Cameron John – file photo Australian Golf Media
Melbourne’s Cameron John has taken advantage of a rare start in a DP World Tour event by sharing the lead at the halfway stage of the Alfred Dunhill Links Championship in Scotland.
John, who gained a start in the US$5 million event through his standing on the 2023/2024 PGA Tour of Australasia, followed up his stunning opening round of 62 at Kingsbarns Golf Club on Thursday with a round of 68 over the Old Course at St Andrews overnight, a round that included a triple bogey, to lead along with Belgium’s Nicolas Colsaerts.
The pair are one clear of South African Darren Fichardt and Scotland’s David Law in the event played over three courses before returning to St Andrews on Sunday for the final round.
The 25-year-old John won earlier in the year in a lesser PGA Tour of Australasia at the National Links, but this is his first event on a recognized tour since, so his stunning start to the event has seen him box well above his weight in a quality field that includes Jon Rahm, Rory McIlroy, Tommy Fleetwood, and the like.
New Zealand’s Daniel Hillier is just two off the lead at 12 under while David Micheluzzi is at 10 under and tied for 13th place.
John is enjoying his experience in playing some of the game’s best links layouts including tomorrow when he will tackle perhaps the most demanding of the three layouts used in the pro-am formatted event, Carnoustie
It’s just fun. Like it’s you don’t get it a lot back home, the odd course that plays similar but nothing quite the same,” said John referring to the week thus far. And that’s kind of just the outlook of the week, just enjoy it, take it all in, walking up 18, it’s always pretty special, so just remember it.”
He knows the task ahead to keep the momentum going at Carnoustie.
“I mean, I’ve only been out there the once and I think that was Tuesday. It was awesome and I mean, I played it into a Northerly, so those last few holes were quite tricky. It’s going to be kind of opposite. So it will be a little bit like learning it all over again.”
A cut will be made after tomorrow’s third round.
LEADERBOARD
Large Australasian line-up qualify for PGA Tour Champions Playoffs
Steve Alker – another outstanding season for the 53 year old – image USGA
The PGA Tour Champions has now reached the playoff stage with the leading 72 players on the Schwab Cup standings after last weekend’s event, the SAS Championship at the Prestonwood Country Club in North Carolina, about to advance to the first of the three playoff events.
The three playoffs begin this Friday with the Dominion Energy Charity Classic in Richmond Virginia followed by the Simmons Bank Championship in Little Rock in Arkansas where the leading 54 players will compete, followed by the Charles Schwab Cup Championship on November 7th in which the leading 36 players will have earned the right to win the prestigious season-ending final.
Of the 72 players in the Dominion Energy Charity Classic, ten are Australians along with standout New Zealander Steve Alker, currently standing in second position in the rankings behind Ernie Els.
Richard Green (4th), Greg Chalmers (21st) Mark Hensby (24th), Stuart Appleby (27th), Steve Allan (34th), Road Pampling (38th) Cameron Percy (39th), Michael Wright ( 48th), David Bransdon (56th) and John Senden ( 63rd) have also qualified to play in Richmond, keeping their hopes alive of making it to the Charles Schwab Cup Championship.
Alker won the Charles Schwab Cup Championship in 2023 and is having another great season in 2024 having won one title and finished runner-up in four others.
Richard Green is the next best of the Australasians in a very impressive 4th place in the rankings and although the Victorian has yet to win an event on the PGA Tour Champions he has recorded four runner-up finishes in 2024 and continues to display a game that will surely lead to a breakthrough win before long.
Schwab Cup Standings
Rookie Jack Buchanan wins first Australasian Tour title
Jack Buchanan – image Australian Golf Media
The opening event of the PGA Tour of Australasia’s summer of golf, the WAPGA Championship was completed over the Graham Marsh designed Kalgoorlie Golf Course in Western Australia this weekend with 22 year old South Australian, Jack Buchanan, edging out West Australian Jordan Doull at the second extra hole of a playoff.
