19 Feb 2024 | Professional golf |
Aussies on Tour: Frustrated Day top-10 at Genesis Invitational
by Tony Webeck
A struggle to find the fairways ultimately caught up with Jason Day as he fell out of contention in the final round of the Genesis Invitational at famed Riviera Country Club in Los Angeles.
Four back and in a tie for fifth through three rounds, Day was unable to generate birdie opportunities on Sunday as he failed to regularly find Riviera’s narrow, twisting fairways.
The 36-year-old hit less than 43 per cent of fairways for the week and found just six of 14 in a final round of 1-over 72 to finish outright ninth, the 94th top-10 result of his PGA TOUR career.
It is his third top-10 from five starts this season and is projected to see him hold firm at No.19 in the Official World Golf Ranking, one ahead of eventual Genesis Invitational champion, Hideki Matsuyama.
“This is probably the most stressful and frustrating golf course you can potentially play if you're just missing fairways,” Day said after his third round.
“Like it's really difficult to hit the greens when you miss fairways.”
A two-time winner at Riviera, Adam Scott closed with an even-par 71 to earn a share of 19th while Cam Davis fell away after an opening round of 6-under 65 to finish 49th.
Making his second start of the season, Mark Hensby was denied from launching a final round charge at the PGA TOUR Champions Chubb Classic in Florida.
Four back of Canadian Stephen Ames after two rounds, heavy rain and storms forced the cancellation of the final round, Hensby left to be content with a tie for third as fellow Aussie Richard Green grabbed a share of seventh in his first start of the year.
New South Welshman Kevin Yuan was the best of a strong Aussie contingent at the Asian Tour’s IRS Prima Malaysian Open.
With three spots at The Open Championship at Royal Troon up for grabs, Yuan (68) made a late play with birdie on 15 and eagle on 17 but would have needed to make up two shots on the final hole to earn an Open exemption.
He would par the final hole to finish outright fifth at 19-under, two clear of Deyen Lawson (68) with Travis Smyth (65) the third Aussie to finish inside the top 10.
At the $US5 million Aramco Saudi Ladies International, Stephanie Kyriacou’s tie for 14th led the way for the Aussies, Thailand’s Patty Tavatanakit running away with a seven-stroke victory.
Photo: Harry How/Getty Images
PGA TOUR The Genesis Invitational The Riviera Country Club, Pacific Palisades, California 1 Hideki Matsuyama 69-68-68-62—267 $US4m 9 Jason Day 65-69-69-72—275 $600,000 T19 Adam Scott 72-68-67-71—278 $251,400 49 Cam Davis 65-73-73-75—286 $54,000
Asian Tour IRS Prima Malaysian Open The Mines Resort & Golf Club, Malaysia 1 David Puig 66-71-62-62—261 $US180,000 5 Kevin Yuan 65-64-68-68—265 $41,000 T7 Deyen Lawson 66-67-66-68—267 $26,500 T9 Travis Smyth 68-66-69-65—268 $18,550 T22 Maverick Antcliff 67-68-70-65—270 $9,400 T31 Jack Thompson 69-68-66-68—271 $7,211.11 T31 Andrew Dodt 66-68-71-66—271 $7,211.11 T40 Jed Morgan 68-69-66-69—272 $5,840 T40 Brendan Jones 68-69-68-67—272 $5,840 T52 Jordan Zunic 68-68-68-70—274 $3,960 T57 Ben Campbell (NZ) 69-66-71-69—275 $3,300 T57 Douglas Klein 71-63-73-68—275 $3,300 69 Scott Hend 67-70-73-73—283 $2,400 MC Aaron Wilkin 72-67—139 MC Sam Brazel 69-70—139 MC Marcus Fraser 69-70—139 MC Zach Murray 71-69—140 MC Justin Warren 70-70—140 MC Lachlan Barker 75-69—144 WD Todd Sinnott 75 WD Wade Ormsby 69
Ladies European Tour Aramco Saudi Ladies International Presented by PIF Riyadh Golf Club, Saudi Arabia 1 Patty Tavatanakit 66-70-69-65—270 $US697,743 T14 Stephanie Kyriacou 76-71-69-69—285 $83,147.71 T42 Kirsten Rudgeley 73-74-69-74—290 $23,897.70 T50 Grace Kim 72-75-71-73—291 $19,846.91 MC Gabriela Ruffels 79-71—150
Champions Tour Chubb Classic Tiburon Golf Club, Naples, Florida Reduced to 36 holes due to storm 1 Stephen Ames 67-64—131 $US270,000 T3 Mark Hensby 66-69—135 $99,000 T7 Richard Green 68-68—136 $61,200 T10 Rod Pampling 70-68—138 $39,960 T15 Steven Alker (NZ) 67-72—139 $27,990 T21 David Bransdon 69-71—140 $19,500 T35 Stuart Appleby 74-68—142 $10,170 T53 Steve Allan 74-71—145 $4,320 T56 John Senden 73-73—146 $3,600
Challenge Tour Dimension Data Pro-Am Fancourt Golf Estate, George, South Africa 1 David Ravetto 68-66-71-69—274 €54,447.60 T34 Hayden Hopewell 75-74-67-70—286 €2,988.61 MC Connor McKinney 73-72-77—222
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