Ryan Fox – life’s a little different now – file image USGA
An eight month battle gets closer to its climax this week, when the penultimate event of the race for the FedEx Cup is held at the Bellerive Country Club in St Louis in Missouri, the leading 50 in the standings, present this week with the aim of not only taking some of the US$20 million on offer but reaching the leading 30 who graduate to next week’s US$40 million Tour Championship in Atlanta.
Amongst the field of 50 are three Australasians, still headed by Min Woo Lee in 18th place ahead of Ryan Fox (25th) and Adam Scott (27th).
Bellerive Country Club hosts the event for just the second occasion, having first staged the championship in 2008 when Camilo Villegas was successful.
Min Woo Lee is a shoo-in to reach Atlanta, but Fox and Scott, while well enough positioned, will need to watch their backs if they are to progress to the final, Scott for the 14th time and Fox for the first occasion.
Given his significantly higher standing in the game now that he is a major championship winner, Fox was one of the players asked to speak to the media on Tuesday and had this to say about this week’s event and the Bellerive Country Club test, which he played in the PGA Championship in 2018.
“I do remember just walking off it and going, That was a great golf course. I played nine holes yesterday and the same thing. It’s strong, you’ve got to control your ball really well. I thought — obviously they have redone the greens, I think since 2018, so they’re, I think, a little bit different. My memory is a bit fuzzy on the greens. But I just remember it being one of those golf courses that you got off and you go, I enjoyed playing that. Like, it was hard, but it’s fair, and it rewarded good shots.
“So it’s always nice coming back to a golf course like that. From what I saw yesterday, it’s exactly the same. I’m looking forward to going to see the back nine later on today as well. I remember there’s some pretty cool holes on that back nine.”
Fox returned to tournament golf last week in Memphis a bit underdone given the understandable follow-up to his Open Championship victory.
“I mean, the last month has been a bit crazy, to be honest. Obviously, my world has changed, and I’m still trying to get used to that. So, it was good to get back last week. It felt like I could kind of use the golf course a little bit as my sanctuary, that I can just go back and play golf.
“Unfortunately, it didn’t go as I had hoped. I didn’t play as poorly as the score suggested, but I struggled on the greens last week and finally saw a few putts drop on Sunday.
“I probably didn’t have the prep that you would normally have going in. Like, I wouldn’t plan on having three weeks off in the middle of a year, especially in the lead-up to the playoffs. But I felt like I had to go home to New Zealand while it was still fresh, celebrate properly. Which I’m really glad we did that.”
Leaderboard
Lee, Fox and Scott eyeing Tour Championship starts at BMW Championship
Ryan Fox – life’s a little different now – file image USGA
An eight month battle gets closer to its climax this week, when the penultimate event of the race for the FedEx Cup is held at the Bellerive Country Club in St Louis in Missouri, the leading 50 in the standings, present this week with the aim of not only taking some of the US$20 million on offer but reaching the leading 30 who graduate to next week’s US$40 million Tour Championship in Atlanta.
Amongst the field of 50 are three Australasians, still headed by Min Woo Lee in 18th place ahead of Ryan Fox (25th) and Adam Scott (27th).
Bellerive Country Club hosts the event for just the second occasion, having first staged the championship in 2008 when Camilo Villegas was successful.
Min Woo Lee is a shoo-in to reach Atlanta, but Fox and Scott, while well enough positioned, will need to watch their backs if they are to progress to the final, Scott for the 14th time and Fox for the first occasion.
Given his significantly higher standing in the game now that he is a major championship winner, Fox was one of the players asked to speak to the media on Tuesday and had this to say about this week’s event and the Bellerive Country Club test, which he played in the PGA Championship in 2018.
“I do remember just walking off it and going, That was a great golf course. I played nine holes yesterday and the same thing. It’s strong, you’ve got to control your ball really well. I thought — obviously they have redone the greens, I think since 2018, so they’re, I think, a little bit different. My memory is a bit fuzzy on the greens. But I just remember it being one of those golf courses that you got off and you go, I enjoyed playing that. Like, it was hard, but it’s fair, and it rewarded good shots.
“So it’s always nice coming back to a golf course like that. From what I saw yesterday, it’s exactly the same. I’m looking forward to going to see the back nine later on today as well. I remember there’s some pretty cool holes on that back nine.”
