Australian PGA Championship Archives - Golf Digest Middle East

Cameron Smith’s fifth win of 2022 was the least surprising but most emotional

Golf Digest Middle East — Sun, 27 Nov 2022 17:04:04 +0000

By Evin Priest
Cameron Smith’s first trip back to his native Australia in three years wasn’t just about headlining the Australian PGA Championship and showing off the Claret Jug to family and friends in his hometown of Brisbane. For the World No. 3, who now plays on LIV Golf, it was also a return to the traditional form of the game and Official World Golf Ranking points. And it was a winning return.

To close out his third career Australian PGA Championship victory, the 2017 and 2018 champion battled two weather delays in Sunday’s final round at Royal Queensland Golf Club en route to securing a three-shot victory at the DP World Tour co-sanctioned event. Three birdies in his final seven holes, and a clutch bunker save at the 18th, gave Smith a closing 68 and a 14-under(270) total. Japan Tour regular Ryo Hisatsune (65) and Australia’s Jason Scrivener (67) tied for second at 11-under.

Smith had already won four tournaments in a memorable, if controversial 2022 season. Three came on the PGA Tour, including the Sentry Tournament of Champions, the Players Championship and the DP World Tour co-sanctioned 150th Open at St Andrews before the 28-year-old joined LIV and went on to win in just his second start on the circuit outside of Chicago. But the Australian PGA Championship was the most emotional triumph, given the amount family in the gallery who hadn’t seen Smith play in person since before the COVID-19 pandemic when Australia introduced harsh travel restrictions.

Among the loved ones at Royal Queensland was Smith’s grandmother, Carol, who recently underwent two chemotherapy treatments. Impressively, she walked all 72 holes this week, including Sunday’s seven-hour, weather-interrupted final day. In all four rounds, Carol wore a custom-made ‘Team Smith’ maroon T-shirt, the colour Smith chooses to wear in final rounds because it is worn by his beloved Queensland state rugby team.

“I can’t believe she did it,” Smith said as he choked up on the 18th green at Royal Queensland. “Everyone at the start of the week was telling her to pace herself and she was out there all day every day, so it was pretty amazing. It was definitely inspiring. I don’t know how she did it, but it was also my dad’s birthday as well. After I got back to the tie for the lead there after 11, I really wanted to do it for those two.”

The crowds followed Smith in up the 18th fairway as he was winning the Australian PGA Championship. Bradley Kanaris

Smith seems stoic, as he showed at St Andrews when he overcame a four-shot deficit to Rory McIlroy and Viktor Hovland in the final round. But is he actually an emotional player who handles nerves and sentiment better than most?

“I wouldn’t say I let emotion get in the way of what I’m trying to do, but it’s nice to have a little bit of fire in the belly for sure,” he said.

At the par-3 11th, after the first weather delay, there was a turning point. Smith made a bogey, moments after Scrivener had birdied No. 13. It dropped Smith to a tie for the lead after starting the day with a three-shot cushion. Then, Smith hooked his tee shot into the trees on the driveable par-4 12th. But he pulled off a miraculous flop shot over a tree to close range for birdie. He made it and never looked back. “Scriv is a great player and I knew he’d keep putting the pressure on me,” Smith said.

Should Cam Smith go on to win the #AusPGA golf from a three-way tie, we’ll be talking about this outrageous flop shot from a damp lie, over a bank + tree to set up birdie. Champion stuff at 12th ⁦@PGAofAustralia⁩ #VisitBrisbane pic.twitter.com/KNXLGY8X9n

— Jim Tucker (@HulaBulaJim) November 27, 2022

Smith’s win was also meaningful given he is conscious of criticism he faced after leaving the PGA Tour, where his six career victories were establishing a legacy. That criticism came from icons like nine-time major winner Gary Player and former Masters winner Fred Couples.

“I wanted to prove to myself and to others that I’m still a great player,” Smith said after winning LIV’s $20 million event in Chicago.

Smith’s return to 72-hole stroke play for the first time since the PGA Tour’s FedEx St Jude Championship in Memphis proved he remains one of the world’s best golfers, regardless of the format. He became the second LIV golfer to win a DP World Tour event, joining Spain’s Adrian Otaegui who won the Andalucia Masters in October (a February court hearing in the UK will determine if LIV golfers can be prohibited from playing DP World Tour events.)

