LeBlanc moves to T4 at LPGA Tour School final stage

LPGA Tour Q School leaderboard https://qs.lpga.com/reports/?tourn=0021&report=https://qs.lpga.com/tic/tmscores.cgi?tourn=0021~season=2017~params=P*2ESC02~

Maude Aimee LeBlanc 72 69 -3 has moved up into a T4 after 2 rounds at LPGA International in Daytona Beach in this final stage of the LPGA Tour School as she attempts to gain full status for the 2018 season.

She is just 3 shots off the lead held by American Marissa Steen who is at -6 71,67.

The other Canadians aren't going so well. Brittany Marchand 73 74 +3, Elizabeth Tong 76 72 +4, Augusta James 74 74 +4, Samantha Richdale 73 77 +6, Jennifer Ha 76 82 +12, Lorie Kane 78 82 +16.

Top 70 and ties will make the cut on Saturday.

Bryan Angus

Mike Weir is playing this week in the Australian PGA Championship

European Tour Australian PGA Championship leaderboard http://www.europeantour.com/europeantour/season=2018/tournamentid=2017096/leaderboard/index.html#/leaderboard

Summer is in full blast down under in Australia and so is the Australasian tour, last week in Sydney it was the Emirates Australian Open won by Aussie Cameron Davis.

This week they are playing the Australian PGA Championship on the RACV Royal Pines Resort course in a city called Gold Coast which is in the state of Queensland, southeast of the state capital Brisbane, on the east coast.

That's where you will find our own Mike Weir, who will turn 48 in May, and has an OWGR of 1928. He continues to play top competitive golf here and there wherever he gets an invitation as a past major winner, the 2003 Masters of course.

He played and finished T35 back in August at the Fiji International organized in part by his friend Vijay Singh who you will remember beat Mike in that memorable 2004 Canadian Open at the Abbey on the 3rd playoff hole.

He also shows up from time to time on invitation in Europe and plays over here each year at the Pebble Beach Pro-Am, and the Northern Trust which he won twice at Riviera, amongst others. After taking time away from the game in 2015 to be with his daughters after his divorce from his wife Bricia and to get fit and healthy again he has returned with their blessing to resume his career.

His net worth is estimated at $32.5m. Weirsy as he is known to one and all is in that twilight zone of pro golf, late 40's waiting until he turns 50 on May 12, 2020 to join the Champions Tour, if in fact he decides to do that, and I suspect he will.

He needs reps under competitive conditions, and he won't get that until he turns 50, unless he catches lightning in a bottle and wins. He says the injuries to his left elbow tendon and wrist have "derailed his career", forcing him to change his swing with a few coaches including David Leadbetter.

He has exhausted his 2 career money list exemptions, and his major medical exemption for the PGA Tour.

As for this week Sergio Garcia is the highest ranked player and he is T3 after an opening -5 67 a shot behind 2 Aussies, Jordan Zunic and Adam Bland, both with 66's.

Bryan Angus

LeBlanc leads Canadian scoring at LPGA Tour Q school

LPGA Tour qualifying school https://qs.lpga.com/reports/?tourn=0021&report=https://qs.lpga.com/tic/tmscores.cgi?tourn=0021~season=2017~params=P*1SRC01~

There are seven Canadian women playing this week at LPGA International in Daytona Beach Florida, the final stage of LPGA Tour qualifying school led by Maude Aimee LeBlanc who is T30 at E 72, four shots off the lead.

A cut of the low 70 and ties will be made on Saturday.

Follow their scores on the link above, they are Lorie Kane +6 78, Jennifer Ha +4 76, Samantha Richdale +1 73 T45, Augusta James +2 74, Brittany Marchand +1 73 T45,  and Elizabeth Tong +4 76 along with LeBlanc.

Bryan Angus

Tiger haters....your main man is back..

Hero World Challenge leaderboard https://www.pgatour.com/competition/2018/hero-world-challenge/leaderboard.html

For all the Tiger haters out there.. your main man is back.. again, albeit at his own personal 18 man Hero World Challenge hit and giggle in the Bahamas, well after the real season is over and with no schedule for a return to the main tour.

As always he looks fabulously fit, huge arms, firm abs, all of which belie all the knee and back surgeries, plus other ailments that along with his personal humiliation have led to his demise.

In his press conference he said he is "excited to be able to use a club for something other than a crutch and to be able to play the game he loves so dearly with his friends in a competitive setting".  He says he is finally pain-free and swinging well.

For all you haters out there, no one can deny Tiger Woods was golf for over a decade Now, virtually off the world rankings he once owned, ranked 1,193rd in the world he is back in the headlines, as he always is, and that for many that was the problem.

I for one as you know railed against the blanket coverage my colleagues lavished upon him for the sake of ratings and at the expense of the game or tournament he was playing. It drove the haters crazy that he was the news even when he shot 84, never mind who was leading. His shadow was simply to big.

