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April 2025 www.insidegolf.com.au THE FIRST TEE 5 A salute to old golfers I’VE often said to friends and work mates that there are a lot of old golfers. Which is meant as positive. It can’t be a bad thing. Golf, as stressful as some days on the course can be at times, is a healthy pastime, involving time in the fresh air, walking (for some, jumping in and out of a cart for others) and a bit of mental stimulation. Albeit too much of the latter on occasion for many of us. It keeps the competitive juices flowing and for those who have reached retirement age, golf is also a social outlet and gets many out of the house and interacting with others when they might not otherwise be inclined to do so. The benefits are many which is why it is the greatest game of all, something we can all agree upon – most days at least! At an elite level, while the long hitting youngsters emerge ready to challenge the best on the major tours around the world, a few ‘old dogs’ continue to be a force. Look at Adam Scott, and apologies to him for his label as an ‘old dog’, however he enjoyed his best season for quite a few years in 2024 and at age 44 this year will play his 94th, 95th, 96th and 97th consecutive major championships. Scotty is in all the big four events in 2025, courtesy of his win at Augusta in 2013, world ranking and performances last year. I’ve loved watching Lucas Glover of late. Now north of 45 he overcame the yips, is still a premier ball striker and is playing almost as well as when he won the 2009 US Open. Justin Rose is another of the 40-somethings who burst onto the scene as an amateur at the Open Championship in 1997, turned pro in 1998 and is coming up on 30 years out on tour. He’s played in six European Ryder Cup teams and with two top 10’s already in 2025 and a world ranking of 34, who is game to bet against him making it seven Ryder Cup appearances when the biannual matches tee off at Bethpage Black later in 2025? Over 50 but refusing to step away from the PGA TOUR is Stewart Cink, splitting his time between the over-50’s Champions Tour and the regular tour, where his name still crops up on the occasional leaderboard. While Padraig Harrigton is a gem. He has been on a speed/distance crusade for a few years now and hits the ball further than he ever has. At 53 years of age. If you haven’t seen his YouTube videos or social media content, do yourself a favour and check it out. Our own Greg Chalmers has enjoyed a career renaissance since joining the senior brigade, beaten by just one shot at the recent Cologuard Classic, as has Richard Green who so PUBLISHER: Sam Arthur | sam@insidegolf.com.au Outdoor Sports Publishing Pty Ltd ACN 113 836 301 ABN 30 043 104 919 PO BOX 437, Miami, QLD 4220 EDITORIAL: Editor: Rob Willis | rob@insidegolf.com.au Editor-At-Large: David Newbery david@insidegolf.com.au NSW/ACT Journalist: Michael Court michael@insidegolf.com.au VIC/TAS Journalist: Michael Davis michael.davis@insidegolf.com.au QLD Journalist: Peter Owen peter.owen@outlook.com.au Design & Layout: Stacey Broomhead, Rob Kirk CONTRIBUTORS: Larry Canning, Tony Webeck, Michael Cooney, Andrew Crockett www.insidegolf.com.au Inside Golf publishes opinion from a wide range of perspectives in the hope of promoting constructive debate about consequential questions. 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Combined print and online national monthly readership over 210,000. AUSTRALIA’S MOST-READ GOLF MAGAZINE Cover photo: Karl Vilips. Photo courtesy PGA TOUR. st/1.3 11.5” st/1.2 10.5” putter Grips 2x major winner bryson dechambeau nearly topped the Charles Schwab standing as the leading player on the Champions Tour last year. There are a dozen Australians competing on the Champions Tour on a regular basis, another one of them is Michael Wright, the Queenslander returning home during our recent summer and managing to beat the ‘flat bellies’ in winning the Webex Players Series Victoria event at Rosebud. Then there is Bernhard Langer, a man without peer when it comes to longevity and squeezing everything he can out of his career and his outstanding golf game. Langer has won 47 Champions Tour events, the last coming at age 67 in the final event of the 2024 season in Phoenix. See the page nine Q and A with Langer saying the 2025 Masters will be his last. I‘ll believe it when I don’t see his name on the entry list in 2026. And we’ll see a collection of old champions tee it up alongside Langer at Augusta in early April. While the course is set up for the young bombers these days, a number will do themselves proud and I’d be surprised if a couple don’t make the 36-hole cut and play on the weekend. Away from the bright lights of the professional tours, each month Inside Golf presents numerous articles on our older golfers achieving great things. Men and women breaking their age, still knocking the ball around, having fun, enjoying social connections and playing the game to a high level into their 70’s, 80’s, 90’s. On the pages to follow we offer profile articles on an age breaker from Nudgee in Queensland and on a high achieving 80-year-old from the Sunshine Coast, while Muriel is still going strong on and off the course at the age of 97. And I could have filled more pages with similar content, but I’ve held back a couple of stories which will publish in May. Always interesting reads and stories well worth telling. For me, I can’t help but get out onto the course at least a couple of times a week, if not for a club competition, for nine holes with my son, or just a half a dozen holes by myself, away from the phone, away from the office, for a walk, a little sunshine and some fresh air. Golf is a game like no other. While the body remains willing, golfers will continue to embrace the challenge. Borrowing from a well-known phrase, when it comes to older golfers, ‘age shall not weary them’ and let’s hope golf continues to keep us all going for some time to come.
