“Every Tour player says they want an off-season until they get one.” — Kevin Kisner
The PGA Tour is on hiatus until January’s Tournament of Champions in Hawaii (Jan. 5-8) which means most of the players have a pretty nice break unless you believe Kevin Kisner’s quote above.
Of course Tiger Woods has his little exclusive gathering at Albany in the Bahamas (Dec. 1-4), the Hero World Challenge and a lot of the name stars will be there (yes, it’s totally LIV-free). Then there’s the two-person team event at Tiburon (Dec. 9-11).
But there’s no rest for the weary Down Under. It’s summer in Australia and two premier events on the Australasian Tour are on tap, including this week’s Aussie PGA.
Tiger’s former looper, Stevie Williams, has come out of retirement to be the bagman for Adam Scott. “Yeah, it was great, he obviously hasn’t been out at any events for quite a long time, so I think he was pretty excited,” Scott said of his reunion with Williams, who was on his bag when Scott won the Masters. “We came out and played Tuesday morning, it’s quite easy. I may have changed, but I know he’s not and so I knew what to expect when we came out and to fall back into familiar routines was pretty good.”
The LIV exhibition/circus’ most relevant player — Cam Smith — is in the field and through 36-holes, Cam is a nine-under par and only a shot behind leader Jason Scrivener at the Royal Queensland Golf Club in Brisbane. It’s been three years since Smith has played in his home country and the world No. 3 is the betting favorite to go on and win the event.
As for the Scott-Williams team, Scott was tied for 17th after rounds of 66-72.
Ryan Fox, the New Zealander who finished second to Rory McIlroy in the Race To Dubai points list, did the old face-flop and missed the cut after shooting four-over for his first two days at Royal Queensland.
The event is co-sanctioned by the DP World Tour and the Australasian Tour.
DP World Tour In South Africa:
No rest for the DP World Tour either.
This week, the Joberg Open is in, of course Johannesburg (aka Joburg) at the Houghton Golf Club and it will be followed by two more events in South Africa — the South African Open (Dec. 1-4) followed by the Dunhill Championship at Leopard Creek (Dec. 8-11) then the Mauritus Open (Dec. 15-18).
England’s Dan Bradbury is the early 36-hole leader in Johannesburg with rounds of 63-66 — 13-under par after two trips around Houghton.
You won’t find that many big names in these South African events. They’re basically there for the large number of South African professionals looking to earn their way onto the DP World Tour.
Tom Watson Has Shoulder Replacement Surgery:
Warning to 73-year-olds — be careful if you decide to go Hot-Rodding in a go-kart.
Tom Watson was going to play in the upcoming PNC Championship with son Michael. Now he won’t.
Watson was involved in an accident on Nov. 14 when he was riding a go-kart on his farm outside Kansas City. The kart rolled over and Watson had to under-go left shoulder replacement surgery the following Friday at Tulane Medical Center in New Orleans.
Given his age and the time for rehab, Watson may or may not appear at the Masters in April as one of the honorary starters with Jack Nicklaus and Gary Player.
6 Comments
forky76
At a time when we are trying to get our best players playing together more often, I wonder which moron at the DP World Tour thought it was a good idea to have 2 events in Australia and 2 events in South Africa over the next fortnight. 4 DP World Tour events in 2 weeks. What limited big name players that are playing at this time of year get split across the 2 continents and make neither very appealing. I honestly think Pelley and Monahan wouldn’t have half a brain between the pair of them. It’s probably no coincidence the DP World Tour started making some strange decisions the moment Monahan joined their board…
Tom Edrington
Forky: You fail to realize that the Aussie events are put on by the Australasian Tour, and the Aussie PGA, they are simply co-sanctioned by the DP World Tour and ARE NOT actually DP World Tour events, simply co-sanctioned…..your premise in and of itself was wrong; The Aussie events are always held this time of year — it’s summer Down Under.
forky76
I get that.. but why co sanction both of them? You’ve got the aussie open and south African open both next weekend up against each other, and european tour stars spread over both. Just pick one or the other. Summer lasts longer than 2 weeks down south, surely a little coordination wouldn’t have been too difficult.
Tom Edrington
They co-sanction because they’ve always co-sanctioned the Aussie PGA and Aussie Open — and DP world carries on with its own schedule as well….the Aussie events always take place this time of year after end of PGA Tour and DP World regular seasons…..these early DP World events are pretty much akin to those end-of-the-season cross-overs on PGA Tour.
forky76
Tom, please get your facts straight before you disagree with everything I say. Yes the Australan PGA has long been a co sanctioned event, but this year is the FIRST time EVER the Australian open has been a European tour event. They have also always been stand alone events not opposite the south African tournaments.
Tom Edrington
co-sanctioned doesn’t mean it is a stand-alone DP World Tour event. It allows those who play to receive DP World points for the Race to Dubai.