11 Jul 2024 | Professional golf |
Aussies on Tour: Green bracing for Korda bounce-back at Evian
by Tony Webeck
Australia’s highest-ranked golfer, Hannah Green, expects Nelly Korda to break free of a dramatic form slump and be one of the players to beat at this week’s Amundi Evian Championship in France.
The year’s fourth women’s major has taken on an additional level of intrigue as the world No.1 and six-time winner on the LPGA Tour this season tees it up on the back of three missed cuts and the highest score of her professional career.
Green, who finished second to Korda at the Mizuho Americas Open, played alongside Korda for the first two rounds of the KPMG Women’s PGA Championship at Sahalee Country Club.
She could only watch on as Korda wiped away tears after hitting her approach shot to the par-4 15th just beyond the out-of-bounds stakes, the American with “no words” after signing for an 81 having been one shot off the lead at the start of the day.
“Seeing Nelly unravel, I guess you could say, was tough to watch,” admitted world No.7 Green during a recent return home to Perth.
“She’s played so well this year and she’s always going to be under the spotlight because she’s Nelly Korda and she’s the one that brings the crowds in.
“It is a shame she’s obviously not had the success that she’s wanted the last few weeks and I think that will make her even more hungry, especially for the Olympics and the Evian Championship.
“I wouldn’t think that that will be the storyline for the rest of the year. I think she’ll be back up there and like her usual self.”
It’s a rare double-major week in world golf with Green among the seven Aussies at Evian and eight Australians in action at the Kaulig Companies Championship, formerly known as the Senior Players Championship.
This week also marks the build-up in earnest to The Open Championship next week, the co-sanctioned Genesis Scottish Open drawing the best players from both the PGA TOUR and DP World Tour to The Renaissance Club in North Berwick.
Runner-up at the BMW International Open, David Micheluzzi returns to America to play the PGA TOUR’s ISCO Championship where West Australian Haydn Barron will make his debut in a PGA TOUR event on US soil.
The 2022 Open Champion, Cameron Smith, will finalise his preparations for Royal Troon by leading the Ripper GC team at LIV Golf Andalucia and Karl Vilips will make his Korn Ferry Tour debut at The Ascendant in Colorado.
Photo: Darren Carroll/PGA of America
Round 1 tee times AEST
DP World Tour/PGA TOUR
Genesis Scottish Open
The Renaissance Club, North Berwick, Scotland
5:06pm* Adam Scott
5:50pm Jason Scrivener
5:50pm* Min Woo Lee
9:37pm* Daniel Hillier (NZ)
9:48pm Cam Davis
10:32pm Ryan Fox (NZ)
Defending champion: Rory McIlroy
Past Aussie winners: Graham Marsh (1973), Craig Parry (1991), Peter O’Malley (1992), Wayne Riley (1995), Min Woo Lee (2021)
Prize money: $US9 million
TV times: Live 5:30pm-4am Thursday, Friday; Live 11:30pm-5am Saturday; Live 7:30pm-5am Sunday on Fox Sports 503 and Kayo.
LPGA Tour
The Amundi Evian Championship
Evian Resort Golf Club, Evian-les-Bains, France
3pm* Stephanie Kyriacou
3:12pm Hira Naveed
3:48pm* Lydia Ko (NZ)
4:12pm Grace Kim
4:36pm Sarah Kemp
8:36pm Minjee Lee
9pm Hannah Green
9:48pm Gabriela Ruffels
Defending champion: Celine Boutier
Past Aussie winners: Rachel Hetherington (2001), Wendy Doolan (2004), Karrie Webb (2006), Minjee Lee (2021)
Prize money: $US9 million
TV times: Live 8am-2pm Thursday, Friday; Live 9:15pm-12am Saturday; Live 6:30pm-12am Sunday on Fox Sports 505 and Kayo.
PGA TOUR
ISCO Championship
Keene Trace Golf Club (Champions Cse), Nicholasville, Kentucky
8:45pm* Aaron Baddeley
10:24pm Haydn Barron, Sam Jones (NZ)
4:11am David Micheluzzi
4:22am Harrison Endycott
Defending champion: Vincent Norrman
Past Aussie winners: Aaron Baddeley (2016)
Prize money: $US4 million
TV times: Live 6:30am-9:30am Friday, Saturday; Live 6am-9am Sunday, Monday on Fox Sports 503 and Kayo.
PGA TOUR Champions
Kaulig Companies Championship
Firestone CC, Akron, Ohio
12:20am* Richard Green
12:31am* Steven Alker (NZ)
12:52am John Senden
12:52am* Mark Hensby
1:13am Steve Allan
1:13am* Greg Chalmers
1:44am* Rod Pampling
1:55am* Stuart Appleby
2:16am* Cameron Percy
Defending champion: Steve Stricker
Past Aussie winners: Stewart Ginn (2002)
Prize money: $US3.5 million
TV times: Live 4am-6:30am Friday, Saturday; 9am-11am Sunday on Fox Sports 503; Live 2am-6am Monday on Fox Sports 505 and Kayo.
LIV Golf
LIV Golf Andalucia
Real Club Valderrama, Sotogrande, Spain
Australasians in the field: Cameron Smith, Marc Leishman, Matt Jones, Lucas Herbert, Danny Lee (NZ)
Defending champion: Talor Gooch
Past Aussie winners: Nil
Prize money: $US20 million
TV times: Live from 9:15pm Friday, Saturday, Sunday on 7 Plus.
Japan Golf Tour
Shigeo Nagashima Sega Sammy Cup
The North Country Golf Club, Hokkaido
8:55am* Michael Hendry (NZ)
9:15am* Anthony Quayle
1:50pm Brad Kennedy
Defending champion: Jbe Kruger
Past Aussie winners: Brad Kennedy (2018)
Prize money: ¥100 million
Korn Ferry Tour
The Ascendant presented by Blue
TPC Colorado, Berthoud, Colorado
10:30pm Curtis Luck
4:11am* Brett Drewitt
5:06am* Rhein Gibson
6:12am Karl Vilips
Defending champion: Nicholas Lindheim
Past Aussie winners: Nil
Prize money: $US1 million
Epson Tour
Hartford HealthCare Women’s Championship
Great River Golf Club, Milford, Connecticut
Australasians in the field: Amelia Garvey (NZ), Cassie Porter, Fiona Xu (NZ), Su Oh, Maddison Hinson-Tolchard.
Defending champion: Jenny Bae
Past Aussie winners: Nil
Prize money: $US262,500
Korean PGA Tour
Gunsan CC Open
Gunsan CC, Korea
8:10am* Junseok Lee
9:10am Sungjin Yeo (NZ)
9:20am* Wonjoon Lee
9:30am* Kevin Chun (NZ)
2:20pm Changgi Lee (NZ)
Defending champion: Jang Yu-bin
Past Aussie winners: Nil
Prize money: KRW700 million
PGA TOUR Americas
Explore NB Open
Mactaquac Golf Course, Mactaquac, New Brunswick
8:40pm Grant Booth
10:20pm Harry Hillier (NZ)
Defending champion: Inaugural event
Past Aussie winners: Nil
Prize money: $US225,000
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