Good things come to those who wait, or at least those who play well. In the Ponte Vedra area of northeast Florida both are true for Sydney’s Harrison Endycott with the final round of the PGA Tour Qualifying School that he leads has been delayed 24 hours due to heavy rain.
For the first time since 2012, the PGA Tour is hosting Q-school where tour players are competing for their jobs in 2024. The top five earn 2024 PGA Tour cards while the top 40 eanr exemptions on the Korn Ferry Tour.
Severe storms around TPC Sawgrass soaked both host layouts – Sawgrass Country Club and the Dye’s Valley – forcing the PGA Tour to postpone Sunday’s final round to Monday. Additional rain is forecast, along with gusts expected to blow in the 65km/h range, the decision was made to wait a day partially out of fairness to the competitors who are playing for their livelihoods in 2024. The other reason was because of the work needed to get the courses back into playing shape.
“Due to overnight rainfall, extensive maintenance work is needed on both golf courses,” the tour’s communications account posted on X. “The final round of PGA TOUR Q-School presented by Korn Ferry has been delayed to Monday, Dec. 18th. All starting times will be at their original posted times, beginning at 8:45 a.m. ET.
Endycott, a winner and graduate from the Korn Ferry Tour after the 2022 season, finished the 2022-23 PGA Tour in the 125-150 FedEx Cup category, sending him to Q-School. Playing with the freedom of already having conditional status in 2024 due to that 125-150 category, the 27-year-old shot to the top of the leaderboard sat at 12 under par through three rounds.
“It’s been really solid this week,” he said on Saturday. “Just really been working hard on limiting mistakes. Just done a really good job of that today. I think I didn’t really make a mistake today on a tough day. 18 was very easy to make a mistake this afternoon, and it was nice to make a pretty clutch par on the last.
“I feel really free. Putter feels great. I’m just kind of in a good head space this week. It’s a weird one just because of Q-school and how it’s a different format, just slightly different opportunities for so many different guys.
“Coming into this week for me was a little bit of a freer week, and also being able to trust what I was working on over the last few weeks at home, and it’s a good week to come in and try that.
“I’m playing really, really good golf, really happy where I’m hitting the shots to, where I’m making putts from.”
Endycott’s fellow Australian, Tom Power Horan, was tied-24th through three rounds at two under. Outside of the top five, the next 40 players earn status on the Korn Ferry Tour in 2024.
Meanwhile, on the Asian Tour, Kiama native Travis Smyth signed off on his 2023 season by carding a final-round 65 to finish third at the Saudi Open in Riyadh. He banked a $US63,000 ($A94,000) cheque, bringing his season earnings up to $US628545 ($A938,247.98).
Aussies around the world (courtesy of Australian Golf Media)
PGA TOUR
Q-School (final round postponed), Ponta Vedra Beach
- 1 Harrison Endycott 65-68-65 – 198
- T24 Tom Power Horan 72-72-64 – 208
- T68 John Lyras 78-67-66 – 211
- T109 David Micheluzzi 74-73-68 – 215
- T129 Brett Drewitt 75-70-74 – 219
- T134 Charlie Hillier (NZ) 70-73-79 – 222
- WD Rhein Gibson 74-68-73 – 215
DP World Tour
Mauritius Open, Heritage Reserve GC, Mauritius
- 1 Louis Oosthuizen 68-69-65-69 – 271 €185,672
- T59 Andrew Martin 70-72-74-74 – 290 €3167
- MC Sam Jones (NZ) 71-73 – 144
- MC Haydn Barron 73-74 – 147
Asian Tour
Saudi Open, Riyadh GC
- 1 Denwit Boriboonsub 68-66-68-64 – 266 $180,000
- 3 Travis Smyth 70-67-67-65 – 269 $63,000
- T10 Todd Sinnott 67-67-69-70 – 273 $20,250
- T23 Douglas Klein 69-69-70-69 – 277 $9,400
- T39 Andrew Dodt 73-71-66-69 – 279 $6,400
- T42 Scott Hend 73-69-66-72 – 280 $5,608
- MC Aaron Wilkin 71-75 – 146
- MC Sam Brazel 75-73 – 148
- MC Kevin Yuan 75-76 – 151
Ladies European Tour
Q-School, Morocco (through 2 rounds)
- T37 Momoka Kobori (NZ) 71-72 – 143
- T51 Abbie Teasdale 74-70 – 144
- T51 Munchen Keh (NZ) 71-73 – 144
- T51 Soo Jin Lee 72-72 – 144
- T63 Amy Walsh 75-70 – 145
- T63 Wenyung Keh (NZ) 74-71 – 145
- T138 Kelsey Bennett 77-77 – 154
- T145 Stefanie Hall 74-82 – 156
