David Bransdon – file photo
Victorian David Bransdon’s best finish of his rookie PGA Tour Champions season at this week’s Dominion Energy Classic in Richmond Virginia could not have come at a better time.
His 4th top ten of the season and the resultant US$165,000 will see the 50 year old jump 21 places to 35th in the Charles Schwab standings and ensure he makes it to the penultimate event of the season this week in Arkansas.
Beginning the week in 56th place and with only the leading 54 advancing to this coming week’s event, Bransdon needed a solid performance. He got not only that but his best of the season to ensure his 2024 season will be extended. If he can retain a place inside the top 36 by next Sunday he will have made it to the Tour Championship in early November.
Bransdon was delighted with his effort given what another good week would mean to him in terms of retaining his full status on the Champions Tour.
The 50 year old was one of four Australians to earn their PGA Tour Champions cards via the Tour School last December and talked about the camaraderie involved.
“It’s awesome because we’ve got a bit of a bond going because from Q-School with all four of us getting through. It’s huge and it means a lot. It hasn’t sunk in yet, but yeah, like I said, there’s still some work to do, but I’m pretty damn happy with myself right now.
“I can plan that now. I didn’t have a flight booked, didn’t have a hotel booked. I didn’t want to forward think, so I left everything — didn’t book a thing. I looked once about four days ago for flights, but that was it. I didn’t book anything. As I said yesterday, I’ve wanted to let it, whatever happened, happened. If I had to change stuff, more than happy to do it. Now I get to do it for a really good reason.”
“I guess the 36 was a goal,” added Bransdon when asked what his goal had been after earning the right to play on the PGA Tour Champions.
“Then once I started to play, I wanted to win. Then towards the end of the season, the last few weeks my game was sort of not where I wanted it to be. My family had gone home and I was on my own in hotel rooms and it gets pretty lonely.
“I had that in Covid in ’21 when I was stuck in Japan for five-and-a-half months without my family. I was on a bad run then. I was starting to be on a bad run then, but I said to myself, c’mon, let’s just work through it. I did and I’ve exceeded what I thought I could do this week.
“I don’t want to put a damper on it, but if I had shot 75 today, I’d have been on a flight home to Australia in the next two days. It was a pretty important round of golf today and I was pretty proud of myself to stay out of my own way and let it happen. It was one of my better rounds this year, that’s for sure.”
Also making it to the event in Little Rock this week by being inside the top 54 in the standings are Steve Alker, Richard Green, Greg Chalmers, Mark Hensby, Stuart Appleby, Rod Pampling, Steve Allan, Cameron Percy and Michael Wright.
This week’s results
Charles Schwab Cup
Seven Australasians to play Charles Schwab Cup Championship
Cameron Percy – late dropped shots proved costly but through to Tour Championship
The penultimate event of the PGA Tour Champions season for 2025 was completed this morning in Little Rock in Arkansas in which only was the title of the Simmons Bank Championship at stake but also the prospect of making the final 36 in the Schwab Cup standing to advance to the Tour Championship in ten days’ time.
The winner this week was Padraig Harrington who won his third event of the season by two shots over Y.E. Yang but several Australasians have assured themselves of starts at the Charles Schwab Cup Championship in Phoenix starting on November 7th.
Victorian Cameron Percy, in his first season at this level, finished in a share of 5th this week but perhaps equally as important was that his finish saw him just scrape into 36th position in the standings and assure him not only a start in the Charles Schwab Cup but full status on the PGA Tour Champions in 2025.
Percy raced to 7 under through 14 holes of today’s final round to get within one of leader Harrington but then dropped three consecutive shots to fall out of the top 36 in the standings.
A little help from others late in the day saw his place in the standings return to the top 36 and he has completed a successful first season.
Steve Allan, Steve Alker and Rod Pampling tied for 12th this week, Alker retaining his second position in the rankings, Pampling finishing 33rd in the standings and Allan just missing out when 39th overall.
Richard Green was not so good this week when 16th but such has been his game in 2024 he is in 6th place for the season and advances to Phoenix.
Michael Wright completed the final event of his rookie season in 24th place but has finished 54th in the overall standings and while not regaining full status for 2025 he will hopefully earn enough starts to take advantage of the experience he has gained this season.
Stuart Appleby finished 26th this week and is 33rd and on his way to Phoenix.
David Bransdon who finished 3rd last week to gain a start in this week’s event finished 34th this week and unfortunately just missed out in 38th place overall.
Greg Chalmers and Mark Hensby finished well back this week but had done enough in earlier events to be inside the top 36 and will also tee it up in Phoenix.