April 2025 www.insidegolf.com.au 6 INSIDE NEWS IN THIS ISSUE AMATEUR GOLF 21 CLUB NEWS 30 LETTERS CELEBRITY SWINGER TRAVEL 46 42 72 PRO NEWS 7 INDUSTRY NEWS 22 PUBLIC ACCESS FEATURE 48 BUNKER-TOBUNKER 47 80 Golf is hard! IF there was further evidence needed as to how hard the game of golf can be, the recent fortunes of two of the leading players in world golf confirms it. Viktor Hovland and Max Homa represented Europe and the US respectively in the Ryder Cup in 2023, Homa also playing for the American team at the 2024 President’s Cup. Hovland had the golfing world at his feet when he won the 2023 Tour Championship and finished first on the PGA TOUR’s FedEx Cup standings, while Homa has been a consistent contender in big events since joining the tour in 2019 and was firmly entrenched in the top 10 of the official world rankings at the end of the 2023 season. However, results for the pair of late indicate just how difficult golf can be. Things began to unravel for Hovland in 2024, the Norwegian missing three of four cuts in the majors, shooting 10-over for the first two rounds at the Open Championship, and his play has hardly improved to start 2025. Big hitting South African a de-facto West Aussie INSIDE NEWS SOUTH Africa’s Aldrich Potgieter, recently beaten in a playoff in the Mexico Open on the PGA TOUR is something of a de-facto Western Australian. Rated as the longest hitter on the PGA Tour, Potgieter carved out a stellar amateur career, predominantly in Australia and particularly in Perth where he grew up, before returning to his country of berth. Born in South Africa, Potgieter’s family moved to Perth when he was eight and some years later as a junior member of the Joondalup Country Club, he dominated in WA junior events over a five year period from 2017 winning both the 2019 and 2021 Golf WA Junior Masters, a tournament previously won by the likes of Craig Parry (1984) and Min Woo Lee (2013/14). He further established his credentials with a victory in the 2020 South Australian Junior Masters and the 2021 WA Men’s Amateur Championship. On returning to South Africa, he won the 2022 British Amateur Championship three months before turning 18, then in 2023 the African Amateur. Following the US Open in 2023, one of his final amateur appearances, he launched his professional career, turning professional in June at 18 years of age before playing on the secondary Korn Ferry Tour. It didn’t take Potgieter long to taste success winning the Bahamas Great Abaco Classic in January of 2024, in doing so News, views and observations from around the golfing world Tiger tamed by latest injury HIS performances on the indoor TGL Golf Series and recent reports of his imminent return to competitive golf had pointed towards Tiger Woods making an appearance at the upcoming US Masters, however an injury setback will keep him sidelined for an extended period. During the week of The Players Championship, Woods confirmed he had ruptured his Achilles tendon, an injury which occurred at home in Florida while preparating for his latest comeback. In a statement, Woods said: “As I began to ramp up my own training and practice at home, I felt a sharp pain in my left Achilles, which was deemed to be ruptured. “This morning, Dr. Charlton Stucken of Hospital for Special Surgery in West Palm Beach, Florida performed a minimally invasive Achilles tendon repair for a ruptured tendon. “I am back home now and plan to focus on my recovery and rehab, thank you for all the support.” While expected to make a full recovery, with the Masters just a matter of weeks away, Woods will not be fit to participate. A date for his return had not been given, however an Achilles rupture is typically a season-long injury with a rigorous rehab program, meaning Woods is almost certain to miss all four majors in 2025 and in all likelihood not return to action until 2026. With Inside Golf Editor Rob Willis rob@insidegolf.com.au His latest injury set back is likely to keep Tiger Woods sidelined for the rest of the 2025 season. 79 INSTRUCTION SPECIAL FEATURE NEW GEAR 76 PGA SHOW - ORLANDO FLORIDA 74 DEMO DAYS 81 GOLF DIRECTORY 84 19TH HOLE 82 Viktor Hovland has gone from on top of the golfing world, to searching for his best form. he became the youngest winner in Korn Ferry Tour history. Australian Jason Day held the previous record. Potgieter earned his PGA TOUR card for the 2025 season, becoming the second youngest to graduate to the ‘big show’ at 20 years and 23 days. In Mexico after a stunning second round 61 at the Vidanta Vallarta course, Potgieter was eventually beaten on the second hole of a playoff by American Brian Campbell. South African born, Australian raised, Potgieter is a player of enormous potential and one to watch in the years to come. - BIO INFORMATION COURTESY KEN NORQUAY Born in South Africa, raised in Australia, Aldrich Potgieter is making his mark on the PGA TOUR. A 36th placing at the Sentry in Hawaii, 22nd at Pebble Beach then a missed cut at Bay Hill in a limited field event saw Hovland arrive at The Players struggling to find his best form. He would shoot 80 on day one at Sawgrass to be dead last amongst the field of 144, while Homa faired only marginally better in signing for a 79. Homa’s seven-over par score on day one of The Players was hardly surprising considering his returns in 2025 of tied 26th, 77 before withdrawing at Torrey Pines, tied 53rd, before missed cuts in Phoenix and at the Genesis in San Diego. Even for the very best, golf can be hard. It can be a fine line For Joe Highsmith, one shot may have made all the difference. THE difference between golfing success and what could be considered failure, can come down to one putt, one shot. American lefty Joe Highsmith provided a perfect example in Florida in February when he came to the final hole on Friday at the Cognizant Classic needing a birdie to make the 36-hole cut. Highsmith managed to hole a two-metre putt to move onto the weekend, where he would then shoot back-to-back scores of seven-under par 64, for a 19-under par total and a two-stroke win for what was his first PGA TOUR title. He became the first player on the PGA TOUR to win after making the cut on the number since Brandt Snedeker managed to do the same at the Farmers Insurance Open back in 2016. It can be a fine line.
