The Back 9 continues this week as the DP World Tour heads up the mountain to the beautiful Crans-sur-Sierre Golf Club for the Omega European Masters.
Canadian Sudarshan Yellamaraju who had a standout rookie season with 7 top 25's on the PGA Tour narrowly missed out on the top50 in the playoffs, but is well placed at the FedEx rankings at #58 and with owgr #109.
With a few weeks off for the Presidents Cup in Chicago and the beginning of the PGA Tour Fall season he has flown to Switzerland to make his DP World Tour debut.
A fellow Canadian Jerry Anderson set the record low score here in 1984 with -27 which stood for many years.
The lone Canadian regular on the DP World Tour, Aaron Cockerill is currently off on medical leave after shoulder surgery, expected back for the 2027 season.
Presidents Cup : September 22-27, Medinah CC, Course No., 3
The regular season is over for the PGA Tour, and for many American golf fans, but there is a bonus with the Presidents Cup being played at Medinah GC in Chicago.
The Presidents Cup golf tournament. (Nathan Denette/The Canadian Press)
Most of the stars from this season, Scheffler, Clark, Young, Gotterup, are stacked into this version of the USA Team, some by there own volition, others by captain Brandt Snedeker's picks.
Either way, having only lost once in 1998, they are overwhelming favourites, especially after many like Scott Scheffler were trounced last year at Bethpage Black.
But wait a minute !! The International team despite all odds has been getting much more competitive, and relishing their role a underdogs, nothing to lose and all that, and this event needs them to win it again, if not make it damn close, or it will never have the jou jou it needs to be exciting.
Consider, USA gets to play every year, Ryder Cup, then Presidents Cup, mostly same guys, team building not an issue, familiarity, language, it is an under reported, important advantage over the International team.
Here is the International Team, 7 countries
Captain Australian Geoff Ogilvy
Canada (2) Corey Conners, Nick Taylor
South Korea (3) Si Woo Kim, Tom Kim, Sungjae Im,
Japan (2) Hideki Matsuyama, Ryo Hisatsune
RSA (1) Christian Bezuidenhout,
Australia (2) Min Woo Lee, Adam Scott,
New Zealand (1) Ryan Fox,
Spain (1) Nico Echavarria
USA Team, 1 country.
Captain Brandt Snedeker
Scott Scheffler, Cameron Young, Wyndham Clark, Sam Burns, Russell Henley, Morikawa
Chris Gotterup, Justin Thomas, Xander Schauffele, Patrick Cantlay, Jackson Koivun, Jacob Bridgeman
The Back 9 continues this week as the DP World Tour heads up the mountain to the beautiful Crans-sur-Sierre Golf Club for the Omega European Masters.
Lawrence defends
Thriston Lawrence claimed an emotional victory as he pulled himself out of a slump in form to win a second title at this event 12 months ago.
Playing his first season as a dual member with the PGA TOUR, he arrived in Switzerland 98th on the Race to Dubai but found his form in spectacular fashion. The South African went into the final round with a one-shot lead but made a bogey-bogey-bogey start to surrender his advantage and fall two behind.
An eagle-birdie run on the driveable sixth and seventh then got him back on track, however, and he added four further birdies for a two-shot victory.
An emotional Lawrence said: "Winning is tough. It's not easy. I was so nervous all day. It always looks so easy but it's not. I'm just so emotional, so happy. It's been a grind all day. Obviously after that start - I tried to give the guys a chance there! But yeah, I'm just so proud of the way I fought out there. Credit to my team and all my sponsors. I'm just so happy."
Back 9 continues
Phase Two of the season continues this week after getting started at last week's Husqvarna British Masters hosted by Sir Nick Faldo. Joe Dean lifted the trophy at The Belfry in an event which started in 1946, with this one predating it by 23 years.
Next week we head to the Amgen Irish Open before the Rolex Series returns at the BMW PGA Championship.
