Rising star Elvis Smylie will seek to end a 30-year Aussie drought when he tees it up in this week’s Betfred British Masters hosted by Sir Nick Faldo.
Back at The Belfry for the fifth straight year, a tournament that dates back to 1946 has only had three Australian champions, the last Robert Allenby back in 1996.
Buoyed by a tie for sixth at last week’s Danish Golf Championship, Smylie arrives at The Belfry at a career-high of 189th on the Official World Golf Ranking and 22nd in the season-long Race to Dubai rankings.
Australia’s highest-ranked professional, Minjee Lee, also makes her return to tournament golf at this week’s CPKC Women’s Open in Canada.
The three-time major champion is one of eight Aussies in action in Ontario including Grace Kim, the Amundi Evian champion moving up one spot to 26th in the Rolex Women’s World Golf Ranking on the back of her fifth-place finish at The Standard Portland Classic last week.
Winner of last week’s Rogers Charity Classic, Richard Green, and three-time winner this season, Steve Allan, are among the 10 Aussies contesting The Ally Challenge on the PGA TOUR Champions and Ripper GC go into the LIV Golf Michigan Team Championship in sixth place.
The defending champions went on a giant-killing run to the title last season and will need a similar run of upsets to go back-to-back.
Round 1 tee times AEST
LPGA Tour
CPKC Women’s Open
Mississaugua Golf and Country Club, Mississauga, Ontario
9pm Gabriela Ruffels
9:37pm* Hira Naveed
9:44pm Hannah Green
9:59pm* Grace Kim
10:21pm* Cassie Porter
3:20am* Lydia Ko (NZ)
3:31am* Stephanie Kyriacou
3:42am* Minjee Lee
3:49am Fiona Xu (NZ)
4:22am Robyn Choi
Recent champion: Lauren Coughlin
Past Aussie winners: Katherine Kirk (2008)
Prizemoney: $US2.75m
TV times: Live 11pm-2am Thursday on Fox Sports 506; Live 11pm-2am Friday on Fox Sports 507; