Weekly Wrap - Week 46

WEEK 46 – WEEKLY WRAP

LPGA

Tournament: The Annika driven by Gainbridge at Pelican

Dates: 13 November – 16 November

Course: Pelican Golf Club, Belleair Florida

Purse: USD $3.25M

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

Two tournaments in one were happening at The Annika this week. Firstly who could win the tournament and this was Linn Grant. Secondly was who was going to make the top sixty on the OOM to secure their place in the season ending CME Championship next week.

Linn Grant took her second LPGA win with some ease. Grant played 52 consecutive holes without a bogey only ending that streak on the 72nd hole. Fitting for a Swede to win the tournament hosted by the Swede.

In the other tournament within a tournament there were some significant changes in the Race to CME order of merit and unfortunately no good stories for our Ozzie women. Top sixty qualify for the CME Tour Championship, top eighty retain full status for next season. Positions 81-100 have reasonable status in Category eleven and positions 101-125 end up in category sixteen. As an example this is where Robyn Choi started the season and she played 17 of a possible 27 tournaments in the regular season plus 2 Majors, the US PGA and Evian Championship.

In the end Cassie Porter missed out on playing the CME Tour Championship, slipping from 60th to 64th thus ending her Rookie season on the LPGA. Whilst she may have missed getting a start next week it has still been a great rookie year for Porter and she is sure to shine brighter next season.

Robyn Choi couldn’t force her way into the playoffs. Starting the week at 65 she slipped another 2 places to finish the year at 67 on the rankings. Choi would consider the season an absolute success. After finishing 2024 at 112 in the rankings Choi started the year in Category16. Maybe a year not as consistent as she would like to see but 8 top 20’s mixed with 5 cuts in 19 starts sees her finish in the top 80 with full playing rights next season.

Gabi Ruffels retains her full status with a steady year. She finished last year at 32 in the rankings and in 2025 comes in at 72nd.

Karis Davidson started the year in Category 11 with a medical exemption and started the Annika outside the top 80 but a good finish sees her finish the regular 2025 season at number 74 with full playing status for next season.

Hira Naveed finishes the year at 107 on the OOM and drops down from Category 1 to category 16 following a year with mixed results.

Minjee Lee (3), Grace Kim (29), Hannah Green (39) andSteph Kyriacou (45) all finish in the top sixty and will all tee it up in the season finale CME Group Tour Championship starting next week at the Tiburón Golf Club in Naples Florida.

Grace Kim T9 – USD $70,735

Karis Davidson T13 - $52,925

Hannah Green T15 - $42,718

Gabi Ruffels T29 - $25,631

Steph Kyricacou T38 – 15,761

Robyn Choi T38 - $15,761

Cassie Porter T56 - $8,987

Hira Naveed MC

PGA Tour

Tournament: Butterfield Bermuda Championship

Dates: 13 November – 16 November

Course: Port Royal Golf Course, Southampton, Bermuda

Purse:USD $6.0M

Ozzies in the field: Harrison Endycott

A first win for popular American Adam Schenk in his 243rd start on tour. He was able to master the windy conditions better than the rest of the field and his even par 71 on the last day was good enough to win by one shot over Chandler Phillips. One handed putting and 5 irons from 130 yards were quite the scene as Schenk held on to his lead coming down the stretch. The win boosts Schenk into the top 100 on the FedexCup rankings and gives him a two year exemption on the tour.

Harrison Endycott needed a high finish to improve his chances of playing next year and unfortunately that did not happen as he finished T52. He plays the final event next week at the RSM Classic and needs a miracle finish to move from his current position of 212 to some sort of status next year. In the event that does not happen he will likely be back at Second Stage Q School starting 2 December. There are some mathematical possibilities of him getting exempt into Final Stage but he still needs a good finish this week for that to happen.

Harrisons Endycott T52 – USD $14,460

PGA Champions Tour

Tournament: CharlesSchwab Cup Championship

Dates: 13 November – 16 November

Course: Phoenix Country Club, Phoenix, Arizona

Purse: USD $3.0M

Ozzies in the field: Steven Allen, Greg Chalmers, Richard Green, Mark Hensby, Cameron Percy, Michael Wright, Steve Alker (NZ)

Stewart Cink won both the tournament and the Charles Schwab seasons points award. A final round 4 under saw him pass overnight leader Steve Alker who could only muster a one under 71 to finish two behind Cink. The win pushed Cink passed Alker in the Charles Schwab Cup OOM to earn Cink his first Charles Schwab Cup title.

Alker went into the season finale ahead on the points tally but his 2nd place was enough to let Cink slip past him to gain the title. Not a bad year for the Kiwi though with earnings of USD$3,169,266 for the season.

After Alker (Kiwi) the top finishing Ozzie were Steve Allen and Cam Percy at T10 followed by Greg Chalmers and Richard Green at T17.

