12 Jul 2021 | Professional golf |
Aussies on Tour: Min Woo Lee-ds the way
by PGA of Australia
By Tony Webeck
An equipment adjustment, a pre-round premonition and some Wimbledon inspiration all conspired to deliver Min Woo Lee a second European Tour title in another outstanding week for Aussie golfers across the globe.
Replicating three professional wins and two by our leading amateurs of a week ago was always going to be difficult yet Lee’s stunning final round at the abrdn Scottish Open at The Renaissance Club once again gave Australian golf a moment to savour.
One of three Aussies inside the top five entering the final round, Lee was three strokes back at the start of the day yet a six-hole birdie blitz on the front nine saw him join Belgium’s Thomas Detry and Englishman Matthew Fitzpatrick at the top of the leaderboard.
Following a 90-minute suspension of play when heavy rain turned into a thunderstorm late in the round, Lee birdied the 16th hole to take the lead at 18-under par, Detry and Fitzpatrick also making four at the par-5 to match the 22-year-old’s total.
All three returned to the 18th tee for the first hole of the sudden-death playoff, Lee’s brilliant approach to eight feet and subsequent birdie putt earning the West Australian a maiden Rolex Series win and a place at The Open Championship.
“I was actually watching Wimbledon and it was nice to see Djokovic come in and do his interview,” Lee said of his time in the clubhouse during the rain delay.
“I thought that was a good feeling and I might want to do that.
“It’s just crazy. I’ve kind of dreamt of it last night and people back home staying up late to watch me, sending messages. This one is for you too.”
Two weeks ago Lee changed to an Odyssey White Hot OG #1 putter and made another adjustment this week at the other end of the bag, using a 9-degree Callaway Epic Speed Driver with Fujikura Ventus Red 7X shaft as he hit 76.9 per cent of fairways and 94.4 per cent of greens in his closing 7-under 64.
Irish Open winner Lucas Herbert (66) enjoyed another strong week as he finished tied for fourth playing alongside world No.1 Jon Rahm in the final round while Wade Ormsby (69) can celebrate his tie for 12th with one of the 204 bottles of whisky he won by making a hole-in-one at the par-3 12th.
Stephanie Kyriacou followed up her win last week with a tie for sixth at the Ladies European Tour’s Aramco Team Series event in London and Dimi Papadatos – runner-up a week ago – continued his good form on the Challenge Tour with a tie for ninth at the Le Vaudreuil Golf Challenge in France.
In the US, two Aussies took steps towards ensuring their status on the PGA Tour in 2022 with strong finishes on both the PGA Tour and the Korn Ferry Tour.
Victorian Cameron Percy moved up to 126th in the FedEx Cup standings on the back of a final round of 6-under 65 and a tie for 11th at the John Deere Classic while Brett Drewitt moved up two spots to be 23rd on the Korn Ferry Tour Order of Merit courtesy of a tie for seventh at the TPC Colorado Championship.
Although it has been the young stars dominating the headlines of late Rod Pampling represented the seniors superbly at the US Senior Open, firing the equal-best round of the day to make a charge up the leaderboard to take fourth spot, four shots behind the winner, Jim Furyk.
European Tour
abrdn Scottish Open
The Renaissance Club, North Berwick, Scotland
Winner Min Woo Lee 68-69-65-64—266 €1,123,300
Won on the first hole of sudden death playoff
T4 Lucas Herbert 69-68-64-66—267 €281,365
T12 Wade Ormsby 67-69-66-69—271 €107,961
T44 Ryan Fox 70-70-68-68—276 €31,381
T44 Scott Hend 67-70-70-69—276 €31,381
MC Jason Scrivener 68-71-74—213 €10,883
MC Maverick Antcliff 76-75—151
PGA Tour
John Deere Classic
TPC Deere Run, Silvis, Illinois
Winner Lucas Glover 68-63-70-64—265 $US1.116m
T11 Cameron Percy 70-68-67-65—270 $124,664
T34 Rhein Gibson 69-67-68-70—274 $30,956
T55 Cam Davis 67-69-73-69—278 $14,446
T62 John Senden 74-63-72-71—280 $13,640
68 Greg Chalmers 69-65-75-73—282 $12,958
MC Aaron Baddeley 72-67—139
WD Danny Lee 69-38—107
LPGA Tour
Marathon LPGA Classic
Highland Meadows Golf Club, Sylvania, Ohio
Winner Nasa Hataoka 61-69-64—194 $US300,000
T15 Su Oh 69-67-68—204 $25,099
T60 Katherine Kirk 71-71-69—211 $4,836
T64 Sarah Kemp 70-72-70—212 $4,387
MC Sarah Jane Smith 70-73—143
Korn Ferry Tour
TPC Colorado Championship at Heron Lakes
TPC Colorado, Berthoud, Colorado
Winner Tag Ridings 70-68-66-68—272 $US108,000
Won on the second hole of sudden-death playoff
T7 Brett Drewitt 69-70-68-68—275 $17,800
71 Steven Alker 70-71-74-73—288 $2,328
T76 Jamie Arnold 70-72-77-71—290 $2,262
MC Brett Coletta 73-72—145
MC Nick Voke 73-72—145
MC Robert Allenby 80-77—157
WD Ryan Ruffels 83
Challenge Tour
Le Vaudreuil Golf Challenge
Golf PGA France du Vaudreuil, Le Vaudreuil, France
Winner Marcel Siem 71-62-69-67—269 €33,600
T9 Dimitrios Papadatos 70-65-71-71—277 €4,830
T12 Josh Geary 70-68-71-69—278 €3,780
T56 Blake Windred 69-72-74-72—287 €703
MC David Micheluzzi 79-74—153
Ladies European Tour
Aramco Team Series
Centurion Club, Hemel Hempstead, England
Winner Marianne Skarpnord 73-65-68—206 €25,366
T6 Stephanie Kyriacou 70-70-71—211 €4,988
11 Minjee Lee 72-73-68—213 €3,720
T84 Whitney Hillier 75-80-75—230
T107 Victoria Fricot 88-88-80—256
Symetra Tour
Donald Ross Classic
French Lick Resort, French Lick, Indiana
Winner Casey Danielson 67-68-68—203 $US37,500
T17 Robyn Choi 70-69-70—209 $3,425
T21 Hira Naveed 70-69-71—210 $2,932
63 Julienne Soo 73-70-78—221 $871
MC Stephanie Na 73-72—145
MC Soo Jin Lee 72-74—146
MC Julianne Alvarez 77-74—151
Champions Tour
US Senior Open
Winner Jim Furyk 72-64-66-71—273 $US720,000
4 Rod Pampling 69-72-69-67—277 $193,249
T21 Peter Fowler 71-70-69-75—285 $42,840
MC David McKenzie 75-73—148
WD Mark Hensby 40
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