By Tony Webeck

A maiden professional win eluded her but Robyn Choi’s hopes of a return to the LPGA Tour in 2023 have received a major boost with a runner-up finish at the Circling Raven Championship in Idaho.

A runner-up on the Epson Tour two years ago, Choi arrived at the final hole at Circling Raven Golf Club needing a birdie to tie American Jillian Hollis at 18-under par and force the tournament into extra holes.

Unfortunately for the 24-year-old Queenslander, she closed with a bogey to drop to outright second at 16-under.

Already boasting four top-10 finishes earlier in the season, Choi’s best result of the year moves her from 21st to 11th in the Race to the Card standings, the top-10 at season’s end to earn promotion to the LGPA Tour.

Despite finishing in a tie for fourth, Gabriela Ruffels (68) is projected to stay 14th on the points list while Grace Kim (T7, 70) looks set to move to fifth and almost guarantee herself an LPGA card with just five tournaments left in the season.

Stephanie Kyriacou’s tie for 17th was the best of the Australians at the LPGA Tour’s CP Women’s Open but it was a difficult week for the Aussie hopefuls contesting the Korn Ferry Tour Finals.

In the second of three events, veteran Aaron Baddeley was the only Australian to advance to the weekend at the Nationwide Children’s Hospital Championship.

Baddeley’s tie for 28th places him 30th in the finals standings where a further 25 PGA TOUR cards will be distributed, Min Woo Lee and Jason Scrivener both tied for 36th with one event left to play.

The PGA TOUR season concluded with Cameron Smith and Adam Scott finishing 20th and 25th respectively at the Tour Championship at East Lake and Rod Pampling’s tie for sixth was the best of the Aussies at the Champions Tour’s Ally Challenge in Michigan.

Results

Epson Tour Circling Raven Championship Circling Raven Golf Club, Worley, Idaho Winner Jillian Hollis 68-66-64—198 $US30,000 2 Robyn Choi 68-66-66—200 $18,940 T4 Gabriela Ruffels 66-69-68—203 $8,826 T7 Grace Kim 67-68-70—205 $5,625 T10 Amelia Garvey (NZ) 70-67-70—207 $3,925 T23 Hira Naveed 66-74-69—209 $2,073 T38 Emily Mahar 68-73-71—212 $1,120 MC Julienne Soo 74-73—147 MC Stephanie Na 75-74—149 MC Soo Jin Lee 74-77—151 MC Julianne Alvarez 77-77—154

PGA TOUR Tour Championship East Lake Golf Club, Atlanta, Georgia Winner Rory McIlroy      67-67-63-66—263           $US18m 20          Cameron Smith 67-71-68-69—275           $640,000 25          Adam Scott        68-70-68-70—276           $550,000

Japan Golf Tour Sansan KBC Augusta Golf Tournament Keya Golf Club, Fukuoka Winner Riki Kawamoto  66-67-69-70—272           ¥20m T21        Brad Kennedy    68-66-74-73—281           ¥974,285 57          Andrew Evans   68-72-70-79—289           ¥236,000 MC        Matthew Griffin              69-73—142 MC        Michael Hendry (NZ)      70-73—143 MC        Adam Bland       72-71—143 MC        Brendan Jones  74-75—149

DP World Tour Omega European Masters Crans-sur-Sierre GC, Crans Montana, Switzerland Winner Thriston Lawrence          62-64-67-69—262           €340,000 Won on the first hole of sudden death playoff T51        Scott Hend         69-66-68-71—274           €7,600 T55        Dimitrios Papadatos       68-69-68-70—275           €6,200 MC        Jordan Zunic      70-70—140 MC        Jake McLeod      69-72—141 MC        Ryan Fox (NZ)    71-70—141 MC        Zach Murray      71-71—142

Korn Ferry Tour Nationwide Children’s Hospital Championship OSU GC (Scarlet Cse), Columbus, Ohio Winner David Lingmerth              62-66-71-68—267           $US180,000 T28        Aaron Baddeley 65-73-70-70—278           $7,025 MC        Min Woo Lee     76-73—149 MC        Jason Scrivener 75-74—149 MC        Anthony Quayle              74-75—149 MC        Harrison Endycott           74-76—150

LPGA Tour CP Women’s Open Ottawa Hunt and Golf Club, Ottawa, Canada Winner Paula Reto          62-69-67-67—265           $US352,500 4            Lydia Ko (NZ)     69-68-67-63—267           $120,918 T17        Stephanie Kyriacou         71-63-70-70—274           $26,308 T26        Hannah Green   68-66-71-70—275           $19,701 T36        Sarah Kemp       68-70-70-69—277           $12,348 T56        Karis Davidson  69-67-72-72—280           $6,488 MC        Su Oh    72-69—141 MC        Sarah Jane Smith             70-74—144 WD        Minjee Lee

Champions Tour The Ally Challenge Warwick Hills G&CC, Grand Blanc, Michigan Winner Steve Stricker    70-64-67—201  $US300,000 T6          Rod Pampling    69-68-68—205  $72,000 T9          Steven Alker (NZ)            68-68-70—206  $54,000 T33        David McKenzie 73-70-69—212  $12,600 T48        Stuart Appleby  73-69-72—214  $6,600 T57        John Senden      72-73-71—216  $4,100 T71        Robert Allenby  71-73-76—220  $1,580

Ladies European Tour Skafto Open Skaftö Golf Club , Sweden Winner Linn Grant          67-62-68—197  €37,500 T15        Whitney Hillier  70-66-68—204  €4,312.50 T67        Amy Walsh        68-72-75—215  €625

PGA TOUR Canada CRMC Championship Cragun’s Resort, Brainerd, Minnesota Winner Jake Knapp         64-65-61-64—254 MC        Will Barnett       70-67—137

Challenge Tour Indoor Golf Group Challenge Allerum Golf Club, Helsingborg, Sweden Winner Mikael Lindberg 68-62-66—196  €40,000 MC        Daniel Hillier (NZ)            80-69—149

Legends Tour Staysure PGA Seniors Championship Formby Golf Club & Formby Ladies Golf Club, England Winner Adilson Da Silva 64-69-67-70—270 T14        Peter Fowler      74-75-70-69—288 T39        Peter O’Malley  72-76-73-72—293 T43        John Wade         77-72-71-74—294 61          Michael Long     76-74-72-78—300 MC        Guy Wall             71-75-80—226