Golf Events from the Weekend 19th December

Well it was another exciting weekend on the Professional Golf Tours around the world. On the Australasian Tour they staged the first stage of the PGA Tour of Australasia’s Qualifying School and it also combined with the first Stage of One Asia Tour School. It was played from Tuesday 14^th December to Friday the 17th of December.

It was staged on two courses, Sandhurst Golf Club (North Course) and Peninsula Country Golf Club (South Course) in Victoria, Australia. The top 25 and ties from each venue qualified for the Final Stage at North Course at Peninsula Country Golf Club from the 20th to the 23rd of December. With the Top 10 players likely to get starts at the major professional events like the Australian Open, PGA and Masters in 2011.

Deyen Lawson (Australia) was top qualifier at Sandhurst Golf Club with a score of -3 and New Zealand Golfer Brad Shilton (NZL) was second to easily qualify for final stage at the other venue which was Peninsula Country Club. The Top Qualifier at that venue was Brett Rankin (Australia) -1. Some of the other New Zealand Golfers to make it through were Thomas Spearman-Burn (am) (NZL), David Klein (NZL), and Josh Carmichael (NZL).

So let’s hope as many New Zealand players as possible can gain there 2011 cards as the final Stage gets under this week. Well now to the Asian Tour which was staging its last tournament of the year. It was the final event on the 2010 season this week being played at the Black Mountain Golf Club, Hua Hin, in Thailand, and was the Blue Mountain Masters. Tetsuji Hiratsuka (Japan) and Namchoak Tantipokakul (Thailand) each finished 72holes on -14. That meant they had to play off for the title. They went back to the 18th hole for the first playoff hole. Tetsuji Hiratsuka (Japan) was able to secure a par to a Namchoak Tantipokakul (Thailand) bogey.

Tetsuji Hiratsuka (Japan)

Winner of the Blue Mountain Masters for 2010

So Tetsuji Hiratsuka (Japan) was the winner of the Black Mountain Classic for 2010. He earned US$95,100 for the win and finished in fifth place on the final Order of Merit with $333,092.98 from the 9 events he played. Noh Seung – yul (Korea) won the order of Merit for 2010 on the Asian Tour with $822,361.03 from the 10 events he played. Marcus Fraser (Australia) was second on $610,926.56 from 9events. Best New Zealand Golfer this year was Mark Purser (NZL) on the Asian Tour. He finished in 86th on the Order of Merit with $24,991.14 from the 16 events he played. He will now have to head back to Asian Tour School in mid January 2011 to try and regain his card.

Ernie Els (RSA) with the South African Open Trophy

And so the European Tour and the second event on the 2011 Race to Dubai Schedule. It was the South African Open Championship played at the Durban Country Club, Durban, South Africa. All the Top South African players were there. Ernie Els (RSA) shot a final round of 63 and finished -25 to win by one-shot from his country man Retief Goosen (RSA). It was the 5th time Ernie Els (RSA) had won the South African Open Championship in his career. And the 3rd time he had won at Durban Country Club having won there also in 1995 and 2005.

The tournament was disrupted on the first day when play was suspended for the day after only a couple of hours of play. Rain had flooded the course and made it unplayable. So they played and completed the first round on the second day Friday and completed the second round on the third day, Saturday. The cut was made to the low 60 players and ties instead of the low 65 players and ties. That was because the Tournament Organisers wanted to play 36 holes on Sunday and completed the scheduled 72 holes. The players that tied for 61st still got paid but just couldn’t play the final two rounds.

So the third and final rounds were re scheduled to be played on the final day as 36holes in one day. But due to heavy overnight rains the 4th green was so wet that they deemed in unplayable. All the players were given a nominal score of PAR on that hole. Ernie Els (RSA) won a cheque of € 158,500 for his efforts. And that win has moved him to 2nd place on the 2011 Race to Dubai money list with €158,500. He is just behind Pablo Martin (Spain) that has €160,786 after winning last week and finishing tied 61st and winning € 2,286 at the South African Open this week.

3rd place went to Louis Oosthuizen (RSA) on -21 after a final round of 63 and that earned him € 69,200. It capped of a great year for him, after he won the Open Championship, his first major in July. And another South African Player was in solo 4th position, he was Charl Schwartzel (RSA), he finished -18 after 72 holes and earned € 49,100. So the South African Golfers proved they know how to play on their home turf.

Robert Rock (England) and Romain Wattel (France) tied 5th on -16. In tied 7th place was Alex Cejka (Germany) and Victor Riu (France) on -15.  Thorbjorn Olesen (Denmark) who was only playing in his 2nd European Tour event as a professional after recently gaining his 2011 card finished tied for 9 th on -14 along with Tim Clark (RSA) and Robert Dinwiddie (England). The only New Zealander in the field was Mark Brown (NZL) and he played very well. He scored rounds of 68 69 69 66 :272 – 10 and finished tied for 23rd and earned € 10,350. And he is positioned in 28th place on the 2011 Race to Dubai Money list after 2 events. He has earned €13,200 from his first 2 events.

The next event on the European Tour starts in the New Year on the Thursday the 6th January. It is the African Open played at the East London Golf Club, East London, Eastern Cape, South Africa. It should produce another high quality field with players looking to get there seasons off to a fast start. So until then I wish you all a safe Christmas and a Very Happy New Year. And trust you will enjoy reading my Golf Blogs in the New Year.

Source: pga.org.au, asiantour.com, europeantour.com