Both players are in their first year as professional golfers, and Buchanan’s win so early in his career assures him of status on the PGA Tour of Australasia for two years and provides a nice monetary boost, with the winner’s A$45,000 not going astray either.
Buchanan who played for Australia in the 2023 Eisenhower Trophy turned professional last November and has played events on the PGA Tour of Australasia and the Tartan Tour in Scotland since, recording two top three finishes in Scotland this year.
Like all professional golfers in the early stages of their career, Buchanan now has the surety of somewhere to play in the foreseeable future and access to events he might not otherwise have been able to.
Doull has little playing experience in 72 hole professional events but despite losing the playoff the confidence earned from such a good showing will be a significant benefit for the 25 year old in the months ahead.
Doull, from the MT Lawley Golf Club in Perth, has played well in pro-am events in his home state this year but has shown this week that his game is not far short of where it needs to be to potentially win in the events coming up on the PGA Tour of Australasia.
Queensland’s Elvis Smylie finished 3rd, just one shot from the playoff, perhaps still ruinjg a double bogey at his final hole on Saturday.
The PGA Tour of Australasia now moves to the Mandurah Country Club south of Perth for this week’s WA Open.
RESULTS
Timely return to form for Brad Kennedy
Brad Kennedy – file photo courtesy of Japan Golf Tour
Australian Brad Kennedy has produced his best result of the 2024 Japan Golf Tour season with a share of third place at the ACN Championship in Hyogo Prefecture.
Gold Coaster Kennedy, had recorded a disappointing season to date on his now regular tour but great weekend rounds of 63 and 66 saw the storm up the leaderboard to finish three shots behind the playoff won by Japan’s Takumi Kanaya.
Kennedy turned 50 earlier this year and given that he has played consistently well during the later stages of his regular tour career, he is no doubt eying the possibility of joining the lucrative PGA Tour Champions where several of his fellow countrymen are doing well. In order to do so however, if indeed that is the path he chooses, he will need to negotiate qualifying school in December.
The next few weeks will also see plenty of money available on the Japan Golf Tour with their flagship events up for decision so Kennedy’s return to form is timely.
SCORES
Ryan Fox improves FedEx Cup ranking with 11th place in Jackson
Ryan Fox – file photo courtesy of Augusta National
New Zealand’s Ryan Fox assisted his cause in retaining his PGA Tour status for 2025 when finishing in a share of 11th place at the Sanderson Farms Championship in Jackson Mississippi this morning.
Fox began his final round five shots behind the 54 hole leader, Keith Mitchell and began his chase with three birdies in his first four holes to move into 3rd place but the final 14 holes would prove frustrating for the 37-year-old Aucklander as he would play them in even par to finish with a round of 69 and five shots behind the playoff between Kevin Yu and Beau Hossler.
Fox improved seven spots in his FedEx Cup ranking to 102nd in what is his rookie PGA Tour season. With still six events remaining on the 2024 schedule he appears safe to make the top 125 and keep his full status.
The tournament was won by Chinese Taipei’s Kevin Yu who claimed his first PGA Tour title with a birdie at the first hole of the playoff to down Beau Hossler.
Results
China adds another Asia Pacific Amateur title to its list
Wenyi Ding claims China’s 5th APAC title – image AAC
19-year-old Chinese golfer Wenyi Ding’s victory at the Asian Pacific Amateur Championship in Gotemba, Japan, today now has China as the country to have won the most titles since the event’s inception in 2009.
Ding’s victory by one shot over his fellow countryman Ziqin Zhou helped atone for his playoff loss to Australia’s Jasper Stubbs in last year’s event at Royal Melbourne and took China to a total of five wins in the prestigious championship.
The news wasn’t as good for the Australians in 2024, however. Victorian Phoenix Campbell did the best of the seven-man contingent, finishing in a share of 13th.
