Weekly Wrap - Week 47

WEEK 47 – WEEKLY WRAP

LPGA

Tournament: CME Group Tour Championship

Dates: 20 November – 23 November

Course: Tuberón Golf Resort, Naples Florida

Purse: USD $11.0M

Ozzies in the field: Minjee Lee, Hannah Green, Grace Kim, Steph Kyriacou

Jenno Thitikul makes it two in a row. Thitikul has now won USD $8M in two tournaments with her back to back wins in the CME Group Tour Championship. The Thai champion was never really threatened after her second round 63 which she followed with a round three 64. In the end she carded a final round 68 for a total of -26 to win by four shots from fellow Thai Pajaree Anannarukarn. Nelly Korda rounded out the top three a further two shots back.

A remarkable story for Anannarukarn who entered the tournament as the last qualifier in 60th place on the CME Rankings. This result, and the number of winners this season, confirming the depth of talent in the LPGA.

Top Ozzie finishers were Steph Kyriacou and Minjee Lee in T13 at -12 followed by Grace Kim at T26 and Hannah Green at T51.

With the win Thitikul also sealed the Player of the Year award and the VARE stroke average award. Of course she increases her lead as world number one over Nelly Korda.

Steph Kyriacou T13 – USD $88,083

Minjee Lee T13 - $88,083

Grace Kim T26 - $71,107

Lydia Ko (NZ) T41 – $61,750

Hannah Green T51 - $56,875

PGA Tour

Tournament: The RSM Classic

Dates: 20 November – 23 November

Course: Sea Island Golf Club (Seaside Course), St Simons Island, Georgia

Purse:USD $7.0M

Ozzies in the field: Karl Vilips, Harrison Endycott

Good to see the PGA Tour finally waking up to the fact that the main interest in these late season events is who gets a card next year and who is off to Q School. The Tour introduced a live streaming show titled ‘Cut Line’ focussing on the drama and analysis of the 36 hole cut during specific key tournaments. The tension around the FedExCup Rankings is much greater than who is going to win the tournament (unless you are in contention I suppose)

For the record it was the Finn Sam Valimaki who got the W at the last event of the year. He became the first man from Finland to win on the PGA Tour. The win took the big Finn to number 51 in the standings which will give him a couple of signature events next season, AT&T Pebble Beach and the Genesis plus entry to The Players and PGA Championships plus the RBC Heritage.

Top Ozzie finisher was Harrison Endycott but he did not do enough to avoid Q school finishing 204th on the rankings. By missing out on top 200 he has to go to second stage starting 2 December.

Harrison Endycott T34 – USD $34,950

Karl Vilips T51 - $16,399

Legends Tour

Tournament: Vattanac Legends Championship

Dates: 21 November – 23 November

Course: Vattanac Golf Course, Cambodia

Purse:€

Ozzies in the field: Stephen Leaaney, Michael Campbell (NZ), Michael Long (NZ), Mark

Brown (NZ)

Good things come to those who wait, and David Drysdale has waited a long time. After 19 years and 576 DP World and 13 Legends Tour events the Scotsman claimed his first win. A birdie on his last hole saw Drysdale shoot a closing 66 and post the leading score. He then had to wait to see if his score would hold up. Ultimately his score was good enough for a win by one shot over Peter Baker and Anthony Wall.

Michael Long (NZ) T14

Stephen Leaney T21

Michael Campbell (NZ) T40

Mark Brown (NZ) T43

AUS PGA Tour

Tournament: Queensland PGA

Dates: 20 November – 23 November

Course: Nudgee Golf Course

Purse:AUD $250,000

A rock-solid finish saw Cameron John take out the Queensland PGA Championship at Nudgee GC. John held of challenges from Billy Downing and Zach Murray. John’s eagle on 15 followed by birdie on 16 saw a four shot swing thru those two holes to give him a two shot buffer over the closing holes. John picks up his second PGA Tour of Australasia win having won the 2024 The National Tournament.

Hayden Barron had a great weekend closing with a 66 to finish T4 and secured a spot in the Crown Australian Open in two weeks.

Plenty of interest in the mini OOM which dictates starts in the Australian PGA and Australian Open. This is the top 3 players not already exempt into those fields. Jay Mackenzie, Adam Bland and Doug Klein now get to tee it up at Royal Queensland.

Asian Tour

Tournament: PIF Saudi International powered by Softbank Investment Advisers

Dates: 19 November – 22 November

Course: Riyadh Golf Club

Purse:USD $5.0M

Ozzies in the Field: Matt Jones, Lucas Herbert, Marc Leishman, Cam Smith, Ryan Peake, Jack Buchanan, Harrison Crowe, Wayde Ormsby, Kevin Yuan, Travis Smyth, Maverick Antcliffe, Scott Hend, Ben Campbell (NZ), Nick Voke (NZ), Denzel Ieremia (NZ)

The Spanish Fireball Josele Ballester collected his first win in just his 10th professional start. The leaderboard was packed with LIV players who filled the top 14 of the top 15 positions. Ozzie Lucas Herbert was in touch with the lead for most of the tournament and despite a closing 64 could only finish T5. Marc Leishman was a further shot back at T11.

Scott Vincent from Zimbabwe and Japan’s Yosuke Asaji were the other big winners finishing first and second respectively on the International Series Rankings. Those results see them both win promotion to LIV for next season. This will be Vincent’s second time on the LIV Tour.

Lucas Herbert T5 – USD $136,583

Marc Leisham T11 – $76,050

Travis Smyth T33 - $33,500

Kevin Yuan T50 - $21,535

Scott Hend T58 - $18,750

Ryan Peake T65 - $14,375

Jack Buchanan T65 - $14,375

Cameron Smith MC

Matt Jones MC

Maverick Antcliff MC

Ben Campbell (NZ) MC

Denzel Ierema (NZ) MC

Nick Voke (NZ) MC

Harrison Crowe MC