After a struggle to make the cut in the Manulife Classic on the LPGA Tour, Lydia Ko found another gear over the weekend to get within two shots of capturing another title, finishing T5 on -14, two shots behind debutant winner Caroline Masson of Germany. Right alongside Lydia was world 2# Ariya Jutanugarn of Thailand, as the two continue their duel at the top of the 2016 rankings.
They now have a week off to prepare for the final major of the year - the Evian Masters - with Lydia as defending champion.
PGA Tour
Danny Lee looked to be comfortably inside the cut line at the Deutsche Bank Championship, only to be derailed by three 2nd nine bogeys, which now takes him out of the FedEx Cup playoffs. He will be reflecting on a mixed year, with a better record in the majors than in 2015, but a poor finish to the season. The turning point may have been the washed out 2016 Greenbrier Classic, where Danny took out his first PGA Tour title last year, setting in train a great run of results right through to the end of the FedEx series. The next focus for Danny will be the World Cup of Golf at Kingston Heath in November.
With Paul Casey showing some late season form, leading the Deutsche Bank Championship by 3 shots heading into the final round, European Ryder Cup captain Darren Clarke might be wishing he had the chance to review his wild card selections. Meanwhile, Davis Love on the USA side, has a few headaches in sorting out his remaining four picks, which look by no means clear cut.
Champions Tour
Carlos Franco of Paraguay prevailed in the Shaw Charity Classic in Calgary, finishing on -18 in a strong field. Carlos used to have a reputation on the main Tour for not bothering with practicing or any form of warm up before playing. Now that he has passed 50, one wonders whether he can still get away with this, but whatever he is doing, it seems to be working. Grant Waite had an indifferent tournament to finish T68 on +3; as a result, his ranking drops to 70# leaving him right on the bubble for the Charles Schwab Cup playoffs.
Other results
Michael Hendry had another Top 20 finish in the Fujisankei Classic on the Japan Tour, which could have been even better without the 75 he shot on moving day. He still holds 4# ranking, with earnings for the year now over $NZ 600,000. David Smail missed the cut in the same event.
Joshua Munn turned in his best performance on the PGA China Tour, compiling four sub par rounds to finish T27 on -7 in the Yulongwan Yunnan Open. He will be encouraged by this as he moves into the crucial second half of the season. Daniel Pearce, Campbell Rawson and Matthew Perry all missed the cut in the same event.