The Alfred Dunhill Links Championship is then sandwiched between two national opens in the FedEx Open de France and Open de España, before the DP World India Championship and Genesis Championship in Korea end the Back 9.
At the end of Phase Two, the top 70 players on the Race to Dubai Rankings will head to the Play-Offs, while the top 100 will secure full playing privileges for next season. It is All to Play For.
History in the mountains
This week's event began as the Swiss Open and is the 13th of 16 national opens on the DP World Tour schedule this season.
It was first held at Crans-sur-Sierre Golf Club in 1948 and has been held there every year since, joining events such as the Hong Kong Open and Masters to be held at the same venue throughout the Tour's history.
It was part of the inaugural schedule in 1972 and has featured every year since barring the Covid-affected campaign of 2020.
Tournament ambassador Miguel Ángel Jiménez has played in 35 of those editions - missing just 2015 since his debut in 1989 - and will this week make his 725th DP World Tour appearance, one behind all-time leader David Howell, who said recently: "If Miguel ends up taking the record it's more than fitting because he's been an absolute legend for our Tour and still plays good golf. I'm sure he's going to overtake me."
Inside the field
As well as Lawrence and Jiménez, there are a host of recent winners battling to take home the trophy. Race to Dubai Rankings leader Patrick Reed will be looking to extend his advantage before closest challenger Rory McIlroy returns to action next week, and he is joined by fellow Masters champions Danny Willett and Sergio Garcia.
Fellow multiple winners in the 2026 season Jayden Schaper, Casey Jarvis and Eugenio Chacarra are also in action along with Ryder Cup winning brothers Rasmus and Nicolai Højgaard.
Add in former winner Matt Wallace, fellow Englishman Marco Penge and in-from PGA TOUR star Ryan Gerard and we should be in for a week to remember.
If you thought golf was finished for 2026 after the weekend's PGA Tour Championship, you were misinformed !
While the PGA Tour likes to wrap their regular season before the NFL season takes over, especially on their major TV Networks, they do have a Fall season mainly for players outside the to 100.
The DP World Tour doesn't finish nearly as early, the Tour Championship in Dubai is on November 12 and they play some glittering, historic Championships along the way.
As always I will be covering ALL of that right here !!! https://fairwaysplus.blogspot.com
DP World Tour : Remember for Rory and the rest of the European Ryder Cup team the focus now returns home for the Back 9 Series beginning with the Irish Open September 10th, culminating with the DP World Tour Championship, Dubai. November 12-15 where Rory will be vying for the record tying 8th time.
They play in Ireland, England (BMW PGA Championship), France, Scotland, Spain, India, South Korea, and the UAE.
NEXT
PGA Tour Fall Season : There are 8 events, mainly for players who are outside the top 100 want to improve their standing to get into the top 70, 60 or 50. They play in Carolina, Georgia, Bermuda, Mexico, Japan, Utah.
This is where you will see Canadians like Ben Silverman, Adam Hadwin, Mac Hughes, Adam Svensson, AJ Ewart, Taylor Pendrith
Also it's Presidents Cup year, USA vs Internationals (without Europe) the top 6 in World ranking are already in, the other 6 will be captains picks named on Tuesday evening for both teams.
September 17-20 Biltmore Championship in Asheville NC...
September 24-27 Presidents Cup Medinah CC, Chicago
Scott Scheffler doesn't need any help, but all his challengers faltered on a hot Sunday afternoon in Atlanta at this years FedEx Cup Tour Championship, leaving the way clear for the Texan to win the 2026 FedEx Tour Championship virtually unchallenged.
Image source,Getty Images
It is a 22nd victory on the PGA Tour, and he ends the season the way he started it, with a victory.
He was the only player in the last 3 groups to break par !!!
Viktor Hovland's putter was outstanding all week, but as was well documented putts for birdies/pars at 14, 15 16 and 17 all did everything but drop, until he ran out of holes as did Young, Gerard, Aberg, Gotterup, leaving a steady but unspectacular Scheffler who shot 66 -16 the way to his 2nd PGA Tour Championship by 3 shots.
