16 Oct 2023 | Professional golf |
Aussies on Tour: Lee and Pampling both go wire-to-wire
by Golf Australia
Australians Min Woo Lee and Rod Pampling have fired in round one and continued the momentum to take home trophies at the SJM Macao Open on the Asian Tour and the SAS Championship on the PGA Tour Champions.
Lee smashed the tournament scoring record of 20-under set by fellow Aussie Scott Hend in 2015 but his 30-under total would only just prove to be enough, triumphing over Thailand’s Poom Saksansin.
Two strokes clear heading into the final round, Lee carded an 8-under par 63, a score matched by Saksansin in an absorbing Sunday afternoon duel.
After a string of top-10s against high quality fields including at the US Open and Players Championship, it was Lee’s first win since the 2021 Scottish Open.
“Poom played unbelievable today, he’s a bad mofo!” said Lee in his inimitable style.
“I played wonderful, really flawless golf for a lot of the holes. There was only a few holes that I could really look back on.
“I’m really proud of the way I handled myself.”
On the PGA Tour Champions, Pampling was able to edge out Kiwi Steven Alker by two shots, finishing at 15-under in North Carolina to claim his second title in the over-50s.
Pampling never looked back after an opening round 66, on his way to a US$315,000 payday.
“We've been working hard and it's finally - got rid of our bad stuff about a month and a half ago and it's just been getting closer and closer, and this week was just great,” Pampling said
“Great ball-striking day - week I should say and putting as well. Everything was just nice. Yeah, it's a great feeling to win again, that's for sure.”
On the LPGA Tour, Karis Davidson had a strong week in China, finishing in a season’s best T8 at the Buick LPGA Shanghai after being in a share for the lead on a tight leaderboard for most of the back nine.
It was a huge result for the Queenslander who moved from 97th to 88th on the season-long Race to the CME Globe to just about ensure her full playing rights inside the top 100 for 2024.
On the PGA TOUR, Cam Davis made it five top-tens in his last six starts, finishing T7 at the Shriners Children’s Open in Las Vegas.
Meanwhile Brad Kennedy finished T3 – his best result for 2023 - at the Japan Open Golf Championship on the Japan Golf Tour to bank around A$100,000.
PGA TOUR
Shriners Children's Open
TPC Summerlin, Las Vegas, Nevada
1 Tom Kim (USA) 68-68-62-66—264 US$1,512,000
T7 Cam Davis 67-67-67-66—267 US$238,000
T56 Harrison Endycott 70-68-71-69—278 US$19,236
MC Lucas Herbert 71-70
MC Craig Hocknull 75-77
DP World Tour
acciona Open de España
Club de Campo Villa de Madrid, Madrid, Spain
1 Matthieu Pavon (FRA) 63-68-66-64—261 €523,823.04
T9 Daniel Hillier (NZ) 71-67-66-66—270 €53,229.66
T20 Jason Scrivener 69-71-66-67—273 €33,470.75
LPGA Tour
LPGA Buick Shanghai
Qizhong Garden Golf Club, Shanghai, People's Republic of China
1 Angel Yin (USA) 70-69-65-70—274 US$315,000
T8 Karis Davidson 71-69-68-68—276 US$43,644
T13 Minjee Lee 70-69-69-69—277 US$32,539
T36 Grace Kim 73-74-69-67—283 US$11,933
T50 Lydia Ko (NZ) 74-69-73-70—286 US$7,063
Asian Tour
SJM Macao Open
Macau Golf and Country Club, Macau
1 Min Woo Lee 62-64-65-63—254 US$180,000
T9 Ben Campbell (NZ) 63-68-68-69—268 US$20,250
T11 Andrew Dodt 65-67-72-65—269 US$15,066.67
T11 Nick Voke 72-65-65-67—269 US$15,066.67
T17 Zach Murray 70-65-65-70—270 US$12,083.33
T23 Jack Thompson 65-69-72-66—272 US$9,700
T28 Sam Brazel 67-68-69-69—273 US$8,166.67
T34 Kevin Yuan 68-68-69-69—274 US$7,200
T34 Tom Power-Horan 70-65-69-70—274 US$7,200
T40 Josh Younger 69-68-68-71—276 US$6,033.33
MC Todd Sinnott 67-72
MC Scott Hend 70-69
MC Harrison Gilbert-Wong 67-73
MC Douglas Klein 73-68
MC Terry Pilkadaris 70-72
MC Marcus Fraser 71-72
MC John Lyras 72-71
MC David Gleeson 71-76
Japan Golf Tour
Japan Open Golf Championship
Ibaraki Country Club (West Cse)
1 Aguri Iwasaki 68-72-67-65—272 ¥42,000,000
T3 Brad Kennedy 68-69-69-68—274 ¥9,828,000
T36 Anthony Quayle 71-70-69-74—284 ¥1,260,000
MC Adam Scott 73-73
MC Jeffery Yu Guan 76-71
MC Adam Bland 77-73
PGA TOUR Champions
SAS Championship
Prestonwood CC, Cary, North Carolina
1 Rod Pampling 66-68-67—201 US$315,000
2 Steven Alker (NZ) 67-68-68—203 US$184,800
T11 Richard Green 70-67-71—208
T20 Stuart Appleby 72-69-70—211
T35 David McKenzie 70-72-72—214
T60 Mark Hensby 73-69-78—220
T68 John Senden 71-74-77—222
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