Australians Aaron Townsend, Nick
Cullen and Ashley Hall qualified for the
2012 Open Championship at the Australasia International Final Qualifying
on Wednesday.
In unseasonable conditions at
Melbourne’s Kingston Heath, which
saw lightning storms and wind gusts of
more than 55 mph, players were forced
off the course for more than two hours
before Townsend eventually won the
36-hole event with a 4-under-par 140
total.
“It was such a grind out there today.
It was so hard to hit the right club any
kind of distance, so it was just a guessing game,” Townsend said.
Cullen, Hall and Peter Senior shared
second on 1 under, forcing a playoff to
determine the other two qualifiers. Just
one playoff hole, the par- 4 seventh, was
needed as Senior’s par was not good
enough to match birdies by Cullen and
Hall.
SKINNER WINS SENIOR STROKE PLAY
Sonny Skinner, of Sylvester, Ga., and
Ed Sabo, of nearby Tequesta, two former PGA Senior Professional Players
of the Year, were the biggest winners in
the 28th annual PGA Senior Stroke Play
Championship at the PGA Golf Club in
Port St. Lucie, Fla.
Skinner, the 51-year-old head professional at River Pointe Golf Club in
Albany, Ga., was low for the two young-est age groups, 50-54 and 55-59, with
11-under-par 205. He shot 66 and 67
on the Ryder Course on Monday and
Wednesday and 70 on the Wanamaker
Course on Tuesday. Skinner was the
Senior Player of the Year the past two
seasons and PGA Professional Player of
the Year in ’08.
Sabo, 62, the Senior award winner
in 2000 when he won the first of his
two consecutive Senior Professional
National Championships, had 66-67-
69–202 on a course rotation of Wana-maker-Ryder-Wanamaker. That was
the best for age groups 60-64 through
80-84.
Each received a $1,500 bonus, with
the balance of the $69,000 purse distributed in seven age groups. Skinner
received $2,500 because his age group
was the largest. Sabo collected $2,000.
CHOE, BURKE LEAD PRE-QUALIFIERS
Former Rolex Junior Player of the
Year Esther Choe of the United States
won the group A tournament at the
Ladies European Tour Pre-Qualifying,
coming out as the best of the 35 qualifiers from that field at La Manga Club
on Wednesday. She shot rounds of 71,
76, 66 and 67 to finish on 8-under par,
four clear of England’s Jodi Ewart. The
cut-off was 11 over.
England’s Hannah Burke won the
group B competition, where 37 play-
ers qualified at 12-over par or better.
Burke shot rounds of 74, 69, 67 and 67
over the South and North course at La
Manga Club. She ended 11-under par
and six shots ahead of Swede Karin
Sjodin.
OLSEN LAPS LEGENDS QUALIFIER
Victorian Kym Olsen was the run-away leader Wednesday in the Australia PGA Legends Tour qualifying
after three sub-par rounds in blustery
conditions.
Olsen shot three consecutive rounds
of 71 for a 3-under-par total to finish 14
shots clear of the field.
Also gaining cards were Gary Schofield of Queensland (QLD) on 227, John
Kirchner (QLD) on 228 and Davitt Lavery (NZ) on 231. Lavery had to survive
a sudden-death playoff against Mick
Asami (VIC) to secure his card and gain
full playing rights on the PGA Legends
Tour.
KIM ONEASIA MEDALIST
Korean Kim Gi-whan won the Final
Stage of the OneAsia Qualifying School
Friday to book his place on the circuit
in 2012.
Kim, who led by four at the start of
the day, closed with a 3-under-par 68 to
win by five strokes.
He finished with a four-round ag-
gregate of 16-under-par 268 at Sutera
Harbour Golf & Country Club. Compa-
triot Song Young-han finished second
after shooting a 69. A total of 20 players
earned their OneAsia cards.
A total of 89 players qualified for
the Asian Tour Qualifying Final Stage
this week after making the grade at
the First Stage on Saturday in Hua Hin,
Thailand.
Darren Tan of Australia led 28 players at the Royal Springfield CC to the
all-important Final Stage, where the
top 40 and ties will earn Asian Tour
cards for 2012.
Tan posted a final-round, 4-under-
par 68 for a winning total of 14-under-
par 274.
At Majestic Creek Golf Resort, 25
players advanced, led by Jacques
Blaauw of South Africa, who fired a
4-under-par 67 for a 14-under-par 270
total.
Japan’s Ryoma Yamagata secured
safe passage into the Final Stage
despite shooting a 3-over-par 75 at the
Imperial Lakeview Golf Club. A total of
31 players made the grade.
At Banyan Golf Club, American
Nico Bollini registered a 1-under-par
71 to give himself a chance of earning an Asian Tour card. He finished on
5-under-par 283 total to lead four other
players into the next phase.
