Fox following in famous footsteps
Ryan Fox’s 2016 season on the European Challenge Tour is now
over, and he can be well satisfied with the results. He finished 6th on -16 in the concluding event, the NBO Golf
Classic Grand Final in Muscat, Oman.
After a 3rd round 64, Ryan had a realistic chance of not only
taking out the tournament, but also the whole Challenge Tour series. A final round 71 was however not good enough,
with German golfer Bernd Ritthammer finishing the victor on -21.
Ryan’s final ranking on the Tour was 4th, with
season’s earnings of € 160,768. He
played only 13 events, with all three players ranked above him playing more
than 20 each. Also graduating in 9th
position was Dylan Frittelli of South Africa, who finished 7th at
the NZ PGA Championship at Remuera earlier in the year.
Ryan now follows in the footsteps of Henrik Stenson, Jamie
Donaldson, Martin Kaymer, Brooks Koepka, Eduardo Molinari, Louis Oosthuizen,
Ian Poulter, Justin Rose, Thomas Bjorn and Branden Grace, who all emerged from
the Challenge Tour to go on to the main European Tour and beyond. All the best for 2017 Ryan – we are sure you
will acquit yourself well! And in the
meantime, we have the World Cup of Golf at Kingston Heath in two weeks’ time to
look forward to, when Ryan will partner Danny Lee. The foursomes/four ball format should be
ideal for these two birdie machines.
European Q School
Meanwhile, Mathew Perry is going through the Q School route
in his quest for a European Tour Card, and he is progressing well in his Stage
2 qualifier (one of four similar tournaments) at the Panoramica Golf and Sport
Resort in Castellon, Spain. With one
round to go, Mathew is T4 on -10 after rounds of 69, 69 & 68. The top 20 from his tournament will progress
to the 3rd and final stage in Spain in early December, and so
barring a total calamity Mathew should be well placed to advance to the final
challenge, which will see around 80 players who have qualified from Stage 1 and
Stage 2, plus a similar number of current European Tour players who have lost
their cards this year, playing a six round tournament (with a cut), for 25 Tour
cards.
Turkish Airlines Open
Thorburn Olesen of Denmark (who won the Perth International
at Lake Karrinyup two years ago) set up his victory in the Turkish Airlines
Open with a 2nd round course record of 62, cruising through to
finish well clear on -20, which saw him banking more than € 1.0 million, and
moving to 9# on the Race to Dubai standings.
Japan Tour
Another top 20 finish by Michael Hendry here in the Heiwa
PGM Championship in Tokyo. Michael
finished T15 on even par, banking another $40,000 in the process. He now lies 9th on the Tour
standings, with total official earnings of close to $NZ 700,000 this year.
LPGA Tour
Shanshan Feng recorded back to back victories with her win
in the Toto Japan Classic in Tokyo, with Lydia Ko well back with a T43 result
on -2. Her arch rival for the race for
top honours on the LPGA Tour this year, Ariya Jutanugarn, faded somewhat with a
74 in her last round, but increased her lead slightly over Lydia in the Race to
the CME Globe. It still leaves
everything up for grabs in the final tournament in Florida next week.
PGA Tour
Veteran Australian Rod Pampling, who has just returned to
the main Tour after two years in Web.Com ranks, scored a stunning victory in
the Shriners Hospital Open in Las Vegas.
After starting with a 60, Pampling fell off the top of the leaderboard
in Round 3, only to storm back with a closing 65 for a two shot victory over
USA Ryder Cup player Brooks Koepka. It
was the first win for 8 years for the 47 year old Pampling, who now has a full
exemption on the Tour until he is 50, at which time he will be eligible for the
Champion’s Tour.
Neither Danny Lee nor Steven Alker were firing this week,
with both missing the cut.
Ladies European Tour
Cathryn Bristow made a good start in the latest event, the
Fatima Bint Mubarak Ladies Open in Abu Dhabi, with an opening round of 69, but
couldn’t maintain that progress, finishing T65 on +5. This Tour now moves to India, Morocco and
Qatar over the next three weeks, which will certainly create some challenges on
and off the course for the players…
Champions Tour
Scott McCarron won the Dominion Charity Classic on the 1st
hole of a playoff with Tom Byrum. USA
players totally dominated this tournament, with Bernhard Langer (T6) the only
non-American to make the top 15. The
final 36 players to contest the Charles Schwab Cup Championship this week will
comprise 28 USA players, 7 Europeans and South African Davis Frost.
Langer still maintains a healthy lead in the overall
standings.