St Andrews
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The Australian representation at the 150th Open at St Andrews has received a boost with both Anthony Quayle and Brad Kennedy qualifying at the Gateway To The Open Mizuno Open in Japan.
The 54-hole leader, securing his major championship debut was a significant consolation prize for Quayle who let a four-shot lead slip on the final day, ultimately losing to Zimbabwe’s Scott Vincent at the second playoff hole.
Vincent shot seven-under 65 on the final day to reel in Quayle who could only manage an even-par 72 as another breakthrough Japan Golf Tour title slipped through his fingers.
The Queensland PGA champion in January, Quayle had a putt to win on the first playoff hole but when his par putt slid by the hole on their return trip down the par-5 18th Vincent was able to swoop in and steal victory.
Kennedy shot 70 in the final round to snare outright third position, joining Vincent, Quayle and the Philippines’ Justin Delos Santos in booking a coveted place at The Open.
Quayle struggled to hide his disappointment as he recorded his third top-three finish in Japan but took some solace from securing a spot at St Andrews.
“The 150th Open at St Andrews is probably about as exciting and historic as it gets and as good as it gets for your first major. I am pretty excited,” said Quayle.
“To experience the atmosphere and vibe around the Championship, to see some of the players I have idolised my whole life will be really exciting.”
Kennedy is yet to make the cut in three previous Open appearances in 2011, 2012 and 2021 and is yet to play an Open at the Home of Golf.
“This is two years in a row that I have qualified now and the 150th Open will be my fourth time playing in the Championship,” said Kennedy.
“Playing The Open on the Old Course at St Andrews is one of those golfing moments you always dream about.
“It’s going to be exciting; the crowd is going to be unbelievable.”
The addition of Quayle and Kennedy takes the Aussie contingent at The Open to eight, joining Cameron Smith, Adam Scott, Marc Leishman, Lucas Herbert, Min Woo Lee and Jason Scrivener as exempt players.
Kiwi Ryan Fox is also now exempt after he finished second to Frenchman Victor Perez at the DP World Tour’s Dutch Open.
With a three-shot lead standing on the 18th tee, Fox appeared destined for his second DP World Tour title of the year but a double-bogey to finish and Perez’s birdie bomb at 17 suddenly saw the pair tied at 13-under par.
Perez needed to hole a birdie putt from 20 feet to extend the playoff past the first hole and then snatched victory with a 40-foot birdie putt at the fourth extra hole.
“I don’t know what to say at the end there, I don’t think I’ve seen anything like it,” said Fox, who could do little but watch as Perez drained putt after putt in the playoff.
“I pushed my drive slightly (on 18) but I still felt like it was in the middle of the fairway. I heard it was one roll from staying up (out of the water) and then I probably win the tournament.
“In the playoff I felt like I’d won it at least twice and then Victor holed a couple of amazing putts.
“Nice consolation to get The Open and the US Open out of it as well.
“The Open was a big goal at the start of the year,” Fox added. “I love St Andrews. I played my first Open there in 2015 so I really wanted to get back there for this year.
“I’ve done that now and getting to play the US Open in a few weeks will be really nice.”
Fox wasn’t the only Kiwi with something to celebrate, Steven Alker extending his extraordinary run on the Champions Tour to claim the KitchenAid Senior PGA Championship in Michigan.
Four back at the start of the final round, Alker had nine birdies and a lone bogey to shoot eight-under 63 and win by three strokes from Canadian Stephen Ames (70), Mark Hensby (67) the best of the Aussies in a tie for eighth.
Co-leader after day one, Cameron Davis could only produce a two-over 72 on a difficult final day at the Charles Schwab Challenge at Colonial Country Club in Texas, falling two spots into a share of seventh as Sam Burns edged Scottie Scheffler at the first playoff hole.
