In this Issue

1.  🎁 And our Winner is...

2. ⛳ #AusPGA Preview

3. 🏆 Results Recap

   • Aberg wins first PGA Tour title

   • Hojgaard takes out the DPWT season Championship

   • Amy Yang wins the CME Tour Championship

4. 🍴 Quick Bites

   • TGL’s balloon bursts

   • Rory resigns from the PGAT Policy Board

   • Tiger to return to professional golf

   • “Zinger” leaves NBC broadcast team

5. 📅 Schedule for the Week

🎁 And our Winner is…

Over the last fortnight we have been running a competition to giveaway a double pass to the #AusPGA at RQ this week. All you had to do was subscribe to The Shank Show newsletter and follow us on Instagram (theshankshow_). Well the lucky winner drawn on Monday was loyal subscriber and follower Kerrard Webster. Contracts Kerrard!!! We hope you enjoy your time at RQ watching some of the world’s best golfers right here in our back yard.

⛳ #AusPGA Preview

The Australian PGA Championships kicks off on Thursday this week at Royal Queensland Golf Club in Brisbane. The PGA of Australia has been able to assemble a reasonably strong field for the event which includes most of the top line Australian players and a fairly impressive selection of international players as well. Here is The Shank Show's preview on what you can expect from a selection of the leading Aussies and Internationals.

The Australians

Cameron Smith ($5.50)

• Smithy won the Australian PGA championship multiple times, so is clearly comfortable playing before his hometown crowds.

• The links style and open fairways of Royal Queensland will suit him well, especially his somewhat wayward driving off the tee.

• Smithy has arguably the best short game in the world which will be a huge asset around RQ's tricky greens.

Min Woo Lee ($7)

• This Aussie Gold star is on the up. He has winds around the world including the Macau Open on the Asian Tour and also the Scottish Open on the DP World Tour.

• He is an absolute weapon off the tee with amazing ball speed and nasty 2-iron stinger.

• Minwoo has not yet played his best golf at home in front of Aussie crowds, so he will definitely have something to prove.

Adam Scott ($11)

• Scotty always performs strongly in the Aussie summer of golf being a previous winner of both the Australian PGA championship and the Australian Open.

• RQ has previously been Scotty's home course, and he has already been practising at RQ earlier this week. The course will be extremely familiar to him.

• He has had mixed form recently, finishing T5 in Bermuda last week, but he has not won since early 2020 when he claimed the Genesis Invitational at Riviera Golf Club in Los Angeles.

The Internationals

Adrian Meronk ($13)

• Meronk is the defending Australian Open champion and has shown he can play in Aussie conditions.

• He has had an excellent DP World Tour season winning three times this year and being very unlucky to miss out on Ryder Cup selection.

• He is a big hitter, but will he have the deft touch needed for the RQ setup?

Joaquin Niemann ($15)

• The Chilean youngster has had a solid season on the LIV Golf Tour finishing 21st overall in the individual standings, and captaining Torque GC to 3rd place in the team's standings.

• He has a very low ball flight which will be extremely handy if the wind gets up at RQ (which it certainly can do).

• Joaco has had two wins on the PGA tour prior to leaving for LIV, and nine professional wins around the world, which includes the 2022 Genesis Invitational, which is a big=time event.

Bobby MacIntrye ($23)

• Bobby achieved his career highlight this year making the Ryder Cup team (possibly at the expense of Meronk). He now doubt has taken a lot away from being part of that dominant victory over the USA.

• His form has been mixed this year with his best finish being AT 4 at the Czech Masters, but his results also included four missed cuts and many other lowly finishes.

• Mcintyre made a reasonably strong showing at the DP World Tour Championship last week finishing T18 in a very strong field.

🏆 Results Recap

• Aberg wins first PGA Tour title: the much-hyped prodigy shot back-to-back 61s on the weekend to claim the RSM Classic at Sea Island. Admittedly, it wasn’t the strongest field, but Aberg continues to post results that show he is certainly going to be a golfer of the future to watch.

• Hojgaard takes out the DPWT season Championship: Nicolai added to his Ryder Cup achievement by taking out the Tour Championship and sealing his card next year on the PGAT. The Dane collected the US$3million first prize and a further $1.2million from the Race to Dubai Bonus Pool for finishing second on the season-long rankings, behind Rory McIlroy who won his 5th Race to Dubai despite only playing 4 DPWT events this year 🤔😲.

• Amy Yang wins the CME Tour Championship: Yang battled out the season’s final tournament against Nasa Hataoka and Allison Lee, eventually prevailing by 3 shots. The win was Yang’s 5th LPGA title and her first on US soil.

🍴 Quick Bites

It was a content bonanza this week in world golf. Here are some quick bites for you to snack on:

• TGL’s balloon bursts - with the start of the TGL slated for 9 January 2024, disaster struck this week as the dome under which the TGL competition was to be played collapsed. Drone footage of the damage showed it to be very substantial, which ultimately resulted in the TGL cancelling its first season and postponing the start of the TGL until at least 2025. This massive shock has resulted in speculation the “burst” dome might have been intentional as the construction was in no way on track for a January 2024 start date. Would love to see the looks on Tiger and Rory’s faces right now…

• Rory resigns from the PGAT Policy Board - Speaking of Rory, it seems the last 2 years of harbouring hatred and ill-will towards LIV Golf and the Saudis have taken their toll. He has resigned from the PGA Tour’s Policy Board and will be replaced by Jordan Speith. Speaking on the issue, Rory said “something had to give” and he wanted more time to focus on his family and his growing investment portfolio - “I like being busy doing my own stuff”.

• Tiger to return to professional golf - Woods has announced he will return to professional golf at the Hero World Challenge, which will be his first start since the Masters in April this year. The event, which Woods hosts in the Bahamas, kicks off on 30 November 2023 and clashes directly with The Australian Open, which is of significance because Jason Day has chosen to play at the Hero instead of back home in Australia. It is likely Woods will also play the P&C Father-Son event with Charlie (14-17 December), so we’ll get to see how Woods’ leg is recovering and whether a larger schedule next year might be possible.

• “Zinger” leaves NBC broadcast team - Paul “Zinger” Azinger has not had his contract renewed by NBC and will finish up as their lead golf analyst. Rumour is that the contract negotiations didn’t go as planned for Zinger, so NBC will be on the hunt for a new addition to its commentary booth. The favourite seems to be Brad Faxon at this point, but a dark horse name is being thrown around - one of Australia’s favourite sons, and former US Open winner, Geoff Ogilvy. Geoff has moved back to the US and does have experience in commentating for previous Australian tournaments, so not beyond the realm, but still a long shot.

📅 Schedule for the Week

Your golfing schedule for the week, and how to watch is below:

• PGA Tour of Australasia: Australian PGA Championship - Royal Queensland Golf Club (Brisbane), $2m purse, Thursday 23/11 to Sunday 26/11 - Coverage on Foxtel & Kayo, starts 11am Thursday.

• DPWT: Joberg Open - Randpark Golf Club, Johannesburg (South Africa), $1.1m purse, Thursday 23/11 to Sunday 26/11 - Coverage on Foxtel & Kayo, starts 8pm Thursday.

• PGAT: no event (Thanksgiving weekend)

• LPGA: no event (season ended)

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Thanks again for your support and readership. We’ll be back next week and leave you with one of Win Woo Lee’s nasty stingers to get you in the mood for the #AusPGA.