Although the strength of field at the Australian PGA did not offer the same threat PGA Tour events used to for Smith, he still lined up against DP World Tour winners such as Min Woo Lee, who finished tied-fourth at seven-under, Rasmus and Nicolai Hojgaard, and DP WOrld TOur Rankings runner-up to Rory McIlroy Ryan Fox, along with PGA Tour winners Adam Scott, Marc Leishman, Cameron Davis and Lucas Herbert. Smith only won 10 World Ranking points, so there won’t be any movement within the top 10 in the World Rankings. But he will remain World No. 3 and that is not likely to change even if he were to win next week’s Australian Open in Melbourne.

Smith’s win was his fifth in 2022, but the first in which so many family and friends could see it in person. Andy Cheung

No matter. Smith signed off on a whirlwind year with the Australian PGA Championship’s Joe Kirkwood Cup, which sat beside his Claret Jug in the clubhouse at Royal Queensland on Sunday night. Joe Kirkwood was an Australian PGA pro who is credited with putting Australian golf on the map, via his 13 PGA Tour wins in the 1920s and 1930s but also with a series of trick-shot events he held with Walter Hagen.

Those who sat by, and cradled the Claret Jug and Joe Kirkwood Cup on Sunday night included family, friends — and fans. High-profile Australian athletes also wanted a look at the Jug, like some of the rugby league football players from Smith’s beloved Queensland Maroons, past and present. One of them is coincidentally named Cameron Smith, considered one of the greatest players in rugby league history, and fellow icon Johnathan Thurston.

“The reception from everyone has been pretty outstanding,” Smith said. “Guys that I have look up to on the [rugby] field are coming up and asking me for a beer or a game of golf. It’s pretty cool.”

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Lucas Herbert’s WD in Australia is extra painful as he scrambles for a Masters invite

Golf Digest Middle East — Sun, 27 Nov 2022 15:07:48 +0000

By Evin Priest
Lucas Herbert’s hopes of using the Australian summer of golf to climb back inside the top 50 on the World Rankings in time for a Masters invitation have taken a blow after he withdrew due to injury midway through Australian PGA Championship.

Herbert “twinged” his back on the range before the second round at Royal Queensland on Friday and had taken anti-inflammatory tablets. The 26-year-old was playing with 2006 US Open winner Geoff Ogilvy and overnight co-leader Jason Scrivener but managed just 10 holes before withdrawing.

The 26-year-old Australian was struggling with back pain earlier in the week and had opened tournament with a one-over 72 on Thursday. After his WD, Herbert had immediate treatment on his lower back from his physiotherapist

Herbert said his decision to pull out of the tournament was aimed at preventing long-term damage and to be prepared for next week’s Australian Open.

MORE: Cam Smith’s emotional triumph on Return to Oz

“I twinged my back this morning on the range,” Herbert said. “I lost a lot of power in my swing. I tried everything I could to get going, I really wanted to keep playing and try and finish and make the cut and work my way up on the weekend. But I was getting told by people much smarter than me that I should give it some rest and allow it to recover for next week, that potentially I could do some damage longer term. It’s annoying, because I don’t think I’ve pulled out of a tournament mid-round. I’ll do everything I can to get right for next week.”

Herbert made his debut at Augusta National last April after winning the 2021 Butterfield Bermuda Championship on the PGA Tour, his first after notching two wins on the DP World Tour in 2020 and 2021. The PGA Tour win moved Herbert to a career high of World No. 40.

But Herbert had dropped to No. 55 in the OWGR before the Australian PGA this week and needs to be inside the top 50 at the end of the year to earn a likely invitation to the 2023 Masters. Top 50 at the end of the year ranking would also get him into the US Open and Open Championship.

Herbert will have next week’s Australian Open, being held at Kingston Heath and Victoria GC, to have another crack at World Ranking points before shutting it down for 2022. The next World Ranking window to receive a Masters invite is at the end of March.

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Cameron Smith the toast of Brisbane with third Australian PGA Championship title

Matt Smith — Sun, 27 Nov 2022 10:15:07 +0000

By Matt Smith
Cameron Smith made history by claiming his third Australian PGA Championship in front of a raucous home crowd at Royal Queensland GC in Brisbane on Sunday.

The Australian — making his first appearance back on home soil for three years due to Covid-19 travel restrictions — delighted the crown with a convincing three-stroke victory in a weather-affected final round for his first triumph since his LIV Golf crown at Chicago in the summer.

