Cullen charges home in Denmark
Five birdies in the space of nine holes propelled South Australian Nick Cullen up the leaderboard on the final day of the Made In Denmark tournament on the European Tour on Sunday to finish tied for 49th.
Cullen was the best performed Aussie at the Silkeborg Ry Golf Club where Matt Wallace recorded his third win of the year, emerging victorious on the second extra hole after a four-man playoff with fellow Englishmen Lee Westwood, Steven Brown and Jonathan Thomson.
Cullen has split his time between the European Tour and the secondary Challenge Tour in 2018 and ended his maiden appearance in Denmark in fine style, a 3-under 69 on Sunday moving him up 12 spots on the leaderboard to be tied for 49th.
Rounds of 68 and 69 in the second and third rounds put Marcus Fraser in position for a strong finish but an even-par 72 in the final round saw him drop 13 places to be tied for 56th, Matthew Millar also ending the week at 5-under with a 1-over 73 in his fourth rounds.
Brett Rumford was just two off the lead after an opening round of 66 but six bogeys and two double-bogeys in his third round of 78 ended his challenge, a final round of 69 a nice bounce-back as he finished tied for 65th.
West Australian Jason Scrivener was the only other Australian to make the cut, a final round of 73 seeing him drop 15 places to be tied for 69th.
Adam Bland, Jason Norris, Lucas Herbert, Sam Brazel, Jack Munro, Andrew Dodth, Richard Green and Scott Hend all missed the cut.
Victorian Ben Eccles was the only Aussie representative at the Challenge Tour’s Cordon Golf Open in France, a final round of 2-over 72 that featured three birdies, a double and a triple bogey dropping him 10 places to finish tied for 41st.
Kennedy, Jones finish top 10
Aussie duo Brad Kennedy and Brendan Jones have reaffirmed their place inside the top 15 on the Japan Golf Tour moneylist with top-10 finishes at the Fujisankei Classic at the Fujizakura Country Club in Yamanashi.
Scoring proved difficult all week for the majority of the field but not winner Rikuya Hoshino, who closed out a five-shot win with a pair of matching 66s over the course of the weekend.
A pair of birdies to close out his third round saw Kennedy enter the final round tied for fifth and a 1-under 70 on Sunday was enough to move him up a further place at the conclusion of 72 holes to be tied for fourth.
It’s the third top 10 of the year for the Queenslander to go with his win in the SEGA SAMMY Cup and moves him up to eighth on the moneylist.
Jones’s final round mirrored those of earlier in the week with plenty of birdies and a number of dropped shots as he finished the week tied for sixth.
No one had more than Jones’s six birdies in the opening round but he also logged five bogeys to enter the second round tied for seventh at 1-under.
It was a similar story on Sunday where he turned 2-over courtesy of a birdie at the fourth, bogey at seven and a double-bogey at eight but recovered with four birdies on the back nine before dropping a shot on his final hole.
Although the prolific winner is without a win in 2018 thus far his performance at the Fujisankei was the fourth top 10 of the season and sees him move up to 14th on the moneylist.
An eagle on the par-4 18th in the opening round gave Scott Strange momentum to carry into the following three rounds, ending his tournament with a 1-over 72 to finish tied for 25th, his best result of the year.
Won Joon Lee fired an even par 71 in the final round to be tied for 45th, two shots head of Victorian Matthew Griffin who had rounds of 72-73-72-73 to be tied for 50th.
Kiwi Michael Hendry, David Bransdon and Anthony Quayle all missed the cut.
New Zealand rookie professional Nick Voke made an immediate impression in his maiden event on the PGA Tour-China tour, firing the equal best round of the final round to finish tied for fourth in the Suzhou Open.
Since turning professional early in the year, Voke has been slugging it out on US mini tours and was tied for 33rd at the Fiji International and then tied for 40th at the Northern Territory PGA Championship.
He underlined his potential with a spectacular final round at the Suzhou Jinji Lake International Golf Club, turning with three birdies to his name and adding five more on the back nine, his only blemish coming at the par-4 11th.
Max McCardle continues to be the leading Australian in China, now 16th on the moneylist after finishing tied for 12th in the Suzhou Open.
McCardle turned in 2-under as a top-10 finish loomed but had an adventurous end to his week, birdies at the 14th and 17th holes separated by a bogey at the 15th and double bogey at the par-4 16th.
A 2-under par 70 in the final round saw James Marchesani end the week tied for 18th, Andrew Schonewille and Corey Hale both tied for 23rd a further shot back.
Kevin Yuan and Bryden MacPherson were both under par on Sunday, their four-round total of 6-under good enough for a tie for 26th, South Australian David Lutterus improving his position with a 3-under 69 to be tied for 38th.
Sean Underwood (T46), Kiwis Luke Toomey (T51) and Daniel Pearce (59th) and DJ Loypur (60th) also made it to the weekend, while Deyen Lawson, Sam Earl, Mathew Perry and fellow New Zealander Campbell Rawson missed the cut.
‘Pom’ shines in England
The familiar surroundings of Woburn Golf Club once again proved to be to the liking of Aussie veteran Peter O’Malley who rose 13 places in the final round to finish the Travis Perkins Masters tied for 11th.
Despite a late charge from American Clark Dennis, Englishman Paul Streeter completed a wire-to-wire win, his final round of 73 good enough to record a two-shot win, his first seniors crown on the European Staysure Tour.
O’Malley was tied for 21st when he played Woburn for the first time at the 1989 Dunhill British Masters and was tied for ninth in 1991, finishing seven shots behind champion Seve Ballesteros.
When he made eagle at the par-5 fifth and followed it up with a birdie 2 at the 155-metre par-3 sixth in the opening round O’Malley looked set to contend for the title this week but two double bogeys on the back nine saw him sign for a 1-over 73.
A second round of 74 had him sitting outside the top 20 but four birdies alongside a disappointing dropped shot at the last delivered a Sunday 69 and his best finish of the year.
Following on from his win at the Willow Senior Golf Classic last week, Peter Fowler finished with a flurry to complete his week with a 1-under 71 and a tie for 29th, one shot ahead of Mike Harwood who had rounds of 74-74-72.
It was a bright start on the Champions Tour for Kiwi Michael Long who finished tied for 31st at the Shaw Charity Classic in Canada.
A Monday qualifier after celebrating his 50th birthday earlier in the week, the West Australian PGA champion moved inside the top 25 with a third round of 3-under 67 but three bogeys in his final six holes on Sunday saw him drop six places on the leaderboard.
New Zealand countryman Grant Waite was also tied for 31st with a final round of 70 with the lone Aussie, David McKenzie, recovering from a first round 77 to shoot a second consecutive 68 and a tie for 61st.
