Great viewing on offer this weekend
If you are a Sky subscriber and have the stamina/capacity on
My Sky, you can watch four golf tournaments from today. All are on Channels 54, 55 and 56 (check the
guide for exact times and channels).
First up is the Australian Open, live on Channel 54 from 2.00pm.
Australian Open
This returns to Royal Sydney this year. In 2008 David Smail held a 3 shot lead going
into the final round, but couldn’t bring the title home. That would have been the first victory by a
New Zealander in this event, and we are still waiting for the great day….
This year our hopes seem to lie with Ryan Fox and Michael
Hendry, but we also have Gareth Paddison, Josh Geary, Ben Campbell, Harry
Bateman, Brad Shilton, Michael Long and David Klein in the field, as well as
amateur Daniel Hillier. They will be
facing a strong field including Jordan Spieth, Adam Scott, Geoff Ogilvy and
Jhonattan Vegas, to name a few.
The organisers have chosen to put Hendry and Fox in the same
group for the first two rounds. Both
will have a point to prove: Ryan edged Michael for the 2nd slot in
the NZ World Cup team, but Michael’s current World Ranking of 156# is two
places above Ryan. In addition, Michael
is lying 2nd on the PGA Tour of Australasia’s Order of Merit, so has
plenty to play for. Should be
fascinating!
CME Group Tour
Championship
This is where it all comes together in 2016 for the top LPGA
players. Can Lydia reverse her form
slump of recent weeks, and win the Race to the CME Globe for the 3rd
year in a row? She plays the opening
round at the Tiburon GC in Naples, Florida, alongside current leader Ariya
Jutanugarn, and World 3# Brook Henderson.
Hopefully Lydia will be boosted by the news that the 2017 NZ
Women’s Open will now be part of the LPGA Tour: go well Lydia, we are all with
you!
DP World Tour
Championship
Rory McIlroy has the chance to achieve a rare double in the
concluding event of the European Tour at the Jumeirah Estates in Dubai, and to
add the Race to Dubai Trophy to the FedEx Cup he won back in September.
However, he has first to get past Henrik Stenson and Danny
Willett, as well as keeping an eye on current hot players such as Alexander
Noren.
This tournament is live from 9.00pm, if you still have
control of the remote after watching five hours of the Australian Open!
PGA Tour
The last live TV event is the RSM Classic, in Sea Island
Georgia. Steven Alker and Tim Wilkinson
are both in the field, and need to do well here in this last regular Tour event
until January. It will be tougher to get
starts from there, particularly for Wilkinson who is one of the lower ranked
players on the Tour.
European Q School
Mathew Perry had a commendable 68 in his fourth and final
round of the European Q School in Spain, but finished five shots off the cut line
on +5. It’s been a gruelling few weeks
for Mathew, but the constant hard competitive golf under pressure can only
stand him in good stead for the future.
Well done Mathew, and best of luck for 2017!
Play
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