Week 38 - Weekly Wrap

DP World Tour

Tournament: BMW PGA Championship

Dates: 17-20 September

Course: Wentworth Club, Virginia Water, Surrey, England

Purse: USD $9.0M

Ozzies in the field: Jason Scrivener, David Micheluzzie, Adam Scott, Elvis Smylie, Dan Hillier (NZ), Kazuma Kobori (NZ), Ryan Fox (NZ)

‘Hell hath no fury like a woman scorned’ and in the golfing world JJ Spaun was so pissed off at missing the President’s Cup team he proved a point to Captain Brandt Snedeker by winning the prestigious BMW PGA championship at Wentworth. Spaun admitted to playing with a chip on his shoulder and a point to prove. He did so in spectacular style finishing with 4 birdies on his last 5 holes to post a score of -17.

Back out on the course Manuel Elvira had eagled the 17th to join Spaun atop the leaderboard but a soul destroying double bogey on the last left the Spaniard in a tie for second alongside Aaron Rai, Adam Scott and Rory McIlroy.

Ryan Fox briefly had a shore of the lead early on the back nine but immediately after on of those on course interviews he made a bogey and apart from birdie on the last could sustain a charge.

Patrick Reed withdrew with a wrist injury which means he earned no Race To Dubai points and Rory McIlroy’s T2 earned him 532 points which saw him close the gap on Reed to just over 300 points.

1st J.J. Spaun - €1,332,870

T2 Adam Scott - €520,211

T6 Ryan Fox - €220,315

T36 Daniel Hillier - €54,098

T56 Kazuma Kobori - €23,913

MC David Micheluzzi, Elvis Smylie, Jason Scrivener

EPSON TOUR

Tournament: Murphy USA El Dorado Shootout

Dates: 18-20 September

Course: Mystic Creek Golf Club

Purse: USD $250,000

Ozzies in the field: Jennifer Elliot, Caitlin Peirce, Fiona Xu (NZ)

An exciting end to the tournament with a three way playoff between Juniper Jang, Kate Smith-Stroh and Kary Hollenbaugh. Jang was eliminated on the first playoff hole and the Hollenbaugh won on the second attempt with an eagle to claim the victory.

A good result for Ozzie Jen Elliott with a T5 finish and she moves up to 21st in the Race for the Card ranking. The top 15 get LPGA Cards for next season, so with one tournament left she will need a big finish to grab one of those cards. Realistically she will need a top three finish. A win would definitely get the job done but finishing second or third will depend on other results.

Caitlin Peirce finished T27 and moved down one spot to 30th in the rankings. Like Elliott she will need a huge week at the Epson Tour Championship next week and only a win sees her move into the top 15.

1st Kary Hollenbaugh – USD $45,000

T5 Jennifer Elliott - $13,022

T27 Caitlin Peirce - $2,753

MC Fiona Xu (NZ)

LET

Tournament: La Sella Open

Dates: 17-20 September

Course: La Sella Golf Resort

Purse:€1.0M

Ozzies in the field: Kelsey Bennett, Kirsten Rudgeley, Madison Hinson-Tolchard, Justice Bosio, Whitney Hillier, Belinda Ji, Amelia Garvey (NZ), Momoka Kobori (NZ),

There was plenty of bad weather this seek in Spain and the tournament was reduced to 54 holes. After stop start play over the four days, England’s Charlotte Heath was the winner. Heath started the final day with a four shot lead and whilst there were momentary challenges from Helen Briem, Shannon Tan, and Alice Hewson, in the end it was a reasonably comfortable win for Heath. However, whilst it looked straightforward from the outside the Englishwoman admitted to plenty of nerves coming down the final nine holes. After the win Heath said,

“It was incredible having Alex [Long] on the bag. He kept me so calm and just reminded me that I’d played good golf all week. When the pressure is on, negative thoughts can creep in, so I’m very, very happy to get it done….You probably didn’t want to be in my head on that golf course today,” she said. “I was thinking I was going to shank it, hook it, pull it… you never know.”

Best of the Ozzies was Maddison Hinson Tolchard at T10. MHT started the day in a tie for second but a disappointing final round 75 saw her slip down the leaderboard. Whitney Hillier finished T42 (alongside Kelsey Bennett) which keeps Hillier inside the top 70 on the OOM.