Fox returned to tournament golf last week in Memphis a bit underdone given the understandable follow-up to his Open Championship victory.
“I mean, the last month has been a bit crazy, to be honest. Obviously, my world has changed, and I’m still trying to get used to that. So, it was good to get back last week. It felt like I could kind of use the golf course a little bit as my sanctuary, that I can just go back and play golf.
“Unfortunately, it didn’t go as I had hoped. I didn’t play as poorly as the score suggested, but I struggled on the greens last week and finally saw a few putts drop on Sunday.
“I probably didn’t have the prep that you would normally have going in. Like, I wouldn’t plan on having three weeks off in the middle of a year, especially in the lead-up to the playoffs. But I felt like I had to go home to New Zealand while it was still fresh, celebrate properly. Which I’m really glad we did that.”
Leaderboard
Modern day greats renew rivalry at US Senior Women’s Open
Karrie Webb – during practice at Barton Hills this week – image USGA
The US Senior Women’s Open sees many of the modern greats of the women’s game competing for the most prestigious title in the seniors’ game when the event gets underway at the Barton Hills Country Club in Ann Arbor, Michigan, on Thursday.
The course, around 70 kilometres west of Detroit, is yet another of the great traditional layouts designed by Donald Ross and was opened in 1922.
This week’s field of 120 includes four Australians, Karrie Webb, Rachel Hetherington, Nadene Gole and Sue Wooster.
Webb is, of course, one of Australia’s greatest players; in fact, her record of 7 major titles, five of those different championships, gives her a genuine reason to be considered Australia’s greatest alongside Peter Thomson and Greg Norman, the actual order of greatness up for debate.
Queensland’s Webb won an incredible 41 LPGA Tour titles, and although she has played very seldom, competitively, in recent years she retains one of the finest swings in the female game.
“I just love Barton Hills,” said Webb. “I asked a ton of people over the last 12 months if they’d heard of Barton Hills or played it, and I didn’t get any feedback about it, apart from what I could find online and a few photos. It’s a great golf course.
“I’m a big fan of Donald Ross golf courses. The course is in amazing shape. It’s going to be a tough test. It’s definitely a U.S. Open feel to it this week. We’re going to have to play well to shoot some good scores around here.
“I think obviously there’s probably not the intensity of what a U.S. Open felt like when I was playing, the U.S. Women’s Open. But coming to a venue like this and the USGA does it right, it does have a U.S. Open feel to it.”
NSW’s Hetherington (formerly known as Teske) won eight LPGA Tour titles in her impressive career and was twice runner-up at the major level. Like Webb, she has been out of competitive golf for many years, her last LPGA Tour start in 2016 and her last full season in 2009.
Victorian Nadene Gole is a winner of both the 2024 British and 2024 US Senior Amateur titles and reached the world number one standing in Senior Women’s Amateur golf during that period.
Wooster has been a four-time runner-up in the US Senior Women’s Amateur Championship.
The field also includes two of Webb’s great rivals during their regular tour careers, Annika Sorenstam and Julie Inkster, who won 10 and 7 major championships during their respective time on the LPGA Tour. Sorenstam won this title in 2021, and Inkster was twice runner-up in the first two years of the event
Tee Times
Scheffler moves ahead of McIlroy in PGA Tour career earnings
Scottie Scheffler – second greatest PGA Tour money earner – file image PGA of America
Scottie Scheffler might have won just his second PGA Tour event of the year this morning, but the emphatic manner of the win at the FedEx St Jude Championship in Memphis, suggests he has timed his run to perfection, given the money on offer over the final two events of the FedEx Cup season.
Scheffler blitzed the field by a massive eight shots at the TPC Southwind, adding this victory to his win at the American Express event in January, and with five other runner-up finishes and two 3rd placed results, it has been yet another brilliant year for the 30-year-old.
Scheffler’s earnings for the year are already over US$20 million, and with the US$20 million BMW and $40 million Tour Championship still to come, his earnings might well be over US$30 million in on-course earnings by the completion of the Tour Championship in Atlanta.
Scheffler took a two-shot lead over Sungjae Im and Sam Burns into today’s final round and although he bogeyed his third hole, he was bogey free from there and added five birdies for good measure.
