirkman, CEO, PGA of Australia, has afforded the 2025 Men’s Australian Master of the Amateurs Champion a position into the Heritage Classic which is on the Challenger PGA Tour of Australasia.
NSW Golf has afforded the 2025 Men’s Australian Master of the Amateurs Champion a position into the 2025 NSW Open.
The winner of the Women’s event will be included in the field for the 2025 Australian Women’s PGA Championship in March.
Five Australasians earn Asian Tour playing rights
Jack Thompson – returns to the Asian Tour – image Asian Tour
Four Australians and one New Zealander will bolster the ranks of Australasian campaigners on the Asian Tour in 2025 when the Q School for the 2025 season was completed in Hua Hi, Thailand, this weekend.
206 players began the 90-hole marathon earlier in the week but only 35 would secure one of the highly sought-after cards
South Australian Jack Thompson finished in a share of 5th place and reagined his rights, former Asian Tour event winner, Todd Sinnott from Victoria, regained his rights when sharing 10th place, Queenslander Lawry Flynn will play the Asian Tour for the first time after finishing 14th, while New Zealand’s Denzel Ieremia and Queenslander Brett Rankin in 15th and 19th position are also secure.
Darcy Brereton and Will Florimo missed a card by just one shot in what was a tense final round.
Leaderboard (top 35) gain entry