Weekly Wrap - Week 35

PGA Tour

Tournament: The Tour Championship

Dates: 27-30 August

Course: East Lakes Golf Club, Atlanta, GA

Purse: USD $40M

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

Scottie Scheffler created zero interest in golf by winning the season ending Tour Championship. Another way of expressing it is that the other players weren’t good enough to challenge him and make the final round vaguely exciting.

On his win Scheffler said, “This was a week I brought a lot of good energy to the course and tried to do my best, …coming from behind and being able to win tournaments is a really cool feeling.”

What could have been a scintillating final day at East Lakes turned into another snooze fest as Scheffler just eased into the lead and won going away from the field. For the PGA Tour this is fine as their largest audience is USA and they love a hometown win. For the rest of the world we often put all our eggs into the Rory or our favourite player basket and if they don’t fire then it’s just a Scheffler show. For Ozzies this week that basket included Min Woo Lee’s opening round and Adam Scott’s chance at victory.

Best of the Ozzies was Min Woo Lee who started with a bang firing and eight under 62 on day one to lead the tournament. He sputtered with a second round +3. Lee but made a comeback on the weekend with rounds of 66 and 68 to finish in a tie for fourth.

Adam Scott who gave us hope and then didn’t. The affable Ozzie started the final day just two shots behind the leader, Viktor Hovland, but a Sunday two over 72 left him in a share of eleventh position. It is still an amazing performance and another top finish in a 25+ year career.

Scheffler picks up a lazy USD $10.0M for his week and now takes a break until the Presidents Cup in three weeks and apart from an appearance in Tiger’s folly (Hero World Challenge) in December may not be seen again on a golf course until January 2027. He moves past Tiger Woods in career earnings but as always money stats need to be treated with caution as prize purses have skyrocketed recently. Scheffler almost certainly claims the Player of Year award.

The PGA Tour now moves into the FedexCup Fall period where players outside the top 70 are playing to secure their jobs next season.

1st Scottie Scheffler – USD $10.0M

T4 Min Woo Lee - $1,707,143

T11 Adam Scott - $660,000

26th Ryan Fox (NZ) - $375,000

LPGA

Tournament: FM Championship

Dates: 27-30 August

Course: TPC Boston

Purse: USD $4.4M

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

Major winner Ruoning (Ronny) Yin from China won at TPC Boston for her sixth LPGA title. The 2023 PGA Champion, Yin beat South Korean Hyo Joo Kim. For the Chinese star this was her first win since the 2024 Maybank Championship.

Best of the Ozzies was Karis Davidson. Robyn Choi also had another reasonable finish. Minjee Lee and Steph Kyriacou continue their run of indifferent form. Lee is fine as far as playing next season is concerned as she has a recent major win and exemption. Kyriacou, however, is languishing at 184 on the points list and has no exempt status on the LPGA which means she will get Category J status on the Epson Tour next season. That means a trip to Q school.

1st Ruoning Yin – USD $660,000

T17 Karis Davidson - $54,288

T53 Robyn Choi - $13,820

T57 Hannah Green - $12,462

MC Lydia Ko, Cassie Porter, Gabi Ruffels, Grace Kim, Minjee Lee, Steph Kyriacou

EPSON TOUR

Tournament: Dream First Bank Charity Classic

Dates: 28-30 August

Course: Buffalo Dunes Golf Course, Garden City, KS

Purse: USD $200,000

Ozzies in the field: Jennifer Elliot, Caitlin Peirce

Another week and another Ozzie opportunity slips by. Winning golf tournaments is really hard.

Both Jennifer Elliott and Caitlin Peirce have had their chances this season and this week it was Elliott’s turn. After the first round Elliott was joint leader with eventual winner, Mirabel Ting. But weekend rounds of 71 & 72 saw the Ozzie slip back to a tie for 13th place.

At this stage of the season every shot means valuable ranking points. Elliott and Peirce now sit at 27th & 26th respectively with tournaments running out to get into the coveted top 15 spots and earn a card on the LPGA.

1st Mirabel Tin – USD$30,000

T13 Jennifer Elliot - $3,376

T57 Caitlin Peirce - $737

LET

Tournament: KPMG Women’s Irish Open

Dates: 27-30 August

Course: K Club (Palmer South course)

Purse:€450,000

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

Cass Alexander finally secured a win this season after five runner -up finishes. She cemented her position at the top of the OOM with a commanding wire to wire performance winning by three shots over Sara Kouskova.

Best of the Ozzies and Kiwi’s was Amelia Garvey (NZ) at T6 and Maddison Hinson-Tolchard and Whitney Hillier at T44. Hiller’s fight to stay in the top 70 is still alive as she remains at no 66 after this week but getting starts between now and the end of the season will be the real battle.

1st Cass Alexander - €67,500

T6 amelia Garvey - €11,790

T44 Maddison Hinson-Tolchard, Whitney Hillier - €2,565

T55 Kirsten Rudgeley – 1,655

MC Sara Kemp, Momoka Kobori (NZ), Steph Bunque, Belinda Ji, Kelsey Bennett, Justice Bosio

WPGA

Tournament: PNG Women’s Open

Dates: 29-30 August

Course: Royal Port Moresby Golf Club

Purse: AUD $20,000

The first winner of the 2026 WPGA season is Kiwi Rebekah Blackwell-Chin who won by 5 shots from Ozziegolf’s tip Kathryn Norris. It was the Kiwi’s first professional win.