This week’s leaderboard
Schwab Cup Standing
Voke and Antcliff improve Asian Tour standing in Bangkok
New Zealand’s Nick Voke – image courtesy of Asian Tour
Queensland’s Maverick Antcliff and New Zealand’s Nick Voke have finished in a share of 7th place in this week’s International Series Thailand event in Bangkok, each player earning US$44,000 and improving their standing on the Asian Tour’s Order of Merit.
Antcliff will move up four places to 23rd in the standings while Voke, who recorded his second 7th place in succession will jump to 45th in just five events on this season’s schedule.
Voke’s 7th place at Black Mountain last week earned the 30-year-old Auckland golfer a start this week, and he took advantage with a final round of 64 to advance his cause for status for 2025 on the Asian Tour.
31-year-old Antcliff birdied his final three holes of round four after a slow start to the final round, the strong finish making a considerable difference to his payday. Antcliff had been just one off the lead through 36 holes.
Both Voke and Antcliff had been multiple winners on the China Tour earlier in their career.
Queensland’s Jed Morgan, a former Liv Tour golfer and the 2022 Australian PGA Championship winner, recorded his second-best finish of 2014 when he tied for 13th.
RESULTS
Jack Buchanan’s hometown win his second in three weeks
Jack Buchanan – image courtesy of Australian Golf Media
In what was a barnstorming finish to the Webex Player Series South Australia at the Willunga Golf Club south of Adelaide, South Australian Jack Buchanan has added a second PGA Tour of Australasia title to his young career with a final round of 62 to win by three over Victorian Phoenix Campbell, New South Wales’ Corey Lamb and the leading woman Kathryn Norris.
Just two weeks ago, Buchanan won the WA PGA Championship in Kalgoorlie and today, in front of his home fans, produced a round of eight birdies and an eagle to burst clear of a congested leaderboard and win and take a healthy lead in the PGA Tour of Australasia’s Order of Merit.
Buchanan played the Tartan Pro Tour in Scotland in 2024 and finished 3rd and 2nd in two events but on his return to Australia has shown the benefit of playing internationally with a stunning start to the summer of golf in his homeland.
Buchanan, a member of the Glenelg Golf Club in Adelaide, turned professional twelve months ago after representing Australia at the Eisenhower Trophy and recording a stellar amateur career, including runner-up at the Australian Amateur Championship in 2022.
Buchanan began the final round five shots off the lead held by Queenslander Brett Rankin but reached the turn in 31 to join the lead and built on that momentum with a final nine 31 to walk away with the title.
Last year’s Queensland PGA Champion as an amateur but now a professional and playing his first event for money, Phoenix Campbell, also flew home with a final round of 64 to share second with NSW’s Corey Lamb and the leading woman Kathryn Norris of WA in the mixed-gender event.
Results and Prizemoney
Queensland’s Maverick Antcliff one off the lead in Thailand
Maverick Antcliff – image courtesy of Asian Tour
Queensland’s Maverick Antcliff is just one shot off the halfway lead at the International Series Thailand event at the Thai Country Club in Bangkok.
Antcliff added a second-round 64 to his opening 63 on the low-scoring layout to be just one behind American Peter Uihlein in the US$2 million event.
“The course is not overly long and you’re going to have a lot of opportunities,” said the Australian, who mentioned his name is Maverick, “Coz dad liked Top Gun”.
“Obviously the course is limited to only two par fives, but if you can just hit good putts, you should probably have a low score.”
Coming off the back of a missed cut in last week’s Asian Tour event at Black Mountain, Antcliff has been bogey-free as he looks to improve on his current 27th place on the 2024 Asian Tour Order of Merit.
31 year old Antcliff has yet to win an Asian Tour event although several years ago he won three events on the China Tour before earning DP World Tour status in 2020.
Despite finishing 3rd in the Irish Open and runner-up in the Canary Islands, Antcliff eventually lost his status in Europe but he is enjoying a good season in Asian Tour events in 2024 including a 4th place finish in Oman earlier in the year.
A former Hills International College (Jimboomba) and Augusta State attendee, Antcliff gained Asian Tour status earlier this year via the Q School.
Fellow first round leader, Jed Morgan, is the next best of the Australians in a share of 9th place and five shots form the lead.
Leaderboard
New Zealanders Mountcastle and Meenhorst lead in South Australia
Mountcastle, from Masterton in New Zealand’s North Island, has already won the PGA of Australasia when he was successful at the Gippsland Sixes late in 2023. However, for Meenhorst, who has yet to record a finish better than 40th in PGA of Australasia events, this weekend is very important for his immediate future in the game.
Auckland’s Meenhorst gained a start this week courtesy of reasonable performances on the New Zealand Order of Merit but this is an opportunity to improve his standing on this side of the Tasman.