Si Woo Kim would eventually finish as the runner-up albeit eight shots in arrears while Sam Burns and Alex Noren tied for 3rd.
Scheffler’s earnings in his still relatively short career are just under US$120 million, taking him past Rory McIlroy as the second-greatest career money winner behind just Tiger Woods, who is now only US$1 million ahead of Scheffler and unlikely to add to his earnings.
Adam Scott finished the week in a share of 12th place and is now in 29th place in the FedEx Cup standings. Scott will play this coming week’s BMW Championship in St Louis, and provided he remains inside the top 30, he will advance to the Tour Championship in Atlanta in ten days time.
Min Woo Lee finished 55th this week and Ryan Fox 58th, but in 17th and 22nd places in the FedEx Cup standings, both have starts at the BMW Championship and should both make the field for Atlanta.
Fox, playing his first event since his historic Open Championship victory, took a while to find his feet but a final round of 67 was one of the best of the day.
SCORING
Whitney Hillier produces emotional finish in Switzerland
Whitney Hillier – file photo courtesy of Australian Golf Media
35-year-old West Australian, Whitney Hillier, produced her best finish in several years on the Ladies European Tour when finishing runner-up at the VP Bank Ladies Swiss Open, sharing second place with two others and just one shot behind the winner, Elanor Givens.
Hillier, who had been out of the game for several seasons as a result of a mysterious Covid vaccine-related illness, returned to tournament play at the start of 2026 and has slowly rebuilt her game and confidence since.
This week, however, was a surprise but welcome return to being competitive in an event as she contended throughout and put together a solid final round of 68 after beginning the final day three behind the then-leader Kajsa Arwefjall of Sweden.
Hillier contended throughout the final day and shared the lead on occasions, producing a bogey-free round to complete what must surely be an emotional return to contention.
“It feels so good,” Hillier told the Ladies European Tour. She now gets into the KPMG Women’s Irish Open with the top-10 finish, “The feeling is addictive. You just want to compete, play, and get close to winning. I was bogey-free today. Technically I couldn’t do much else. I mean, I left so many putts out there, but it was tough to read the putts under that sun. It’s my first time contending since 2022 and it felt so good. I slept well and was in a good mental space. It’s just so nice to have my golf back to where it was.”
In eight Ladies European Tour starts this season, she has a best finish of just 37th and a best cheque of just €2712 before this week, so her performance is quite a milestone given the journey she has been on for the past few years. Hillier earns 22,750 for her efforts this week and moves to 64th on the Ladies European Tour Order of Merit.
Fellow Australians, Madison Hinson-Tolchard and Justice Bosio, also had good weeks when they shared 11th place.
SCORING
Adam Scott improves chances of a place in Tour Championship field
Adam Scott – file image PGA of Australia
Despite two late bogeys, Adam Scott has improved his chances of advancing to the Tour Championship in two weeks following a second round of 70 and share of 14th place at the FedEx St Jude Championship in Memphis.
Scott needs to be inside the top 50 in the FedEx Cup standings ahead of next week’s BMW Championship in St Louis, which is already assured, and inside the top 30 before being guaranteed a place at the season-ending US$40 million Tour Championship in Atlanta, and he has enhanced that possibility by being well placed heading into the weekend at the TPC Southwind.
On projected standings, Scott is now 26th place in the FedEx Cup standings, and although there is still a lot of golf to play, a good week this week will all but assure him of a place in the field for Atlanta, where he has won previously.
46-year-old Scott produced an outward nine of 33 in today’s second round to be on the heels of the leaders, but his two late bogeys and a fast finish by world number one Scottie Scheffler have him seven shots from Scheffler’s lead, but just four shots out of second place.
The FedEx St Jude Championship has been a happy hunting ground for Scott in the past, having finished runner-up on debut in 2008 and won in 2013, along with several other top ten finishes.
Scheffler was again brilliant with five consecutive birdies to start his round and only bogeys at his 8th and 12th holes preventing a possible sub-60 round. He settled for 61 and leads by three over Viktor Hovland and Sung Jae Im.
Min Woo Lee is two shots behind Scott in a share of 27th and has dropped one place in the projected standings, while Ryan Fox, perhaps suffering the remnants of an amazingly hectic schedule since Royal Birkdale, is 67th in the field of 69, but holds 24th place in the projected FedEx Cup standings.
