NEWS

There’s nothing on the local PGA NZ circuit until the Hawke’s Bay swing starts next month.  Gareth Paddison is currently leading the Mondiale NZ PGA Order of Merit, and you will find the current Top 10 placings below, together with the latest Official World Golf Rankings for New Zealand players.

Elsewhere, Ryan Fox and Michael Hendry are both in action in the Volvo China Open, with extensive live coverage on SS 53, Lydia Ko plays in the Volunteers of America Texas Shootout, and our three PGA Tour players are all in New Orleans for the Zurich Classic, which this year is being played in a World Cup style format with mixed international teams.

Rankings after last week’s Carrus Open are as follows:

1. Gareth Paddison

2. Mark Brown

3. Harry Bateman

4. Kieran Muir

5. Jared Pender

6. Josh Geary

7. Hayden Beard

8. Tae Koh

9. Shaun Jones

10. Victor Janin

The top 10 New Zealand Players and their rankings as of this week are:

111# Danny Lee

128# Michael Hendry

155# Ryan Fox

325# Tim Wilkinson

430# Daniel Pearce

447# Ben Campbell

594# Steven Alker

621# Josh Geary

816# Michael Long

826# Gareth Paddison

This is already underway at the Topwin Golf & Country Club in Beijing.  The early leader is Alexander Levy with a 9 under opening round of 63.  Michael Hendry is some way behind with an even par 72;  Ryan Fox has an afternoon tee time.

Coverage is on SS 53 from 2.30pm today and tomorrow, and 4.30pm at the weekend.  Here’s hoping we see plenty of Ryan and Michael in the live feed!

This is a change from your standard four round PGA event: this year it is a teams events with Rounds 1 & 3 under the foursomes format, and Rounds 2 & 4 four ball best ball.

The teams are a mixture of international and USA combinations;  Danny Lee plays with David Lingmerth (Sweden); Tim Wilkinson with Michael Thompson (USA), and Steven Alker with Seamus Power (Ireland).  Should be interesting to see how they go against some of the bigger name combinations, one of which is Jason Day & Rickie Fowler.

Lydia Ko is playing with Charley Hull and Stacey Lewis in the latest event at the Las Colinas Country Club in Irving, Texas, with caddie number 10 alongside…

Meanwhile Liv Cheng has another Symetra Tour start in the Symetra Classic at the Atlanta National Golf Club (not Augusta National!).  Last week she finished T33 in the Sara Bay Classic, to lie 6^th overall in the Volvik Race for the Card rankings.  The top 10 finishers at the end of the season will gain a full 2018 LPGA card.