1st Charlotte Heath - €150,000

T10 Maddison Hinson-Tolchard - €20,500

T27 Momoka Kobori (NZ) - €10,350

T42 Whitney Hillier, Kelsey Bennett - €5,850

T54 Justice Bosio - €3,800

MC Belinda Ji, Kirsten Rudgeley, Amelia Garvey (NZ)

LETAS

Tournament: Lavaux Ladies Open

Dates: 16-18 September

Course: Golf de Lavaux

Purse: €53,000

Ozzies in the field: Kristalle Blum, Hannah Reeves

Hannah Reeves had another good finish last week and she will be looking to repeat that performance to keep edging up the OOM. Kristalle Blum will need something more dramatic to improve enough to challenge the top seven.

PGA Tour

Tournament: Biltmore Championship Asheville

Dates: 17-20 September

Course: The Cliffs at Walnut Cove

Purse: USD $5.0M

Ozzies in the field: Cam Davis, Karl Vilips

Jacob Bridgeman had his second PGA Tour win. Bridgeman shot a career best 61 on the final day to take out the Biltmore Championship. He was already well within the top 50 on the FedexCup standings so in that respect the win didn’t change that standing ( he can’t’ earn FedexCup points in fall season events) and he had the 2 year exemption from finishing in the top 30. This win does not extend his exemption but places him in a slightly higher category.

Best of the Ozzies was Karl Vilips who finished T39 and moved up two places to 129. Cam Davis had a good start to the week with an opening round 66 but did not break 70 again and finished T70. He only moved up one spot to 190.

1st Jacob Bridgemen – USD $900,000

T39 Karl Vilips - $21,250

T70 Cam Davis - $10,250

Korn Ferry Tour

Tournament: Nationwide Children’s Hospital Championship

Dates: 17-20 September

Course: Ohio State University Golf Club Scarlet Course

Purse: USD $1.5M

Ozzies in the field:

No Ozzies in this field as Rhein Gibson did not advance from the 1st playoff tournament last week but as it is the playoffs we will continue to watch the rankings to see who grabs the 15 available cards at the end of the season.

The end of season rankings are tightening up with only one tournament left. For the record Scotsman Sandy Scott won the nationwide Children’s Hospital Championship and in doing so secured his PGA Tour card. He is what the Americans call ‘TourBound’. Also earning that status at this tournament was Cole Sherwood. That means that the top 7 players as the list stands are guaranteed PGA Tour cards. There are another 8 cards up for grabs heading into the final two tournaments.

1st Sandy Scott – USD $270,000

PGA Champions Tour

Tournament: PURE Insurance Championship

Dates: 18-20 September

Course: Pebble Beach Golf Links

Purse: USD $2.4M

Ozzies in the field: Steve Allan, Steve Alker (NZ), Stuart Appleby, David Bansdon, Greg Chalmers, Scott Hend, Rod Pampling, John Senden, Michael Wright

O

nce again the big winners on this Tour did not let anyone else into the winner’s circle. Zach Johnson made it back to back wins making this his sixth win of the season. Amazingly he is still behind Stewart Cink in the Schwab Cup standings. Between them they have 11 wins and if you add in Kiwi Steve Alker with three wins then 14 of 22 events have been shared between these three.

Best of the Ozzies/Kiwi’s was Alker at T2 followed by Michael Wright at T9.

Zach Johnson – USD $360,000

T2 Steve Alker- $

T9 Michael Wright - $

T13 Scott Hend - $

T17 Michael Bransdon, Greg Chalmers - $

T31 Stuart Appleby - $

T39 Rod Pampling

MDF Steve Allen, John Senden

Hotel Planner Tour

Tournament: Open de Portugal

Dates: 17-20 September

Course: PGA Aroeira 1 Lisbon, Portugal

Purse: €300,000

Ozzies in the field: Daniel Gale (1st alternate), Haydn Barron, Coby Carruthers, Kayun Mudadana, Danny List

A final round 62 is usually a good way to ensure a victory and so it was for Sebastian Friedrichsen. The Dane won by three shots from overnight leader Marc Warren.