Blackwell-Chin surprised herself after an opening round of 80 thinking she was out of the running but firing the only sub-par second round (-1) was enough to overtake the field.

1st Rebekah Blackwell-Chin - $5,000

PGA Tour of Australasia

Tournament: PNG Open

Dates: 27-30 August

Course: Royal Port Moresby Golf Club

Purse: AUD $225,000

Josh Armstrong was also a first time winner taking the victory in the men’s side of things. Armstrong started the final round one shot behind overnight leader Louis Dobbelaar but a final round -3 for the Canberran saw him run out the winner over Dobbelaar and Lachlan Aylen.

The win was good reward for Armstrong who decided against any overseas Q school this season so he could focus on the Ozzie OOM.

Ozziegolf’s tips Will Florimo finished T4, Nathan Barbieri T8 and Jordan Doull missed the cut.

1st Josh Armstrong - $40,500 (approx. – figures not published)

PGA Champions Tour

Tournament: The Ally Challenge

Dates: 28-30 August

Course: Warwick Hills Golf & Country Club

Purse: USD $2,2M

Ozzies in the field: Steve Allan, Steve Alker (NZ), Stuart Appleby, Greg Chalmers, Richard Green, Scott Hend, Mark Hensby, John Senden, Michael Wright, David Bransdon (1st alternate)

No Ozzie win this week but it was back to back victories for Kiwi Steve Alker. The Kiwi is finding the form that took him to the Schwab Cup OOM win in 2024. This was his third win of the season and his thirteenth win on the Champions Tour and keeps him 4th on the Schwab Cup points list behind leader Stewart Cink.

Best of the Ozzies was Greg Chalmers who had his best finish of the season at T3. That finish moved him back into the top 36 on the points list which is the cut-off to play the final playoff tournament and retain full status for next season.

1st Steve Alker – USD $330,000

T3 Greg Chalmers - $132,000

T14 Michael Wright - $35,295

T27 Scott Hend, David Bransdon - $18,260

T42 Richard Green, Stuart Appleby - $10,120

T47 Rod Pampling - $7,700

T50 John Senden - $5,984

WD Mark Hensby

DP World Tour

Tournament: Husqvarna British Masters hosted by Sir Nick Faldo

Dates: 27-30 August

Course: The Belfry, Sutton Coldfield

Purse: USD $3.5M

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

Englishman Joe Dean won his first DP World Tour event with a final round 63 and moved up 61 spots on the OOM to number 13.

On Sunday Dean played 214 holes having to finish off a weather delayed third round ass well as playing the final round. In those 24 holes he made 11 birdies, two in the third round and 9 in his final round. He started the final round seven shots back from the lead but his 63 saw him win by three shots from a group of four players including Kiwi Dan Hillier.

Two years ago Dean had taken a break from the game and was delivering groceries. Golf is indeed a strange master.

1st Joe Dean - €510,934

T2 Dan Hillier (NZ) - €199,414

T9 Kazuma Kobori - €54,800

T51 Jack Buchanan - €11,420

MC Ryan Peake, Jason Scrivener, Anthony Quayle, Connor McKinney, David Micheluzzi

Hotel Planner Tour

Tournament: Dormy Open by Creekhouse

Dates: 27-30 August

Course: Kristianstad Golf & Destination, Ahus, Sweden

Purse: €300,000

Ozzies in the field: Sam Jones (NZ)

1st Christofer Blomstrand - €48,000

MC Sam Jones (NZ)

Legends Tour

Tournament: Staysure English Legends

Dates: 27-30 August

Course: Chart Hills

Purse:€

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

1st Mikael Lundberg - € not published

T9 Mark Brown (NZ)

T30 Michael Campbell (NZ)

T54 Peter Fowler

Sunshine Tour

Tournament: Sunbet Challenge Hosted by Wild Coast Sun

Dates: 26-28 August

Course: Wild Coast Sun Country Club

Purse: R500,000

Ozzies in the field: Austin Batista

Austin Bautista remains in 2nd place on the Courier Guy OOM points list after this week’s results. The Sunshine Tour OOM brings the same DP World Tour/HotelPlanner Tour cards as the Challenger PGA Tour of Australasia.

1st Jean Hugo

T17 Austin Bautista

Japanese Tour

Tournament: Sansan KBC Augusta Golf Tournament 2026

Dates: 27-30 August

Course: Keya Golf Club

Purse: Y100,000,000

Ozzies in the field: Michael Hendry (NZ)

Korea’s Sang-hee LEE was the winner. Michael Hendry missed the cut by one shot.

JLPGA Step Up Tour

Tournament: The SAN-IN GOENMUSUBI Ladies

Dates: 27-29 August

Course: Daisen Heigen GC, Tottori

Purse: Y20,000,000

Ozzies in the field: Lion Higo, Momo Sugiyama

1st Rie Tsuji - Y2,700,000

T32 Momo Sugiyama - Y80,250 (approx. AUD$850)

T46 Lion Higo – Y59,250 (approx. AUD$630)