Michael Hendry completed another outstanding week on the
Japan Tour with a T3 finish in the Taiheiyo Masters, one of the most
prestigious tournaments on the circuit.
Also in Japan, Gareth Paddison and Harry Bateman have made it through to
Final Stage qualifying in December, with Brad Shilton narrowly missing out.
Ryan Fox had a tough week in South Africa, finishing well
back in the Nedbank Challenge at Sun City.
Josh Geary is in the top third of the field after two rounds
of the gruelling six round marathon that makes up final stage European Tour
qualifying in Spain.
Danny Lee and Tim Wilkinson both made the cut in the OHL
Classic at Mayakoba in Mexico, with Danny finishing strongly for a T25 finish,
but a long way behind the front runners for most of the tournament, Patton
Kizzire and Rickie Fowler.
Mitsui Sumitomo VISA
Taiheiyo Masters
Michael Hendry was in contention throughout this event, but
in the end couldn’t match the stunning 65 final round posted by Japan Tour OOM
leader Satoshi Kodaira, who pulled away for a -18 finish, three shots clear of runner up Yusaku
Miyazato, with Hendry and Seungsu Han a shot further back on -14.
Michael played solidly throughout, with only 5 bogeys all
week. He was particularly effective on
the par 5s, where he was 11 under over the four rounds.
The result was another big cheque: $NZ 145k, moving Hendry
to 15# on the Tour’s Money List, with 2017 earnings of $NZ 640k.
Meanwhile in Stage 3 Q School at Golf 5 Country Sunny Field
(!), Gareth Paddison (T4, -13) and Harry Bateman (T13, -9) got through
comfortably to Final Stage Japan Tour qualifying. Brad Shilton (T30, -5) was the unlucky one of
the New Zealand trio, finishing just one shot away from the qualifying mark.
Paddison and Bateman will be back in Japan for the 108 hole
finale in three weeks’ time.
European Tour
The Nedbank Challenge proved to be exactly that for most of
the field, with the Gary Player Country Club at Sun City living up to its
reputation as a tough venue for “South Africa’s Major”.
Local boy Branden Grace came through the pack with a final
round 66 to take out his 8th European Tour title on -11 by one shot
from 3rd round leader Scott Jamieson (Scotland), with Victor
Dubuisson (France) a further shot back in 3rd place.
Ryan Fox started with a couple of up and down rounds, and
was then progressing nicely up the leaderboard in Round 3, reaching the turn in
33. However, the wheels came off big
time with a horrendous 9 on the par 5 14th hole, followed by a
double on the next, to rack up a back nine of 44.
In the final round, Ryan birdied both holes, thus improving
by 8 shots from his Saturday effort!! It
all added up to a round of 72, a final tally of +6 for a T52 finish.
Final Stage European Q School is taking place at the Lumine
Golf Club in Spain – the name sounds similar to a well known dental franchise
here, and by the end of the week many of the players will feel like they have
been through a long and painful experience.
Josh Geary has opened up with two par rounds, and although that leaves
him 3 shots away from the current top 25, there is plenty of time to improve,
and he is still well in contention.
You can follow the scoring through the European Tour’s home
page: www.europeantour.com
PGA Tour
Danny Lee looks to be hellbent on breaking the PGA Tour’s record
for the most birdies in a season, coupled with the most bogeys (and
worse). His opening round of 70
contained 8 birdies, 3 bogeys and a triple, recalling his exploits in Malaysia
a few weeks ago.
Things calmed down somewhat from there, with Danny saving
his best for last with a 7 birdie 66 to move up 27 places to a T25 finish on -7.
By contrast, Tim Wilkinson played steadily, but a T55 (-2)
finish was his reward, a long way behind winner Patton Kizzire, who held off
Rickie Fowler to win by a shot on -19, with Korea’s Si Woo Kim 3rd
on -15.
Other News
Amateur Nick Voke missed out by 2 shots getting through to
final stage Web.Com qualifying, finishing T23 on -3 at TPC Craig Ranch in
McKinney, Texas.
Fraser Wilkin continued his solid form on the China Tour
with a T23 finish on +12 in the Jiangsu Open, with a final round 70 rescuing
his fortunes after an 80 and a 77. The
course was clearly playing super tough, with Callum Tarren’s (England) winning
score a comparatively high -3.
Finally, Peter Fowler – back in Australia after a lucrative
European campaign – finished tied with David Merriman in the Legends Tour’s
richest one day event – the David Mercer Seniors Classic at Killara GC. His 69 (3 under) won him just over $A 10k, a
nice day’s work. Martin Pettigrew was
also at Killara, and finished T6 on even par.