04 Aug 2022 | Professional golf |
Aussies on Tour: Scott, Day seek to extend their seasons
by Australian Golf Media
By Tony Webeck
Australia’s two most recent world No.1s, Adam Scott and Jason Day, will seek to extend their PGA TOUR seasons side by side at this week’s Wyndham Championship in North Carolina.
Sedgefield Country Club hosts the final event of the PGA TOUR regular season ahead of the start of the FedEx Cup Playoffs next week.
Led by Open champion Cameron Smith at No.2, there are currently six Australians inside the top 125 on the FedEx Cup Playoffs and Eligibility Points List who will play week one at the FedEx St Jude Championship.
Scott (73rd) and Day (106th) are the two currently sitting outside the top 70 who advance to the second week of the Playoffs but can enhance their chances with a strong showing this week.
And they can spur each other on in the process.
Scott and Day have been drawn together along with Korean Si Woo Kim for the opening two rounds of the Wyndham Championship, the tournament Scott let slip through his fingers 12 months ago with a missed putt from inside five feet at the first playoff hole.
A tie for fourth at what has become his pet event, the Genesis Invitational at Riviera Country Club, is the 42-year-old’s best result since but he has shown encouraging signs of late.
He was top 15 at both the US Open and The Open Championship and was in contention up until a third round of 78 in last week’s Rocket Mortgage Classic.
Despite falling to No.140 in the Official World Golf Rankings, there have also been signs of light for Day.
With a winning drought that has now stretched into its fifth year, the 34-year-old shot 66 in the final round of the Rocket Mortgage Classic to finish tied for 17th, just his third top-20 finish in the past 12 months.
Of the Aussies fighting to maintain status for the 2022-2023 season Cameron Percy (158th), Aaron Baddeley (180th) and Brett Drewitt (205th) would all need a victory to qualify for the Playoffs.
Smith, Lucas Herbert (43rd), Marc Leishman (59th) and Cam Davis (61st) have all guaranteed their place in week one of the Playoffs.
The women’s game celebrates their final major of the year at the AIG Women’s Open where five Aussies will tee it up.
World No.2 Minjee Lee, Hannah Green, Stephanie Kyriacou, Su Oh and Whitney Hillier can complete the Aussie Open double by matching Cam Smith’s St Andrews coronation, Hillier the first Aussie out at 3.41pm Thursday afternoon AEST.
Eleven Aussies are in action as the Asin Tour season resumes at the Mandiri Indonesian Open and there eight Australians teeing it up at the Epson Tour’s French Lick Charity Classic in Indiana.
Round 1 tee times AEST
AIG Women’s Open Muirfield Golf Club, Gullane, Scotland 3.41pm Whitney Hillier, Aditi Ashok, Angela Stanford 5.09pm Hannah Green, Ayaka Furue, Jeongeun Lee6 6.31pm Stephanie Kyriacou, Albane Valenzuela, Emma Talley 7.15pm Su Oh, Jeongeun Lee5, Olivia Cowan 9.27pm Lydia Ko (NZ), Nasa Hataoka, Leona Maguire 9.38pm Minjee Lee, Jin Young Ko, Nelly Korda
Defending champion: Anna Nordqvist Past Aussie winners: Corinne Dibnah (1988), Karen Lunn (1993), Karrie Webb (1995, 1997, 2002) Top Aussie prediction: Minjee Lee TV coverage: Live 8pm-3am Thursday, Friday; Live 11.15pm-5am Saturday; Live 10pm-5am Sunday on Fox Sports 503.
PGA TOUR Wyndham Championship Sedgefield Country Club, Greensboro, North Carolina 9.01pm* Aaron Baddeley, Kevin Chappell, Kevin Streelman 10.18pm Cameron Percy, Sam Ryder, Mark Hubbard 10.40pm Danny Lee (NZ), Mackenzie Hughes, Matthias Schwab 3.11am Adam Scott, Jason Day, Si Woo Kim 4.17am Brett Drewitt, Justin Lower, Yannik Paul
Defending champion: Kevin Kisner Past Aussie winners: Steve Elkington (1990) Top Aussie prediction: Adam Scott TV coverage: Live 4am-8am Friday, Saturday on Fox Sports 503; Live 3am-5am Sunday on Fox Sports 505; Live 5am-8am Sunday on Fox Sports 503; Live 3am-5am Monday on Fox Sports 505; Live 5am-8am Monday on Fox Sports 503.
