Grab the remote, or maybe buy another TV: there are three
live events this weekend, all screening at more or less the same time. First up is the Asia-Pacific Amateur
Championship at Royal Wellington, where 10 New Zealand amateurs will be vying
for the chance to get a ticket to the 2018 Masters and Open Championship. Michael Hendry and Ryan Fox get their chance
against the best of the best in the WGC HSBC Champions in Shanghai, and Lydia
Ko will be looking to go one better than last week in the Sime Darby LPGA
Malaysia in Kuala Lumpur.
Gareth Paddison and Campbell Rawson are in the Indonesia
Open in Jakarta, and there’s also a string of New Zealanders playing in the
Isuzu Queensland Open in Brisbane.
Finally, congratulations to NZ PGA Members Frank Nobilo and
Greg Turner on their induction into the New Zealand Golf Hall of Fame. They join a very exclusive group by becoming
the 7th and 8th inductees.
WGC-HSBC Champions
Ryan Fox and Michael Hendry are very much in Town Hall
company, as they take on the likes of Dustin Johnston, defending champion
Hideki Matsuyama, Justin Rose, Matt Kuchar, Jason Day, Henrik Stenson, Phil
Mickelson, Tyrrell Hatton, 2017 US Open Champion Brooks Koepka and many
others….
Michael Hendry has played here twice before: in 2013 when he
finished T50 on -2, a long way behind runaway winner Dustin Johnston, and in
2014 under very testing conditions he was T64 on +12. However, it will be Ryan’s debut in this four
round, no cut event. It’s a greta chance
for both our guys to start stuffing the Christmas stocking.
The Sheshen International GC has an exciting finish
featuring the 260 metre driveable 16th, the par 3 17th
where danger always lurks, and the reachable 480 metre par 5 18th,
so much can change over the last few holes.
Ryan Fox tees off with Scott Hend and Patrick Cantley;
Hendry is drawn with Yanwei Lu and Mike Lorenzo-Vera.
Coverage is on SS 52 from 3.00pm today.
Asia Pacific Amateur
Championship
This is an excellent chance to see the region’s leading
amateurs – a number of whom are sure to go on to worthwhile careers in the
professional ranks – in action on Greg Turner’s rebuild of Royal
Wellington. Leading the NZ contingent is
Nick Voke, who will go on to the USA in a few days’ time to play in Stage 2
Web.Com Q-School. If he gets through
that he will surely turn professional.
Competition for the chance to go to Augusta and Carnoustie
next year will be hot, with the likes of Australian Travis Smyth (who recently
won the Northern Territory PGA Championship), and many talented players from
Japan, Korea and China.
Our boys will probably be hoping for the Wellington “breeze”
to be a factor, given their greater familiarity with the conditions. Today may see a few showers and a wind
change, but conditions look relatively benign on Friday and Saturday, with
northerlies forecast to pick up on Sunday, which could enhance what is sure to
be an exciting finish.
Frank Nobilo is part of the commentary team, and live
coverage is on SS53 from 4.00pm today.
Isuzu Queensland Open
This tournament has moved in recent years from the testing
Brookwater layout to the Brisbane Golf Club.
There are six New Zealanders in the field: Michael Long, Harry Bateman,
Kieran Muir, Brad Shilton, Mark Brown and Josh Munn. Brown has the best recent form of these, and
is currently the highest ranked (26th), but the others have plenty
of incentive to take their opportunity at possible starts in the Australian
Open and PGA Championship in a few weeks time.
You can follow the action at www.pga.org.au
LPGA
The ladies get their chance to test their skills on the same
layout used by the PGA Tour two weeks ago at TPC Kuala Lumpur, but not from the
same tees obviously! Lydia Ko will be
looking to get some ruboff from Danny Lee’s birdie and eagle harvest in that
tournament, as she seeks to record her first victory of 2017.
She plays the first round with NZ Open winner Brooke
Henderson (Canada), and In Gee Chun (Korea), bith of whom are currently ahead
of Lydia in the Race to the CME Globe.
Coverage is on SS 54 from 4.00pm today.
Asian Tour
Gareth Paddison gets another chance in the Indonesian Open
at the Pondok Indah GC in Jakarta, to follow in the footsteps of Michael
Hendry, whose 2010 victory in the same event jet-propelled his career. He will be joined by fellow New Zealander
Campbell Rawson.
Also in the field is Daniel Chopra, who may be a chance as
this is the course on which he played much of his golf back in his junior
days. It would certainly create
headlines if the colourful Swede could get back in the winner’s circle –
hopefully not at the expense of one of our guys, though!
Live scoring is available at www.asiantour.com