Weekly Wrap - Week 34

PGA Tour

Tournament: BMW Championship

Dates: 20-23 august

Course: Bellerive Country Club, St Louis

Purse: USD $20.0M

Ozzies in the field: Min Woo Lee, Adam Scott, Ryan Fox (NZ)

More big dollars for the big dogs of the Adam Scott needs a good week to advance to the Tour Championship but I expect that he happy with where he sits having qualified in the top fifty and getting starts in all the signature events next season.

Wyndham Clark looked under pressure at the midway point of the back nine on Sunday. His five shot lead had evaporated and playing partner Rory McIlroy had joined him at the top of the leaderboard and looked like he would roll into the victory. Clarke however was reading a different script and closing birdies on 16, 17, & 18 paired with McIlroy’s bogey on the reachable par five 17th saw the American run out a three shot winner. McIlroy didn’t even manage second place with Patrick Cantlay taking that honour.

Best of the Ozzies was Adam Scott in a tie for 16th. Min Woo Lee and kiwi Ryan Fox finished in a tie for 47th. All three advance to next week’s Tour Championship with fox scraping through in the final spot.

The other drama was the battle to see who would finish in the top thirty and advance to The Tour Championship. Cantlay’s strong finish saw him rise 25 spots and go into the top thirty at no. 19. Robert McIntyre also pushed into the top group moving from 36th to 25th. Gary Woodland also moved up going from 31st to 17th. And if players went up then some had to drop out and they were Kurt Kitayama, Rickie Fowler and Bud Cauley.

Our understanding is that the usual two year exemption by finishing in the top thirty will be honoured into 2028 when the Championship and Challenger series begins, with this year’s top 30 guaranteed tier-one status.

1st Wyndham Clark – USD $3.6M

T16 Adam Scott - $312,000

T47 Ryan Fox (NZ), Minwoo Lee - $70,000

LPGA

Tournament: CPKC Women’s Open

Dates: 20-23 August

Course: Royal Mayfair Golf Club

Purse: USD $2.75M

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

My Yamashita from Japan ran away with the tournament winning by nine shots from countrywomen Yuri Yoshida. Yamashita’s dominance was set up with an opening round eight under 62. She followed that with rounds of 64, 65 & 66 to finish -23. That score equalled the LPGA 72 hole scoring record.

Best of the Ozzies was Robyn Choi who finished tied for seventeenth.

With the Solheim Cup on in two weeks it is interesting to see that only six Americans and 2 Europeans finished in the top thirty at t his tournament. On the CME Points ranking there are three Americans and four Europeans in the top thirty. At some stage the dominance of the rest of the world in women’s golf must get some recognition in events like the Solheim Cup. The addition of a team from Asia would make it more reflective of the golfing world The LPGA does have the Hanwha LIFEPLUS International Crown every two years andhas teams of just four players.

1st - Myu Yamashita – USD $412,500

T17 Robyn Choi - $34,842

T23 Grace Kim - $26,682

T37 Lydia Ko (NZ), Karis Davidson - $15,764

T44 Cassie Porter - $12,817

MC Hira Naveed, Minjee Lee, Hannah Green, Steph Kyriacou. Gabbi Ruffels

EPSON TOUR

Tournament: Wildhorse Ladies Classic

Dates: 21-23 August

Course: Wildhorse Golf Course

Purse: USD $250,000

Ozzies in the field: Jennifer Elliot, Caitlin Peirce

Megha Ganne was probably ruing the bogey she made on the 72nd hole and may have thought her chance of victory has slipped away. However, she rallied in the playoff against Cholcheva Wongras and won on the second playoff hole.

Winning is hard in golf and final rounds of even par means you watch a bunch of players sail past you. Caitlin Peirce found this out when she went into Sunday 2 shots back in a tie for 3rd, but an even par day saw her finish T10. Still a good week but Peirce might reflect on that final round after she opened with a 9 under 62. She only advanced two spots on the OOM rising to no. 24.

1st Megha Ganne – US $37,500

T10 Caitlin Peirce - $4,716

MC Jennifer Eliottt

Korn Ferry Tour

Tournament: Advent Health Championship

Dates: 20-23 August

Course: Blue Hills country Club Kansas City

Purse: USD $1.0M

Ozzies in the field: Rhein Gibson

Another first time winner on the Korn Ferry Tour. This week it was 24 year old Japanese player Yuta Sugiura who took the win. Sugiura birdied his last three holes to win by one shot from American Austin Hitt.