Steve Alker (NZ) 2nd - USD $300,000

Steve Allen T10 - $73,500

Cam Percy T10 – $73,500

Greg Chalmers T17 - $53,000

Richard Green T17 - $53,000

Mark Hensby T26 - $22,125

Michael Wright 31 - $20,050

All the above will be back next year on The Champions Tour.

DP World Tour

Tournament: DP World Tour Championship

Dates: 13 November – 16 November

Course: Jumeirah Golf Estates, Dubai

Purse:USD $10.0M

Ozzies in the field: Elvis Smylie, Daniel Hillier (NZ), Kazuma Kobori (NZ)

This tournament lived up to all the hype producing a compelling finish in regulation play to see Roy McIlroy and Matt Fitzpatrick head off to sudden death playoff. That in itself was a bit of a dud after McIlroy drove it into the hazard allowing Fitpatrick to win on the first playoff hole with a par.

The way McIlroy got himself into the playoff was typical McIlroy drama. Trailing by two shots standing on the tee of his 72nd hole he needed an eagle to force a playoff with Matt Fiotzpatrick who finished in the group ahead of McIlroy. He then produced two shots of extraordinary quality. First, his immaculate drive which is probably not unexpected but then a 5 wood to about 15 feet from where he canned the putt for eagle.

With his second place McIlroy wrapped up his 7th Race to Dubai title now only one behind Colin Montgomery. An astonishing achievement for the Irishman. The RTD Bonus pool of €10M was split by the top six finisher who were McIlroy, Marco Penge, Matt Fitzpatrick, Tyrell Hatton, Tommy Fleetwood and Robert McIntyre.

The other drama that was happening was the race to secure one of the ten PGA Tour cards on offer for the top ten in the OOM not already exempt into that Tour. As always there are tears of joy and misery in these races. Jordan Smith finally secures his dual card after missing out last season by the margin of a single shot. This year he started the tournament with a near disastrous 3 over 75 but recovered with rounds of 70, 64 and 69 to scrape into 15th place on the OOM and secure the 10th and final PGA Tour card.

Rasmus Neergard-Petersen had the tournament of his life. Playing the last round with McIlroy he produced a final round 68 to move 4 places up the rankings and secure a PGA Tour card. Considering just 12 months ago he was playing the secondary Challenge Tour (now HotelPlanner Tour) it has been a remarkable journey for the young Danish professional. Those securing the double card (DP World and PGA Tour) are:

Marco Penge

Laurie Canter

Kristoffer Reitan

Adrien Sadier

Alex Noren

Haotong Li

Keita Nakajima

Rasmus Neergard-Petersen

Jordan Smith

Ozzie Elvis Smylie (R2DR – 20) could not finish high enough to challenge for one of the PGA Tour cards and likewise Kiwi Dan Hillier (R2DR – 17) came close but couldn’t get over the line.

Dan Hillier (NZ) T20 - €88,294.62

Elvis Smylie T42 - €37,809.86

Kazuma Kobori (NZ) T42 - €37,809.86

AUS PGA Tour

Tournament: Ford NSW Open

Dates: 13 November – 16 November

Course: The Vintage GC, Hunter Valley

Purse:AUD $800,000

If anyone doubts the pulling power of a very good golfer then they all they had to do was turn up on Thursday at The Vintage Golf Club to see the crowds following defending champion Lucas Herbert. Ozzie golf had been to lots of golf tournaments in Australia and apart from our ‘majors’ it is rare to see more than a handful of spectators on a Thursday. The people came from everywhere and hundreds followed Herbert, Corey Lamb and debut professional Declan O’Donovan around the Hunter Valley course.

Ultimately Herbert could not defend his title. After a promising -2 start in round one he dropped way finishing at +4 and T44. However his willingness to come back to Australia and play these events should be highly commended.

The final day produced plenty of drama culminating in a four hole playoff between Chris Wood, Will Florimo and James Marchesani. Wood played his way into the playoff with a stunning birdie on his 72 hole to join Florimo and Marchesani on -6. Florimo bowed out on the second playoff hole with a bogey and the remaining two the matched each other with pars the 3rd time up 18. Wood then secured victory with a fabulous birdie to capture his second Australin PGA Tour victory.

Results saw plenty of movement on the OOM with Sydneysider Nathan Barbieri slipping 3 spots down to 4th despite a solid week finishing T10 at -2 for the tournament. With his win Chris Wood takes over at the top of the OOM with Will Florimo climbing into second spot. Cory Crawford rounds out the top three followed by former leader Nathan Barbieri and Jay Mackenzie.

Christopher Wood 1st - AUD $144,000

Will Florimo 2nd – $88,000

James Marchsani 3rd - $56,000