That wraps up the year, and likely the Player of the Year to the Texan who collects $23,000,000, then the $10,000,000 .....$33,000,000 folks and he didn't even have his A game all year, 2nd place 5 times, without a Major...
His career total passes Tiger at $130, 390, 661.
Hovland 2nd, shot 72 -13, don't fret, it was worth $5,000,000.
Gerard shot 72 -12 to finish 3rd.
For all the payouts and final scores click on my links above...
DP World Tour : Remember for Rory and the rest of the European Ryder Cup team the focus now returns home for the Back 9 Series beginning with the Irish Open September 10th, culminating with the DP World Tour Championship, Dubai. November 12-15.
They play in Ireland, England (BMW PGA Championship), France, Scotland, Spain, India, South Korea, and the UAE.
NEXT
PGA Tour Fall Season : There are 8 events, mainly for players who are outside the top 100 want to improve their standing to get into the top 70, 60 or 50. They play in Carolina, Georgia, Bermuda, Mexico, Japan, Utah.
This is where you will see Canadians like Ben Silverman, Adam Hadwin, Mac Hughes, Adam Svensson, AJ Ewart.
Also it's Presidents Cup year, USA vs Internationals (without Europe) the top 6 in World ranking are already in, the other 6 will be captains picks named on Tuesday evening for both teams.
September 17-20 Biltmore Championship in Asheville NC...
September 24-27 Presidents Cup Medinah CC, Chicago
Following a weather disrupted first two days at The Belfry, he returned to complete round three at 7.00am Sunday morning eight shots off the lead, picking up two to reduce the gap to seven heading into the final round.
And while the rest of the field battled on a blustery day, Dean made nine more birdies in a 63 which was the lowest round of the week to set the target at -14.
"Today was one of the rare days where everything just felt right and the putts were dropping," said Dean. "Almost like I couldn't do anything wrong. We saw a glimpse of that over the past two, three months, but it kind of faded by back nine or it faded after a few holes. To finally get through the entire round and feel good about it is really nice."
With the final group and closest challenger Marco Penge on the 12th two shots back, the man from Sheffield and new wife and caddie Emily faced a long wait to see if he would lift the trophy.
But big-hitting Penge could not take advantage of the par-five 15th and 17th, leaving Dean as the champion by three shots.
Spaniard Nacho Elvira, Kiwi Daniel Hillier and Danish pair Niklas Nørgaard and Jacob Skov Olsen finished in T2 -11, one ahead of Penge, Northern Irishman Tom McKibbin and German Thomas Rosenmuller all -10.
Dean was on the EuroPro Tour as recently as 2022 and did not play any ranking golf at all in 2023, the same year he earned his DP World Tour card through the Qualifying School.
But he did not tee it up until the following February due to a lack of funds and continued working as a supermarket delivery driver, while also seeking the help of a hypnotist to get him through his issues with international travel.
A runner-up finish in just his second start in his rookie 2023 season in Kenya earned him a cheque for just under 200,000 euros and he went on to make the season-ending DP World Tour Championship thanks to another runner-up finish at the KLM Open.
"All those painful hours and all the work I put into this, it's finally led to something," he said. "I'm happy. "I can't thank Emily enough for what she has to put up with with me. It was bad enough off the course and the lows and stuff like that, but now on the course and off the course.
"I hope I made her proud. I don't know. I'm at a loss for words. I think we're both just really happy and a bit rabbit in the headlights at the minute."
McKibbin joined Penge in posting a 72, -10 while Rosenmuller signed for a 68 -9 to sit a shot ahead of American Davis Bryant, Kiwi Kazuma Kobori, Swede Joakim Lagergren, Dane and 2022 champion Thorbjørn Olesen, Portuguese Daniel Rodrigues and Paraguayan Fabrizio Zanotti all -8.
