After 18 birdies in his first two rounds, the commentators were suggesting he may have exhausted his quota, but not only did Matsuyama pour in a further 11 over the weekend, he also went bogey free over his last 45 holes, leaving the rest of a very high quality field in his wake. Even a visit to the water on the last hole didn’t stop his progress, as he got up and down for par after a penalty drop.
The Race to Dubai on the European Tour looks to be down to a three horse race with three tournaments left. Stenson is now ahead of Danny Willett, with Rory McIlroy in third place.
PGA Tour
http://www.pgatour.com/video/2016/10/30/steven-alker-fires-an-ace-at-sanderson-farms.html
Steven Alker could not have made a better start to the Sanderson Farms Championship in Jackson, Mississippi, birdieing the first four holes, and then leading the tournament at -6 part way through his round. Then he started his final round with a hole in one on the 212 yard 10th hole (see above). However, despite these heroics Steven finished mid field, T36 on -6. In these tournaments you have to have four good rounds to compete, as exemplified by winner Cody Gribble’s -20 result.
Also prominent was Hiroshi Iwata of Japan, who played here in the 2015 NZ Open. He finished T5 on -15.
Tim Wilkinson missed the cut after going +5 in the first two rounds.
LPGA Tour
Lydia Ko showed promising signs of getting back to her early 2016 form in the Sime Darby LPGA in Kuala Lumpur, climbing as high as 2nd midway through the final round. Unfortunately a late bogey/double bogey patch derailed her challenge, just as it had in the 2nd round when she was cruising at -5 for the day. In the end she finished T12 on -8, well behind winner Shanshan Feng on -17, but well ahead of Ariya Jutanugarn who had a disappointing T43 result.
Lydia’s 2016 earnings are now slightly ahead of Ariya, but she is 50 points behind in the Race to the CME Globe with three tournaments still to go. The next two are in Japan and Mexico, before the season ending CME Group Tour Championship in Naples, Florida. That will be the ultimate decider of who takes home the $US 1.0 million bonus on offer.
European Challenge Tour
Once again, a 3rd round of even par on moving day stalled Ryan Fox, who finished T16 on -12 in the Ras Al Khaimah 2016 Golf Challenge. He still holds 3rd place overall in the Challenge Tour Series, and of course has already secured his 2017 European Tour Card.
Ryan could win the series, and a bonus of € 30,000, if he wins the final event: the NBO Golf Classic Grand Final at the Al Mouj GC in Muscat, Oman, and the current leader Jordan Smith finishes worse than 14th. This event starts on Wednesday evening our time.
Japan Q School
More good news here with both Brad Shilton and Daniel Pearce getting through the latest stage to qualify for the final tournament in December. Both finished right on the number, with Brad having to birdie the last two holes to get in, shooting 72,68,69 and 70 for a total of 279. Pearce’s rounds were 70,70,72 and 67, saving the best for last.
Well done guys in this test of endurance, and best of luck in December!
Champions Tour
Not such good news for Grant Waite, whose 2016 season ended with a T60 result on +7 in the Powershares QQQ Championship in California. Tom Pernice Jr took out the tournament on -13, a single shot ahead of Colin Montgomerie.
Charles Schwab Cup series leader Bernhard Langer had to withdraw before the event with a knee injury, but still retains a healthy lead over his nearest rivals and is likely to be back in action again this week along with the rest of the Top 54 ranked seniors on the Tour.