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James Nitties (Australia) with the Victorian PGA Trophy |
Matt Millar (Australia) topped the qualifying with a 36 hole score of -10, it added to his great week as his wife gave birth to their 2nd child Charlotte, a baby girl only the Wednesday before. The 140th Open Championship in July will be his 1st ever major championship appearance. The 2nd player to qualify was Kurt Barnes (Australia); he finished at -9 after 36 holes and gets another shot at the Open Championship having played in it last year, after qualifying at this same tournament.
The final place went to Rick Kulacz (Australia), but he had to fight for it. After he and Stephen Leaney (Australia) both finished 36 holes on -8. They had a sudden death playoff. They both parred the 1st playoff hole, but after Rick Kulacz (Australia) parred the 2nd playoff hole and when Stephen Leaney (Australia) missed his par putt, it meant Rich Kulacz (Australia) had secured a start at his 1st major championship. So it will be interesting to see how these 3 players fear at the 140th Open Championship in England, mid July.
Now to the Australasian PGA Tour which staged Cellarbrations Victorian PGA Championship proudly supported by Frankston City and was played at the Sandhurst Golf Club (North Course) in Victoria. The Tournament was affected by the heavy rains that had been causing bad flooding in the state of Victoria. This meant the tournament had to be reduced to 54 holes instead of 72 holes as usual. The tournament came down to two players in the final round. They were James Nitties (Australia) and Peter O’Malley (Australia) who were in the final pairing.
But James Nitties (Australia) birdied 16th and 17th holes to score a final round 69-3 and finish at -18 on 198 after 54 holes and win by 1 shot over Peter O’Malley (Australia). The win will give James Nitties (Australia) a lot of confidence heading back to try and Monday qualify for USPGA Tour, as he lost his USPGA Tour playing status in 2010. Peter O’Malley (Australia) can’t be too disappointed with 2nd, as he struck the ball near perfect all week. And to finish at -17 after 54 holes is a fine effort for him.
In 3rd place was Andrew Buckle (Australia) at -13, 5shots back, and a further shot back was Leigh McKechnie (Australia) in 4th at -12. Bronsan La’Cassie (Australia) was tied for 7th at -10 after having the equal best final round of 66-6. Best New Zealander was Mathew Holten (New Zealand) who tied for 12th on -9 after rounds of 70-2, 69-3 & 68-4:207-9. Also Marcus Cain (Australia) who I caddied for in the 1995 NZ Open at the Grange GC in Auckland, finished tied of 12th. So it shows after 16 years he is still playing good golf.
Of the other New Zealanders that made the cut, Michael Hendry (New Zealand) was next best on -8, tied for 15th. This could be a really big year for him as he now has full status on the Nationwide Tour in USA. Brad Shilton (New Zealand) was also tied for 15th at -8. And he had a brilliant 2nd round 65-7. Gareth Paddison (New Zealand) had a poor tournament by his standards. He was tied 45th at -3. Nick Gillespie (New Zealand) who only recently got his card at the qualifying school last year in December, had a respectable finish of tied 50th at -2 and made a pay cheque.
The next event on the Australasian Tour is the Surf Coast Knock that is played at the The Sands Torquay GC in Victoria. It is a different tournament because it combines the two forms of the game, stroke play and match play at different times in the tournament of course. It starts on Thursday (20th January). I report on the results next week.
Now to the European Tour which for the 4th straight week was in South Africa. It was the 4th leg of the South African swing which started before Xmas. The Joburg Open was played at the Royal Johannesburg and Kensington Golf Club’s, Johannesburg, South Africa. There was a 3way tie for the lead after 54 holes between Charl Schwartzel (RSA), Garth Mulroy (RSA) and Thomas Aiken (RSA). They were all on -14. Charl Schwartzel (RSA) who was the defending Champion from 2010, shot a final round of 67-4 and had a 72 hole score of 265-19 to win by 4 shots. His 2nd round 61 really set up the win. But his final round 67-4 was very good as well. Charl Schwartzel (RSA) won € 206,050 for his win and now moves to number 1 on the Race to Dubai money list with €374,850 from the 4events he has played.
