22 Aug 2024 | Professional golf |
Aussies on Tour: Green ready to contend in St. Andrews
by Patrick Taylor
This week marks the year's final major, with seven Australians and New Zealand's Olympic gold medallist Lydia Ko descending on the Old Course at St Andrews, the home of golf, for the AIG Women's Open.
Fresh off a strong Olympics performance herself, world no.5 Hannah Green is ready to continue her form from Paris that saw her just miss out on a medal, and would absolutely love to win her second major championship at such an historic venue.
"It's a very special place obviously, just coming down the 18th hole with all the beautiful scenes of the hotel and everything. It's been very cool to play," Green said after a practice round on the famed links.
"I feel like I’ve actually played a lot more practice rounds this week than usual but I feel pretty comfortable.
"I was fortunate enough to play here in 2019, just a casual round of golf on the Old and then I also played the New Course while I was here.
"It was the perfect day for it, overcast barely any wind so nothing like what we’re going to have so that’s probably why I’ve already played three rounds already."
After her courageous effort at The Olympics, battling back after a tough opening round for a tied fourth finish, Green took a well-earned week off instead of playing the ISPS HANDA Women's Scottish Open.
"I actually went and played Prestwick where the first Open Championship was ever held, so that was actually really cool," she said.
"It was actually a little bit windy so it was quite difficult trying to judge where to hit it but it was fun to at least experience links in a casual sense.
"Not that I needed to, but if I didn’t find a ball it was nice I didn’t have to go back to the tee."
Joining Green in the Australian contingent at St Andrews is her Olympic partner Minjee Lee, Grace Kim, Steph Kyriacou, Hira Naveed, Gabi Ruffels, and her Olympics coach and three-time AIG Women's Open champion Karrie Webb.
On the other side of the pond, the FedEx Cup playoffs rolls-on on the PGA TOUR, where three Australians — Jason Day, Adam Scott and Cam Davis — remain in the hunt.
The BMW Championship is the second leg of the Playoffs, where the top-50 players left on the standings will be reduced to 30 come week's end to advance to the TOUR Championship.
While all players this week have already locked in starts in all of the PGA TOUR's signature events for next season, there is still plenty to play for as Scott, who is hunting his tenth TOUR Championship appearance at Eastlake Golf Club, explained.
"I'm happy to be back in the Playoffs again, and trying to make it to Eastlake from the outside, but at least I know I've done it before," Scott said.
"I think the President's Cup is on a lot of people's minds this week, obviously it's the last week of qualifying, without a disaster I feel like I'm going to qualify which is fantastic.
"I wanted to play my way onto the team, I didn't want to be the old guy who's relying on a pick from his buddies, and even be questioned why I'm there but I think my play of late has solidified my spot."
Both Day and Scott's President's Cup spots look all but secured, with Scott's major focus trying to advance in the FedEx Cup, however Davis has a battle on his hands in both regards.
Currently 49th on the standings, and outside the automatic pick zone for the President's Cup, Davis needs a huge week to both advance his season, and improve his chances of representing the International Team in Canada.
Elsewhere, four Australians are teeing it up at the Danish Golf Championship on the DP World Tour, while a strong group of Australians again grace the PGA Tour Champions at The Ally Challenge.
*All times AEST
LPGA Tour/ Ladies European Tour
AIG Women’s Open
St. Andrews Old Course, St. Andrews, Scotland
4:11pm Hannah Green
4:33pm Karrie Webb
4:44pm Minjee Lee
5:06pm Grace Kim
5:39pm Gabi Ruffels
6:01pm Hira Naveed
9:15pm Steph Kyriacou
9:26pm Lydia Ko (NZ)
Defending champion: Lilia Vu (US)
Past Aussie winners: Corinne Dibnah (1988), Karen Lunn (1993), Karrie Webb (1995, 1997, 2002).