Well his era is over, and the game has continued to grow and flourish in the emergence of his absence with a slew of young super stars like Rory, Rickie, Justin, Jason etal. But remember they are all prospering in the wake of his historic career.

Love him or hate him, there as usual will be many thousands who will flip the channel over to see how Tiger is doing, or what he is doing in his little tournament in the Bahamas, when normally they never would.... and that is good for golf.

Bryan Angus

Day falters, Cameron Davis charges to win Australian Open

Emirates Australian Open final scoreboard http://www.golf.org.au/scores

Cameron Davis lived the dream for four and a half hours at The Australian today, and he is now an Emirates Australian Open champion.

Davis, the 22-year-old Sydney player who has had a difficult first year as a professional, bolted around the layout in just 64, the lowest round of the day by three shots, to post -11 closing it with a birdie from close range at the 18th hole.

He then waited on the practice range as a string of players behind him tried to match his score. Another Sydneysider, Matt Jones, had a long eagle putt at the last to force a playoff, but burned the hole and was left a shot away.

But the closest was Sweden’s Jonas Blixt, who hit his third shot at the par-five 18th to the fringe of the green, just four metres beyond the cup with a chance to force a playoff but he left his birdie attempt just short, and had to settle for T2 with Jones.

Davis, a product of the Roseville and Monash golf clubs in Sydney’s northern beaches, emerged from the New South Wales elite amateur programs and becomes the youngest Australian winner since Aaron Baddeley in 2000 at 19 years old. He earns a start in the Open Championship at Carnoustie and may find himself with a few invitations to play around the world and now he will head to the final stage of the Web.com Tour school.

Jordan Spieth closed with 67 and smiled and said all the right things to the huge crowds that came to see him play.

As for Jason Day he began the final round  with a one-shot lead but fell away to be virtually out of contention through the 13^th hole  ultimately carding +2 73 to finish fifth on his return to the national championship. His last win world wide, was at the Players in 2016.

He just played poorly, hitting six fairways and just seven greens on a day when he felt that any score in the 60s would have won it for him.

"It’s obviously a little bit disappointing to come out and not finish it, but I’ve just got to kind of look back on it and see what I need to do for next time, because you can’t be perfect all the time and I played three terrific rounds actually, the first three rounds, and I just didn’t put it together on Sunday"

Martin Blake @theAustralian

Journeyman Aussie Wade Ormsby wins UBS Hong Kong Open

European Tour UBS Hong Kong Open leaderboard http://www.europeantour.com/europeantour/season=2018/tournamentid=2017095/leaderboard/index.html#/leaderboard

It wasn't pretty but when they added up all the scores Wade Ormsby prevailed from a dramatic final day in Fanling to claim his first European Tour title at the UBS Hong Kong Open.

The Australian entered the fourth round a shot behind SSP Chawrasia and when he turned in level-par 34, he was four behind his Indian rival.

In one of many turning points Chawrasia who had led all the way, triple-bogeyed the ninth to bring a host of players back into contention and Ormsby held a two-shot lead as he stood on the 18th fairway at Hong Kong Golf Club.

In the group behind, Rafa Cabrera Bello birdied the 17th to pile on the pressure and a closing three-putt bogey from Ormsby left the duo in a tie at -11.

Cabrera Bello then put his second shot in the bunker at the front of the final green and when he failed to get up and down, the title was Ormsby's.

Alexander Björk, Paul Peterson and Julian Suri finished alongside Cabrera Bello T2 at -10.

 

Ormsby played his first season on the European Tour in 2004 after coming through the Qualifying School and he has done that four times since in a career that has also seen him struggle with injury at times but with this victory the 37 year old will now have an exemption until 2020. He hadn't won in 264 tournaments.

"It means a lot to me," said a tearful Ormsby. "I've played a lot of golf in Europe, everywhere, and a few bumps along the way but it's pretty cool to get a win this late in your career. I didn't think it would take this long but first one's always pretty special. I said at the start of last year, I want to play a Major and win a tournament before my career is done so I've done both those things this year. I'm really happy about that.

europeantour.com

Jason Day revives 2017 season in Sydney

Emirates Australian Open leaderbaord http://www.golf.org.au/scores

Jason Day has returned home  to Australia and after 3 rounds is looking more like the young man who in 2015 shot to #1 in the world than the shadow of himself so far in 2017. He leads the Emirates Australian Open after rounds of 66 68 69 -10 at the Australian Club in Sydney

Remember 2015 when after cruising to victory at the BMW Championship, he became the hottest player on the PGA Tour and the world #1. The 6 shot win at Conway Farms was Day's fourth win in six starts dating back to the RBC Canadian Open, and it bumped former world No. 1 Rory McIlroy to No. 2 while Jordan Spieth dropped to No. 3.

Well those days are gone but maybe his return down under has turned his game around.

Jordan Spieth continues to be one of the few top players to travel down under as a past champion and he has shot 70 71 70 -2 T13..

Bryan Angus