Weekly Wrap - Week 16

LPGA

Tournament: JM Eagle LA Championship

Dates: 16 – 19 April

Course: El Caballero Country Club

Purse: USD $3.75M

Ozzies in the field: Minjee Lee, Hannah Green, Grace Kim, Steph Kyriacou, Cassie Porter, Robyn Choi, Karis Davidson, Gabbi Ruffels, Hira Naveed

Hannah Green wins the JM Eagle for the third time and now has four wins this season. She adds to her LPGA win in Singapore (HSBC), The Australian Open and the WPGA Championship.

On the final day Green came off the 10th green and was six shots back from the lead. She then reeled off five birdies in a six hole stretch from 11 – 16 to get to -17 which was eventually enough to get her into a playoff with Sei Young Kim and Jin Hee Im. Green went on to birdie the first playoff hole and claim the championship.

Earlier in the week the sponsors had announced that they were adding USD $1.0M to the prize pool which gave the Ozzie and extra $180,000 on the winner’s cheque.

Hannah Green 1st – USD $712,500

Robyn Choi T24 - $48,060

Grace Kim T28 – 38,094

Hira Naveed T46 – $20,235

Karis Davidson T58 - $13,818

Cassie Porter MC

Gabbie Ruffels MC

Steph Kyriacou MC

Minjee Lee W/D

LET

Tournament: Joburg Ladies Open

Dates: 16 – 19 April

Course: Randpark Golf Club

Purse:€330,000

Ozzies in the field: Kelsey Bennett, Kirsten Rudgeley, Justice Bosio.

What a great start to the African Swing for the LET. This was an absolute thriller. Local hero Cass Alexander looked to have the tournament in her grasp coming off the 17th at eight under for the day and leading by two with one hole to play. Then lightening and severe weather forced the suspension of play. When Play resumed Alexander bogeyed the easy closing par five and then Agathe Laisne birdied 17 and Ozzie Kirsten Rudgeley birdied 18 to tie the lead and force a three way play-off.

Alexander bowed out on the first playoff hole with a par to the birdies of Laisne and Rudgeley. They the traded birdies and Rudgeley missed a golden opportunity for the win lipping out from 6 feet on the third playoff hole. But it was the Frenchwomen who prevailed on the fifth play off hole and took her second win for the season following her victory at the Ford NSW Open. This is Rudgeley’s fourth runner up finish and she must wonder what she has to do to register her first win on the LET.

Our other Ozzies also had good tournaments with Kelsey Bennett finishing T24 and Justice Bosio fit24nishing T38 after a great opening round of six under. Bennett stays at third on the OOM and Rudgeley climbs to ninth.

As we previewed Ozzie Steph Bunque suffered in the OOM stakes as she slipped ten places from 35 to 45th. If the trend continues, she will end the African Swing 30 places lower on the OOM and that will make it so much more important for her to do well when the tour returns to Europe and she is entered to start a number of tournaments.

Agathe Laisne 1st - €49,500

Kirsten Rudgeley T2 – 24,750

Amelia Garvey (NZ) T13 – 5,940

Kelsey Bennett T24 – 3,586

Momoka Kobori T24 – 3,586

Justice Bosio T38 – 2,293.50

PGA Champions Tour

Tournament: Senior PGA Championship

Dates: 16-19 April

Course: The Concession Golf Club Bradenton Florida

Purse: USD $3.0M

Ozzies in the field: Steve Alker (NZ), Steve Allan, Stuart Appleby, Greg Chalmers, Matthew Goggin, Richard Green, Scott Hend, Mark Hensby, Brendan Jones, Cameron Percy, Michael Wright, Rohan Allwood, Brad Burns, Michael Campbell (NZ), Craig Hocknell, Mick Smith

Stewart Cink is a winning machine on the PGA Champions Tour. He walked away with the first Major of the year by shooting a final round nine under 63 to win by six shots from Ben Crane. Ozzie Scott Hend and Steve Allen finished T3 and Kiwi Steve Alker finished T5.

Steve Stricker 1st – USD $540,000

Scott Hend T3 - $174,000

Steve Allen T3 - $174,000

Steve Alker (NZ) T5 - $108,283

Cameron Percy T12 - $59,816

Greg Chalmers T27 - $18,623

Richard Green T41 - $9,388

Matthew Goggin T41 - $9,388

Michael Wright T47 - $7,607

Stuart Appleby T69 - $3,723

Mick Smith 74 - $3,630

Brendan Jones MC

Craig Hocknell MC

Mark Hensby MC

Michael Campbell (NZ) MC

Brad Burns MC

PGA Tour

Tournament: RBC Heritage Hilton Head

Dates:

Course: Harbour Town Golf Links

Purse: USD $20.0M

Ozzies in the field: Jason Day, Min Woo Lee, Karl Vilips, Ryan Fox (NZ)

U S A, U S A – yes you yanks keep chanting away but it did you no good as Matt Fitzpatrick won on the first playoff hole against the vanilla American hero Scottie Scheffler. Fitzpatrick gave as good as he got when after he sank the winning birdie putt he put his cupped hand up to his ear as if to say – couldn’t quite hear you.

This is Fitzpatrick’s second win at Harbour Town and his fourth PGA Tour victory following on the back of his win at Valspar earlier this year.

Matt Fitpatrick 1st - USD $3.6M

Ryann Fox (NZ) T16 - $248,525

Karl Vilips T33 - $97,444

Jason Day T42 - $55,300

Min Woo Lee T60 - $36,500

Korn Ferry Tour

Tournament: Tulum Championship at PGA Riviera Maya

Dates: 16 – 19 April

Course: PGA Riveria Maya, Tulum Mexico

Purse: USD $1.0M

Ozzies in the field: Rhein Gibson,

Dylan Menante captured his first win on the Korn Ferry Tour with a bogey free final round of nine under the card. Menante won by six strokes from young gun Blades Brown.

Dylan Menante 1st – USD $180,000

Rhein Gibson T22 - $10,550

JLPGA

Tournament: KKTcup VANTELIN Ladies Open

Dates: 17 – 19 April

Course: Kumamoto Kuko CC

Purse: ¥100,000,000

Ozzies in the field: Lion Higo

Ayaka Takahashi took the win this week and climbed to third on the JLPGA OOM.

Ayaka Takahashi 1st - ¥18,000,000

Lion Higo MC

LIV Golf

Tournament: LIV Golf Mexico

Dates: 16-19 April

Course: Club de Golf Chapultepec

Purse: $$$$$$$$$$

Ozzies in the field: The Ripper Team of Cam Smith, Marc Leishmann, Lucas Herbert, and Elvis Smylie

Jon Rahm is good at golf – there is no doubt about that as he wracked up his second win of the season in Mexico. Put that with his four other top 5 finishes and that is why he is atop the LIV Golf OOM. Rahm won by six shots from fellow Spaniard David Puig.

Ozzie team Ripper Gc is at the top of the teams OOM.

Jon Rahm 1st –USD $4.0M

Marc LeishmanT10 - $397,500

Elvis Smylie T35 – 145,000

Cameron Smith T40 – $131,625

Lucas Herbert T47 - $50,000

Travis Smyth T50 – 50,000