With nothing happening on the local scene this week, and Ryan Fox sitting out this week, most of the action is in Asia with Danny Lee, Lydia Ko, Michael Hendry, Gareth Paddison, Josh Geary and Mathew Perry all engaged.  Slightly closer to home, the Nexus Risk TSA Group WA Open takes place in Perth with five New Zealand professionals playing.


Once again, there’s an opportunity to watch live PGA Tour and LPGA tour golf from mid-afternoon through the weekend, until both tournaments reach their respective climaxes on Sunday evening our time.


PGA Tour


The Tour is in Jeju Island, Korea this week for the CJ Cup at Nine Bridges.  This is another 78 player, no cut, event and Danny Lee is by no means the only Lee in the field, so make sure you follow the right one!  Nine Bridges opened in 2001, and is rated the 1# course in Korea, and 41# on Golf magazine’s world ranking list.


Chi Chi Rodriguez called it the “Taj Mahal of Golf”, because every hole looked like a picture postcard.  Should provide great viewing - coverage is on Sky Sport 54 from 3.00pm Thursday.


LPGA Tour


This week’s tournament is the interestingly named Swinging Skirts LPGA Taiwan Championship, played at the Miramar Resort & Country Club in Taipei.  Lydia Ko won this tournament early on in her professional career, and she plays in Round 1 with Carlota Ciganda of Spain, and Ha Na Jang of Korea.


Coverage is on Sky’s pop-up channel 3 from 4.00pm Thursday.


Asian Tour


Gareth Paddison has a sponsor’s invite for the Macau Open, which also features the colourful Daniel Chopra, who played in the 2015 NZ PGA Championship, as well as Scott Hend and the exciting Thai player Jazz Janewattananond.


Other News


The PGA Tour of Australasia resumes again with the Nexus Risk TSA Group WA Open, being played at the prestigious Royal Perth Golf Club.  Brad Shilton, Mark Brown, Luke Toomey, Michael Long and Ackzel Donaldson will tee it up here.  Brown and Shilton bring some solid Charles Tour form to the event, and must be some sort of a chance this week.


Michael Hendry continues on the Japan Tour in the Bridgestone Open at Sodegaura Country Club in Chiba Prefecture.  This is one of the top events on the Tour, with prize money of nearly $NZ 2.0 million on offer.


On the China Tour, Josh Geary and Mathew Perry are both in the Foshan Open, a $NZ 700 event co-sanctioned with the European Challenge Tour.


As mentioned earlier, Ryan Fox is not playing in the Andalucia Valderrama Masters in Spain this week, but keep an eye out for him next week when he and Michael Hendry take on the WGC-HSBC Champions in Shanghai, China.