The 150th Open Champion was reeled in at the start of the back nine at the PGA of Australasia and DP World Tour co-sanctioned event after a weather suspension due to lightning, but three birdies in five holes restored his three-stroke lead, and the world No. 3 never looked back to finish on 14-under.

A third Fortinet Australian PGA Championship ??? #AusPGA pic.twitter.com/IlDafPOhK7

— DP World Tour (@DPWorldTour) November 27, 2022

Fellow Australian Jason Scrivener and Japan’s Ryo Hisatsune finished in a share of second at 11-under after posting rounds of 67 and 65, respectively.

Another home favourite Min Woo Lee was two shots further back in fourth alongside England’s John Parry.

“I really didn’t think I had it in me at the start of the week,” Smith said. “I was a bit scratchy and the game has got better and better as the week went on, other than the front nine today. I just held on and played really solid those last eight holes.”

“I knew that I had to kind of step it up a little bit,” Smith said.

“Obviously Scrivy [Jason Scrivener] is a great player and I knew he’d keep putting the pressure on me. It was a good last seven holes.

“I mean, lots of pressure and the golf course really wasn’t letting up even though it was a little bit softer.”

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Cameron Smith on the brink of glory at Australian PGA Championship

Matt Smith — Sat, 26 Nov 2022 08:41:19 +0000

By Matt Smith
Cameron Smith is a step closer to the perfect homecoming after opening up a three-stroke lead going into the final round of the Australian PGA Championship, co-sanctioned by the PGA of Australasia and the DP World Tour.

The Australian was back on home soil for the first time in three years at Royal Queensland GC in Brisbane this week, and a shaky 69 was still enough to open up some daylight on the chasing pack on Saturday.

Smith managed six birdies and four bogeys to finish on 11-under, with Liu Yanwei of China and Japan’s Masahiro Kawamura were tied for second, three back. Four others, including Australians Min Woo Lee and second-round leader Jason Scrivener were at 7-under and four behind Smith.

“I felt hot and really good that front nine,” said Smith. “Just frustrated with a few things on the back nine but in those conditions I would have taken two-under at the start of the day.

“I still get nerves but I’ve got better at handling them. Winning a third [PGA] would be nice and a shot at the Australian Open next week would be a really good end to a great year,” he said.

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Cam Smith feels right at home at Australian PGA Championship — blasting a 65 to sit one off the lead

Matt Smith — Fri, 25 Nov 2022 09:35:50 +0000

By Matt Smith
It hasn’t taken Cameron Smith long to settle into the old way of things in Australia. The LIV Golf star had spent more than three years away from home due to COVID-19 travel restrictions, but this summer’s Open Championship winner at St Andrews, who received a hero’s welcome on his eventual return to his native Australia earlier this week, is firmly back in the groove like he was never away.

Competing at the PGA of Australasia and DP World Tour co-sanctioned Australian PGA Championship at Royal Queensland Golf Club in Brisbane, the world No. 3 fired a second round 65 to follow his opening 68 and sits just one shot off Jason Scrivener’s 10-under lead.

It could have been even better for Smith, but two bogeys kept him just off the lead. However, he will be in the mood going into the weekend, with his eight birdies including a great three on the last hole of the day.

“I think just all day was pretty good to be honest,” said Smith. “I only had a couple of bogeys, both on par threes, which isn’t really a good sign most of the time, but I felt as though I hit my driver as best as I’ve hit it for a very long time, so it was nice to do that. It gives me a little bit of confidence going into the weekend.”

Smith is also looking forward to playing alongside Scrivener — even if he isn’t quite sure when he partnered him before.

“Yeah, I’ve played with him a fair bit in kind of amateur, junior days,” Smith said. “I haven’t played with him a lot recently, him being over in Europe and obviously me in the US. I’ve played a couple of practice rounds with him at one of the majors this year, I’m not sure which. He’s a good player.”

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Cameron Smith lurks on his return to action in Australia, eyes showdown with Adam Scott

Matt Smith — Thu, 24 Nov 2022 11:34:05 +0000

By Matt Smith
LIV Golf’s star attraction Down Under, Cameron Smith, is eyeing a perfect homecoming after posting a three-under 68 in the PGA of Australasia and DP World Tour co-sanctioned Australian PGA Championship at Royal Queensland Golf Club in Brisbane on Thursday.

