“Yes” screamed the front page of our largest daily newspaper, the New Zealand Herald. This, they claimed, was “Our Greatest Sporting Weekend”. Well, hard to disagree with that blunt summary of a couple of days of remarkable international achievements by our yachties, women cricketers,
netballers and our male cricketers.
Sadly, none of our leading golfers were able to join the party. Most of them were in action and performed well enough but not enough to match or surpass that America’s Cup win, the World Women’s Cricket T20 title, the historic test win by our male cricketers over India and a huge Silver Ferns netball win over their archrivals, Australia.
Ironically, Ryan Fox was hard at work in the entertainment capital of the USA, Las Vegas. A win in ‘Sin City’ would have given him ample reasons to have partied long and hard on the Strip. As it was, he acquitted himself admirably over the four days with rounds of 70, 69, 65 and 69 at the Shriners Children’s Championship. It was one of those typical roller coaster weeks for Ryan, plundering a sack full of birdies over the four days, spliced unfortunately with a few double bogeys and a scattering of bogeys. However, his tie for 34 th place has done him no harm as he endeavors to secure his playing rights for the USPGA Tour next year. He must finish by year’s end inside the top 125 list of players. Currently he is 25 spots inside that 125 mark. This week he’s on the move again, pitching up in Chiba, Japan for the rich Zozo Championship worth US$8.5 million. His overall form in recent weeks has been pretty solid with good consistent finishes. What he would like to do this week is break out of those midfield finishes and nail down for himself a top 20 or better still a top 10 finish. That scenario would definitely confirm his playing status on the US Tour next year.
Also in that part of the world has been Lydia Ko, who trekked back to her homeland for the BMW Ladies Championship which forms part of the USLPGA Tour. Lydia continued with her hot streak of the past couple of months, jumping out with rounds of 67 and 66 to put her within a couple of shots of the lead at the halfway stage, then almost inexplicably her putter went cold and she could do no better than see out the weekend with a pair of 71’s and a tie for 12 th place, her lowest finishing position in her last six tournaments which of course have included 3 wins. Her work off the tee and iron play in Korea was almost flawless. She retains her 3 rd place on the world rankings behind Nelly Korda and Liliana Vu. This week the LPGA Tour moves to Malaysia for the Maybank Championship. At the time of writing this column the field for the Malaysian event has not been released. Hopefully Lydia, given the form she is in, will want to line up again this week and keep that hot streak going.The winner last week in Korea was Australian Hannah Green who is having an excellent year, probably her best ever on this Tour. Her win last week was her third this year and has lifted her to 5 th on the world rankings. The rapid rise this year by Green has seen her overtake Minjee Lee, Australia’s leading female golfer in recent years. Lee, a two time Major winner, has struggled with her game this year and has now slipped to 17 th in the world rankings.
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