Min Woo Lee’s future on the US PGA Tour is just about assured, 22 year old Grace Kim had her best ever women’s Major finish, and Rod Pampling and Richard Green continued their great form on the US Champions Tour. All part of an Aussies on Tour wrap by Martin Blake
Min Woo Lee’s third top-10 of the season in America had more significance than the $US525,000 in prizemoney that the Australian picked up for his excellent play in the Travelers Championship.
Lee, 24, now knows that he is going to the PGA Tour next season as a member; it’s just a matter of what category he will have.
The Royal Fremantle product logged four rounds in the 60s at TPC River Highlands yesterday, closing with a 67 to finish tied-ninth behind Keegan Bradley.
With his tied-fifth at the US Open the week before, and his tie for sixth at the Players Championship at Sawgrass in March, with a top-20 finish in the PGA Championship for good measure, the talented, young Perth player is accumulating non-member points at a rate that will see him play his way on to the tour in 2024 with full playing rights.
It is the same track followed by Cameron Smith when he joined the Tour in 2014.
Lee already has temporary membership for the rest of this season, which gives him unlimited sponsors’ invitations, but the bigger picture includes next year.
Lee went into the Travelers with 313 non-member points in the Fedex Cup race, needing to be ahead of the 125th-ranked member this season to get his card.
According to coach Ritchie Smith, Lee is already as good as guaranteed a card via his high status on the DP World Tour, where he is ranked fifth on points overall.
Under the recent agreement between Europe and America, the top 10 DP World Tour players not already exempt will get US Tour cards for the following season.
Given that Rory McIlroy (ranked 1st) and Jon Rahm (2nd) are already PGA Tour members, it puts Lee in what appears to be an unassailable position. Now ranked back inside the top 50 in the world, he has starts in the Scottish Open and the Open Championship at Royal Liverpool to consolidate his position.
“He knows he’s getting a card, but he doesn’t know what category,” said Smith. “He’s not going to get many more US Tour starts this season, so he has to make the most of those. He has the Open Championship to come. I’d like to see him continue to play a bit in Europe. I’m a big believer in getting through each stage along the way. But he needs that constant influsion of confidence.”
Lee heads to Europe this week for the British Masters on the DP World Tour.
The other highlight of the week for Aussies was Grace Kim’s career-best finish in a major at the KPMG Women’s PGA Championship in New Jersey.
The 22-year-old Golf Australia Rookie Squad member playing her first full season on the LPGA Tour finished 14th in the year’s second major, while world No. 5 Minjee Lee fell away in round three after threatening to contend.
Another Australian to bob up prominently was Brendan Jones, who finished fourth on the Asian Tour.
Results
LPGA Tour
KPMG Women’s PGA Championship, New Jersey
- 1 – Ruoning Yin 67-73-69-67- 276 $US1,500,000
- 14 Grace Kim 70-73-69-69 – 281 $147,571
- T20 Minjee Lee 72-67-75-69 – 283 $104,451