The world No. 3 returned to his native Australia for the first time in three-years due to COVID-19 travel restrictions and undertook the 9,000-mile trek from his base in Jacksonville, Florida, with the Australian PGA Championship his mission.

And he did not disappoint the thousands of fans who arrived early at Queensland GC for his 6am tee-off time, carding an outward 32 with four birdies before a more modest 36 coming home.

One think Smith would be keen to see this week is a fight for the title in the final group on Sunday with his Day 1 playing partner, former world No. 1 and fellow Aussie Adam Scott.

“I’d like it – I haven’t done that yet with Scotty,” Smith said. “He’s coming into form the old fella, so he might be hard to chase down over the weekend.

“He’s obviously one of the best golfers ever, so it would be a good one.”

Scott posted a five-under 66 to lie two strokes ahead of Smith in T4, with the trio of Min Woo Lee, Jason Scrivener and John Lyras leading the way on six-under.

“It was incredibly early, but as we were walking out to the tee people were streaming out to the golf course and so they should,” said Scott. “It’s great to see everyone coming out. It’s exciting that Cam’s coming home to play off the back of the year that he’s had.”

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Min Woo Lee opens with 65 to share lead in Brisbane as DP World Tour 2023 season begins in Australia

Golf Digest Middle East — Thu, 24 Nov 2022 09:51:43 +0000

By GolfDigestME.com
Min Woo Lee fired an opening 65 to share the first-round lead at the Australian PGA Championship as the 2023 DP World Tour campaign got under way in Brisbane on Thursday.

Lee and fellow home favourites Jason Scrivener and John Lyras each made seven birdies and a single bogey on day one of the season-opening tournament, which is co-sanctioned with the PGA Tour of Australasia.

The leading trio sit on six-under, one shot ahead of major champion Adam Scott, Brad Kennedy, Anthony Quayle, Peter Cooke and Jeunghun Wang.

Two-time DP World Tour winner Lee made a bright start to the new season, reeling off birdies at the second, fourth, fifth and ninth to reach the turn in 32. He gave a shot back at the 10th but made amends with a 15-foot birdie putt on the par-three 11th.

An impressive pitch at the long 15th set up a tap-in birdie there before more short-game magic saw Lee get up and down from the sand at the 17th for a sensational par save. He followed that up with a closing birdie from 12 feet to head into the clubhouse on six under.

New Zealand’s Ryan Fox, fresh from finishing runner-up to Rory McIlroy in the 2022 season-long rankings, hit the opening tee shot of the 2023 DP World Tour season at 6am local time at Royal Queensland.

“It was awesome,” said Lee. “Very solid, one mistake, a bad drive on 10, but other than that, it was a very solid day approach-wise and off the tee and a very good day on the greens. So, if I can do that the next few days, it will be very nice.

“I’ve just been playing really good. I don’t know, my attitude, the last few months have just been fun and the family’s out and kids are out too, so I’ve got a lot to show off and inspire little kids and do that. So, I think it’s a pretty good attitude the last couple of months and I’ll just keep doing that.”

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Ryan Fox ready for another fast start to the DP World Tour season in Brisbane

Golf Digest Middle East — Wed, 23 Nov 2022 09:56:40 +0000

By GolfDigestME.com
Ryan Fox is looking to make a fast start to his 2023 DP World Tour season when he hits the opening tee shot on Thursday morning at the Australian PGA Championship at Royal Queensland.

Fox, fresh from finishing runner-up to Rory McIlroy in the 2022 season-long rankings, will tee it up at 6am local time and is hopeful of producing some of the form that saw him win twice — at the Ras Al Khaimah Classic and the Alfred Dunhill Links Championship — in 2022 and record a further eight top 10 finishes as he moved into the top 50 in the world.

The New Zealander is one of the main contenders following his brilliant season on the DP World Tour and is excited to return to Brisbane for the first of back-to-back Australian events co-sanctioned with the PGA Tour of Australasia — marking the start of another global season that will see the DP World Tour play a minimum of 39 tournaments in 26 different countries.

A six-hour stopover to drop his young family off in Auckland meant that Fox arrived for Wednesday’s pro-am bleary-eyed and with his brain in a different time zone. Yet, such as been his form in 2022, the 35-year-old combined with his amateur partners to win the morning wave by 12 points.

Former world No. 1 Adam Scott has not played on home soil in three years and arrives in Queensland targeting his third Australian PGA Championship title. He first won the event in 2013 — when it was held at Royal Pines — before repeating the feat six years ago, the last time the event was part of the DP World Tour schedule.