SCORING
Bai and Swanwick bow out of US Amateur Championship
Josh Bai during his Round of 16 match – image USGA Ishika Samant
The US Amateur Championship journey at the Merion Golf Club in Philadelphia has ended for New Zealanders Josh Bai and Zackary Swanwick following day two of Matchplay, with Swanwick defeated in the morning round of 32 and Bai advancing to the Round of 16 before being eliminated.
Both players have done well to make it as far as they did given that 312 of the world’s best amateur golfers teed it up on Monday in an attempt to make the leading 64 qualifiers for the Matchplay phase of the event, but will no doubt be disappointed not to have advanced to the latter stages.
Swanwick was up against American Jay Leng, who is in the middle of a very impressive summer of amateur golf in the US, having recently won the Western Amateur and finished runner-up at the North East Amateur. After sharing honours at the first hole, Swanwick fell behind with a bogey at the 2nd, and things got progressively worse from there, although a birdie at the 9th would mean just a three-hole deficit at the turn.
The hope was only brief, however, as the American birdied three of the next four holes to win 6&5.
Bai, on the other hand, won his morning match against Frenchman Rudy Sautron, recovering from being 1 down at the turn to win four of the next six holes and eventually win 2&1.
Bai then took on Florida’s Jack Turner in the Round of 16, and although he won the first, Bai was 3 down by the turn, and when he lost the 10th and 12th to slip 4 holes behind, his task looked all but impossible. It would end at the 15th hole with Turner taking the match 5&3.
Both Bai and Swanwick will now return to the University of Florida, where they have just completed their sophomore years.
SCORING
Zack Swanwick and Josh Bai through to Round of 32 at US Am
Zackary Swanwick in action during today’s Round of 64 match – image Ishika Samant, USGA
New Zealanders Zackary Swanwick and Josh Bai have advanced to the second round of matchplay at the US Amateur Championship at the Merion Golf Club in Philadelphia.
Swanwick, who qualified as the 18th-ranked player after 36 holes of strokeplay, defeated Queensland-born, West Australian-raised, but now American 21-year-old Josiah Gilbert in a low-scoring match where Swanwick played eight holes in the middle of his round in 8 under par to lead 3 up through 13, over Gilbert, who was doing all he could to keep up.
Gilbert birdied the 14th to reduce the deficit to 2 with three to play, but Swanwick birdied the 16th, the match finishing with a 3&2 margin to the man from Hawke’s Bay in New Zealand’s North Island.
Earlier in the day, Auckland’s Josh Bai advanced from a playoff between 16 players for the eleven remaining places in the matchplay field of 64 when he birdied the very first hole, surviving such a playoff for the second straight year, the first to accomplish such a feat since Matthew Swan in 2005-06.
Bai then took on England’s Walker Cup player, Eliot Baker, in his opening round, the match being very much in the balance until the New Zealander birdied the 10th and 12th holes to take a 2-up lead which he extended to three at the 15th and eventually won 3&1.
In tomorrow’s round of 32, Swanwick will take on the 15th qualifier Jay Leng Jr of California, who recently won the Western Amateur Championship, while Bai tackles the 23rd qualifier Rudy Sautron of France.
Should both Swanwick and Bai progress to the latter stages of the event, they are scheduled to clash in the quarter-finals as they look to become just the second New Zealander, following Danny Lee’s win in 2008, to claim men’s amateur golf’s most significant title.
SCORING
Swanwick advances as Bai awaits his fate at US Amateur Championship
Josh Bai in action today – image USGA
The 36-hole qualifying phase of the US Amateur Championship has been all but completed at the Merion Golf Club and the Philadelphia Country Club in Pennsylvania. A handful of players are still to finish their second rounds after darkness halted play and will need to return on Wednesday morning (US time)
One New Zealander is safe, and another remains a possibility for inclusion in the 64 golfers to contend in the knockout matches.
Hawkes Bay golfer, Zackary Swanwick, an attendee at Forida State University, began his campaign with a mediocre opening round of 72 at the Philadelphia Country Club on Monday, but playing the historic Merion Golf Club’s course on day two, he produced five birdies in seven holes through the middle of his round to eventually record an impressive round of 67 and finish in a share of 16th place in the field of 312.
