18 Nov 2024 | Professional golf |
Aussies on Tour: Scott's resilience project
by Martin Blake
Adam Scott’s remarkable resilience was on display again as he rallied to finish tied-third in the DP World Tour’s season-ending Tour Championship in Dubai.
The 44-year-old, who had already climbed into the top spot among Australian men on the world rankings at No. 20, shot a closing 68 at Jumeirah Golf Estates to slide into the top three behind winner Rory McIlroy and Rasmus Hojgaard.
Had the eagle putt from 15 feet that missed the left side of the hole by a fraction on Sunday dropped in, he would have been within a shot of McIlroy, who almost simultaneously birdied the par-4 16th hole and then iced his win with another birdie at the 18th.
McIlroy won both the tournament and the season-long Race to Dubai bonus prize, his sixth season triumph in Europe. Only Colin Montgomerie (eight) has more titles.
Scott has had an excellent but in some ways quirky year, with four top-10s on the DP World Tour and more than €2 million in earnings without a win in 11 starts, finishing eighth on the tour’s points standings. On the PGA Tour, he was twice runner-up and made 17 cuts in 19 events.
His most recent victory around the world was the Cathedral Invitational at home in 2023, and overseas he has not won since the Genesis Invitational in the US in 2020.
But he shows few signs of slowing up.
Meanwhile in the US, Minjee Lee shored up her place in the LPGA Tour’s CME Group Tour Championship in Florida this week by finishing tied-14th in The Annika tournament behind rampant Nelly Korda, who won her seventh event of the season.
Lee, a former world No. 2 and twice a major champion, began the week in 56th on the points rankings, needing to be inside the top 60 to get to Florida where the prize pool this week is $US11 million.
She is safely inside at 54th after Sunday’s finish.
Hannah Green (who had a rare missed cut this weekend), Gabi Ruffels and Grace Kim have all qualified for the season-ender, but Steph Kyriacou’s missed cut saw her slide from 60th to 62nd and out of the tour championship field.
On the Asian Tour, Jack Thompson finished tied-fifth in Taiwan.
And Kiwi Steve Alker won the Mexican Senior Open on the Legends Tour with a closing 66. Results
DP World Tour DP World Tour Championship Jumeirah Golf Estates, Earth course, Dubai, UAE 1 Rory McIlroy 67-69-68-69 – 273 €2,842,443 T3 Adam Scott 69-71-69-68 – 277 €525,220 T24 Min Woo Lee 70-72-73-70 – 285 €74,732
PGA TOUR Butterfield Bermuda Championship Port Royal Golf Course, Southhampton, Bermuda 1 Rafael Campos 70-65-62-68 – 265 $US 1.242m T70 Aaron Baddeley 73-66-73-74 – 286 $14,007
LPGA Tour The ANNIKA driven by Gainbridge at Pelican Pelican Golf Club, Belleair, Florida 1 Nelly Korda 66-66-67-67 – 266 $US 487,500 T14 Minjee Lee 66-69-69-70 – 274 $44,442 T14 Lydia Ko (NZ) 71-69-65-69 – 274 $44,442 T32 Gabriela Ruffels 68-69-71-70 – 278 $23,391 T69 Hira Naveed 72-69-73-77 – 291 $6672 MC Robyn Choi 68-75 – 143 MC Hannah Green 74-70 – 144 MC Stephanie Kyriacou 73-73 – 146
Asian Tour Taiwan Glass Taifong Open Taifong Golf Club, Taiwan 1 Suteepat Prateeptienchai 67-63-68-68 – 266 $US 72,000 T5 Jack Thompson 64-65-73-70 – 272 $14,860 T26 Justin Warren 70-69-71-70 – 280 $3520 T51 Zach Murray 69-73-76-68 – 286 $1640 68 Aaron Wilkin 71-71-76-74 – 292 $960 MC Sam Brazel 79-66 – 145
Japan Golf Tour Dunlop Phoenix Tournament Phoenix Country Club, Miyazaki 1 – Max McGreevy 66-62-65-69 – 262 ¥40,000 MC Michael Hendry (NZ) 73-71 – 144
Legends Tour WCM Mexico Senior Open Punta Mita Golf Club, Nayarit, Mexico 1 Steven Alker (NZ) 66-67-66-199 T34 Michael Campbell (NZ) 71-73-71 – 215 T40 Michael Long (NZ) 71-71-75 – 217
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