April 2025 www.insidegolf.com.au PRO NEWS 7 Vilips – an overnight sensation, 20 years in the making FOR Australian Karl Vilips, while it has seemingly happened very quickly, it’s also been a long time coming. A child prodigy, who won two US Kids Championships at seven and nine years of age, then a Callaway Junior World Championship at 10, big things have long been predicted for the now 23-year-old who spent his formative years playing in Mandurah in WA, before moving to America as a teenager. Now in just his fourth start on the PGA TOUR, Vilips has fulfilled the potential and expectations in winning the Puerto Rico Open. After shooting 65 on day one, Vilips was there or thereabouts all week, leading into the back nine on Sunday, before being forced to hold off the challenge of Rasmus Neergaard-Petersen to score a three-shot victory. The win earned Vilips a two-year PGA TOUR exemption, catapulted him into The Players Championship, into a start in the PGA Championship later in the year, and into the PGA TOUR’s limited field signature events, not to mention also depositing a cheque for US$720,000 into his bank account. Rob Willis rob@insidegolf.com.au new HONORARY STARTER tour velvet Available now in STANDARD & MIDSIZE After the slip up on 12 in the last round, Vilips would birdie the par four 13th, make further birdies on the 14th and 15th holes, before another birdie on 18 sealed the win. “The bogey was careless. I was frustrated about that, with a wedge from the fairway I was thinking birdie to give myself a cushion on the leaderboard,” Vilips said. “I had to forget about it, it’s already happened, and you can’t do anything about it. My caddy did a good job getting me back in the present. “To be able to bounce back was huge for me. It’s pretty special for (a win) to happen so early on,” he added. As detailed in an Inside Golf profile in the September 2024 edition, Vilips grew up in Melbourne before his family moved to Perth. He would spend the last part of his high school years in the US, then attend Stanford University on a scholarship, where he won the Pac-12 individual title, a significant event on the US college schedule. Upon graduation, with his PGA TOUR University ranking of 10 earning him conditional status on the Korn Ferry Tour, Vilips would win the Utah Championship at just his sixth tournament as a pro, the victory helping to secure membership on the PGA TOUR in 2025. And now, in just his third event on the PGA TOUR in 2024 (Vilips played the 2023 US Open as an amateur) he is already a winner. “It’s crazy to me that I graduated from school less than a year ago. The last eight-nine months have just flown by,” he said. “If you told me less than a year ago when I was at Stanford that I would be a PGA TOUR winner at this point in my career, I think I would be a little surprised.” While basking in the glory of the biggest triumph of his brief pro career, Vilips reflected on the journey that had taken him from WA, to the US and eventually to Puerto Rico, while acknowledging the support of his family and that of Australian Col Swatton for playing their part in his most recent success. “I’ve got an amazing team around me, that pushes me and guides me in the right direction to do the right things. And this is the result of that,” Vilips said. “He (father Paul) has been a huge influence on my life and my golf, pushing me from a young age,” Vilips expressed. “We’ve been going through this together for the last 23 years. He’s been huge in my life.” As for Swatton, Vilips explained the impact the Queensland coach had made since the pair linked up some four or five years ago. “I started working with him right before college. My swing wasn’t fundamentally sound before, but I just got the job done on raw talent. “He was able to make (my swing) consistent, to be able to swing my swing but to also make it technically sound,” Vilips explained. Following two weeks in Florda, at The Players then at the Valspar event, Vilips was set to rework his playing schedule for 2025, with the victory opening up opportunities for a young man who to some is an overnight sensation, but one that has been 20 years in the making. Australian Karl Vilips, a winner in Puerto Rico in just his fourth start on the PGA TOUR.
Victory at The Players has Rory primed for a major assault A SECOND win in 2025, this time coming at the PGA TOUR’s flagship event The Players Championship, has Rory McIlroy primed to challenge at the upcoming US Masters. McIlroy and American JJ Spaun tied on 12-under par at the end of the 72-holes at The Players, the pair forced to return to the TPC Sawgrass course for a Monday finish. In cool and breezy conditions, the three-hole playoff would turn into an anti-climax, Spaun overshooting the 17th island green before making a triple bogey six, with McIlroy then cruising to victory. It was his second win at The Players Championship following a previous triumph in 2019. Spaun had come from three shots back during the final nine holes of the event to force the playoff. McIlroy talked after the playoff of lessons learned when winning AT& T Pebble Beach Pro-am, primarily around curbing “impulses” on the golf course that can lead to costly mistakes. Mate’s rates* Irish Golf’s best, worst kept secret, Seed, are back in Australia! Like most European back packers, Seed have deep roots Down Under which means one thing: Mate’s rates.* Grab 20% off! Visit seedgolf.com.au and use code ISG20 at checkout to get 20% off your first order. *We’re technically Australian, so we can say that. SDG9836 Advert Final.indd 1 11/3/2025 8:00 AM While Niemann to also take winning form to Augusta WHILE Rory McIlroy was doing his thing at The Players Championship and on the PGA TOUR, Joaquin Niemann was dominating the field at the LIV Golf Singapore event and was set to also take some winning form into the US Masters. Niemann, who along with Denmark’s Nicolai Højgaard was granted an invitation to play at Augusta under a special international exemption category, won for the second time in his last three tournaments. Niemann shot a bogey-free final round of six-under 65 in Singapore to win by five shots. The 26-year-old Chilean, who came from behind on Sunday to win LIV Adelaide back in February, moved atop the LIV Individual Champion points standings for 2025. Niemann will make his sixth Masters start having made the cut in each of the past four visits, including top-25 finishes the last two years. He made his Masters debut in 2018 as the top-ranked amateur in the world and as the reigning Latin America Amateur champion. The 2023 Australian Open champion, Niemann entered the final round in Singapore tied with 2019 Masters winner Dustin Johnson, however a duel between the major championship hopefuls never materialized. Niemann birdied his opening hole, was five under for the day after eight, fairways in regulation for the week (28 of 58), while he also was in the bottom half of the field in Greens in Regulation (47 of 75). In each of two rounds he hit just 10 greens, however he was 12th in Scrambling, getting his ball up-and-down more than twothirds of the time. The win, his 28th PGA TOUR title, saw McIlroy move to the top spot on the FedEx Cup points list and to No 2 behind Scottie Scheffler on the official world rankings. Of the Australian contingent at The Players, Min Woo Lee led the field after round two, before struggling to a 78 in Saturday’s third round. He would finish in a tie for 20th. Adam Scott, Karl Vilips and Cam Davis all missed the 36-hole cut, while Jason Day withdrew from the event before round one due to illness. eventually finishing at 17 under. Meanwhile Johnson struggled, closing with a two-over par 73 to drop back into a tie for fifth. Niemann’s biggest challenger on the final day turned out to be defending LIV Singapore champion Brooks Koepka, the American birdieing his first three holes before matching Niemann’s 65 in finishing solo second. Lucas Herbert was best of the Australians in Singapore, finishing tied 14th, while the Ripper GC team failed to mount a serios challenge. Joaquin Niemann scored his second win on the LIV Tour in 2025 with a victory in Singapore. He took that attitude and game plan into the week of The Players, and despite not being completely comfortable with his golf swing, managed to claim his second tour title of the 2025 season. “I’m just trying to get the ball in play any way I can, but then also I feel like this week, because there’s so much trouble, just picking really conservative targets, especially with iron shots,” he said. “By no means did I have my best stuff this week, but I was still able to win one of the biggest tournaments in the world. That’s a huge thing,” he said. Backing up his assessment of his play throughout the week were McIlroy’s ball striking stats. Normally one of the statistical leaders tee to green, McIlroy hit less than half his April 2025 www.insidegolf.com.au PRO NEWS 8 After his win at The Players Rory McIlroy is heading to Augusta and the US Masters full of confidence.
