By Tony Webeck

Queensland’s Karis Davidson will join the growing band of Aussies plying their trade in the US in 2022 after advancing to the LPGA Tour’s Q-Series at Stage II of Qualifying School in Florida.

Two days after Jason Scrivener and Justin Warren guaranteed themselves status in the US by moving through to the final stage of the Korn Ferry Tour qualifying school, Davidson (pictured) was the lone Australian to finish in the top 45 at Second Stage of the LPGA Tour Qualifying School in Florida.

A regular on the Japan LPGA since 2018, Davidson has based herself in the US in recent weeks and came close to qualifying for an LPGA Tour event.

That experience seemed to come to the fore at Plantation Golf and Country Club as Davidson kept the nerves in check to close with successive rounds of 72 and a tie for 25th, three shots inside the cut-off line.

Davidson will now tee it up in the LPGA Tour Q-Series starting November 29, a two-week cumulative tournament that will award the top-45 finishers status on the LPGA Tour in 2022.

Gabriela Ruffels and Hira Naveed failed to advance in the cruellest of fashions, falling one shot short and left to rue a triple bogey and double bogey respectively in the fourth and final round.

The consolation for Ruffels, Naveed, Julienne Soo, Grace Kim, Kirsty Hodgkins, Soo Jin Lee, Stephanie Na, Emily Mahar and Kiwi Amelia Garvey is that by playing all four rounds at Second Stage they have secured status on the secondary Symetra Tour for 2022.

But it was heartbreak for rookie professional Stephanie Bunque who was disqualified in round one after self-reporting multiple rule violations concerning slope capabilities on distance-measuring devices.

A double bogey on the opening hole of her final round cruelled Minjee Lee’s hopes of a late Sunday charge at the BMW Ladies Championship, closing with a 1-under par round of 71 to finish tied for 12th.

Matt Jones recorded his first top-20 finish since his Honda Classic victory in March with a tie for 18th at the ZOZO Championship in Japan, Scott Hend also notching a top-20 result at the European Tour’s Mallorca Open in Spain.

While the Aussies may not have been overly prominent on leaderboards across the globe it was a superb week for the Kiwis.

Daniel Hillier (inset) took a step towards securing his future on the European Tour with a breakthrough win at the Challenge Tour’s Challenge Costa Brava, Lydia Ko was tied for third at the BMW Ladies Championship and Steven Alker registered his sixth top-10 finish in seven starts on the Champions Tour with a tie for fourth at the Dominion Energy Charity Classic.

Results

LPGA and Symetra Tour Qualifying Stage II Plantation Golf and Country Club, Venice, Florida Winner Pauline Roussin-Bouchard          67-70-67-65—269 T25        Karis Davidson  71-68-72-72—283 T48        Gabriela Ruffels 72-70-71-73—286 T48        Hira Naveed       75-70-69-72—286 T55        Julienne Soo      71-72-75-69—287 T55        Grace Kim           69-73-76-69—287 T62        Amelia Garvey   70-71-73-74—288 T96        Kirsty Hodgkins (a)          76-73-71-72—292 T135      Soo Jin Lee         78-75-71-73—297 T135      Stephanie Na     75-76-72-74—297 T156      Emily Mahar (a) 74-76-74-77—301 DQ         Stephanie Bunque

PGA Tour ZOZO Championship Accordia Golf Narashino CC, Chiba, Japan Winner Hideki Matsuyama         64-68-68-65—265           $US1.791m T18        Matt Jones         67-69-73-69—278           $118,718

LPGA Tour BMW Ladies Championship LPGA International Busan, Republic of Korea Winner Jin Young Ko      71-64-67-64—266           $US300,000 Won in sudden-death playoff T3          Lydia Ko              73-67-67-64—271           $US95,144 T12        Minjee Lee         67-69-68-71—275           $33,510 29          Hannah Green   68-72-67-73—280           $16,113 T61        Su Oh    71-69-73-75—288           $4,448 T79        Sarah Kemp       76-72-72-71—291           $3,503

European Tour Mallorca Golf Open Golf Santa Ponsa, Balearic Islands, Spain Winner Jeff Winther       62-71-62-70—265           €150,940 T20        Scott Hend         71-68-66-69—274           €10,849 T40        Josh Geary         67-71-71-68—277           €6,203 MC        Maverick Antcliff             72-72—144 MC        Ryan Fox             70-75—145

Korean PGA Tour Hana Bank Invitational Bears Best Cheongna GC, Korea Winner Taehoon Lee      66-67-64-70—267           KRW201,661,692 T34        Junseok Lee       73-69-72-72—286           KRW5,762,482 T42        Wonjoon Lee     70-71-79-67—287           KRW5,041,542

Challenge Tour Challenge Costa Brava Empordà Golf, Girona, Spain Winner Daniel Hillier      71-67-62-65—265           €32,000 T37        Blake Windred  71-71-64-74—280           €1,320 MC        Dimitrios Papadatos       75-73—148

LET Access Series Santander Golf Tour Barcelona Real Club De Golf El Prat, Spain Winner Charlotte Liautier (a)      71-71-74—216  —— T34        Kristalle Blum    76-79-75—230  €458

Champions Tour Dominion Energy Charity Classic The Country Club of Virginia, Richmond, Virginia Winner Bernhard Langer             66-67-69—202  $US305,000 Won in sudden-death playoff T4          Steven Alker      63-70-72—205  $91,500 T31        Stephen Leaney 73-69-70—212  $13,800 T42        Rod Pampling    72-69-74—215  $8,600 T42        David McKenzie 71-72-72—215  $8,600