[IMAGE: Getty]
Adam Scott’s remarkable run of appearances in the PGA Tour’s season-ending playoffs has come to an end but two Australians – Cam Davis and Jason Day – are into the big-money tournaments beginning this week in Memphis.
Scott only missed his 17th consecutive playoff berth narrowly; he bolted around in 7-under-par 63 to finish tied-seventh at the Wyndham Championships in North Carolina today but fell just short.
Having started the week in 80th spot and needing to get inside the top 70, his ultimate Fedex Cup finish was 72nd.
It is the first year that the tour has mandated that only the top 70 progress to the playoffs. Previously the top 125 on the points list qualified, and Scott’s absence leaves only American Matt Kuchar as having qualified for every edition of the Fedex Cup playoff series.
Scott was philosophical about the end of the streak after his round.
“I think I’m actually getting to the point where, you know, I’ve got to put that stuff aside and, you know, not play to keep a streak of playing playoffs going but play to win stuff, not just be there to make the numbers up,” he said.
“So if it does end, I think it’s a good thing. I think it gives me a good chance to have a look at what I need to do differently to be more competitive in whatever competition I’m playing in.”
His next event is the Japan Open.
Davis admitted the week had been stressful, but he was delighted to achieve his goal.
“Well, it was all on my mind. I knew,” he said.
“I was hoping to get as far up there as I could after last week and when I saw it just edged over the line, I thought, well, I don’t know what number I need to finish this week, but I want to just try and win the tournament and get as high up as I can, then find out at the end. So I didn’t look at the leaderboard all week, I didn’t know where I stood projection-wise, I just wanted to finish off the tournament and I knew where I finished today should be plenty.’’
Day was already safe and finished the regular season in 11th position, having won the Byron Nelson tournament earlier this season.
Davis did everything that he needed to do with two good weeks to finish. He was also tied-seventh in North Carolina with four rounds in the 60s and his Fedex Cup finish of 69th ensures that he will continue at the $US20 million St Jude Championship in Tennessee this week.
But he will need to play well to continue the run; only the top 50 from the St Jude qualify for the BMW Championship, also worth $US20 million, the following week.
Cameron Percy, Harrison Endycott and Aaron Baddeley are out of the running, having teed it up in Greensboro hoping to play their way into the season-enders.
But they can compete for top-125 status and playing rights for next season in the FedExCup Fall, which begins September 14-17 and runs until November.
Three Australians finished inside the top 15 at the LPGA Tour’s Women’s Scottish Open in the build-up to this week’s AIG Women’s Open in the United Kingdom.
Veteran Sarah Kemp was the best of them in a tie for ninth.
On the Epson Tour Australia’s Gabriela Ruffels continued her stellar season with a tied-fourth in Indiana, and she remains on top of the standings and ready to graduate to the LPGA Tour in 2024.
The unluckiest Aussie loser of the weekend was another veteran, Scott Hend, who reached the 18th tee at the Asian Tour’s Indonesia Open in a tie for the lead but hit his tee shot out of bounds. The resulting double bogey pushed him back to a tie for second.
