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Min Woo Lee’s brilliance has defeated Japan’s Riyuka Hoshino on the final day that saw him take home the 2023 Australian PGA Championship in Brisbane

by Sports Benches

What an amazing end to the 2023 Australian PGA Championship at the Royal Queensland Golf Club in Brisbane where we saw two excellent challengers vying to take home the Joe Kirkwood Cup – Aussie’s own Min Woo Lee & Riyuka Hoshino from Japan. Now Min Woo fired off with some early disappointing scores where Hoshino stole the lead for a while, but a few of his extraordinary shots out of nowhere from difficult areas including a eagle on the Par 5 9th have all but confirmed his championship win at -20.

Fair play to have a Japanese player finish well in 2nd for another year this time in Hoshino after Ryo Histasune last year to Cameron Smith, even though it can be a bit hard to watch seeing someone win that tournament. As said, he was an early threat on Championship day but a series of Min Woo’s masterclasses saw him fall short by 3 strokes (-17) towards the end.

Plus, great to see a few more Aussies wrap it up at their best with Todd Sinnott finishing comfortably inside the Top 10 in Tied 7th & Marc Leishman being the best scorer for the final round alone (7 under 64) in outright 3rd ahead of 4th placed Curtis Luck, who always kept the front-runners in check from Day 2. And shoutout to a few Spanish-speaking trio also rounding out the Top 10 including Chile’s Joaquin Niemann (5th) as well as both Spaniards down in Tied 7th Rafa Cabrera Bello & Opening Day leader Joel Moscatel.

The first of the two big Australian PGA tournaments is done now where they will be back at the same place, same time in late November next year. For now, there’s still the Australian Open to come this Thursday through to next Sunday at The Australian Golf Club in Rosebery, Sydney.

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Min Woo Lee still holds on top spot after Day 3 as he hopes to go one better with the Joe Kirkwood Cup on the Final Round tomorrow of the 2023 Australian PGA Championship

by Sports Benches

So there we have it, Moving day is done where some hold on top while some have gone up and down the leaderboard ahead of Championship Day tomorrow in the 2023 Australian PGA Championship at Royal Queensland Golf Club in Brisbane.

We’ll start off with Min Woo Lee who continued to stay on top after a great show over the last two days at -17. The same goes to Curtis Luck where he too has also turned things around from Round 2 yesterday like Min Woo as he’s four strokes behind him. They are both sandwiched in between Japan’s Rikuya Hoshino – currently in 2nd place by just three strokes shy of the leader. There’s also another Japanese player to look for in Ryo Hisatsune following a great run today at five under 66. Now he fired well into Tied 4th on Day 1 before Ryo slipped away down the middle of the field prior to the weekend. He’s currently just outside the Top 10 in Tied 11th where Ryo is nine strokes behind Min Woo, but he has been so close last year to Cameron Smith alongside Jason Scrivener in joint 2nd as anything can be possible on the final day tomorrow.

Adam Scott has some work to do if he wants to win the Joe Kirkwood Cup tomorrow in 4th for the first time since 2013 ahead of two Tied 5th players in Lucas Herbert & Scotland’s Cameron Syme. Meanwhile, Cameron Davis & Marc Leishman wasn’t bad all along within the Top 16 so far as they both leads a quarter of players at Tied 7th alongside Round 1 leader Joel Moscatel from Spain & Chilean Joaquin Niemann. And speaking of the NZers on show, Michael Hendry is in Tied 14th at -7 after he was brilliant today with 7 birdies at a score of 64 strokes. He too has been improving over time off the back of a slow start as Hendry hopes to post a strong finish inside the Top 10 on the final day tomorrow. Plus, Josh Geary hasn’t moved much today in Tied 21st & Daniel Hillier has slipped away a lot down in T53 following a poor Day 3 score of 2 over 73.

We will see a new champion replacing Cameron Smith as will it be an Aussie again this time in Min Woo Lee? Or will someone else other than an Aussie become the first player to win this tournament since American Harold Varner III back in 2016? It all plays out when the first of the two major Australian golf tournaments will conclude by 5pm AEDT tomorrow afternoon.

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Main Event Cameron Smith is your Australian PGA Championship winner for the third time after a long day today through two rain delay hold-ups at the Royal Queensland Golf Club

by Sports Benches

Here it is…Cameron Smith is your main man this year in the Australian PGA Championship for the third time (2017, 2018 & 2022) after an stellar Day 4 shift of three under 68, even though there were two rain delays in between throughout today at the RQGC in Brisbane. 

Love the way how Cam responded after that bogey on the Par 3 11 when he executed his 2nd out of nowhere that led into a birdie on the Par 4 12th – before he made a few more including a consecutive birdie on the 13th – and kept himself at bay right until the very end in which was enough to take home the Joe Kirkwood Cup. 

Then we go a bit further down the leaderboard where Jason Scrivener was back in the hunt at one point earlier today, but then his unfortunate hit & misses on the Par 3 17th when he was a shot away from Smith beforehand on the tee at ultimately saw him settle for 2nd best at four under 67. The same goes with Min-Woo Lee who just couldn’t find something special on the back nine after a good start with back-to-back birdies, as Min-Woo finished in Tied 4th alongside John Parry (England). 

Looking further on Parry, he started Day 4 on Tied 20th before he made a huge turnaround, especially when he wrapped things up well on the back nine that saw him left the RQGC by only five shots behind Smith at six under 65 today.

It’s also good to see a trio of Japanese competitors finish within the Top 10-11 mark. Although Masahiro Kawamura slipped away from the Top 3 thanks to his struggles on the back nine that eaten up more shots at of over one 72, but he‘s not a bad player nonetheless when he was a decent threat back on Day 2 & 3. We also covered briefly about another two players to watch from Tied 11th in Ryo Hisatune & Takumi Kanaya; they too ended up on a high with Ryo as joint runner-up alongside Scrivener, as well as Kanaya who capped off a consistent weekend run of 69 strokes in Tied 7th. 

And shoutout to the ever-consistent David Micheluzzi who stayed in the Top 10 all along from around 8-10th to 6th; he’s now ready to do some damage at the Australian Open in a few days time at Kingston Heath in Cheltenham, Victoria.

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