In this Issue

1. 🏆 Results Recap

   • Niemann wins (again!)

   • AK’s return

   • Monday finish at the Cognizant

2.  🍴Quick Bites

   • Hannah Green earns her 4th LPGA title

   • Strong showing by Aussies in NZ

   • Where to now for the PIF?

   • Detry’s 5-putt horror

3.  📅 Schedule for the Week

🏆 Results Recap

Niemann wins (again!)

Joaquin Niemann has sealed his second win in 3 starts on the LIV Golf tour this year, and it’s hard to deny that he is certainly a world Top 10 player right now. Joaco continued his excellent form that forced Augusta National last week to issue him a special invite to The Masters in April. Opening rounds of 63 and 64 saw him take a 2-shot lead into the final day, ahead of Charl Schwartzel, Louis Oosthuizen and Jason Kokrak. Posting 3 birdies in his first 10 holes on Sunday, Niemann made the task too difficult for the chasing pack. He won by 4 shots with Oosty and Schwartzel rounding out the podium, both finishing T2.

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In the team event, Stinger GC looked home and hosed for all money with 1 round to go but were unable to close it out. Despite the strong individual performances from Oosty and Schwartzel, The Crushers were able to chase down the South Africans, led by a superb final round of 8-under by captain Bryson Dechambeau. It was really an incredible effort by the Crushers, who were 11 shots back going into Sunday and ended up winning by 4. Brooks Koepka’s Smash GC finished in 3rd.

It was a disappointing week for the Aussies. Ripper GC finished 9th out of 13 with the best individual performance coming from Matt Jones (who has been struggling of late) finishing in 14th. New recruit Lucas Herbert showed some good form early in the Jeddah event but faded to finish T22. Smithy and Leish both had poor weeks with far too many errors resulting in T41 placings for each. So there is certainly some work for the Aussie boys to do as they head to Hong Kong this week.

AK’s return

The biggest story line heading into the Jeddah event was the return to professional golf of Anthony Kim. So, all eyes were on AK for Round 1 where he was paired with Cameron Smith and Graeme McDowell (a pretty good grouping for AK to make his return). Hitting his first shot in a professional tournament in 12 years, he smoked his opening drive down the middle as LIV Golf CEO Greg Norman watched on intently. Unfortunately for AK, he then cold topped his second shot, which was closely followed a few holes later by one of the dirtiest shanks you’ll see in a pro golf tournament. Kim’s short game was abysmal as he staggered his way to an opening round of 76 (+6). The LIV broadcast initially started by showing every one of his shots, but by the turn, they had effectively dropped him from coverage.

Day 2 came and there was more of the same. Kim started bogey, bogey, double, bogey on his way to another 6-over par 76. Eventually, AK would finish with a final round of 74, placing him dead last by 11 shots (and some 33 shots behind Niemann as the winner). It really was a brutal 3-days for Kim in his return to professional golf, and of course, there have been a wide range of opinions on how to interpret and assess his result in Jeddah.

In that regard, it’s important to put his performance in perspective:

• When Will Zalatoris recently returned from a 12-month layoff due to a back injury, he shot an opening round of 81 and finished DFL in his return event. Zalatoris’ most recent results include a T13 finish at Torrey Pines for the Farmers Insurance Open and a T2 finish at Riviera for the Genesis. So he’s shown that competing at this level takes time.

• Greg Norman was interviewed during Round 1 on the LIV broadcast (before things went really bad for AK) and made some sobering comments - he had counselled Kim that this would be a journey of a thousand miles, and in his view, he didn’t expect to see Anthony feeling comfortable at least until the Miami event (which will be Kim’s 3rd). So, he was certainly trying to set the expectation, both with Kim and the fans, that this won’t be an overnight success.

Following completion of his final round, Kim was interviewed and said “I’m more encouraged after playing this tournament and playing like a**, really. I’m very encouraged. I’m excited about what’s coming. My game is starting to shape up. I’m doing things that I used to do before.” So, it’s interesting to see Kim looking to take the positives out of his return. At least at this stage, he doesn’t seem to be deterred by a last place finish and says he’s ready to do the grind that’s needed to become competitive. Given the interest and excitement he generated upon his return, it will be a good thing for LIV and for golf more generally if he is able to get back to his best.