April 2025 www.insidegolf.com.au PRO NEWS 9 Langer will walk the Nelson Bridge on Amen Corner for the final time at a Masters tournament in 2025. The German legend to bid the Masters a fond farewell WHAT is it that you do that allows you to keep playing at this level? Well, it’s a lot of things. You have to be somewhat disciplined. I don’t drink, I don’t smoke, I get enough sleep, I exercise, have a great family, a good coach, great caddy. There’s a lot of pieces that need to be right. Certainly, a hard worker. I used to work extremely hard. I can’t do it anymore because my body can’t take it. I can’t beat balls for five to six hours a day. I love to compete and all those things matter. And I feel when I’m out there, I give it 100% every time, and I’ve learned to take some more time off. When I get home I just recuperate and play less and practice less when I’m home. BERHARD LANGER Q AND A Bernhard Langer’s remarkable career has seen him win 47 tournaments on the PGA TOUR Champions, the most recent at the Charles Schwab Tour Championship in 2024, 42 times in Europe and in numerous events around the world, including two triumphs at the Australian Masters. However, his two most significant and memorable victories came at the US Masters in 1985 and 1993. Now 67 years of age, Langer concedes the Augusta National course may now be better suited to the long hitting young stars of world golf and this year will be his last at the Masters tournament. Inside Golf’s US correspondent Garrett Johnston caught up with Langer ahead of his 41st and final Masters appearance, to talk about his love for the Augusta National course, Australian courses and Australian players past and present, as well as his amazing success and longevity. How much longer do you want to compete at this level? I really don’t know. I’ve always said three things need to be in place. I need to be healthy, because if I’m not healthy, I can’t swing or move the club and do it the way I want to do it. I wouldn’t play well. Secondly, I’ve got to have some success, because if I don’t feel like I can win anymore, if I feel like I’m finishing last, you know, eight out of ten, then it’s definitely time to quit. That’s not me. So, whenever that time has come or will come, hopefully I will know it and make a decision. But right now, I still feel healthy enough to do it. I feel competitive to be out there. Even with my surgery in February (2024), I was out for a few months and then I still put myself in contention several times and I had opportunities to win at least two or three times. Then I won in Phoenix at the finish. This is going to be your last Masters, how does that feel? Yeah, that’s the plan. As soon as I missed it last year, I figured I’m going to try and play my next one, make that the last one. So, the plan is to be at Augusta in April and say goodbye as a competitor. But I will plan to be there for many, many more years to enjoy the tournament, to be a part of the Par 3 contest, the Champions Dinner on Tuesday night, and many other traditions to have. How did you arrive at that decision to end it now? Well, the last few years, I just felt the course was getting longer and longer. I mean, they have numerous holes now that are 520, 530. And it’s no fun hitting three woods, two hybrids, three hybrids into those greens that are really designed to be hit with an eight or seven iron, like the young guys do. And I had a conversation with Jack Nicklaus 10 years ago. I played a practice round with him and I said, “Jack, in your prime, what was the longest iron you ever hit into a par four as a second shot at Augusta?” And he didn’t take long, then he said, “you know, the longest may have been an eight-iron. It was mostly wedges, nine-irons and eight-irons.” And that’s when you look at the green complexes, they’re pretty much designed for a short to medium iron, not to be coming in with a three-wood or two hybrid the way I am, off the sidehill or downhill lie half the time. How do you describe the feeling of being on that property at Augusta? Well, to me, it’s a very special place. It’s very personal. It’s the only major I’ve won. Two times of course. I’ve been playing there 40 years; this will be 41. It’s been a very long time. It’s a very unique place. The changes they have made over the years are phenomenal. When I first got there, it was fairways and pine needles. There was no rough cut. Then they planted 5,000 trees to make it tighter and make it harder. And then they made every hole pretty much longer, except a couple of them. It’s very unique and very special. What do you look forward to sentimentally about that week and the things you’ll go through? It will be very difficult. It will be very emotional for me to say goodbye to Augusta, to the US Masters as a competitor. And especially with all the family and friends I’m going to have there. All my family will be there, my kids, my grandkids. I’ll be teary-eyed coming up 18, and With victories all over the world, German Bernhard Langer has enjoyed a remarkable golfing career. it’s going to be a tough one, emotional. But I’ve had my time, it’s time for the young guy. It’s a young man’s golf course, it’s not an old man’s golf course. As I said, it’s very long, very hilly. It’s even a hard walk. You know, when you walk 7600 yards on a very hilly course, and it takes five hours to play, it makes it a long day when you’re out there, two hours beforehand, or three to warm up. You’d be the oldest person to make the cut if you do get it done in April at 67. Well, it’s certainly a challenge, and it will be very difficult for the reason I just told you. I can’t get the ball near the hole with the longer clubs I’m hitting into the greens. I can’t even get the ball on the greens on certain holes because it will not stop. If I land a 3-wood or 2-hybrid in the middle of the green, it’s most likely going to run through if they’re firm. And some greens you have to fly the ball onto, you can’t bounce it or run it up. So it’s a challenge, a very tough challenge. But you know, it’s not totally out of reach, so I’ll be trying my best to hopefully make the cut and play four rounds instead of two. You’ve played in Australia over your career, how have you enjoyed that? It’s always been fun playing in Australia. Australia has some of the best golf courses in the world, especially near the city of Melbourne. They may have three or four of the best courses in the world, and similar in Sydney and other places. They’ve got lots of great champs too, as we know. I’ve been very fortunate to win in Australia. What do you make of the current Aussies? Well, I think Australia has always had amazing players, all the way back to Greg Norman. He started this new crop that came out in the 90s and 2000s and they keep producing great champions year after year. I’m playing on the Champions Tour and I think we have 13 Aussies. That may be the most represented country after America. And that’s incredible. There’s definitely a camaraderie between those guys because they have the same passport and represent the same flag. There’s a great crop of champions on the PGA Tour Champions right now. It’s impressive.