Adrian Meronk, the first Polish player to win on the DP World Tour, has made the trip to Australia for the first time since 2017 and he is joined by Danish twins Rasmus and Nicolai Højgaard, having finished tied seventh alongside Rasmus at the season ending DP World Tour Championship last week in Dubai.

“It’s definitely a blur at the moment,” admitted Fox. “Yeah, it still feels a bit surreal. Obviously, it’s not on the goals list to finish in the top 10 on the order of merit, to be honest. After the last couple of years I had where I was probably more trying to keep a card than finish high up.

“I guess the big goal at the start of the year was to get another win and I got that under the belt pretty quickly [at RAK] and that just let everything kind of free roll the rest of the year. You don’t get often in golf where you feel like you can have a free run. You’re always playing to something and after that it was kind of everything else is a bonus and obviously I got myself in contention a bunch more times and to get the win in Dunhill was amazing.

“Arguably there could have been a couple more in there, but it’s pretty tough to win out on any Tour nowadays and to give myself as many chances as I did was great.

“It will probably take a little bit to sink in when I get home, but I think with these two events it kind of doesn’t quite feel like the season’s finished. I know we’re in a new season this year or now, but I think I’ll get a bit more time after the Aussie Open where I can go home and celebrate properly and enjoy some time. I think it will probably sink in a bit better then.

“I’ve tried to take it pretty easy this week, to be honest. The golf game’s in decent shape, so I was just trying to get some rest and I will be straight back to bed after this I think. As I mentioned earlier, six o’clock is a pretty early start tomorrow, but I feel like if I can get some good rest tonight, I should be okay. As I said, the golf game’s still in decent shape after the last couple of weeks, so hopefully I can contend this week.”

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Cameron Smith returns to Australia for the first time in three years — and takes the Claret Jug on a victory lap

Golf Digest Middle East — Wed, 23 Nov 2022 06:15:04 +0000

By Evin Priest
The Claret Jug is one of the most famous trophies in sports, engraved with the names of many of the most iconic golfers in history. Each year, the winner of the Open Championship receives a replica to show off for 12 months and then hand back the following year.

As significant as it may be in the golf world, the Claret Jug does not, however, get any special treatment by security staff at Los Angeles International Airport. This is something that its current holder, Cameron Smith, found out recently on a long journey back to his native Australia.

Smith, who won the 150th Open at St Andrews in July, recently undertook the 9,000-mile trek from his base in Jacksonville, Florida, to his home in Brisbane to compete in this week’s Australian PGA Championship. Upon arrival at LAX, airport security made Smith open the travelling case in which the trophy was kept so that they could perform a very routine bomb search before the 15-hour flight to Australia’s east coast.

Once Smith, his father, Des, and childhood best friend and support staffer, Jack Wilkosz, had touched down in Sydney, there was another Claret Jug curve ball: the case for the trophy, which is 20¾ inches tall and 7¼ inches wide at its base, wouldn’t fit in the overhead for the final flight from Sydney to Brisbane. In the end, airline staff allowed the 29-year-old Smith to stash the jug in the compartment where jackets are kept for business class passengers.

Cameron Smith willl be playing in this week’s Australian PGA Championship and next week’s Australian Open. Bradley Kanaris

Some 30 hours of travel later, Smith was in his homeland after a three-year absence caused by Australia’s harsh COVID-19 border restrictions.

“Cam had a window seat flying into ‘Brissie’ and his eyes were glued to the view outside after a long time away,” Wilkosz told Golf Digest on Tuesday at Royal Queensland Golf Club, host of the Australian PGA. Smith added: “I’ve teared up a few times since I’ve been home. Seeing family and friends, doing stuff I haven’t been able to do for three years, has made it emotional.”

When he arrived at Brisbane airport last Thursday, Smith was swarmed by media and hundreds of Australian fans wanting a photo with one of the country’s most talked-about athletes in 2022 — a golf star who sports a famous mullet and who won three big events, including the Open Championship at the Home of Golf, then controversially left the PGA Tour circuit to join the rival LIV Golf series.

“It’s insane,” Smith said of Australians’ reactions to the Claret Jug so far. “It’s like they’ve seen a ghost the first time they’ve seen it.”

