Aussies on Tour: Three advance to Q-School finals
Aussies on Tour: Davidson, Scrivener, and Warren advance to US Q-School finals
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 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 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 (FRA) 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 (JPN) 64-68-68-65—265 $US1.791m
T18 Matt Jones
LPGA Tour
BMW Ladies Championship
LPGA International Busan, Republic of Korea
Winner Jin Young Ko (KOR) 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
T79 Sarah Kemp 76-72-72-71—291 $3,503
European Tour
Mallorca Golf Open
Golf Santa Ponsa, Balearic Islands, Spain
Winner Jeff Winther (DEN) 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 (KOR) 66-67-64-70—267
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 (NZL) 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 (FRA) (a) 71-71-74—216 ——
T34 Kristalle Blum 76-79-
Champions Tour
Dominion Energy Charity Classic
The Country Club of Virginia, Richmond, Virginia
Winner Bernhard Langer (GER) 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