Weekly Wrap - Week 50

Image courtesy of Golf Australia

WEEKLY WRAP - WEEK 50

LPGA and PGA

Tournament: Grant Thornton Invitational

Dates: 12-14 December

Course: Ritz Carlton Golf Resort, Tiburon Golf Club, Florida

Purse: USD $2.0M

Ozzies in the field: Lydia Ko (NZ), Jason Day

This tournament advertises itself as “the most inclusive tournament in professional golf” and says it is so due to the equal number of LPGA and PGA players and equal prizemoney. There are 32 invited players, 26 of whom are from North America, two from the UK, two from Australasia, one Swede and one Thai player.

In any event the tournament was won by Americans Lauren Coughlin and Andrew Novak who prevailed by three shots over three other teams, Charlie Hull (UK) and Michael Brennan, Jennifer Kupcho and Chris Gotterup, Nelly Korda and Denny McCarthy. Jessica Korda made a return to competitive golf and finished T13 with her playing partner Bud Cauley.

Lydia Ko and Jason Day T13 – USD $127,500

LET

Tournament: Q School Qualifying Stage

Dates: 10-12 December

Courses: Four venues across Marrakech, Morocco

Ozzies in the field: June Song, Claire Shin, Elmay Viking (Cook Islands), Hanee Song (NZ), Stephanie Bunque, Grace Williams, Abbie Teasdale.

The first phase of LET Q School has wrapped up in Morocco. Played at four different venues each mini tournament was over 54 holes. Four Ozzies - Amy Walsh, Belinda Ji, Abbie Teasdale, Steph Bunque and Kiwi Munchin Keh survived this stage and advance to Final Qualifying next week. Bunque birdied two of her last three holes to squeak through on the number. Joining those from Pre-Qualifying is Justice Bosio who gains direct entry to Final Stage due to her OOM finish on the LETAS this season.

A total of ninety players made it through from Pre-Qualifying to Final Stage which has a field of 156. Unfortunately, Grace Williams, Elmay Viking (Cook Islands), Hanee Song (NZ), June /song missed out. They will be eligible for LETAS. Claire Shin withdrew however she has status on the Japanese secondary tour. Other notable qualifiers were Hannah Gregg, a popular player from USA with a large online following, and Englishwoman Megan Dennis.

Final Qualifying is over five rounds at the Al Maaden Golf Marrakech and Royal Golf Marrakech. Everyone will play two rounds at each course after which there is a cut, and the final round is at the Al Maaden course.

Interesting to see two top players from the LPGA entered into Final Stage. Julia Lopez Ramirez finished 68th on the LPGA OOM and Ingrid Lindblad who finished 51st. Both players are in contention for Solheim Cup selection but are not currently members of the LET so need to qualify through Q School.

Top twenty and ties will earn LET status for next season in Category 12. Players finishing in positions 21-50 get LET Status in Category 16. Finishers below 50th earn status in Category 19. As an example Madison Hinson-Tolchard who missed full status last year by 1 shot and was able to get enough starts from Category 16 to play her way to a great season and finish 32nd on the OOM.

Abbie Teasdale (Samanah GC) T19 - Q

Steph Bunque (Noria GC) T20 – Q

Any Walsh (Palm Golf) T13 – Q

Belinda Ji (Palm Golf) T17 – Q

Munchin Keh (NZ) (Palm Golf) - Q

June Song (Fairmont) 25 – DNQ

Elmay Viking (Noria GC) 27 – DNQ

Hanee Song (NZ) (Noria GC) 37 – DNQ

Grace Williams (Samanah GC) - DNQ

PGA Tour

Tournament: Final Stage Q School

Dates: 11- 14 December

Course: TPC Sawgrass & Sawgrass Country Club

Ozzies in the field: Trav Smyth

Unfortunately, Trav Smyth did not finish top five. A disappointing last round 76 saw Smyth finish T139 so it looks like its back to Asian Tour where he currently sits 19th on the OOM

The medallist was AJ Ewart from Canada. The other four ‘winners ‘ were Adam Svensson (Canada), Alejandro Tosti (Argentina), Marcelo Rozo (Colombia) and Dylan Wu (USA). Wu got through in a playoff with Canadian Ben Silverman. What a stark difference Wu and Silverman present, with one winning a tour card and the opportunity to make millions and the other back to the grind of the KFT. Tosti gets back on tour for the second year in a row through Q School.