April 2025 www.insidegolf.com.au PRO NEWS 10 1. Nick Price and Greg Norman share the Augusta National course record of 63. Price also set the record for most birdies in one round – 10. That record was broken by American Anthony Kim, who had 11 birdies in the second round in 2009. 2. In the 1950 Masters, Aussie Jim Ferrier, who won the 1947 US PGA Championship, had only to complete the back nine in 38 to win, but he limped home with a 41. On the last six holes there was a seven-stroke swing between him and the winner Jimmy Demaret who shot a 69 to Ferrier’s 75. The Australian finished runner-up – two shots back. 3. In 2020, Cameron Smith became the first player in Masters history to shoot all four rounds in the 60s (67-68-69-69). He finished runner-up alongside Sungjae Im – five shots behind the winner, Dustin Johnson. 4. In 2013, China’s Guan Tianlang became the youngest player ever to compete in the Masters. He was 14 years, 168 days old on the opening day of the tournament. He made the cut despite receiving a one-stroke penalty for slow play. 5. The youngest winner of the Masters is Tiger Woods. He was 21 years, 104 days old when he won in 1997. In that year, Woods also broke the records for the widest winning margin (12 strokes). 6. Jack Nicklaus, a six-time Masters champion, became the oldest winner in 1986 aged 46 years, 82 days. Nicklaus is the record holder for the most top-10s, with 22, and the most cuts made, with 37. 7. Gary Player holds the record for most appearances – 52. He also holds the record for the number of consecutive cuts made – 23 between 1959 and 1982. (Note: Player did not compete in 1973 as he was recovering from surgery). He shares this record with Fred Couples, who made his consecutive cuts between 1983 and 2007. (Couples did not compete in 1987 and 1994). 8. The highest winning score of 289 (+1) has occurred three times: Sam Snead in 1954, Jack Burke Jr in 1956 and Zach Johnson in 2007. 9. The most contrasting starts in the Masters have been by Craig Wood, who started with 88-67 in 1936. In 1990, Mike Donald opened with a 64 and followed that with an 82. 10. Curtis Strange played the par-3 12th in one, two, three and four (not in sequence) in 1988. Corey Pavin repeated the feat at the par-3 16th in 1992. 11. Johnny Miller was the first to birdie six consecutive holes when he shot 30 on the front nine during the third round in 1975. 12. Three players share the record for most runner-up finishes with four – Ben Hogan (1942, 1946, 1954, 1955), Tom Weiskopf (1969, 1972, 1974, 1975), and Jack Nicklaus (1964, 1971, 1977, 1981). Nicklaus and Tiger Woods are the only golfers to have won the Masters in three separate decades. 13. Gary Player was the leading overseas player at Augusta on 10 occasions. He was also the first non-American to win the title in 1961. 14. In 1984, Larry Nelson recorded 26 threes on his card over 72 holes. Twelve of those were birdies. Ben Crenshaw won that year. 15. For the inaugural Masters (1934), the course was played in reverse – i.e. the current front nine was the back nine and vice versa. 16. In 1963, it was a game of two halves for Jacky Cupit. Following a front nine score of 34 (two-under) he came home in 48 strokes (12-over). 17. In 1991, Bernhard Langer became the first player to birdie the par-4 14th in all four rounds. 18. When Jack Nicklaus won in 1972, his rounds got progressively worse, beginning with a 68 and followed that with 71-73-74. 19. Eighteen players have won the Masters more than once, but only three did so in successive years – Jack Nicklaus (1965-66), Sir Nick Faldo (1989-1990) and Tiger Woods (2001-02). 20. In 1952, the Masters began presenting an award, known as the Silver Cup, to the lowestscoring amateur to make the cut. There have been seven players to win low amateur and then go on to win the Masters as a professional. These players are Cary Middlecoff, Jack Nicklaus, Ben Crenshaw, Phil Mickelson, Tiger Woods, Sergio Garcia and Hideki Matsuyama. – COMPLIED BY DAVID NEWBERY An honorary starter in 2024, Jack Nicklaus was a six-time Masters champion and the oldest winner at age 46 in 1986. Nick Faldo, playing the par three tournament in 2024, one of 18 players to win the Masters more than once, but one of only three to do it in consecutive years. DID YOU KNOW? Masters stats PENNY’S STARTING TO READ GREENS LIKE A BOOK.
