Aussies on Tour is a regular roundup of how Australia’s top men and women golfers are performing on the world’s golf tours and is provided by Golf Australia, the PGA of Australia and the WPGA.
Victorian Su Oh is within reach of her best season on the LPGA Tour after finishing in a tie for seventh at the ShopRite LPGA Classic in New Jersey.
Just hours after countrywoman Minjee Lee lost in a playoff at the Korean LPGA’s Hana Financial Group Championship to record successive runner-up finishes, Oh was chasing a breakthrough LPGA Tour title at Seaview’s Bay Course.
Starting the third and final round four shots off the pace, consecutive birdies at the third and fourth holes saw Oh make a positive move up the leaderboard.
Two pars followed but back-to-back bogeys at seven and eight gave the 2016 Olympian too much ground to make up over the final nine holes.
She birdied both par-3s on the back nine to post 3-under 68 and a three-round total of 10-under, four shots adrift of 2019 ISPS HANDA Vic Open winner Celine Boutier.
Runner-up at the Cambia Portland Classic two weeks ago, Oh moved up six spots to be now 40th in the Race to CME Globe standings, her previous best finish coming two years ago when she finished the year in 33rd position.
If Oh’s top-10 finish was a continuation of recent good form Deyen Lawson’s top-30 result at the Alfred Dunhill Links Championship in Scotland was a rare ray of sunshine in what has been a difficult year.
Tied for fifth at the Limpopo Championship on the Challenge Tour in April, Lawson had missed 17 cuts in his previous 19 starts, withdrew at the D+D Real Czech Masters and finished tied for 32nd at the Cazoo Open.
But in bitterly cold conditions very reminiscent of those he would have experienced growing up in Geelong, Lawson revelled in the challenge of three of Scotland’s most famous links courses.
Starting the week with a round of 2-under 70 at Carnoustie, Lawson entered the final round at the Old Course at St Andrews just outside the top 10 but a back-nine of 3-over 39 saw him fall to a share of 27th, a birdie at the famous 18th hole providing slight consolation.
The Aussie who was in real contention for a win on Sunday was cricket legend Shane Warne.
Partnering again with Kiwi Ryan Fox in the pro-am section, the pair shot a blistering final round of 56 to finish tied at the top with Northern Ireland’s Michael Hoey and partner Maeve Danaher, Hoey’s superior individual score breaking the tie.
Elsewhere in Europe Blake Windred earned a share of 10th at the Swiss Challenge on the Challenge Tour, Peter Fowler was tied for 11th at the Farmfoods European Senior Masters and Stephanie Kyriacou was tied for 34th at the Estrella Damm Ladies Open in Spain.
No Aussies made the cut at the PGA Tour’s Sanderson Farms Championship in Mississippi but three have advanced to the Second Stage of the Korn Ferry Tour Qualifying School.
Veteran James Nitties, John Lyras and Justin Warren progressed to Second Stage to be conducted from October 12 with Final Stage to be held in Savanna, Georgia from November 4.
Results
PGA Tour
Sanderson Farms Championship
Country Club of Jackson Jackson, Mississippi
Winner Sam Burns (USA) 68-66-65-67—266 $US1.26m
MC Lucas Herbert 69-74—143
MC Cam Davis 72-74—146
MC Brett Drewitt 75-72—147
European Tour
Alfred Dunhill Links Championship
Old Course St Andrews, Carnoustie & Kingsbarns, Scotland
Winner Danny Willett (ENG) 67-69-66-68—270 €676,337
T27 Deyen Lawson 70-68-70-73—281 €35,198
T51 Brett Rankin 71-72-71-71—285 €16,528
T54 Ryan Fox 75-71-68-72—286 €14,344
58 Min Woo Lee 71-73-70-73—287 €13,350
MC Bryden Macpherson 73-71-72—216
MC Maverick Antcliff 68-78-72—218
MC Josh Geary 70-78-73—221
MC Scott Hend 69-72-80—221
MC Travis Smyth 72-75-74—221
MC Jason Scrivener 74-73-75—222
MC Denzel Ieremia 76-75-72—223
MC Dimitrios Papadatos 70-78-81—229
LPGA Tour
ShopRite LPGA Classic
Seaview (Bay Cse), Galloway, New Jersey
Winner Celine Boutier (FRA) 66-70-63—199 $US262,500
T7 Su Oh 70-65-68—203 $40,437
T34 Katherine Kirk 69-71-68—208 $9,866
T44 Sarah Kemp 71-69-69—209 $7,123
T57 Hannah Green 69-69-73—211 $4,500
MC Sarah Jane Smith 75-77—152
Korean LPGA Tour
Hana Financial Group Championship
Pochun Adonis Golf Country Club, Korea
Winner Song Ga Eun (KOR) 68-68-65-68—269
Won on third hole of sudden death playoff
2 Minjee Lee 64-69-67-69—269
T5 Lydia Ko 70-65-68-68—271
Japan Golf Tour
Vantelin Tokai Classic
Miyoshi Country Club (West Cse), Aichi
Winner Chan Kim (USA) 64-68-69-69—270 ¥22m
T16 Dylan Perry 70-67-71-70—278 ¥1.672m
T54 Anthony Quayle 71-70-71-76—288 ¥268,400
MC Todd Sinnott 72-73—145
MC David Bransdon 76-71—147
Korean PGA Tour
Hyundai Marine & Marine Engineering Choi Kyung-ju Invitational
Ferrum Club, Yeoju, South Korea
Winner Hae-woo Ha (KOR) 67-69-67-70—273 KRW200m
T6 Junseok Lee 67-64-76-72—279 KRW30,966,666
T22 Kevin Chun 70-70-74-71—285 KRW10,000,000
Ladies European Tour
Estrella Damm Ladies Open
Club De Golf Terramar, Spain
Winner Maja Stark (SWE) 74-69-65—208 €37,500
T34 Stephanie Kyriacou 70-77-73—220 €1,887
MC Whitney Hillier 75-74—149
MC Amy Walsh 80-76—156
Challenge Tour
Swiss Challenge
Golf Saint Apollinaire, Michelbach-Le-Haut, France
Winner Marcus Helligkilde (DEN) 65-67-62-69—263 €32,000
T10 Blake Windred 66-67-69-68—270 €3,840
T47 Daniel Hillier 69-71-68-71—279 €848
Symetra Tour
Carolina Golf Classic
Forest Oaks Country Club, Greensboro, North Carolina
Winner Sophia Schubert (USA) 68-64-70-68—270
Won on third hole of sudden death playoff
T11 Robyn Choi 71-66-70-67—274
MC Stephanie Na 72-70—142
MC Julienne Soo 75-68—143
MC Julianne Alvarez 70-74—144
MC Soo Jin Lee 75-74—149
Legends Tour
Farmfoods European Senior Masters
Forest of Arden Marriott Hotel & Country Club, England
Winner Markus Brier (AUT) 70-66-75—211 €50,000
T11 Peter Fowler 74-73-71—218 €5,350
T35 Michael Long 74-77-74—225 €1,529
T47 Michael Campbell 75-79-74—228 €980