Meenhorst attended the University of Tennessee between 2016 and 2020 but has in more recent times supplemented his income with a cadet role at Tara Iti Golf Club in Mangawhai.
The pair are tired at 8 under par and one ahead of New South Welshmen, Andrew Campbell and Christopher Fan in the $A200,000 event.
Last week’s WA Open winner Elvis Smylie is at 5 under and four form the lead in a share of 12th place.
Leaderboard
David Bransdon’s best finish of the season very timely
David Bransdon – file photo
Victorian David Bransdon’s best finish of his rookie PGA Tour Champions season at this week’s Dominion Energy Classic in Richmond Virginia could not have come at a better time.
His 4th top ten of the season and the resultant US$165,000 will see the 50 year old jump 21 places to 35th in the Charles Schwab standings and ensure he makes it to the penultimate event of the season this week in Arkansas.
Beginning the week in 56th place and with only the leading 54 advancing to this coming week’s event, Bransdon needed a solid performance. He got not only that but his best of the season to ensure his 2024 season will be extended. If he can retain a place inside the top 36 by next Sunday he will have made it to the Tour Championship in early November.
Bransdon was delighted with his effort given what another good week would mean to him in terms of retaining his full status on the Champions Tour.
The 50 year old was one of four Australians to earn their PGA Tour Champions cards via the Tour School last December and talked about the camaraderie involved.
“It’s awesome because we’ve got a bit of a bond going because from Q-School with all four of us getting through. It’s huge and it means a lot. It hasn’t sunk in yet, but yeah, like I said, there’s still some work to do, but I’m pretty damn happy with myself right now.
“I can plan that now. I didn’t have a flight booked, didn’t have a hotel booked. I didn’t want to forward think, so I left everything — didn’t book a thing. I looked once about four days ago for flights, but that was it. I didn’t book anything. As I said yesterday, I’ve wanted to let it, whatever happened, happened. If I had to change stuff, more than happy to do it. Now I get to do it for a really good reason.”
“I guess the 36 was a goal,” added Bransdon when asked what his goal had been after earning the right to play on the PGA Tour Champions.
“Then once I started to play, I wanted to win. Then towards the end of the season, the last few weeks my game was sort of not where I wanted it to be. My family had gone home and I was on my own in hotel rooms and it gets pretty lonely.
“I had that in Covid in ’21 when I was stuck in Japan for five-and-a-half months without my family. I was on a bad run then. I was starting to be on a bad run then, but I said to myself, c’mon, let’s just work through it. I did and I’ve exceeded what I thought I could do this week.
“I don’t want to put a damper on it, but if I had shot 75 today, I’d have been on a flight home to Australia in the next two days. It was a pretty important round of golf today and I was pretty proud of myself to stay out of my own way and let it happen. It was one of my better rounds this year, that’s for sure.”
Also making it to the event in Little Rock this week by being inside the top 54 in the standings are Steve Alker, Richard Green, Greg Chalmers, Mark Hensby, Stuart Appleby, Rod Pampling, Steve Allan, Cameron Percy and Michael Wright.
This week’s results
Charles Schwab Cup
Ben Campbell’s great Asian Tour run continues
Ben Campbell – file photo
New Zealander Ben Campbell’s share of 4th place in this weekend’s Black Mountain Championship in Thailand has the 33-year-old in second position on both the Asian Tour Order of Merit and that of the International Series in 2024.
This week, Campbell earned US$81,000 in the US$2 million event to be behind only American John Catlin in both rankings having won two events in the International Series in the past twelve months including a win in Morocco in July.
Campbell’s final round of 64 to race up the leaderboard continues another great season to follow his very successful year in 2023 in which he won the Hong Kong Open where he defeated Cam Smith at the final hole to claim the title before finishing 5th on the Asian Tour’s Order of Merit that year.
This week, Campbell finished three shots behind the playoff between Michael Maguire and John Catlin, eventually won by Maguire.
Campbell’s fellow New Zealander Nick Voke finished a shot behind Campbell in a share of 7th place to record his best finish of the season on the Asian Tour and advance his standing to 76th in the Asian Tour’s Order of Merit after only three starts there in 2024.
The finish will earn Voke a start at this week’s International Series event, also in Thailand.
Results
Elvis Smylie secures inevitable breakthough at WA Open
Elvis Smylie – image Australian Golf Media
Elvis Smylie has promised for two years or so now to win an event on the PGA Tour of Australasia and today he confirmed his highly regarded golf game and potential with a playoff victory over South Australian Jak Carter in the West Australian Open at the Mandurah Golf Club south of Perth.
Smylie, a former Australian Boys Champion and already a golfer with six top-three finishes to his credit on the PGA Tour of Australasia, had yet to win in his professional career but a breakthrough was fast approaching and a 3rd place finish last week when leading into the final round in Kalgoorlie suggested his best form was approaching and so it would prove.