Prizemoney: $US 9 million
TV times: Thursday and Friday 9pm-4am Fox Sports 503 and Kayo. Saturday and Sunday 9pm-4am Fox Sports 505 and Kayo.
PGA TOUR
BMW Championship
Castle Pines Golf Club, Colorado, USA
1:20am Cam Davis
1:45am Adam Scott
2:25am Jason Day
Defending champion: Viktor Hovland (NOR)
Past Aussie winners: Bruce Crampton (1971), Robert Allenby (2000), Jason Day (2015), Marc Leishman (2017).
Prizemoney: US$20,000,000
TV times: Thursday and Friday 11:15pm-4am Fox Sports 505 and Kayo, 4am-8am Fox Sports 503 and Kayo. Sunday 1am-8am Fox Sports 503 and Kayo. Monday 2am-8am Fox Sports 503 and Kayo.
DP World Tour
Danish Golf Championship
Lübker Golf Resort, Aarhus, Denmark
3:30pm* Haydn Barron
5:10pm Sam Jones (NZ)
5:30pm David Micheluzzi
8:30pm* Jason Scrivener
9:40pm* Andrew Martin
Defending champion: Rasmus Hojgaard (DEN)
Past Aussie winners: Nil
Prizemoney: €3,250,000
TV times: Thursday 11:10pm-2am Fox Sports 506 and Kayo. Friday 9pm-11:15pm Fox Sports 505 and Kayo. Saturday 12:30am-2am Fox Sports 507 and Kayo, 8:30pm-10pm Fox Sports 507 and Kayo, 10:30pm-1am Fox Sports 503. Sunday 8pm-2am Fox Sports 503 and Kayo.
PGA Tour Champions
The Ally Challenge
Warwick Hills Golf and Country Club, Michigan, USA
12:20am Rod Pampling
12:40am Greg Chalmers
1am Mark Hensby
1:05am* John Senden
1:15am* Cameron Percy
1:50am Richard Green
2:05am* Steve Allan, David Bransdon, Michael Wright
Defending champion: Vijay Singh (FIJI)
Past Aussie winners: Nil
Prizemoney: US$2,200,000
Korn Ferry Tour
Albertsons Boise Open presented by Chevron
Hillcrest Country Club, Idaho, USA
11:15pm* Karl Vilips
4:40am* Brett Drewitt
5:20am* Rhein Gibson
Defending champion: Chan Kim (USA)
Past Aussie winners: Greg Chalmers (2005)
Prizemoney: US$1,500,000
PGA Tour Americas
CentrePort Canada Rail Park Manitoba Open
Southwood golf and Country Club, Canada
10:40pm* Harry Hillier (NZ)
11pm Charlie Hillier (NZ)
3:50am Grant Booth
Defending champion: Inaugural event.
Prizemoney: US$225,000
Challenge Tour
Indoor Golf Group Challenge
Landeryds Golfklubb - Vesterby Links, Vesterby, Sweden
4pm Blake Windred
4:40pm Connor McKinney
9:10 Hayden Hopewell
Defending champion: Maximilian Rottluff
Past Aussie winners: Nil
Prizemoney: €250,000
LET Access Series
Ladies Slovak Golf Open
TALE Ski Golf & Hotel Resort, Slovakia
4:40pm* Wenyung Keh (NZ)
4:50pm* Munchin Keh (NZ)
8:40pm Kristalle Blum
9pm* Stephanie Bunque
Japan Golf Tour
Sansan KBC Augusta Golf Tournament 2024
Australasians in the field: Michael Hendry (NZ), Brad Kennedy, Anthony Quayle.
LPGA Q-Series: Pre-Qualifying Stage
Rancho Mirage, California
Australasians in the field: Grace Williams (a), Mackensie Toole (a), Jennifer Herbst, Sarah Yamaki Branch, Lion Higo (a), Justice Bosio (a), Jordan O’Brien, Claire Shin, Jess Whitting, Linley Ooi, Kelsey Bennett, Amy Chu, Caitlin Peirce (a).
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