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April 2025 www.insidegolf.com.au PRO NEWS 12 Hannah reset and ready to take on the LPGA’s best in 2025 WHILE it’s still early in the season on the LPGA Tour, Australia’s highestranked golfer Hannah Green has all but given up her dream of becoming the world’s No 1 player. For this year, anyway. “Realistically, with Nelly (Korda) winning as many times as she did last year, I don’t think I can achieve No 1 unless I win the same amount of times,” she said. “But I would love to get to world No 2, or World No 3.” That’s certainly not out of the question for Australia’s best performed female golfer in recent years. A two-time winner of the Greg Norman Medal, presented to Australia’s golfer of the year, Green won three times on the LPGA Tour in 2024 – a By Peter Owen feat equalled only by Korda, Lydia Ko and China’s Ruoning ‘Ronnie’ Yin – and finished the year ranked world No 6. She made 16 cuts in 20 starts, with six top 10 finishes as well as her three wins – at the HSBC Women’s World Championship in Singapore, at the JM Eagle LA Championship and at the BMW Ladies Championship, earning more than $2 million in prize money. “It’s hard to back up a successful year,” she said. “Most players have goals throughout the year and, you know, because I did win those three tournaments, it’s hard to then reset.” Not that Green hasn’t begun the year in style. She finished fourth in the Founders Cup at Florida in early February and, after a fortnight’s break at home in Perth, travelled to Singapore to defend her title as the HSBC Women’s World Champion at Sentosa golf course, finishing a creditable seventh. Like all the top players, Green seeks to be at her peak for the season’s five major championships, which kick off with the Chevron Championship in Texas at the end of April. “Unfortunately I didn’t play a lot of weekends in the majors last year,” she said. “I put too much pressure on myself to perform well at those events. “I’m hoping this year will be a better season in that sense. Yeah, just got to use the confidence from the last couple years to go into those weeks.” Green is also hoping to overcome an unwelcome tendency to get off to slow starts in some tournaments – though she does her best to put an upbeat spin on it. “Sometimes when you’re in the lead the entire week, it’s a little bit more mentally challenging compared to when you have had a not-so-good first day,” she said “Fortunately I did have some good results after poor first rounds, but this is a complete different season, so who knows what it might be like this year? “I’m hoping at least, yeah, to get off to better starts and just be a little bit more consistent throughout the week. Things don’t always go the way you want, and that’s just what you have to mentally think about out there.” During her February break at home, Green spent a lot of time with her coach, Ritchie Smith, who was recently named Western Australia’s top coach – of any sport. “I’ve been working with him since I was probably 12 or 13 years old,” she said. “We’ve had a long relationship, and you know, he knows -- I guess he can be very personable about how to apply things in the golf swing. “Minjee Lee also works with him. Even though we might be working on the same thing in a sense, it’s just the way that he delivers it to both of us that makes it easier to understand. “It might be completely different, terminology, but he understands because we’ve had such a long relationship, what maybe clicks for me and what perhaps clicks for other players. “It’s just nice to have grown up with the same coach and he can see how I’ve grown as a player, and also, I guess, as a person. “Just having someone that I trust that even if things aren’t going well, he’ll tell me the swing is bad. He won’t just tell me things are going well. “I want him to be honest. I think having that relationship both sides, even me telling him, I don’t think that’s right and vice versa, I think that’s important.” The winner of the HSBC Women’s World Championship in 2024, Hannah Green wasn’t able to defend her title in early March, however she has set lofty goals for the rest of 2025. Live the Hunter. Love the Experience. Rural Land • Refined Homes • Golf Resort 1800 290 557 | LOVEDALEFARM.COM.AU Visit our Display Gallery : Hunter Valley Gardens, Shop 6, 2090 Broke Road, Pokolbin Open: Thursday - Sunday, 10am - 2pm or by private appointment. Lovedale Farm celebrates the rustic beauty of this region. Explore the wild and limitless panoramas of the Hunter Valley by day and return home to one of Australia’s premier residential, golfing and resort destinations.Lovedale Farm is your escape to a life of rural contentment. REGISTER YOUR INTEREST INSIDE GOLF AD 135mm x 255mm R3.indd 1 13/3/2025 4:15 pm
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April 2025 www.insidegolf.com.au PRO NEWS 14 Ryan hits his ‘Peake’ with NZ Open win IT was only a matter of time before Ryan Peake’s amazing story of redemption hit the mainstream media. His stunning victory in the NZ Open at Millbrook is the story of a gifted teenage golfer who lost his way enormously in life to end up a member of an outlaw motorcycle gang, eventually jailed for five years on serious assault charges in his early 20’s. And if Peake, 31 was overwhelmed talking about it after his one-shot NZ victory, he certainly didn’t show it. The win gives him entry into the Open at Royal Portrush in Northern Ireland in July and local and Australian golf authorities will need to put support around the big hitting, tattooed lefthander or he’ll be swept away by the international hype that will surround him at the Open. Overseas golf media at a big event like the Open – especially the British papers – take Michael Davis michael.davis@insidegolf.com.au Local lefty takes out the NZ PGA KIWI left-hander Tyler Hodge held his nerve over the closing stages to clinch victory at the Wallace Development New Zealand PGA Championship played at Hastings Golf Club. Leading by four strokes after a birdie at the par-five 10th, Hodge stumbled with three bogies, before making pars