The leading Australasian would therefore go to the talented 16-year-old New Zealander Coope Moore who finished in a share of 8th place albeit eight shots from the winner.
Played over the same golf course as one of the Japan Golf Tour’s flagship events, the Visa Taiheiyo Masters, the tournament was plagued by rain for much of the week but managed to finish on time despite rounds two and three being completed the day after their scheduled finish.
Ding joins Guan Tianlang, Jin Cheng and Lin Yuxin (2) as winners of the title edging ahead of Australia and Japan with four titles each.
Results
New Zealand’s Cooper Moore leads Australasians at Asia Pacific Am
Cooper Moore in action during round the completion of round two this morning – image AAC
New Zealander Cooper Moore leads the 12 strong Australasian contingent at the half way mark of the Asia Pacific Amateur Championship at the Taiheiyo Course in Gotemba south of Tokyo.
Moore added a second round of 67 to his opening 69 in the weather delayed second round and at the halfway stage finds himself in a share of 6th position and just three from the lead of Japan’s Rintaro Nakano.
Players were forced to return to the course this morning to complete round two after stormy weather and rain buffeted the course of Friday but the talented Moore who finished runner-up at this year’s R&A Junior Open Championship recorded a homeward nine of 31 to put himself into contention for one of the game’s most significant amateur titles.
The winner this week earns the right to play the Masters and the Open Championship in 2025.
The Canterbury 16-year-old has upstaged several of Australasia’s best amateurs to date in the 72-hole event with Queensland PGA Champion Phoenix Campbell one shot back in a share of 9th place and defending champion Jasper Stubbs well back in 40th place.
The cut fell at 7 over.
Leaderboard
Victorian Cameron John surprise 36 hole Alfred Dunhill leader
Cameron John – file photo Australian Golf Media
Melbourne’s Cameron John has taken advantage of a rare start in a DP World Tour event by sharing the lead at the halfway stage of the Alfred Dunhill Links Championship in Scotland.
John, who gained a start in the US$5 million event through his standing on the 2023/2024 PGA Tour of Australasia, followed up his stunning opening round of 62 at Kingsbarns Golf Club on Thursday with a round of 68 over the Old Course at St Andrews overnight, a round that included a triple bogey, to lead along with Belgium’s Nicolas Colsaerts.
The pair are one clear of South African Darren Fichardt and Scotland’s David Law in the event played over three courses before returning to St Andrews on Sunday for the final round.
The 25-year-old John won earlier in the year in a lesser PGA Tour of Australasia at the National Links, but this is his first event on a recognized tour since, so his stunning start to the event has seen him box well above his weight in a quality field that includes Jon Rahm, Rory McIlroy, Tommy Fleetwood, and the like.
New Zealand’s Daniel Hillier is just two off the lead at 12 under while David Micheluzzi is at 10 under and tied for 13th place.
John is enjoying his experience in playing some of the game’s best links layouts including tomorrow when he will tackle perhaps the most demanding of the three layouts used in the pro-am formatted event, Carnoustie
It’s just fun. Like it’s you don’t get it a lot back home, the odd course that plays similar but nothing quite the same,” said John referring to the week thus far. And that’s kind of just the outlook of the week, just enjoy it, take it all in, walking up 18, it’s always pretty special, so just remember it.”
He knows the task ahead to keep the momentum going at Carnoustie.
“I mean, I’ve only been out there the once and I think that was Tuesday. It was awesome and I mean, I played it into a Northerly, so those last few holes were quite tricky. It’s going to be kind of opposite. So it will be a little bit like learning it all over again.”
A cut will be made after tomorrow’s third round.
LEADERBOARD
Karl Villips set to earn PGA Tour card
Karl Villips – file image USGA
One of the more overlooked Australian golfers in recent times, Karl Villips, is about to join the big time with a PGA Tour card for the 2025 season when he tees it up in this week’s Korn Ferry Tour Championship.
