16 Sep 2024 | Professional golf |
Aussies on Tour: Bennett wins, Green second again
by Tony Webeck
There was playoff pleasure and pain as Kelsey Bennett broke through on the LET Access Series but Richard Green was denied yet again on the PGA TOUR Champions.
Forced to endure the worst of the conditions that resulted in the Hauts de France Pas de Calais Golf Open being reduced to a 36-hole tournament, Bennett drained a 35-foot birdie putt at the first extra hole to record her first international professional win.
The champion at The Athena in February, Bennett has now moved up to ninth in the LET Access Series Order of Merit with the top six to earn promotion to the Ladies European Tour in 2025.
“This win means a lot,” said Bennett.
“I missed the cut at the Rose Ladies Open last week and I was wanting the week off.
“I spoke to my team and they pushed me to come and play this week because a win can give you so many points on the leaderboard.
“So now I’ve done it, it feels really good.”
Green is still chasing that winning feeling in the US after yet another heartbreaker at the Sanford International in South Dakota.
Fellow Aussie Michael Wright led the field into the final round yet it would once again be Green who was fighting it out late on the final day.
Tied for the lead with Steve Stricker shortly after the turn, Green dropped shots at both 13 and 14 to fall two shots back.
Stricker’s bogey on 18 gave Green a glimmer of hope, the Victorian piloting home his birdie putt from outside 20 feet to force extra holes.
He narrowly missed what would have been a winning birdie putt at the first extra hole and lipped out for birdie at the third, Stricker taking the title for a third straight year with birdie at the fourth playoff hole.
A three-time winner on the Legends Tour in Europe, it is Green’s fourth runner-up finish this season which includes three top-three finishes in major championships.
He remains fourth on the Schwab Cup standings with total prize money this year of $US1.66 million.
Lucas Herbert’s tie for sixth was the pick of the Aussies at LIV Golf’s final individual tournament of the year in Chicago while Cassie Porter dropped to 10th in the Race For The Card despite finishing tied ninth at the Epson Tour’s Tuscaloosa Toyota Classic.
Results
PGA TOUR Procore Championship Silverado Resort (North Cse), Napa, California T32 Min Woo Lee 68-69-73-71—281 T50 Aaron Baddeley 68-73-72-72—285 MC Jeffrey Guan 69-75—144 MC Tim Wilkinson (NZ) 76-74—150
DP World Tour Amgen Irish Open Royal County Down GC, Co Down, Northern Ireland 1 Rasmus Hojgaard 71-68-71-65—275 €920,329.68 T52 Jason Scrivener 74-69-77-70—290 €19,272.79 66 Sam Jones (NZ) 71-73-79-72—295 €12,451.52 MC Ryan Fox (NZ) 73-72—145 MC Daniel Hillier (NZ) 75-70—145 MC David Micheluzzi 79-72—151
LIV Golf LIV Golf Chicago Bolingbrook Golf Club, Bolingbrook, Illinois 1 Jon Rahm 69-64-66—199 $US4 million T6 Lucas Herbert 68-69-68—205 $534,500 T23 Matt Jones 71-72-67—210 $190,715 T30 Danny Lee (NZ) 73-68-70—211 $162,500 T34 Marc Leishman 74-70-68—212 $144,000 52 Cameron Smith 73-73-74—220 $50,000
Japan Golf Tour ANA Open Golf Tournament Sapporo Golf Club (Watatsu Cse), Hokkaido 1 Akira Iwasaki 66-67-69-66—268 ¥30m T23 Brad Kennedy 69-71-70-68—278 ¥1.33m MC Anthony Quayle 75-68—143 MC Brendan Jones 72-72—144
Korean PGA Tour Golf Zone Doray Open Golf Zone County Seonsan 1 Ham Jeong-woo 65-65-67-66—263 T14 Sungjin Yeo (NZ) 64-70-65-69—268 T40 Kevin Chun (NZ) 67-68-71-67—273 MC Wonjoon Lee 71-68—139 MC Junseok Lee 68-72—140 MC Changgi Lee 74-71—145
Korn Ferry Tour Simmons Bank Open for the Snedeker Foundation Vanderbilt Legends Club (North Cse), Franklin, Tennessee 1 Paul Peterson 64-63-67-66—260 $US270,000 T55 Rhein Gibson 70-66-70-69—275 $6,270 MC Brett Drewitt 69-69—138 MC Karl Vilips 74-68—142
Epson Tour Tuscaloosa Toyota Classic Ol’ Colony Golf Complex, Tuscaloosa, Alabama 1 Ingrid Lindblad 67-66-67—200 $US35,625 T9 Cassie Porter 71-66-70—207 $5,070 T37 Fiona Xu (NZ) 74-69-69—212 $1,589 T63 Maddison Hinson-Tolchard 73-70-75—218 $798
Challenge Tour Open de Portugal at Royal Óbidos Royal Óbidos Spa & Golf Resort, Vau Óbidos, Portugal 1 Matt Oshrine 70-65-69-69—273 €43,200 T25 Hayden Hopewell 68-70-69-73—280 €2,295
LET Access Series Hauts de France Pas de Calais Golf Open Golf Saint Omer, Lumbres, France Event reduced to 36 holes due to rain 1 Kelsey Bennett 67-73—140 €6,400 Won at the first hole of sudden-death playoff T45 Wenyung Keh (NZ) 73-77—150
PGA TOUR Champions Sanford International Minnehaha Country Club, Sioux Falls, South Dakota 1 Steve Stricker 67-68-67—202 $US315,000 Won on fourth hole of sudden-death playoff 2 Richard Green 68-65-69—202 $184,800 T5 Steven Alker (NZ) 70-67-67—204 $92,400 T5 Michael Wright 67-65-72—204 $92,400 T13 Stuart Appleby 70-67-70—207 $40,950 T15 John Senden 73-68-67—208 $33,642 T15 Greg Chalmers 70-68-70—208 $33,642 T15 Steve Allan 67-70-71—208 $33,642 T37 Rod Pampling 69-71-73—213 $11,130 T42 Mathew Goggin 70-71-73—214 $8,610 T68 Jason Norris 78-71-71—220 $1,848 76 David Bransdon 75-78-72—225 $1,218 WD Mark Hensby 71
Legends Tour European Legends Cup Golf Almerimar, Andalucia, Spain 1 Adilson Da Silva 71-68-68—207 Won at the first hole of sudden-death playoff T8 Scott Hend 69-73-69—211 T11 Michael Campbell (NZ) 71-73-68—212 T28 Michael Long (NZ) 76-73-67—216
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