Travis Smyth – T139

DP World Tour

Tournament: Alfred Dunhill Championship

Dates: 11-14 December

Course: Royal Johannesburg Club, Johannesburg, South Africa

Purse: €1.5M

Ozzies in the field: Austin Bautista

Another playoff and this time it was Jayden Schaper who beat Shaun Norris for the win. After the tournament was reduced to three rounds due to tempestual rain Schaper and Norris were tied at 16 under. Schaper prevailed on the first playoff hole with an eagle. The win caps off a great couple of weeks for Schaper following hi T2 and the Nedbank Challenge last week. He now moves to the top of the DP World Race to Dubai rankings.

Austin Batista MC

Asian Tour

Tournament: Saudi Open presented by PIF

Dates: 10-13 December

Course: Dirab Golf and Country Club, Saudia Arabia

Purse: USD $1.0M

Ozzies in the field: Jed Morgan, Jack Thompson, Brett Rankin, Todd Sinnott,

Jack Thompson came so close but just couldn’t get it over the line losing by one shot to Swede, Bjorn Hellgren. Thompson and Hellgren started the final round level at 18 under but the Swede managed to navigate the Dirab Golf and Country Club with 67 shots compared to Thompson’s 68. Still, a great week equalling his T2 at the New Zealand Open earlier in the year and jumps 41 places on the OOM to retain his card for next season.

Jack Thompson 2 - USD $110,000

Jed Morgan T22 – $9,283

Todd Sinnott T22 - $9,283

Brett Rankin T59 $3,100

Tournament: Q School First Stage

Dates: A 21 -24 October, B 4-7 November, C & D 2-5 December, E & F 9-12 December

Course: 6 venues - Morocco, California, Thailand,

Sections E and F concluded the Asian Q School this week. Ozzies Brady Watt and Harrison Crowe advance to final stage together with those already qualified through sections A – D. Watt was the medallist at Section E and Crowe finished with two late birdies to comfortably qualify at T12 in Section F. Complete results are:

Qualified

Ben Henkel, Shaun Campbell, Aiden Didone, Ben Ferguson, Max Ford, Silvester Tan, Michael Pearce, James Mee, Darcy Brereton, Aiden Coul, Brady Watt, Harrison Crowe

Failed to Qualify

Tyler Hodge (NZ), Kuangyu Chen, Connor McDade, Josh Armstrong, Thomas Sims, Zachary Maxwell, Samuel Slater, Lincoln Morgan (a), Jordan Jung (a), Douglas Klein, Jeong In Park, Blake Colyer, Adam Brady, Jack Munro, Aaron Wilkin, William Bruyeres, Jake Hughes, Matthew Stenson, Lawry Flynn, Nathan Barbieri, Nicholas Bierman

Aus PGA Tour

Tournament: Victorian PGA Championship

Dates: 11-14 December

Course: Moonah Links (Open and Legends Courses)

Purse: $250,000

Ozzies in the field:

The man from Warrnambool, Marc Leishman, clinched victory with a birdie on the last hole. On a day with winds howling across the Moonah Links Open Course Leishman was able to manage the conditions slightly better than the rest of the field. Teeing off 18 Leishman and Josh Younger were level at 5 under but it was the experienced Victorian who was able to muster up a 72nd hole birdie to seal the win. It was Leishman’s second Victorian PGA title following his win in 2008. Kiwi Jimmy Zheng, Connor McDade and Adam Bland finished T3.

Interestingly the win puts Leishman up into second on the Challenger PGA Tour of Australasia OOM and he has played the qualifying four tournaments. The winner of the OOM gets a spot in The Open Championship 2026. With Leishman having no other avenue to play majors he may consider coming back and playing some more events to go for the number one spot. Whilst not precisely clear it would seem that if Leishman did win the OOM the top spot for the DP World Tour card would drop down to the next eligible player as Leishman is banned from playing DP World Tour due to his LIV membership. The second and third spots would also cascade to the next eligible players.

WPGA Tour

Tournament: WPGA qualifying tournament

Dates: 8-9 December

Course: Coolangatta Tweed Heads Golf Course - River

Ozzies in the field: Too many to list

An important tournament to determine who gets starts in next years WPGA tournaments, including four co-sanctioned LET events. Positions 1-3 earn status in Category 4a, 4-10 get into Category 6, 11-20 are in Category 7, 21-30 go into Category 8a and 31-65 are in Category 11.

1 Kotono Fukaya (Japan)

2 Ayan Morita (Japan)

3 Kristina Yoko (Japan)

T6 Godiva Kim

T8 Jessica Bang (a)

Independent

Tournament: Cathedral Invitational

Dates: 9-10 December

Course: Cathedral Lodge

Purse: AUD $300,000 min.

Adam Scott makes it two in a row as champion at Cathedral and takes home the $100k first prize. Scott won by four from Ben Henkel and Marc Leishman with Cameron John and Daniel Gale a further shot back.