at the final two holes to beat Queenslander Tim Hart and another New Zealander in Kerry Mountcastle by just one shot. The 30-year-old Hodge became the third Kiwi winner in the past four Australasian Tour events (Josh Geary, Nick Voke) and the third left-hander to win in this current season (Elvis Smylie, Ryan Peake). It was the first Challenger PGA Tour of Australasia victory for Hodge who originally joined the professional ranks in 2015, quit in late 2019 and had a year away from the game before returning to amateur golf and caddying for two seasons at Tara Iti. Tyler Hodge, winner of the 2025 NZ PGA Championship at Hastings Golf Club. no prisoners. Some hacks are on site just to rake up dirt. They have no interest in the golf. Peake will need a visa clearance just to get into Northern Ireland. Already we have seen administrative red tape related to his criminal conviction delay his entry into New Zealand by several days. And early in his comeback, after he had done his jail time, Peake needed a clearance from the DP Tour’s Criminal Commission just to play in that tour’s qualifying school at Rosebud Country Club. Of course, the NZ win gives him free entry into the Open. “You cannot back away from your past and it is always with you. Occasionally, it will put hurdles in your way,” Peake told Inside Golf at the time. After the win at Millbrook he added: “I’ve just changed my life. “This is what I do. I want to be here and just play golf. The (back) story is what it is but I’m just out here playing golf.” It was while he was incarcerated when renowned coach WA Ritchie Smith reached out and asked whether Peake wanted to play competitive golf again. He wondered whether he was a charity case, but also knew Smith enough to know he wouldn’t waste time on an assignment he saw no future in. It was a heart-to-heart at the end of 2024 that reaffirmed to Peake that while a win had proved elusive, they were on a path towards something special. “I always knew I could do it; it was just a matter of time of when I was going to do it,” he added. Peake sealed his win in the 104th New Zealand Open with a three-metre putt for par on the 72nd hole, his 23-under par total one clear of fellow Australian Jack Thompson, who closed with a 63, Japan’s Kazuki Higa and South African Ian Snyman. The West Australian shot a 66 on Sunday and went bogey-free for his final 55 holes. Along with his exemption into the Open Championship, Peake now has membership on the Asian Tour through until the end of 2027. Ryan Peake is headed to the Open Championship in Ireland in July courtesy of his win at the New Zealand Open. Ryan Peake scored the biggest win of his career with a victory at the 2025 NZ Open.
April 2025 www.insidegolf.com.au PRO NEWS 15 Life’s one long honeymoon for Darcy and Danni MISSING out on making the field for the Webex Players Series Sydney tournament was disappointing for NSW pro Darcy Boyd, but at least it gave him the chance to caddie for his wife Danni Vasquez. The husband and wife team – a rarity in professional golf – sit down together each year and plot a schedule that gives them the best opportunity to advance their careers, while spending as much time together as they can. The Boyd’s, married for 16 months and inseparable since they met on a junior golf team visiting India a decade ago, have been enjoying a dream honeymoon they both hope will never end. By Peter Owen They’ve bought their own caravan and, as soon as their Australasian Tour commitments are over, they plan to travel the country, competing on the PGA pro-am circuit, where they have already had significant success. Boyd, a regular contender, won the Bowen Pro-Am last May, while Vasquez became the first woman to win on the pro-am circuit in five years when she took the prize at Biloela, in central Queensland, two months later. “It’s really one long holiday for us,” Vasquez said. “We love travelling, and we’re so glad that golf gives us the opportunity to see the country and be there for each other. “Most professional golfers have to go off alone, leaving their family behind. It’s a struggle being away for such long periods. It’s hard for them and hard for the people at home. “We’re very lucky that we can travel together. We both enjoy camping and the caravan’s an investment, really. When we’re finished we can sell it.” Vasquez said they were a competitive couple who pushed each other to be better golfers. “But we look out for each other, too, and we’re very supportive.” Boyd earned Australasian Tour status by finishing top 20 in the 2023 Q School tournament. “He’s such a hard worker,” Vasquez said. “I almost cried when I saw him holding the flag when he got his tour card.” They are regular caddies for each other, Vasquez carrying the bag for her husband during the Challenger Tour’s Western Australian swing earlier in the season, while Boyd was her caddie when Vasquez was beaten in a playoff in the 2023 Australian Women’s Classic at Bonville. They have both completed PGA Membership Pathway Programs – indeed, Boyd was PGA National Trainee of the Year in 2020 – and regularly offer their teaching skills to country golf clubs when they’re not competing. When we spoke, Vasquez was getting ready to compete in three of the most important WPGA events of the year – the Australian WPGA Championship at Sanctuary Cove, the Australian Women’s Classic at Coffs Harbour, and the NSW Open at Wollongong. They are co-sanctioned events and Vasquez knows that success in any of them could provide her with opportunities to campaign overseas – on the Ladies European Tour, or even on the LPGA in the US. “I have my own goals in golf and I know that one day I’ll have to sit down and work it out – where my golf can take me, and what I have to do to get there. I’d love to play overseas.” She and Boyd know, too, that having a family would put an end to their nomadic existence. “In the meantime, though, we just want to play for as long as we can,” Vasquez said. On the road and loving it – NSW touring professionals Darcy Boyd and Danni Vasquez. Danni Vasquez in action at the 2024 Webex Series event in South Australia.