None of the Ozzies made the cut and Haydn Barron withdrew in the final round after 5 holes. He started the last day in a tie for 16th. Danny List also did not finish the tournament, retiring after the first round, so hopefully nothing too serious for either of our Ozzies.

1st Sebastian Friedrichsen - €48,000

RETD Haydn Barron, Dany List

MC Daniel Gale, Coby Carruthers, Kayun Mudadana,

Legends Tour

Tournament: European Legends Cup by SR Nexus

Dates: 18-20 September

Course: Fontanals Golf

Purse:€ ?

Ozzies in the field: Michael Campbell (NZ), Michael Long (NZ), Mark Brown, Peter Fowler

Swede Johan Edfors won the Euorpean Legends Cup with a score of fifteen under par. Best of the Ozzies/Kiwis was Michael Long.

1st Johan Edfors

T16 Michael Long

T30 Michael Campbell

T50 Mark Brown

T61 Peter Fowler

Asian Tour

Tournament: Yeangder Tournament Players Championship

Dates: 17-20 September

Course: Linkou International Golf and Country Club

Purse: USD $1.2M

Ozzies in the field: Kevin Yuan, Jed Morgan, Justin Warren, Kevin Yuan, Maverick Antcliffe, Nick Voke (NZ), Harrison Crowe, Wade Ormsby, Will Florimo, Jack Thompson, Travis Smyth, Brett Rankin, Jack Buchanan, Matt Jones, Lucas Herbert, Chris Wood, Austin Batista, Denzel Ieremia (NZ)

The big news out the Asian Tour this week is that they have cancelled Q School this year. The tour sad that the disruption from the cancellation of the International Series (thank you LIV Golf) led to the decision to cancel Q School.

In other news the winner of the tournament was Pavit Tangkamolprasert. The wire to wire victory was his first victory on the Asian Tour for seven years and his second win overall.

Best of the Ozzies was Travis Smyth in a tie for 16th.

1st Pavit Tangkamolprasert – YSD $216,000

T16 Travis Smyth - $15,180

T32 Wayde Ormsby, Nick Voke (NZ) - $8,640

T46 Kevin Yuan - $6,120

T52 Jed Morgan, Maverick Antcliff - $4,584

T58 Brett Rankin - $4,020

T62 Will Florimo - $3,540

71 Denzel Ieremia (NZ) - $2,640

MC Harrison Crowe, Jack Thompson, Justin Warren

Japan Tour

Tournament: ANA Open Golf Tournament

Dates: 17-20 September

Course: Sapporo Golf Club Wattsu Course, Hokkaido

Purse: Y100,000,000

Ozzies in the field: Michael Hendry (NZ)

Hiratoaro Naito was the winner this week and Kiwi Michael Hendry finished T13.

1st Hirataro Naito – Y20,000,000

T13 Michael Hendry (NZ) – Y1,740,000

JLPGA – Step Up Tour

Tournament: Sanyoshimbun Ladies Cup

Dates: 18-20 September

Course: Togigaoka MarineHills GC

Purse: Y30,000,000

Ozzies in the field: Lion Higo

This weeks winner on the Japanese Women’s secondary tour was Mei Takagi. Ozzie Lion Higo finished at T41

1st Mei Takagi – Y5,400,000

T41 Lion Higo – Y145,500 (AUD $1,300)

DP World Tour

Tournament: Q School First Stage

Dates: Various dates in September

Course: Various courses in UK & Europe

Purse:

Ozzies in the field:

There are 10 venues for first stage of DP World Tour Q School. Listed below are those tournaments where Ozzies and Kiwis are playing.

25-28 August Golf PGA France du Vaudreuil

MC - Denzel Ieremia, Adam Brady

2-5 September Huddersfield Golf Club, England

DQ - Hayden Hopewell

8-11 September The Northumberland Golf Club, England

Q - Cameron Harlock (NZ)

DNQ - Harrison Crowe, Jared Edwards (NZ)

15-18 September Arlandastad Golf, Sweden

Q - Connor McDade (NZ), Phoenix Campbell

DNQ - Louis Dobbelaar

15-18 September Dunham Forest Golf and Country Club, England

Q - Sam Jones (NZ)

DNQ - Fraser Maclachlan (NZ)