In the most horrendous conditions, Smylie outlasted Carter and the luckless West Australian and former winner, Curtis Luck, holing from two feet for birdie at the first extra hole of a playoff against Carter to win the first of what many believe will be the first of many victories in his professional career.
Smylie added to a great Sunday for Perth-based coach Ritchie Smith who had earlier seen one of his other charges, Hannah Green, win her 6th LPGA Tour title with a narrow in Korea.
Smylie joined Smith a year or so ago after much of his formative amateur and professional career under the guidance of highly respected Brisbane coach Ian Triggs.
Smylie, a tall left-hander from the Gold Coast, now takes the lead in the Challenger PGA Tour of Australasia Order of Merit.
Carter had forced the playoff with a five-foot birdie putt at the 72nd hole in wet and blustery conditions but then found the trees in the playoff and was unable to save par although, in the end, it was of little consequence after Smylie had hit a magnificent approach next to the hole.
Perth’s Curtis Luck, a former winner and runner-up in this event, finished 3rd and just one shot from the playoff but he will rue being made to putt through a sodden green from long range at the 16th hole, a task made all the more difficult by the need to clear the line of surface water before he putted.
Luck was left with an impossible task to determine the strength needed for the putt and eventually three-putted, the costly misfortune proving crucial in his chances of winning the event for the second occasion having won it in 2016 in a year in which he became the US Amateur and Asia Pacific Amateur Champion.
For 22 year old Smylie however the win appears to open the door for his already impressive professional career to blossom further.
The PGA Tour of Australasia now moves to South Australia for the first Webex event of the season ahead of the Queensland PGA Championship and the NSW Open.
Results
Hannah Green makes it six LPGA Tour titles
Hannah Green continues her best season in professional golf – image LPGA
Perth’s Hannah Green has won her third LPGA Tour event of 2024 with a one shot victory over Frenchwoman Celine Boutier in the BMW Ladies Championship in Korea.
Green will take her earnings for 2024 to US$1,912,000 and move the 27 year old to 5th in the Race to The Globe rankings.
Beginning the final round two shots clear of the field, Green was forced to pull out all stops to hold off a spirited late challenge from Boutier who put together a final round of 66 including a final nine of 31 to all but catch the eventual winner.
Green’s final nine holes herself on Saturday played a key role in the victory, recording a 4 under par 32 to claim the lead heading into the final round.
Green’s win was the 6th on the LPGA, her earnings to date in 2024 some US$700,000 past her previous best season with another five tournaments still remaining on the schedule.
Lydia Ko 12th and Min Jee Lee 33rd were the next best of the Australasians.
The LPGA Tour now moves to Kuala Lumpur in Malaysia for this week’s Maybank Championship.
Leaderboard
Bolter Zachary Maxwell leads WA Open
Zachary Maxwell – image Australian Golf Media
The time-honoured West Australian Open has reached the halfway stage of its 2024 edition at the Mandurah Golf Club south of Perth, and Queenslander Zachary Maxwell has edged clear of the field in the A$175,000 event.
The Brisbane golfer, the son of PGA Professional Brett Maxwell, added a second round of 66 to his opening 63 to lead by one over South Australian Jak Carter and two over Queensland’s Elvis Smylie.
Maxwell’s best finish in a PGA Tour of Australasia event to date was when 30th at the PNG Open in September and is currently ranked outside the top 3000 in the world but his form in the opening two rounds suggested a game significantly better than his ranking.
Maxwell played his final nine on Thursday in 28 and today, beginning his round at the 1st hole be was 5 under through 4 holes before completing an outward nine of 31 to play his previous 18 holes in 59.
Two late bogeys slowed what might otherwise have been a phenomenal opening 36 holes but he has the lead and heads into the weekend with the possibility of his best finish by far at this level.
Carter returned from a start at the Alfred Dunhill Links at St Andrews two weeks ago where he failed to make the cut and finished at the back end of the field there to play solidly at last week’s WAPGA Championship and followed his opening round of 62 yesterday with 68 today to be back in the sort of form which saw him play so well throughout last season on the PGA Tour of Australasia.
Smylie played well in Kalgoorlie last week and shared the lead through 54 holes before finishing 3rd . The talented young Queenslander has numerous top 3 finishes to his name on the PGA Tour of Australasia but the breakthrough win has proved elusive although this week may well change that.
Previous winner, Curtis Luck is in a group at 10 under and just three from the lead, the 2016 US Amateur and Asia Pacific Amateur Champion seemingly finding form after injury had curtailed his progress in the professional ranks.
Leaderboard