Aussies Of The Month: Seniors’ Moment
The Australian contingent on senior tours around the world continues to be a force. There are quite a few recognisable names – Cam Percy, Michael Wright, Steve Allan, Mark Hensby and Richard Green – performing well on the PGA Tour Champions, while Scott Hend has been excellent on the European senior circuit. Without doubt, they are outperforming the group of younger Aussie men on the PGA Tour, with the exception of Karl Vilips and Min Woo Lee winning on the top US circuit within the space of a few weeks earlier this year.
Recently, there have been a good number of Aussies teeing up in senior majors, with Wright finishing eighth recently at The Tradition before the next week saw another major being held when the Senior PGA Championship travelled to Congressional Country Club. Percy [above] finished seventh at the famed Washington DC-area course. He then backed it up with a T-2 at the next PGA Tour Champions event, losing a playoff to the evergreen Miguel Angel Jimenez.
To top off the global over-50s charge by Australians, the big-hitting, always-entertaining Hend bagged the 17th professional title of his career at the Barbados Legends event. Well done, lads. And to think the Senior British Open is approaching at the classic Sunningdale (Old) course in England. I like the Aussie group’s chances there.
Golfers In The News
Look out for these two names: Australian star amateurs, and former Cameron Smith Scholarship recipients, Billy Dowling and Kayun Mudadana, both fared well at the recent Scottish Men’s Open Championship at North Berwick Golf Club. It’s one of the most prestigious amateur tournaments in the UK and Dowling, the halfway leader, finished second while Mudadana was third. That came a week after Dowling ran fifth at the English Men’s Open Amateur Stroke Play Championship.
Dynamic duo: Is this the next sibling star duo in professional golf after Minjee Lee and Min Woo? New Zealand sibling pair Kazuma Kobori and his sister, Momoka [both above], have been quietly posting solid results on the DP World Tour and Ladies European Tour, respectively. Recently, Kazuma, a former accomplished amateur who as a pro won the 2023-2024 PGA Tour of Australasia Order of Merit, earned a T-25 at the DP World Tour’s Soudal Open in Belgium the same week that Momoka was T-10 at the Jabra Ladies Open at the Evian Resort Golf Club in France.
Junior success in Asia: A shout-out to South Australian amateur Raegan Denton, who finished third in the girls tournament at the recent Asia-Pacific Golf Confederation Junior Championship at Hong Kong Golf Club’s Old course.
Time warp: Geoff Nicholas extended his remarkable legacy by winning another Australian Amputee Open, 21 years after his first, at Coolangatta Tweed Heads Golf Club. The inaugural champion in 2004 and Hall of Fame inductee, Nicholas shot rounds of 76-76-80 to claim a dominant 16-shot victory in the gross event. Stephen Prior, level with Nicholas at last year’s Vic Amputee Open, finished second, with Daniel Spencer third. Dave Hendren won the net event and leg class, thanks to a stand-out net 69 in the second round.
Birdie Of The Month
Marc Leishman is playing great golf in 2025, having won LIV Golf Miami at the brutal Blue Monster course at Doral, and he recently punched his ticket to his first major since the 2022 Open Championship at St Andrews, before he’d joined LIV. The man from Warrnambool endured 36 holes of US Open final qualifying before icing a three-players-for-two-placed playoff to enter the field at Oakmont Country Club. Leishman’s most recent US Open start, in 2022, was his best result in the event, a T-14 at Brookline. “It’s an experience I’d probably rather not have to deal with – 38 holes in a day,” he told Australian reporters before Oakmont. “It isn’t the easiest, but [I’m] just happy to have it be worthwhile. I’m happy to gain some confidence out of [final qualifying] and hit some good shots when I really needed to.”
Bogey Of The Month
Fox Sports’and Kayo’s coverage of the PGA Championship at Quail Hollow did not begin until 3am on the first two days (Friday and Saturday, Australian time). This is one of the four biggest championships in men’s golf, and several of the Australians were teeing off about 9pm to 10pm. That coverage window is just not good enough. The Masters has become the most watchable major while the Open Championship TV coverage begins with the first group at 3:30pm (6:30am UK time) on the first two days.
Vale
The Australian golf community was saddened to hear of the passing of John Higson on May 25. He was 91 and a member of The Australian Golf Club for an impressive 73 years. Higson served as club captain and committee member and was bestowed the honour of life membership in 2010. His contributions to golf were immense, and to mention just a couple, he managed the New South Wales team from 1977 to 1986, while his dedication to elite amateur golf was honoured internationally when he was appointed non-playing captain of the Australian Eisenhower Trophy team in 1980. The side, which included Tony Gresham, John Kelly, Jeff Senior and Peter Sweeney, finished fifth behind a US team that included eventual major winners Bob Tway and Hal Sutton. Awarded life membership of the NSW Golf Association in 1986, Higson was also a familiar face and voice at the Australian Open, where he served as a starter for many years. Higson’s dedication, leadership and love for the game leave an enduring legacy in Australian golf.
Photography by Mike Mulholland, Lintao Zhang, Andy Cheung, Lauren Sopourn/Getty images