April 2025 www.insidegolf.com.au PRO NEWS 16 Ko steady as she goes in HSBC win LYDIA Ko, nursing an overnight threestroke lead, knew that if she played steady golf on the final day of the HSBC Women’s World Championship at Sentosa’s Tanjong course in Singapore, she’d win the tournament. “I started off really consistently,” she said. “I hit a lot of greens, and I think that was going to be the big key. As long as I played steady golf and just gave myself good looks for birdies, I felt like some of them were going to drop.” They dropped on the sixth, seventh and eighth holes for a trio of birdies that gave the Kiwi champion a five-stroke lead and allowed her to virtually coast home for her first win in a tournament she has contested 11 times. By Peter Owen Grace takes a break, with better golf to come EARLY this year Grace Kim did something she’d never done before – she took a break from golf. She put away her golf clubs, packed her bags, and took a three-week holiday in Korea with her best friend. No gym, no practice, no competition. Just relaxing in the country where her parents were born. “It’s the first time I’ve ever done anything like that,” she says, and you sense the wonder, and perhaps even a little guilt, at the boldness of her act. “But I had such a good time.” She says her game may have suffered a little, though, and she blames rustiness for the somewhat tardy start to her campaign on this year’s LPGA Tour. “Just old bad habits coming back,” she says. “It’ll take some time but I’ll fix it on the range.” Kim, born in Sydney and Australia’s best amateur before she turned professional in 2021, is one of Australia’s brightest stars in world golf. HSBC WOMEN’S WORLD CHAMPIONSHIP “I think that played into my favour,” she said, “that I’ve been there and done that. So it didn’t feel like a completely new experience.” Ko shot rounds of 71, 67, 68 and 69 to win by four strokes from Thailand’s Jeeno Thitikal (71, 72, 66, 70) and Japan’s Ayaka Furue (71, 69, 71, 68). A missed 1.5m putt for par on the 11th gave the chasing pack a glimmer of hope, but another birdie on 13, followed by a spectacular 15m putt for birdie on the par-three 15th gave her an insurmountable lead. She could even afford to bogey the tough parthree 17th before finishing the tournament with a par on the last after finding the greenside bunker. “I dreamed last night that I won, but then I woke up, and I was like, dang, it’s not real yet,” Ko said. “To win here in Singapore and get all the love, not only this year, but for the years that I’ve come, it means a lot. It’s exciting to add Asia’s ‘major’ to my major collection.” Thitikal, the pre-tournament favourite, made no mistakes and played a bogey-free round, but could make no impression on the champion’s lead. It was the young Thai’s 10th successive top-10 finish, and she continues to impress as one of the game’s best players. “It’s more than I expected, to be honest,” she said. “I knew after the second round, I was frustrated a little bit how I was playing. But finishing tied second – that’s really, really nice. Furue made a last-round charge, notching birdies on the sixth, eighth, 13th, 15th and 16th holes to climb into second place, but stumbled at the par three 17th, taking bogey. Thitikal and Furue were two strokes ahead of a group of players on seven-under-par – Mexico’s Gaby Lopez (70, 73, 68, 70), Korea’s Jin Hee-im (72, 74, 68, 67), who owned the best round of the day, and England’s Charley Hull (69, 70, 68, 74). Defending champion Hannah Green bogeyed the first hole and couldn’t get anything going, signing for a one-under-par 71 that left her tied for seventh place on six-under. “I feel like I’m exhausted just from playing one week,” the Western Australian said. “Obviously it’s always a big week defending but also in this climate it makes it a little bit more difficult. But I was grateful that I had some friends and a lot of support out there. “Today I didn’t wake up feeling that great. So I did well to shoot under par. I definitely made the most of my round. The putter was still really hot today. Happy to defend the title, and hopefully bring this form back to the States.” Minjee Lee’s hoped disappeared when she took a double bogey seven on the par-five fifth hole, followed by a triple-bogey seven on the 12th, after she hooked her drive into thick rough. Apart from those two horrors, the Western Australian played well, collecting birdies at six, eight, 11 and 18 for a one-over-par 73, and a four-round total of four-under. She’s close to her best form again. The other Australians – Steph Kyriacou (82, 71, 70, 72), Gabi Ruffels (80, 71, 76, 75) and Grace Kim (78, 77, 72, 76) – finished near the tail of the 66-strong field. NOTE: Inside Golf was a media partner for the HSBC Women’s World Championship, one of the early season highlight events on the LPGA Tour. Lydia Ko recorded a four-shot victory in what was her 11th appearance at the HSBC Women’s World Championship in Singapore. By Peter Owen After a good season on the Epson Tour in 2022, she gained conditional LPGA status at Q School at the end of the year. Then, early in 2023, she stunned the world – and herself – by winning the Lotte Championship at Hoakalei Country Club in Hawaii. She birdied the first playoff hole after rivals Yu Liu and Sung Yu-jin found the bunker with their approaches to the green. “It was surreal,” Kim says. “My expectations were very low and, honestly, I hadn’t thought about winning. It was just my third LPGA start.” Kim is older – she’s now 24 – and wiser, but still considers herself something of a rookie on the world stage. She spends a lot of time in the United States, but doesn’t have a base there, choosing to instead stay at the Australian Golf House in Florida, when she can, and at Airbnb’s, which she books herself. She depends a lot on her parents, who she says are incredibly supportive – and proud. Most of the time, either her mum or dad will travel with her. But not both at the same time. “I have a younger brother and one of them needs to be at home in Sydney with him,” Kim said. She credits her dad Kevin for getting her into golf, though she says she was a reluctant participant back then. “I didn’t really like it,” she said. “I’d much rather have been playing with friends or staying at home. “Dad wasn’t much of a golfer – a bit of a hacker, really - but he must have seen something in me. So I went along with it. Before I knew it, I started to like the game, and before long I loved it. “It’s funny looking back,” Kim said. “If it weren’t for my dad, my life would be very different. He believed in me before I ever believed in myself.” After competing in the Honda LPGA Thailand and the HSBC Women’s World Championship in Singapore, Kim planned to return to Australia for the WPGA Championship at Sanctuary Cove in early March, but Cyclone Alfred had other ideas. She will stick around for the Australian Women’s Classic at Coffs Harbour in mid-March. You sense that Kim will grab a chance to return home at any time – to play golf or just relax. Grace Kim failed to mount a challenge at the HSBC Women’s World Championship however she looks forward to finding form in the weeks and months ahead. “I know I’m blessed to have a job where I can travel the world with my friends, and enjoy some wonderful experiences,” she said. “But there’s nothing like being home and sleeping in my own bed.” Minjee Lee had her moments at the HSBC event before finishing nine shots behind the winner.
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