The game’s most global golfer finally has a place to call home after Scott Hend claimed a dominant five-stroke win in the PGA TOUR Champions annual visit to Morocco.
The 52-year-old Florida-based Queenslander has made no secret of his burning desire to play a full schedule on the PGA TOUR Champions, something he has now achieved through the end of the 2027 season courtesy of his victory at Trophy Hassan II.
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The first Australian winner in the event’s 50th year, Hend took full advantage of a three-stroke swing just prior to the turn of the final round to set a course for victory.
His birdie at the par-3 ninth as American Tommy Gainey made double-bogey swung the tournament his way, adding three birdies in his final seven holes to cruise to the finish line.
Hend’s 19th career win now gives him triumphs on the DP World Tour, Asian Tour, Canadian Tour, Challenger PGA Tour of Australasia, European Legends Tour and PGA TOUR Champions.
With wife Leanne on site to see him win in person for the first time in more than two decades, Hend is excited to have a full schedule in the US for the first time since he led the PGA TOUR in driving distance in 2005.
“It means the world to me,” Hend said of his PGA TOUR Champions status.
“It means I can be back in the States full time, back in my house, back kicking my kids on the backside when they’re doing things wrong, supporting the wife.
“Just generally feel like I’m competing against the best senior players in the world, it’s an awesome feeling.
“So awesome to have the opportunity to play every single tournament on the Champions Tour, mix it up with these guys and be back in America and just going at it. It’s awesome.”
While he now has a set schedule closer to home, Hend admitted that it is unlikely to stop his globe-trotting ways.
“I’m an ironman, I love it. I love golf, I love playing golf. Golf is me, I’m golf,” Hend added.
Another Aussie with an eye to playing in the US full-time is Kelsey Bennett, who has moved into fourth on the Ladies European Tour.
Played alongside the PGA TOUR Champions event at Royal Golf Dar Es Salam in Morocco, Bennett (pictured) began the final round of the Lalla Meryem Cup with a three-stroke lead but was run down by Canadian teen phenomenon Anna Huang to finish second.
Bennett could have forced a playoff with a par at the final hole but was forced to lay up after finding the fairway bunker with her tee shot and was unable to get up-and-down, allowing Huang to surpass Lydia Ko as the youngest player with three wins in the history of the LET.
Three other Aussies had top-10 finishes this past week; Grant Booth tied fifth at the KIA Open de Ecuador on the PGA TOUR Americas, Haydn Barron tied eighth at the HotelPlanner Tour’s Danish Golf Challenge and Belinda Ji tied ninth at the LET Access Series event in Austria.
Photo: Octavio Passos/Getty Images
Results
PGA TOUR
The CJ CUP Byron Nelson
TPC Craig Ranch, McKinney, Texas
1 Wyndham Clark 66-63-65-60—254 $US1.854m
MC Karl Vilips 70-68—138
MC Cam Davis 74-66—140
DP World Tour
Soudal Open
Rinkven International Golf Club, Antwerp, Belgium
1 Richard Sterne 64-68-68-66—266 €402,686.27
T24 Jack Buchanan 67-70-69-67—273 €23,568.99
T30 Jason Scrivener 67-70-71-66—274 €17,744.04
MC David Micheluzzi 72-68—14
MC Kazuma Kobori (NZ) 69-71—140
MC Anthony Quayle 73-69—142
MC Daniel Hillier (NZ) 72-73—145
MC Ryan Peake 74-72—146
MC Connor McKinney 72-77—149
PGA TOUR Champions
Trophy Hassan II
Royal Golf Dar Es Salam, Rabat, Morocco
1 Scott Hend 66-69-69—204 $US400,000
T2 Steven Alker (NZ) 72-69-68—209 $198,750
T20 Greg Chalmers 71-68-78—217 $30,000
T24 David Bransdon 72-72-74—218 $23,375
T24 Cameron Percy 68-73-77—218 $23,375
T33 John Senden 78-70-72—220 $15,750
T33 Mark Hensby 77-70-73—220 $15,750
T48 Brendan Jones 74-74-76—224 $8,500
T50 Stuart Appleby 72-73-80—225 $7,500
Ladies European Tour
Lalla Meryem Cup
Royal Golf Dar Es Salam (Blue Course), Rabat, Morocco
1 Anna Huang 70-69-66—205 €67,500
2 Kelsey Bennett 68-65-73—206 €40,500
T39 Justice Bosio 74-70-75—219 €2,674.29
T47 Kirsten Rudgeley 74-70-76—220 €2,088
MC Maddison Hinson-Tolchard 77-75—152
MC Stephanie Bunque 79-74—153
MC Momoka Kobori (NZ) 84-73—157
Asian Tour/Korean PGA Tour
Kolon Korea Open
Woo Jeong Hills Country Club, Cheonan, South Korea
1 Jiho Yang 65-67-67-76—275 $US352,609.31
T31 Jack Thompson 72-71-71-76—290 $5,973.20
T34 Maverick Antcliff 77-67-75-72—291 $5,409.03
T34 Jed Morgan 70-70-75-76—291 $5,409.03
T51 Changgi Lee (NZ) 70-74-76-76—296 $3,787.02
MC Sungjin Yeo (NZ) 74-73—147
MC Danny Lee (NZ) 76-73—149
MC Denzel Ieremia (NZ) 76-74—150
MC Kevin Yuan 72-80—152
MC Junseok Lee 76-78—154
MC Cameron John 81-74—155
HotelPlanner Tour
Danish Golf Challenge
Odense Eventyr Golf, Odense, Denmark
1 Tapio Pulkkanen 71-63-63-73—270 €48,000
T8 Haydn Barron 72-65-68-69—274 €7,050
T56 Sam Jones (NZ) 70-70-65-78—283 €1,005
MC Daniel Gale 71-71—142
MC Quinn Croker 73-72—145
MC Hayden Hopewell 69-76—145
MC Dimi Papadatos 74-71—145
Japan Golf Tour
Japan PGA Championship Senko Group Cup
Gamo Golf Club, Shiga
1 Yusaku Hosono 68-65-70-70—273
MC Michael Hendry (NZ) 72-76—148
LET Access Series
Allegria Stegersbach Ladies Open
Sudburgenland of the Allegria Golf Resort, Austria
1 Hanna Tauber 69-69-69—207 €8,000
T9 Belinda Ji 70-73-69—212 €1,150
MC Kristalle Blum 73-77—150
Korn Ferry Tour
Visit Knoxville Open
Holston Hills Country Club, Knoxville, Tennessee
1 Doc Redman 64-64-66-65—259 $US180,000
MC Rhein Gibson 70-68—138
PGA TOUR Americas
KIA Open de Ecuador
Quito Tenis & Golf Club, Quito, Educador
1 Joey Savoie 66-65-67-69—267 $US40,500
Won in sudden-death playoff
T5 Grant Booth 68-66-68-68—270