Villips, born in Indonesia but raised in Perth, before spending much of his teenage years in the USA at High School then Standford University, is a former Junior Presidents Cup team member and a winner of the World Junior Championships.
The now 23-year-old began the 2024 Korn ferry season brilliantly with a win and a runner-up finish in his first few starts but his more recent form has been not quite as good although, in 18th position in the Korn Ferry Tour standings, he is assured of one of the 30 2025 cards for next season’s PGA Tour handed out at the completion of this week’s season-ending event.
Villips is an extremely talented golfer with numerous wins as an amateur including wins during his time in college and a victory at the prestigious Southern Amateur Championship.
He will make an interesting addition to the Australian contingent on the PGA Tour next season.
Xu and Porter look to secure 2025 LPGA Tour cards
Cassie Porter – image Australian Golf Media
Queensland’s Cassie Porter is in line for an LPGA Tour card in 2025 following a stellar season on the Epson Tour in 2024 in which she currently stands in 11th place in the Race for the Card standings.
At the completion of this weekend’s Epson Tour Championship in Indian Wells in California, 15 LPGA Tour cards for next season will be handed out and Porter is all but assured of gaining one of them.
The Sydney-born but Sunshine Coast raised Porter, in her second Epson Tour season, has recorded a win and three other top tens and she looks certain to join Minjee Lee, Hannah Green and co at the highest level of the women’s game.
Fiona Xu – image USGA
Joining Porter will be New Zealander Fiona Xu, a former Australian and New Zealand Amateur Champion who is currently in 5th place in the Race for the Card standings following a season which saw her with one win, a runner-up finish and one other top ten.
Aucklander Xu, is in her rookie season on the Epson Tour, and just as she had done during her amateur career is making quite an impression.
Also in the field for this week’s event is New Zealander Amelia Garvey who would need to win this week to earn one of the 15 cards up for grabs.
Great opportunity for several emerging Australasians at Dunhill Links
Kazuma Kobori – gets to test his significant game against some of the world’s best – image PGA Tour of Australasia.
This week’s Alfred Dunhill Links Championship, at the Old Course St Andrews and the Carnoustie and Kingsbarns Golf Links in Scotland, provides a rare opportunity for several of Australasia’s emerging players to not only experience some of the game’s finest links golf layouts but also play in a US$5 million event for the first time.
The top ten available players from the top 30 of the 20923 / 2024 PGA Tour of Australasia Order of Merit get their chance to play the pro-am formatted event, one of the few such events on a recognised tour. It joins the AT&T Pebble Beach National Pro-Am and the New Zealand Open as events at this level where professionals partner amateurs in addition to playing a significant and lucrative event in their own right.
The event has the added significance of players such as Rory McIlroy, Jon Rahm, Billy Horschel, Tommy Fleetwood and Billy Horschel teeing it up, adding to a much stronger field than many of the Australasian Tour players have competed against.
New Zealand’s Kazuma Kobori and Australians Daniel Gale, Brett Coletta, Matthew Griffin, David Micheluzzi, Jak Carter, Cameron John, Kade McBride, Lachlan Barker and Jordan Zunic have earned the right to play the event courtesy of their performances on the Australasian Tour last season.
Kobori led the Australasian Tour’s Order of Merit when the season finished in March but he has had little joy since his great start to the year when he won an impressive three of six events late on the Australasian Tour’s calendar.
Kobori has missed five cuts in nine events since with a best of 28th in Morocco so his performance will be watched with interest especially given he becomes a full fledged member of the DP World Tour in November as a result of finishing atop the Australians Tour’s Order of Merit.
New Zealanders Daniel Hillier and Sam Jones are also in the field courtesy of the DP World Tour cards they hold.
The last and only Australasian to win the event was New Zealander Ryan Fox who, in a stellar season in 2022, added this as his third of four DP World Tour wins to date.