DP World Tour Cazoo Open The Celtic Manor Resort, City of Newport, Wales 5.10pm Josh Geary (NZ), Damien Perrier, David Dixon 5.40pm Jake McLeod, Jonathan Thomson, Bryce Easton 5.50pm* Dimitrios Papadatos, Ashley Chesters, Daniel Hillier (NZ) 6.10pm Elvis Smylie, Raphaël Jacquelin, Renato Paratore 6.40pm Zach Murray, Andrew Wilson, James Morrison 11.05pm* Austin Bautista, Robert Rock, Marc Warren 12.05am Maverick Antcliff, David Drysdale, Dale Whitnell 12.15am* Scott Hend, Greig Hutcheon, Sebastian Garcia Rodriguez
Defending champion: Nacho Elvira Past Aussie winners: Scott Strange (2008) Top Aussie prediction: Dimitrios Papadatos TV coverage: Live 11.30pm-5am Thursday, Friday; Live 7.30pm-12.30am Saturday, Sunday on Fox Sports 505.
Asian Tour Mandiri Indonesia Open Pondok Indah Golf Course, Indonesia 9.20am* Aaron Pike, Aqil Widyantoro, Jonathan Tanoto (a) 9.30am* Cory Crawford, Jonathan Hartono (a), Robby Sugara 10.20am Scott Strange, Thaworn Wiratchant, Indra Hermawan 10.20am* Andrew Dodt, Jbe Kruger, Pavit Tangkamolprasert 10.40am Josh Younger, Nicholas Fung, Viraj Madappa 10.50am Ben Campbell (NZ), Jakraphan Premsirigorn, Yoseop Seo 11am Jake Higginbottom, Chang Wei-lun, Jose Suryadinata (a) 11am* Ben Eccles, Khalin Joshi, Hongtaek Kim 11.10am Daniel Fox, Peter Gunawan, Kevin Akbar 11.10am* Sam Brazel, Mathiam Keyser, Seung Park 2.10pm Gareth Paddison (NZ), Jamel Ondo, Luke Evan Moore (a) 2.20pm Kevin Yuan, Neil Schietekat, Ervin Chang 2.50pm Todd Sinnott, Prom Meesawat, Ajeetesh Sandhu
Defending champion: Miguel Carballo Past Aussie winners: Nil Top Aussie prediction: Andrew Dodt
Korn Ferry Tour Utah Championship Oakridge Country Club, Farmington, Utah 11.25pm* Curtis Luck, Scott Harrington, Eric Cole 11.55pm Rhein Gibson, Anders Albertson, Jamie Lovemark 12.55am* Nick Voke (NZ), Pontus Nyholm, Jacob Bridgeman 5.30am Harrison Endycott, Seonghyeon Kim, Vincent Norrman 6.10am Ryan Ruffels, MJ Maguire, Clay Feagler
Defending champion: Joshua Creel (2020) Past Aussie winners: Nil Top Aussie prediction: Harrison Endycott TV coverage: Live 8am-11am Friday, Saturday, Sunday, Monday on Fox Sports 503.
Epson Tour French Lick Charity Classic The Pete Dye Course at French Lick, French Lick, Indiana 9.30pm* Julienne Soo, Becca Huffer, Jessica Welch 10.14pm* Gabriela Ruffels, Laetitia Beck, Sophie Hausmann 10.25pm Robyn Choi, Kum-Kang Park, Louise Ridderstrom 10.36pm Amelia Garvey (NZ), Karen Chung, Linnea Strom 10.58pm Soo Jin Lee, Lakareber Abe, Dorsey Addicks 10.58pm* Emily Mahar, Kaitlin Milligan, Karen Fredgaard 3.25am* Grace Kim, Lindy Duncan, Hyo Joon Jang 3.36am Sarah Jane Smith, Laura Restrepo, Daniela Iacobelli 3.47am* Hira Naveed, Samantha Wagner, Gabriella Then
Defending champion: Casey Danielson Past Aussie winners: Nil Top Aussie prediction: Grace Kim
Champions Tour Shaw Charity Classic Canyon Meadows Golf and Country Club, Calgary, Canada Australasians in the field: Mark Hensby, Stephen Leaney, David McKenzie
Defending champion: Doug Barron (2020) Past Aussie winners: Nil Top Aussie prediction: Mark Hensby TV coverage: 11am-12.30pm Saturday on Fox Sports 503; Live 5am-8am Sunday, Monday on Fox Sports 505.
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