16 Aug 2021 | Professional golf |
Aussies on Tour: Drewitt secures return to PGA Tour
by PGA of Australia
By Tony Webeck
It took until the final round of his 42nd start but New South Welshman Brett Drewitt has secured his return to the PGA TOUR.
The final day of the Korn Ferry Tour regular season is one of the most emotionally-charged in all of golf. Lives are changed and dreams are dashed yet for 25 players their drive to reach golf’s grandest stage is realised.
It is a stage that Drewitt has reached once before in 2017 but the Inverell native has now earned a second crack and he did so in dramatic fashion.
Beginning the week of the Pinnacle Bank Championship 22nd on the moneylist, Drewitt strung together a run of four consecutive birdies in a second round of 4-under 67 to make the cut.
By doing so he all but guaranteed his place in the 2021-2022 PGA TOUR season but the 30-year-old endured a nervous wait to see whether he could hold his position.
Weekend rounds of 74-74 saw Drewitt finish tied for 63rd but dropped only two spots to end the regular season that began in January 2020 in 24th place and safely inside the 25.
The highlight of Drewitt’s season was a maiden Korn Ferry Tour title at the Lincoln Land Championship last September and he finished inside the top-25 on 12 occasions and was top-10 seven times, winning $US319,164 in the process.
Curtis Luck is the only other Australian to qualify for the Korn Ferry Tour finals having finished the regular season in 67th position and will be vying for one of 25 further PGA TOUR cards to be handed out at the completion of the Korn Ferry Tour Championship.
The PGA TOUR regular season also concluded over the weekend with Adam Scott’s playoff near-miss at the Wyndham Championship propelling him into the FedEx Cup Playoffs along with five fellow Aussies (Cameron Smith, Marc Leishman, Cam Davis, Matt Jones and Jason Day).
Victorian Bryden Macpherson recorded his best finish on the European Tour with a tie for 21st at the Cazoo Classic at London Golf Club and David McKenzie shot 67 in the final round to finish tied for sixth at the Champions Tour’s Shaw Charity Classic.
As the men’s seasons are reaching their conclusion the women are gearing up fo their final major of the year, this week’s AIG Women’s Open.
Kiwi Lydia Ko continued her strong Olympic form to finish runner-up at the Trust Golf Women’s Scottish Open with Ladies European Tour regular Whitney Hillier the best of the Aussies in a tie for 15th, a continuation of her good recent results in the Rose Ladies Series.
In the US Robyn Choi enhanced her chances of graduating to the LPGA Tour in 2022 with a third-place finish at the Four Winds Invitational on the Symetra Tour.
Runner-up in the same event last year, Choi’s finish elevated her to 26th on the moneylist and within reach of the top 10 who are awarded LPGA Tour cards at season’s end.
Results
PGA TOUR
Wyndham Championship
Sedgefield Country Club, Greensboro, North Carolina
Winner Kevin Kisner 65-68-66-66—265 $US1.152m
T2 Adam Scott 66-70-64-65—265 $389,440
T37 Cameron Percy 67-67-68-70—272 $26,560
T70 Matt Jones 69-68-69-74—280 $12,992
MC John Senden 67-71—138
MC Rhein Gibson 66-72—138
MC Aaron Baddeley 73-72—145
Korn Ferry Tour
Pinnacle Bank Championship presented by Aetna
The Club at Indian Creek, Omaha, Nebraska
Winner David Skinns 67-67-69-67—270
T21 Jamie Arnold 67-73-66-72—278
T49 Curtis Luck 70-68-75-70—283
T63 Brett Drewitt 73-67-74-74—288
MC Harrison Endycott 75-67—142
MC Steven Alker 74-71—145
MC Brett Coletta 74-72—146
MC Ryan Ruffels 75-71—146
MC Nick Voke 69-77—146
European Tour
Cazoo Classic
London GC, Ash, Kent, England
Winner Calum Hill 68-67-70-67—272 €189,360
T21 Bryden Macpherson 74-67-69-69—279 €12,689
T35 Maverick Antcliff 68-68-74-71—281 €8,667
MC Josh Geary 72-72—144
MC Deyen Lawson 72-72—144
MC Scott Hend 76-69—145
MC Wade Ormsby 75-71—146
MC Jake McLeod 75-73—148
LPGA Tour
Trust Golf Women’s Scottish Open
Dumbarnie Links, Scotland
Winner Ryann O’Toole 68-71-68-64—271 €191,684
T15 Whitney Hillier 72-69-75-65—281 €19,602
T34 Katherine Kirk 72-72-70-71—285
T34 Su Oh 73-72-68-72—285 €8,330
65 Stephanie Kyriacou 73-72-71-78—294 €3,451
MC Hannah Green 73-74—147
MC Minjee Lee 74-76—150
MC Sarah Kemp 78-74—152
Challenge Tour
Made in Esbjerg Challenge
Esbjerg Golfklub, Esbjerg, Denmark
Winner Ricardo Gouveia 69-71-69-67—276 €32,000
T64 Blake Windred 74-69-74-76—293 €530
Symetra Tour
Four Winds Invitational
South Bend Country Club, South Bend, Indiana
Winner Lilia Vu 68-69-67—204 $US30,000
3 Robyn Choi 69-70-68—207 $14,102
T14 Soo Jin Lee 72-69-71—212 $3,172
T55 Julienne Soo 69-74-79—222 $822
MC Julianne Alvarez 71-79—150
MC Hira Naveed 78-73—151
MC Stephanie Na 76-75—151
Japan LPGA
NEC Karuizawa 72 Golf Tournament
Karuizawa 72 Golf (North Cse), Nagano
Tournament reduced to 27 holes
Winner Sakura Koiwai 64-34—98 ¥10.8m
MC Karis Davidson 75
LET Access Series
Anna Nordqvist Vasteras Open
Vasteras Golf Club, Sweden
Winner Nayeon Eum 66-70-72—208 €5,600
T32 Kristalle Blum 81-74-72—227 €490
T51 Victoria Fricot 71-81-79—231 €296
MC Amy Walsh 75-81—156
Champions Tour
Shaw Charity Classic
Canyon Meadows G&CC, Alberta, Canada
Winner Doug Barron 64-64-64—192
T6 David McKenzie 68-64-67—199
T13 Rod Pampling 70-67-65—202
T44 Robert Allenby 71-71-67—209
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