1st Yuta Sugiura – USD $180,000

MC Rhein Gibson

PGA Champions Tour

Tournament: Rogers Charity Classic

Dates: 21-23 August

Course: Canyon Meadows golf & country Club, Calgary AB.

Purse: USD $1.5M

Ozzies in the field: Steve Allan, Steve Alker (NZ), Stuart Appleby, David Bansdon, Greg Chalmers, Richard Green, Mark Hensby, Rod Pampling, John Senden, Michael Wright, Matthew Goggin

Richard Green put up a good defence of the title he won last year but he was not good enough to catch kiwi Steve Alker or South Korea’s Y.E. Yang who both finished on -16 after regulation play. Alker would prevail on the first playoff with a birdie against Yang’s bogey on the par five 18th. This is Alker’s second win of the season and whilst it wasn’t strictly an Ozzie win we will, as usual, claim a kiwi victory as one of our own.

Best of the Ozzies was Green who finished T5.

1st Steve Alker – USD $375,000

T5 Richard Green - $97,500

T9 David Bransdon - $60,000

T14 Michael Wright - $41,292

T30 Matthew Goggin, Michael Allen, Mark Hensby - $15,605

T42 Rod Pampling - $11,000

T46 Greg Chalmers - $9,000

T62 Stuart Appleby - $4,000

T64 John Senden - $3,376

DP World Tour

Tournament: Nexo Championship

Dates: 20-23 August

Course: Trump Internation Golf Links, Aberdeenshire

Purse: € USD $3.0M

Ozzies in the field: Jason Scrivener, David Micheluzzie, Ryan Peake, Anthony Quayle, Connor McKinney, Jack Buchanan, Kazuma Kobori (NZ)

Fourteen years is a long wait between drinks and so it was for Scotsman Scott Jamieson whose last victory was in the 2012 Nelson Mandela Championship at Royal Durban Gold Club. Jamieson’s cause was helped when overnight leader Shaun Norris was adjudged a two shot penalty for improving his stance when he kicked a loose replaced divot out of the way so he didn’t have to stand on it to take his shot on the fifth hole.

Jamieson also picked a bonus $200,000 for winning the Closing Swing rankings.

Best of the Ozzies was Connor McKinney who had his best result of the year finishing in a tie for tenth.

1st Scott Jamieson – €435,943

T10 Connor McKinney -€44,620

T30 Jason Scrivener - €20,899

MC Kazuma Kobori (NZ), Anthony Quayle, David Micheluzzi, Ryan Peake, Jack buchanan

Hotel Planner Tour

Tournament: Vierumaki Finnish Challenge supported by Finnish Golf Union

Dates: 20-23 August

Course: Cooke Course, Vierumaki, Finland

Purse: €3000,000

Ozzies in the field: Haydn Barron, Quinnton Croker, Sam Jones (NZ)

1st Dominic Foos - €48,000

Mc Hayden Hopewell, Haydn Barron, Sam Jones (NZ), Quinnton Croker

Image courtesy of JGTO images

Japanese Tour

Tournament: Jumbo Ozaki memorial Tournament

Dates: 20-23 August

Course: Kusatsi Country Club

Purse: Y100,000,000

Ozzies in the field: Michael Hendry (NZ)

1st Sejung Hiramoto – Y20,000,000

MC Michael Hendry (NZ)

LIV Golf

Tournament: LIV Golf Indianapolis

Dates: 20-23 August

Course: The Club at Chatham Hills

Purse: $30.0M

Ozzies in the field: Ripper GC: Cam Smith, Marc Leishman, Lucas Herbert, Travis Smyth

In what might be the final tournament for LIV Golf the winner was American Michael La Sasso. The winners of the team event and therefore team championship (don’t ask) was Legion XIII. The total prize pool for the individual event was $10M USD and the team prize pool was $30M USD.

Not a bad week for Ozzie Travis Smyth who will walk away with some share of the team money.

Individual

1st Michael La Sasso - USD $2.02M

T10 Marc Leishman - $200,738

T17 Lucas Herbert, Cameron Smith – $116,431

T39 Travis Smyth - $67,544

Team

1st Legion XIII – 8.4M

3rd Ripper GC - $3.6M