By Tony Webeck

A stunning Sunday 63 wasn’t enough to lift Cam Davis into a playoff for the PGA TOUR’s RBC Heritage at Hilton Head in South Carolina.

A par at the first playoff hole earned Jordan Spieth (66) victory over fellow American Patrick Cantlay (68) but both had to first better Davis’s 72-hole total of 12-under par to finish tied at the top.

Tied for 38th at the start of the final round, Davis was a long way from the top of the leaderboard yet three birdies in his opening five holes was the beginning of an extraordinary surge.

He made the turn in five-under with birdies at eight and nine and when he curled in his third birdie of the back nine at the par-5 15th was in sole possession of the lead.

https://twitter.com/PGATOUR/status/1515749604184276995

There were birdie putts from 30 and 35 feet at the 16th and 18th holes respectively but the 27-year-old was unable to find the extra shot he would ultimately need for a place in the playoff, signing off for the day’s best eight-under 63.

A week after making the cut in his debut appearance at The Masters, Davis said it was the work he and coach Khan Pullen did in the lead-up to Augusta National that yielded such a strong finish at Harbour Town Golf Links.

“Being there at the Masters was a childhood dream come true,” said Davis, who moved from 94th to 79th in the Official World Golf Ranking by virtue of his tie for third.

“Especially playing Sunday with Adam in the first group off, just playing the course as pure as it could

possibly be with all those Sunday pins. It was so nice going around and playing the course that I'd seen so often on TV.

“I started putting some good work into play. I'd had a couple of weeks off and did a really good job. My coach was able to make it over from Australia for the first time in a while so that work was started at Augusta.

“Unfortunately, it didn't lead to awesome golf there, but it was definitely trending and kind of accumulated to today where it felt like everything was working quite well.”

One of countless products of the Jack Newton Junior Golf Foundation, Davis also paid tribute to Newton’s influence following his passing at the age of 72 on Friday.

“That guy provided so many juniors in Australia an opportunity to play competitive golf,” Davis added.

“He's done such a great job, such an awesome amount of work for young Australians to get into the game. I wouldn't be here without what he put in place.

“I didn't really get to know him super well, but I did get some text messages when I did play well or I got an opportunity like a major, some words of encouragement, and that meant a lot to me.

“Very sad but glad I could play well this week. He was definitely in the thoughts all week after he passed.”

While Davis was the best of the Aussie performers on tour this week there were a host who finished inside the top 20 around the world.

Andrew Dodt (T8), Travis Smyth (T11) and Todd Sinnott (16th) were in the mix at the Asian Tour’s Trust Golf Asian Mixed Stableford Challenge in Thailand as Brett Drewitt and Ryan Ruffels were top 20 at the Korn Ferry Tour event in Texas, Ruffels firing a career-best 62 in the final round to be tied 18th, his best result August 2020.

Second through 36 holes at the LPGA Tour’s Lotte Championship in Hawaii, Sarah Kemp faded to finish tied for 26th, equal with fellow Aussie Stephanie Kyriacou who recorded her best finish to date in her rookie season.

We had two Aussies finish inside the top 20 also at the Japan Golf Tour’s Kansai Open Golf Championship, Andrew Evans (70) and Brad Kennedy (71) earning a share of 19th place.

Results

PGA TOUR

RBC Heritage

Harbour Town Golf Links, Hilton Head Island, South Carolina

Winner Jordan Spieth 69-68-68-66—271 $US1.44m

* Won in sudden death playoff

T3 Cam Davis 69-73-67-63—272 $330,857

MC Cameron Smith 73-70—143

MC Danny Lee 71-75—146

Asian Tour

Trust Golf Asian Mixed Stableford Challenge

Siam Country Club (Waterside Cse), Pattaya, Thailand

Winner Sihwan Kim 22-(-2)-22-7—49 $US135,000

T8 Andrew Dodt 9-7-9-13—38 $16,250

T11 Travis Smyth 3-18-11-5—37 $12,212

16 Todd Sinnott 6-9-8-12—35 $9,937

T49 Jake Higginbottom 6-5-(-2)-15—24 $3,675

T61 Whitney Hillier 9-4-3-4—20 $2,362

MC Scott Hend 5-4—9

MC Josh Younger (-4)-(-1)—(-5)

MC Daniel Fox 1-(-8)—(-7)

Japan Golf Tour

Kansai Open Golf Championship

Yomiuri Country Club, Hyogo

Winner Kazuki Higa 65-67-68-70—270 ¥16m

T19 Andrew Evans 67-72-73-70—282 ¥1,145,600

T19 Brad Kennedy 70-70-71-71—282 ¥1,145,600

T40 Anthony Quayle 66-71-74-75—286 ¥384,000

T54 Matthew Griffin 69-72-81-68—290 ¥217,600

MC David Bransdon 70-72—142

MC Brendan Jones 71-72—143

MC Adam Bland 75-72—147

LPGA Tour

LOTTE Championship

Hoakalei Country Club, Ewa Beach, Oahu, Hawaii

Winner Hyo Joo Kim 67-67-72-71—277 $US300,000

T18 Lydia Ko 69-75-73-70—287 $21,874

T26 Stephanie Kyriacou 71-71-73-73—288 $15,793

T26 Sarah Kemp 68-69-78-73—288 $15,793

T48 Su Oh 74-73-77-67—291 $6,749

T48 Hannah Green 66-76-75-74—291 $6,749

MC Karis Davidson 76-74—150

MC Sarah Jane Smith 80-77—157

Korn Ferry Tour

Veritex Bank Championship

Texas Rangers Golf Club, Arlington, Texas

Winner Tyson Alexander 65-66-66-65—262 $US135,000

T12 Brett Drewitt 70-64-68-65—267 $14,063

T18 Ryan Ruffels 69-66-71-62—268 $8,888

T46 Curtis Luck 68-67-70-66—271 $3,319

T46 Aaron Baddeley 69-65-69-68—271 $3,319

MC Nick Voke 70-68—138

MC Harrison Endycott 76-66—142

MC Steven Bowditch 74-76—150

MC Rhein Gibson 80-76—156