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Charl Schwartzel (RSA) with the Joburg Open Trophy |
Thomas Aiken (RSA) finished 1 further shot back in 3rd on -14 after he shot 72 even in the final round. 4th was Jamie Elson (England) on -13. He had his best finish on the European Tour in his short career. Best of the Australian players was Daniel Gaunt (Australia) on -6 tied for 20th. There were no New Zealand players competing this week.
This coming week the European Tour heads to the Middle East for the start of the desert swing. It has 4 tournaments over there with the 1st starting on Thursday. It is the Abu Dhabi HSBC Golf Championship which is being played at the Abu Dhabi Golf Club, Abu Dhabi, United Arab Emirates. And with $US 2,700, 000 up for grabs. Martin Kaymer (Germany) will be out to defend the title he won last year, but he will have stiff competition with the likes of Phil Mickelson (USA), Graeme McDowell (NIR) and Louis Oosthuizen (RSA) all playing as well as many of Europe’s top players looking to get there seasons off to a flying start. I will report back who took the trophy home next week.
So finally to the USPGA Tour and the 2nd event of the FedEx Cup season. It was the Sony Open in Hawaii which was played at the Waialae CC, Honolulu, Hawaii. It has been its home for many years, and always produces a great tournament finish come Sunday afternoon. With US $5,500,000 prize money up for grabs; there was a lot to play for and a lot Nationwide and Qualifying School Graduates looking to get there seasons of to a flying start. The 1st round was postponed to Friday because the Golf Course was unplayable due to the 4 inches of rain that fell in the days leading up to the tournament. This meant that tournament organisers had to reschedule the tournament for the 1st round on Friday, 2nd round on Saturday, and then cut to the nearest 50 players to play the final 36 holes on Sunday. With the remaining players in the top 70 and ties still getting a pay Cheque.
Well Mark Wilson (USA) feared the best over final 36 holes. He fired a 3rd round of 65-5 and backed it up with a 67-3 in the afternoon final round to finish the 72 holes at -16, and won by 2shots. It was his 3rd win on the US PGA Tour having won the Honda Classic in a playoff back in 2007, and in 2009 won the Mayakoba Golf Classic at Riviera Maya-Cancun. He didn’t make a bogey in the final 36 holes. And when he missed the 71st green with his tee shot and only managed to get his bunker shot out to 12feet from the hole, he faced his toughest putt of the day. But he calmly rolled it in for a great par. And on the 72nd hole he landed his 2nd shot 10 metres from the green. But hit a brilliant chip to 7feet and rolled his birdie putt in for the win. That was after Steve Marino (USA) had hit a brilliant 2nd shot from the ball way above his feet on the face of the bunker on the left hand side of the fairway. He hit his fairway metal to 40feet away from the pin, and was on the green for 2shots, putting for his eagle 3 on the par 5 18th hole. He was -13 coming in to the final hole and needed the eagle to draw level with Mark Wilson (USA), But when it just slide by, it meant Mark Wilson (USA) could two putt and still win his 1st Sony Open in Hawaii. And as I mentioned earlier that is just what he did.
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Mark Wilson (USA) with the Sony Open in Hawaii Trophy |
The big surprise for me in the final round was how Stuart Appleby (Australia) played. After being at -11 after 54 holes he fired a poor final round of 72+2 and finished back in tied 13th place at -9. But he still finished low Australian player. The USPGA Tour now heads back to mainland USA for the Bob Hope Classic which starts on Wednesday (19th January). It is played at 4 different courses over 90 holes. The courses are PGA West (Palmer Course), La Quinta, California; PGA West (Nicklaus Course), La Quinta, California; La Quinta CC, La Quinta, California and Silver Rock, La Quinta, California.
It is the only 90 hole tournament on the US PGA Tour with the Professionals playing with 3 different Amateurs for the 1st 4 days. Then the top 70 Professionals and ties play the final round at the PGA West (Palmer Course), to decide the Champion. Last year it was forced into a Monday finish, because of bad weather early on in the tournament. Bill Haas (USA) will be looking to defend his 2010 title. With US$ 5, 000, 000 up for the prize money it is sure to attract some of the big name players. The winning score is usually in the high 20’s to early 30’s under par. I wouldn’t be surprised to even see the 1st round of 59 on tour scored for 2011. When David Duval (USA) won this tournament in 1999 he scored 59-13 in the final round to win by 1shot. I will report back who won next week. So until then have fun and keep getting low scores.
Source: Pgatour.com, europeantour.com & pga.org.au
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