The effort was no doubt made even more enjoyable for Swanwick after missing out on the matchplay by one shot last year.
Auckland’s Josh Bai, who along with Swanwick attends Florida State University, also played the Merion Golf Club today. After an encouraging round of 69 at the Philadelphia Golf Club on day one, he struggled to a round of 73, and when he bogeyed his final hole it appeared he might have fallen short of the required mark.
Bai was forced to wait all day to see if he would advance into the matchplay stage, and as the day progressed his chances improved. He would eventually finish in a share of 54th place, and so with darkness halting play with a few left to complete their strokeplay rounds, Bai is forced to wait until Wednesday morning to hopefully survive a playoff with as many as 17 players vying for one of ten spots
Bai, the runner-up in the US Junior Championship in 2023, and the winner of the prestigious North and South Amateur last month, made the matchplay last year after surviving a playoff to get there but was eliminated in the Round of 64.
Australians Kayun Mudadana and Harry Takis have unfortunately been eliminated from the championship after failing to make the cut.
Sydney’s Mudadana appeared to be well enough placed after an opening round of 71 at the Merion Golf Club and through 10 holes at the Philadelphia Country Club today, but he bogeyed his 11th and 12th holes and was unable to pick up the extra birdie he needed to get into the playoff for one of the final 64 spots.
Queensland’s Takis, the leading world-ranked of the Australasians in the event and who is also attending college in the US, disappointed with his opening round of 74 at the Merion Golf Club on day one, and although he improved to a round of 71 at Merion on day two, he fell three short of the playoff.
The Round of 64 matches begin on Wednesday US time.
SCORING
Lee, Fox and Scott make it to FedEx Cup Playoffs
Min Woo Lee – finished best of the Australasians in the FedEx Cup rankings
Last week’s Wyndham Championship in Greensboro, North Carolina, brought to a close the PGA Tour’s regular season for 2026, and now the FedEx Cup Playoffs begin with the staging of this week’s FedEx St Jude Championship at the TPC Southwind in Texas.
Just three Australasians have made it to the first of the Playoffs, where the leading 70 players from this season’s FedEx Cup standings will play the US$20 million event.
Min Woo Lee in 17th position, Ryan Fox in 22nd place and Adam Scott 29th, look to be inside the top 50 by week’s end to advance to the second and penultimate Playoff event, the BMW Championship in St Louis, followed a week later by the leading 30 advancing to the Tour Championship in Atlanta, each of the playoff events worth US$20 million.
Lee, Fox and Scott are guaranteed full PGA Tour status for 2027 by finishing inside the top 70.
For Jason Day 82nd and Karl Vilips 129th, their season is not yet over; they will have the opportunity to retain full playing privileges by participating in the FedEx Cup Fall Series.
The players finishing 71st or worse in the regular season standings can earn their PGA Tour status for next season through the FedEx Cup Fall, which starts after the playoffs. The top 100 players in the standings at the end of the FedEx Cup Fall will retain their cards.
FIELD LIST FOR FEDEX ST JUDE
Kelsey Bennett continues fine season on Ladies European Tour
Kelsey Bennett in action this week – image courtesy of Ladies European Tour
Kelsey Bennet has continued her impressive Ladies European Tour season with a 5th place finish in the lucrative PIF London Championship at the Centurion Club, maintaining her third place in the 2026 L.E.T Order of Merit.
Bennett, from Mollymook on the south coast of NSW, won €61,000 for her 14 under par total behind the winner, Anna Huang of Canada, adding this performance to a win in Australia and two runner-up finishes earlier in the season.
Tournament sponsors PIF (Public Investment Fund of Saudi Arabia) have proven a good source of prizemoney for Bennett in 2026 having finished 12th in the season opener in Saudi Arabia, where she earned €80,000.
It is perhaps ironic that there was so much song and dance about the PIF’s support of LIV Golf in the early days given the role of women in that country, that they have become such a supporter of women’s golf and yet we now hear no such reaction to their involvement.
Huang won by two over local Charley Hull, who four-putted the 17th green after taking a one-shot lead and eventually finished two behind Huang in second place.
SCORES