Another Strong Week for NZ Golfers
New Zealand
professionals were prominent around the world last weekend. Kieran Muir followed up his strong
performance in the Isuzu Queensland Open with victory in the Craig’s Investment
Partners Wanganui Pro-Am. Lydia Ko had
another Top 5 result on the LPGA Tour, continuing her solid form of recent
weeks, Michael Hendry showed his class with a Top 10 finish in the Heiwa PGM
Championship, and Ryan Fox finished mid
field in the Turkish Airlines Open.
On the PGA
Tour of China, Fraser Wilkin had his best result to date with a T4 finish in
the Clearwater Bay Classic, with Campbell Rawson and Josh Munn also prominent
in this event.
It’s an
important week ahead for Brad Shilton, Gareth Paddison, Harry Bateman and Tae
Koh, as they head to Japan for Stage 3 Japan Tour Q-School, starting tomorrow
at Sunny Field GC in Ibaraki.
Craig’s Investment Partners
Wanganui Pro-Am
An opening
round of 66 coupled with a 72 on day two, when the wind got up and the greens
became firm, was enough to get Kieran Muir home by a single shot from Trevor Marshall
and Lachie McDonald, who both finished on 139.
Mark Brown
(74/66) and Harry Bateman (71/69) tied 4th on even par 140. The result consolidates Bateman’s lead in the
Mondiale NZ PGA Order of Merit race, with Brown lying 2nd. Muir’s win gets him up to 4th
position, so all of these golfers are virtually assured of starts in the 2018
NZ PGA Championship, and the NZ Open.
European Tour
Justin Rose
is the man of the moment right now, with back to back wins in Shanghai and now
Turkey. He took out the Turkish Airlines
Open on -18, by a single shot from Nicolas Colsaerts (Belgium), and Dylan
Frittelli (South Africa). This was a
great result for Frittelli and easily his best payday to date, walking away
with around $NZ 800k for the week.
Ryan Fox had
his usual sprinkling of bogeys, but not as many birdies as normal, eventually
finishing T48 on -2. It was still a good
week for Ryan, pocketing around $NZ 40k to take his 2017 European Tour earnings
to over $NZ 1.5 million. He now lies 31#
in the Race to Dubai rankings.
LPGA Tour
The three
round Toto Japan Classic was essentially a sprint event, and Shanshan Feng’s 2nd
round 63 made it very hard for the chasing pack. However, when Lydia Ko got to -13 after 12
holes in the final round – three shots behind Feng – there was certainly a
glimmer of hope. Unfortunately no more
birdies were forthcoming for Lydia, and a last hole bogey after she drove into
the trees dropped her down to T5 on -12, seven shots behind Shanshan Feng’s
winning total of -19.
Lydia now
has two more opportunities (if she plays in China this week) to record her
first victory for 2017, and if she can continue in current vein, she must be a
good chance to do that.
Japan Tour
Michael
Hendry was again not far off winning in Japan in the Heiwa PGM Championship at
the PGM Golf Resort in Okinawa. He hit a
solid 16 greens in his final round for a closing 68, only four shots behind
winner Chan Kim (Korea), but his putting stats suggest he is not quite at his
best in that area, averaging around 31 per round through the tournament.
Conditions
in Round 3 were especially tough, with Michael shooting 76, which was by no
means the worst score. Runner-up
Katsumata Miyamoto blew out from a 2nd round 66 to a 3rd
round 79, but stormed back with a closing 63 to rocket back up the leaderboard.
Michael’s
week was worth around $NZ 70k; he now lies 17# in official earnings on the Tour
at $NZ 500k.
Clearwater Bay Classic
Fraser
Wilkin took full advantage of his Monday qualifying starting slot to record his
best finish to date on the China Tour, a T4 on -3. He will be particularly pleased with his four
under back nine, including three birdies in the last four holes.
Campbell
Rawson and Josh Munn both got off to good starts with rounds of 65 & 67
respectively, but couldn’t maintain the pace: Rawson finished T15 on +4, and
Munn T20 on +5.
The winner
of this new event on the Tour was James Marchesani of Australia, who pulled off
his first professional victory by nailing a six foot birdie putt on the final
green for a -7 tally.