RESULTS
PGA TOUR
Wyndham Championship
Sedgefield Country Club, Greensboro, North Carolina
• 1 Lucas Glover 66-64-62-68 – 260 $US1,368 million
• T7 Adam Scott 65-71-69-63 – 268 $223,060
• T7 Cam Davis 68-67-67-66 – 268 $223,060
• MC Cameron Percy 69-70 – 139
• MC Harrison Endycott 75-68 – 143
• MC Aaron Baddeley 75-68 – 143
LPGA Tour
Women’s Scottish Open
Dundonlald Links, Ayrshire, Scotland
• 1 Celine Boutier 69-68-66-70 – 273 $US300,000
• T9 Sarah Kemp 69-68-72-70 – 279 $41,824
• T13 Minjee Lee 80-66-68-66 – 280 $35,318
• T13 Stephanie Kyriacou 76-67-71-66 – 280 $35,318
• MC Karis Davidson 78-70 – 148
Epson Tour
French Lick Resort Charity Classic
French Lick, Indiana
• 1 Jiwon Jeon 72-64-66-71 – 273 $50,250
• T4 Gabriela Ruffels 70-69-69-73 – 281 $16,243
• 28 Robyn Choi 76-69-71-73 – 289 $3,283
• T38 Hira Naveed 73-74-73-72 – 292 $2,247
• MC Cassie Porter 71-78 – 149
• MC Sarah Jane Smith 80-70 – 150
Asian Tour
Mandiri Indonesia Open
Pondok Indah Golf Course, Indonesia
• 1 Nitithorn Thippong 66-65-67-72 – 270 R90,000
• T2 Scott Hend 65-69-70-68 – 272 R37,166
• T19 Douglas Klein 70-68-68-72 – 278 R5,467
• T19 Tom Power Horan 70-70-65-73 – 278 R5,467
• T33 Terry Pilkidaris 68-69-71-72 – 280 R3,600
• T48 Deyen Lawson 69-71-75-67 – 282 R2,450
• T51 Josh Younger 72-70-69-72 – 253 R2,150
• T62 Marcus Fraser 69-73-75-73 – 290 R1,525
• MC Todd Sinnott 72-71 – 143
• MC Daniel Ieremia (NZ) 68-76 – 144
• MC Jack Thompson 72-73 – 145
• MC Harrison Gilbert-Wong 72-73 – 145
• MC Ben Campbell (NZ) 74-72 – 146
• MC Sam Brazel 73-74 – 147
• MC Jack Murdoch 74-73 – 147
• MC Nick Voke (NZ) 78-73 – 150
LIV Golf
LIV Golf-Greenbrier
The Old White at The Greenbrier, White Sulphur Springs, West Virginia
• 1 Bryson DeChambeau 68-61-58 – 187 $US4 million
• T32 Matt Jones 66-68-70 – 204 $162,500
• T32 Marc Leishman 70-66-68 – 204 $162,500
• T32 Cameron Smith 69-64-71 – 204 $162,500
• T38 Danny Lee (NZ) 71-67-69 – 207 $141,250
• T46 Jed Morgan 73-69-69 – 211 – $123,750
Japan Golf Tour
Yokohama Minato Championship
Yokohama Country Club, Kanagawa
• 1 Keita Nakajima 69-69-67-66 – 271 ¥20,000,000
• T9 Dylan Perry 69-69-70-68 – 276 ¥2,720,000
• T25 Adam Bland 70-67-72-72 – 281 ¥761,250
• T42 Andrew Evans 72-67-76-70 – 285 ¥360,000
• MC Brad Kennedy 76-69 – 145
• MC Anthony Quayle 74-77 – 151
Korn Ferry Tour
Utah Championship
Oakridge Country Club, Farmington, Utah
• 1 Roger Sloan 66-65-63-66 – 260 $US180,000
• T12 Curtis Luck 67-63-66-71 – 267 $17,687
• T61 Dimi Papadatos 65-70-71-69 – 275 $4,000
• MC Brett Drewitt 72-70 – 142
Challenge Tour
British Challenge
St Mellion Estate, Cornwall, England
• 1 Alex Fitzpatrick 72-66-70-68 – 276 €42,756
• T25 Ryan Ruffels 70-72-73-72 – 287 €2,351
• MC Jordan Zunic 72-75 – 147
PGA TOUR Canada
Windsor Championship
Ambassador Golf Club, Windsor, Ontario
• 1 Sam Choi 66-62-67-64 – 259 Prize payout N/A
• T33 Jason Hong 70-65-69-66 – 270
• T49 Cory Crawford 63-72-70-68 – 273
• MC Jack Trent 70-72 – 142
Legends Tour
The JCB Championship
JCB Golf and Country Club, Rocester, England*
• 1 Peter Baker 69-69 – 138 Prize payout N/A
• T3 Steve Alker (NZ) 71-69 – 140
• T8 Rod Pampling 68-75 – 143
• T8 Jason Norris 70-73 – 143
• 40 Michael Long (NZ) 77-72 – 149
• T41 Peter Fowler 74-76 – 150
• T67 Peter O’Malley 79-77 – 156
• 74 Michael Campbell (NZ) 76-82 – 158
*Third round abandoned