The Claret Jug’s tour Down Under then made a sentimental stop at Smith’s childhood home course, Wantima Country Club, last Saturday. It’s not really a country club as such, more a blue-collar, publicly accessible golf club 30 minutes north of Brisbane where Smith honed his game before moving onto Royal Queensland as an elite teenage amateur. Wantima hosted a celebration for Smith and 200 members inside its modest clubhouse. Smith sat down for a 45-minute Q&A session before passing the jug.

“It was an amazing night for members,” said Jason Patterson, Wantima’s general manager on Tuesday as he showed Golf Digest several proud, but understated, shrines to Smith inside the clubhouse. “Everyone got photos of the jug and some were holding it like a baby.”

Smith adds: “It was pretty neat for a little club like that on the north side of Brisbane to have that jug in the clubhouse, something those people will never forget.”

The homecoming formalities were turned up a notch on Tuesday morning when Brisbane mayor Adrian Schrinner handed the key to the city to Smith, the 52nd recipient to receive the honour but the first golfer. “Not in my wildest dreams did I ever think I’d get the key,” Smith said, before joking that “thought it was for important people, not golfers”.

Upon Cameron Smith’s return to Brisbane, the city’s Lord Mayor, Adrian Schrinner, gave him a key to the city. Bradley Kanaris

Smith then held a press conference at Royal Queensland to talk about his primary purpose for coming back to Australia: to try and win a third Australian PGA Championship, having won the 2017 and 2018 edition, and to try to earn a maiden Australian Open win next week in Melbourne. Smith came close at the 2016 Australian Open when he lost in a playoff to Jordan Spieth at Royal Sydney. This week, he’ll face strong competition from solid players such as 2013 Masters winner Adam Scott, Lucas Herbert and Cam Davis, as well as DP World Tour star Ryan Fox from New Zealand and Min Woo Lee. But after some rest following LIV Golf’s Team Championship in Miami last month, where Smith took his all-Australian team to second-place finish the World No. 3 is feeling good.

“I took a couple of weeks off, and now I feel probably more mentally fresh than I ever have coming down to Australia,” Smith said. “The golf course looks great so it should be a good week.”

After this upcoming stretch of golf, Smith will take almost two months off and remain in Australia before LIV’s second season starts in February. He said he was confident he could arrive at the majors in 2023 competitively sharp, despite LIV’s format of 54 holes and no 36-hole cut. If nothing else, he says he’s motivated to win another Open so that he can keep that Claret Jug for another year.

“I think coming close in a few majors has made me really hungry. I felt like I should have had one before this, but I’m happy this was the first one,” Smith said, referencing his close calls at the Masters, including a tie for third behind final-group partner Scottie Scheffler at Augusta this year and a share of second to Dustin Johnson at the 2020 Masters. “I think I can do it. [St Andrews] something that I’ll never forget. It still hasn’t sunk in. I still can’t believe I won it. I don’t want to give it back. I want to keep hanging onto it.”

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Tour pro forced to WD from Australian PGA after slicing hand trying to move a stake

Golf Digest Middle East — Thu, 13 Jan 2022 22:25:42 +0000

Mark Metcalfe
Damien Jordan in action at the 2017 Fiji International.

By Alex Myers
After COVID forced the cancellation of the Australian PGA Championship in 2020 and the postponement of the 2021 edition into the new year, the tournament finally began on Thursday. For one player, though, the long-awaited week ended rather quickly. And in truly bizarre fashion.

Damien Jordan withdrew during the first round after cutting his hand. And if that’s not weird enough, apparently, the injury was sustained when he tried to move a stake at Royal Queensland Golf Club. Yep, a stake.

Golf Australia’s Jimmy Emanuel was first to report this unusual—and unfortunate—incident.

A bizarre retirement today at the #AusPGA for Damien Jordan, went to move a stake on course and sliced his hand the entire width from top to bottom. Quite heavy bleeding so off to see a doctor.

— Jimmy Emanuel (@JimmyEmanuel4) January 13, 2022

Details are still unclear, but the Australian Associated Press also reported Jordan’s WD due to “slicing his hand trying to move a stake on the course.”

Jordan is currently No. 1,715 in the Official World Golf Ranking. He achieved a career-best of No. 530 in 2017, the same year he won the Victorian PGA Championship.

This week’s event is being run in conjunction with the maiden Australian WPGA Championship. After Day 1, 20-year-old Louis Dobbelaar has a one-shot edge in the men’s competition, while Su Oh leads the women’s event.

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