Weekly Wrap:Aussie success

Monday, 25 June 2012
Marc Leishman
Marc Leishman

The Australian contingent carded an impressive week of golf this weekend.

Australian Marc Leishman fired a final round eight under par 62 at the US PGA Travelers Championship in Connecticut to clinch his first Tour victory.

Leishman finished with a 14 under par, one shot clear of American Bubba Watson and Charley Hoffman, who threw away a once three-shot lead with a double bogey-bogey finish.

But it was Leishman who stole the limelight and said his victory is unbelievable.

“It definitely hasn’t sunk in yet. It’s been a while since I won a tournament, probably four years I guess, so to have this (trophy) sitting next to me knowing it’s mine for a year, is pretty cool,” Leishman said.

The other Australians in the field saw Stuart Appleby tied 18th, Nathan Green tied 24th, Greg Chalmers and Aaron Baddeley both tied 37th and Gavin Coles tied 60th.

Leishman's win caps a great weekend for Australian golf as Brad Kennedy won the Mizuno Open in Kasaoka, which earned him a place at the British Open.
The 38-year-old held on to his overnight lead to claim his maiden Japan Golf Tour victory.

Kennedy finished the tournament on 17-under the card.

Nick Cullen finished 10-under tied for 15th, Brendan Jones tied 22nd, Kurt Barnes tied 62nd and Steven Conran tied 65th were the other Aussies in the field.

Meanwhile, on the European Tour Australian Marcus Fraser lost to Englishman Danny Willett in a thrilling playoff at the BMW International Open in Cologne, Germany.

Both players went close to winning during the playoff before Fraser missed a straightforward three-foot par putt on the fourth playoff hole.

Fraser finished the weekend 11-under par.

Hoping to see Fraser continue his good form at the Irish Open this week.

Staying in Europe and on the European Seniors Tour at the Van Lanschot Senior Open in the Netherlands, Mike Harwood finished best out of the Aussies tied seventh, followed by Peter Fowler (tied 12th) and Terry Price (tied 34th).

The Nationwide Tour saw Aussie Scott Gardiner finished tied 4th at the Preferred Health System Wichita Open in Kansas.

Gardiner started the final round tied 20th but climbed the leaderboard with an impressive 6-under 65 to finish fourth.

Fellow Aussie Cameron Percy also carded the best round in the field with a 6-under 65 to finish 11-under tied ninth.

Other Aussie competitors saw Aron Price (tied 22nd) Jamie Arnold (tied 40th) Steve Allan (tied 48th) and Andrew Buckle (tied 61st).

Congratulations to all the Australians for an impressive weekend of golf.

Good luck to them all this week.

 
Comments
Posted by Seff at 28/06/2012 07:44 AM
Well second time to answer - fair point Randall. I was more commenting on Stu's season, where he has had 8 missed cuts from 14 starts. His finish last week was the best of the year, by a long way. He was in contention. I think he can take positives from that effort with a last round 72 and 3 sub 70 rounds. Not that bad.
Posted by Seff at 27/06/2012 05:49 PM
Interesting perspective Randall. Stu has had 8 cuts out of 14 this year. His last round 72 was worse than most, but he finished 18th, his best for the year and had 3 rounds under 70, and for a while was in contention. Although it was a low scoring event with not a lot of big names, if I was him I would take positives from the Travellers.
Posted by Randall at 27/06/2012 01:58 PM
Seff you said great see Stuart Appleby play well he had one of the worst last day scores and lost nearly twenty spots...he is much better than that for us to be praising efforts like that I don't think he would have been wrapt with his finish
Posted by Seff at 26/06/2012 01:41 AM
It certainly has been a drought. Great to see Stu Appleby extract the digit. Marc's round was wonderful. Pretty consistent year for him tho - 80% of cuts made. Marcus Fraser did well to last so many holes in the playoff. That 18th did not suit his lack of length and Willett had 40 yards on him off the tee so it was just a matter of time. Good thing to see Marcus and Marc not wilt under the pressure of a last critical round like so many Aussies are doing in the US now.
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