Japan Golf Tour
Mizuno Open
JFE Setonaikai Golf Club, Okayama
Winner Scott Vincent 69-72-70-65—276 ¥16m
Won on the second hole of sudden death playoff
2 Anthony Quayle 65-70-69-72—276 ¥8m
3 Brad Kennedy 67-70-71-70—278 ¥5,440,000
T6 Michael Hendry 70-69-71-71—281 ¥2,554,000
T32 David Bransdon 70-70-72-74—286 ¥474,000
T36 Brendan Jones 70-73-72-72—287 ¥376,000
MC Adam Bland 72-73—145
MC Andrew Evans 73-73—146
MC Matthew Griffin 72-77—149
MC Dylan Perry 73-78—151
DP World Tour
Dutch Open
Bernardus Golf, Cromvoirt, Netherlands
Winner Victor Perez 67-70-69-69—275 €297,500
Won on the fourth hole of sudden death playoff
2 Ryan Fox 70-67-70-68—275 €192,500
T14 Scott Hend 70-69-68-76—283 €23,725
MC Jason Scrivener 75-69—144
MC Maverick Antcliff 74-71—145
MC Zach Murray 72-75—147
Champions Tour
KitchenAid Senior PGA Championship
Harbor Shores Resort, Benton Harbor, Michigan
Winner Steven Alker 64-72-69-63—268
T8 Mark Hensby 67-75-67-67—276
T39 Rod Pampling 69-68-75-73—285
T50 David McKenzie 71-74-70-72—287
T50 Stephen Leaney 70-75-74-68—287
T55 Peter Fowler 70-72-72-74—288
T55 Michael Campbell 71-70-74-73—288
MC Stuart Appleby 73-73—146
MC Richard Green 72-74—146
MC John Senden 70-76—146
MC Robert Allenby 79-76—155
WD Andre Stolz
PGA TOUR
Charles Schwab Challenge
Colonial Country Club, Fort Worth, Texas
Winner Sam Burns 71-68-67-65—271
Won on the first hole of sudden death playoff
T7 Cam Davis 66-68-69-72—275
T12 Matt Jones 70-66-71-69—276
T23 Danny Lee 73-64-77-65—279
T48 Lucas Herbert 71-70-70-72—283
MC Min Woo Lee 71-71—142
LPGA Tour
Bank of Hope LPGA Match-Play
Shadow Creek, Las Vegas, Nevada
Round 1
Minjee Lee def. Youngin Chun 6&5
Su Oh lost to Hye-Jin Choi 5&4
Hannah Green def. Haeji Kang 2&1
Round 2
Su Oh def. Lizette Salas 4&3
Hannah Green lost to Jenny Shin 5&3
Minjee Lee lost to Brittany Altomare 2&1
Round 3
Hannah Green tied Sophia Popov
Minjee Lee lost to Caroline Masson 2&1
Su Oh def. Aditi Ashok 1 up
Korn Ferry Tour
NV5 Invitational
The Glen Club, Glenview, Illinois
Winner Harry Hall 65-67-65-65—262
Won on the third hole of sudden death playoff
T13 Aaron Baddeley 65-71-65-69—270
T21 Nick Voke 65-70-73-64—272
T56 Rhein Gibson 69-69-68-73—279
T59 Harrison Endycott 71-67-68-74—280
MC Curtis Luck 70-70—140
MC Brett Drewitt 66-77—143
MC Ryan Ruffels 72-71—143
Challenge Tour
Farmfoods Scottish Challenge supported by The R&A
Newmachar Golf Club, Aberdeenshire, Scotland
Winner Javier Sainz 72-65-71-65—273 €43,271.32
T10 Josh Geary 71-71-67-69—278 €5,341.30
T60 Dimitrios Papadatos 70-70-77-72—289 €824.86
?MC Daniel Hillier 78-66—144
MC Jarryd Felton 70-76—146
MC Deyen Lawson 72-75—147
MC Blake Windred 71-76—147
Ladies European Tour
The Mithra Belgian Ladies Open
Naxhelet Golf Club, Wanze, Belgium
Winner Linn Grant 66-68-67—201 €30,000
T29 Whitney Hillier 69-72-73—214 €1,968
PGA TOUR-Latinoamerica
Jalisco Open GDL
Atlas Country Club, Guadalajara, Mexico
Winner José de Jesús Rodríguez 66-67-72-64—269
T36 Tim Stewart 68-69-73-72—282
Epson Tour
Inova Mission Inn Resort and Club Championship
Mission Inn Resort and Club, Howey-In-The-Hills, Florida
Winner Gina Kim 66-69-73—208 $US30,000
T7 Robyn Choi 70-70-74—214 $5,700
T13 Gabriela Ruffels 74-70-73—217 $3,020
T13 Sarah Jane Smith 72-70-75—217 $3,020
T21 Karis Davidson 76-69-73—218 $2,260
T21 Grace Kim 75-70-73—218 $2,260
T21 Amelia Garvey 72-71-75—218 $2,260
T47 Soo Jin Lee 72-74-75—221 $942
MC Julienne Soo 80-70—150
MC Hira Naveed 78-76—154
MC Stephanie Na 75-80—155
Source: Martin Blake | Australian Golf Media Team