U.S. PGA Tour: Ted Potter Jr’s professional career didn’t begin all that auspiciously. Turning pro straight out of high school in in 2002, he qualified for the Web.com Tour in 2004 – and missed the cut in each of his 24 starts. Back on the Web.com Tour in 2007, he missed the cut 17 times out of 20 starts. Another year on the Web.com Tour in 2010: missed cuts in eight of 11 starts. Then it all turned around. With main Tour status in 2012, he won The Greenbrier Classic in a play-off (Tiger Woods and Phil Mickelson were also in the field), before suffering an ankle injury in 2014 and losing nearly two years of his career.
Along the way, he plied his trade on minor circuits and racked up an impressive tally of victories. “On the Moonlight Tour, probably 60 one-day events,” he said, searching hard in his memory bank. “On the Hooters Tour, the four-day ones, I think I got seven. The three-day ones, I got six or seven.” There were also two on the Web.com Tour. All of which meant he was actually quite well-prepared mentally to be playing with world number one Dustin Johnson on the final day of the Pebble Beach Pro-Am. “Definitely it helps to draw back from past experience coming down the stretch,” Potter said. “It doesn’t matter what kind of tournament really it is… I think I know how to control myself and the nerves.”
In the end 34-year-old Potter won by three strokes, rising from 246th in the world rankings to 76th, with Justin Day, Chez Reavie, Mickelson and Johnson sharing second place – and world number two Jon Rahm fading away with a closing 76. Kevin Streelman and his amateur partner, Arizona Cardinals wide receiver Larry Fitzgerald, won the team portion of the event by seven shots, leading wire-to-wire and finishing at 41-under.
European Tour: Once dubbed “Asia’s John Daly”, crowd favourite Kiradech Aphibarnrat arrived in Perth on the Wednesday, played 54 holes of strokeplay, survived a nine-player play-off to make the Sunday match-play rounds (securing the last of 24 spots), then completed four six-hole matchplay qualifiers to make the final of the ISPS HANDA World Super 6 Perth against Australian James Nitties. For the coup de grâce he then closed with an eagle and birdie in the final to win his fourth European Tour title.
Ladies European Tour: Jiyai Shin clearly likes visiting Australia’s capital city. She won the 2013 Australian Open at Royal Canberra in 2013 and five years later came from three strokes behind overnight leader Minjee Lee to win the Canberra Classic by six strokes for her 50th career win. “I’m so excited I can’t tell you. Royal Canberra is my favourite golf course in the world,” said the 29-year-old South Korean, who was known as the “final-round queen” when she held the world number one spot in 2010-2011.
This Week: Tiger Woods is due to make his second competitive start of the year, in the Genesis Open at Riviera in California; the U.S. LPGA Tour returns to action with the co-sanctioned Australian Open in Adelaide; and the European Tour is in Muscat for the Oman Golf Classic.