Monday finish at The Cognizant

Rain has interrupted the Cognizant Classic, formerly known as the Honda Classic, held at PGA National (which boasts the notorious “Bear Trap”). This event has been increasingly squeezed into an unenviable position on the PGAT schedule as the suits from Ponte Vedra assign Signature Events elsewhere and the big-name players look to rest/practice in preparation for the Players and The Masters over the next month. The scheduling issues, along with the massive increase in purse requirements for sponsors demanded by the PGAT as it battles LIV, have seen Honda depart the event and Cognizant take over as the naming rights sponsor.

The Cognizant continued a trend seen so far this year on the PGAT where the leaderboards are peppered with lower ranked players. During the final round, players in contention included names such as Skinns, Bramlett, Alexander, Echavarria and Bridgeman, all of whom have little or no recognition by the average golf fan. This adds to the list of lesser-known players to win so far this year on the PGAT including Pavon, Knapp, Dunlap, Kirk and Murray. This is not what the PGAT would be hoping for given its promotional line that it still boasts the world’s best and most talented golfers.

Nonetheless, there was still some superb golf played at the Cognizant as Erik van Rooyen went on an all-time heater in his final round where he was 8-under through 10 holes before play was suspended on account of weather. He had caught and passed the leaders when rain forced a Monday finish. Unfortunately for Erik, he was unable to maintain his momentum when play resumed, and Austin Eckroat claimed his maiden PGAT win by three shots over van Rooyen and rising Aussie star Min Woo Lee. The win secured Eckroat PGAT status through 2026, entry into the remaining Signature Events this season, and a spot in the 2024 Masters and PGA Championship.

Min Woo showed encouraging signs in the lead up to The Players and The Masters but will need to improve on his Par 3 scoring where he was +6 on these holes for the week. The only other Aussie in the field, Aaron Baddeley, missed the cut. For those Min Woo Lee fans out there, the ABC aired an expose on him and his sister Minjee Lee for Australian Story this week. If you missed it, you can watch it by clicking below.

🍴 Quick Bites

Here are some golf quick bites for you to snack on:

• Hannah Green earned her 4th LPGA title with a win at the HSBC Women’s World Golf Championship. She held off France’s Celine Boutier by making a clutch 27-foot putt on the final hole.

• There was a strong showing by Aussies in Queenstown for the New Zealand Open. The event was won by Japan’s Takahiro Hitaji (becoming the first Japanese winner of the event), but the Top 10 was dominated by 7 Australian players, led by veteran Queenslander (and Twitter protagonist) Scott Hend.

• Where to now for the PIF? Given the PGAT’s deal with SSG, things have gone very quiet regarding the Framework Agreement between the PGAT and Saudi Arabia’s PIF. A rumoured meeting between the PIF’s Chairman, Yasir, along with Greg Norman and LIV players, is said to have determined that the PIF is no longer interested in pursuing an agreement with the PGAT and will now focus solely on growing the LIV Golf league.

• Detry’s 5-putt horror - Thomas Detry had a 5-putt from 8 feet on his way to a nightmare round of 80 and missing the cut at the Cognizant.

📅 Schedule for the Week

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

• PGAT: Arnold Palmer Invitational - Bay Hill Club & Lodge (Orlando), $20m purse, Friday 8/3 to Monday 11/3 - Coverage on Foxtel & Kayo, Main Coverage starts 5am AEST Friday, Featured Groups from 4am.

• LIV Golf: Hong Kong - Hong Kong Golf Club (Hong Kong), $25m purse, Friday 8/3 to Sunday 10/3 - Coverage on 7+, starts 2.15pm AEST Friday. 

• DPWT: Jonsson Workwear Open - Glendower Golf Club (South Africa), $1.5m purse, Thursday 7/3 to Sunday 10/3 - Coverage on Foxtel & Kayo, starts 8pm AEST Thursday.

• LPGA: Blue Bay LPGA - Jian Lake Blue Bay Golf Course (China), $2.2m purse, Thursday 7/3 to Sunday 10/3 - Coverage on Foxtel & Kayo, starts 2pm AEST Thursday.

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