- T24 Gabriela Ruffels 73-71-68-72 – 284 $86,483
- T57 Lydia Ko (NZ) 74-73-72-71 – 290 $25,395
- T61 Steph Kyriacou 75-71-74-71 – 291 $22,040
- T68 Hannah Green 75-71-75-71 – 292 $19,644
- MC Sarah Kemp 77-71 – 148
- MC Karis Davidson 74-78 – 152
- MC Su Oh 82-77 – 159
PGA Tour
Travelers Championship, Connecticut
- 1 – Keegan Bradley 62-63-64-68 – 257 $3,600,000
- T9 Min Woo Lee 66-65-65-67 – 263 $525,000
- T15 Lucas Herbert 67-64-66-68 – 265 $335,000
- T19 Adam Scott 62-68-65-71 – 266 $245,800
- T33 Cam Davis 65-70-71-63 – 269 $109,000
- T45 Jason Day 71-64-66-70 – 271 $61,200
DP World Tour
BMW International Open, Munich
- 1 – Thriston Lawrence 71-69-66-69 – 275 €310,993
- 3 Daniel Hillier (NZ) 68-67-71-71 – 277 €87,078
- MC Blake Windred 79-73 – 152
- MC Elvis Smylie 77-82 – 159
PGA Tour Champions
Dick’s Sporting Goods Open, New York
- 1 – Padraig Harrington 69-66-63 – 198 $315,000
- T12 Rod Pampling 69-69-69 – 207 $39,200
- T12 Richard Green 68-69-70 – 207 $39,200
- T47 John Senden 72-72-71 – 215 $6,720
- T60 David McKenzie 70-75-74 – 219 $3,570
Epson Tour
Island Resort Championship, Michigan
- 1 – Tsai Ching Tseng 66-70-65 – 201 $33,750
- 5 Hira Naveed 70-67-69 – 206 $9,767
- MC Amelia Garvey (NZ) 76-70 – 146
- MC Sarah Jane Smith 73-73 – 146
- MC Emily Mahar 76-73 – 149
- MC Jess Whitting 74-80 – 154
Korn Ferry Tour
Compliance Solutions Championship, Oklahoma
- 1 – Jimmy Stanger 67-66-67-66 – 266 $180,000
- T41 Curtis Luck 69-70-69-70 – 278 $4,718
- T53 Rhein Gibson 70-68-70-72 – 280 $4,200
- MC Brett Drewitt
- MC Steven Bowditch
- WD Dimi Papadatos
Japan Tour
Japan Players Championship, Tochigi
- 1 – Hideto Tanahara (playoff) 67-65-66-66 – 264 ¥10,000,000
- T61 Anthony Quayle 70-70-69-72 – 281 ¥112,500
- MC Matt Griffin 73-68 – 141
- MC Andrew Evans 71-71 – 142
- MC Adam Bland 75-69 – 144
Challenge Tour
Open de Bretagne, Pleneuf, France
- 1 – Stuart Manley 68-62-71-70 – 271 €43,200
- MC Jordan Zunic 70-76 – 146
Ladies European Tour
Czech Ladies Open, Prague
- 1 – Diksha Dagar 69-65-69 – 203 $US45,000
- T32 Kirsten Rudgeley 71-73-70 – 214 $2,418
- T45 Wengyung Keh (NZ) 70-74-71 – 215 $1,626
- T54 Momoka Kabori (NZ) 70-74-73 – 217 $1,210
- MC Whitney Hillier 78-71 – 149
Asian Tour
Kolon Korea Open, Cheonan
- 1 – Seung Su Han 66-69-72-71 – 278 $370,370
- 4 Brendan Jones 70-69-75-72 – 286 $28,888
- T13 Junseok Lee 72-71-68-77 – 288 $10,174
- T40 Kevin Yuan 73-69-77-77 – 296 $4,451
- T45 Wonjoon Lee 73-71-75-78 – 297 $4,044
- T61 Scott Hend 75-72-76-84 – 307 $3,007
- MC Terry Pilkadaris 74-75 – 149
- MC Zach Murray 72-77 – 149
PGA Tour Canada
Elk Ridge Saskatchewa, Waskesiu Lake
1 – John Pak 66-64-66-63 – 259 $40,500
T63 Jason Hong 68-68-72-72 – 280 $N/A
MC Jack Trent 72-67 – 139
MC Cory Crawford 74-78 – 152
PGA Tour Latinoamerica
Galisco Open, Guadalajara, Mexico
- 1 – Jose de Jesus Rodriguez 66-68-65-65 – 264 $N/A
- MC Harry Hillier (NZ) 70-70 – 140
- MC Daniel Ieremia (NZ) 72-73 – 145
- MC Charlie Hillier (NZ) 75-75 – 150
Legends Tour
Irish Legends, Louth, Ireland
- 1 – Peter Baker 66-63-69 – 198 $N/A
- 3 Michael Long (NZ) 70-70-69 – 209
- T18 Michael Campbell (NZ) 67-77-74 – 218
- 25 Peter Fowler 71-76-72 – 219
- T29 Jason Norris 78-70-73 – 221
Story: Martin Blake | Australian Golf Media Team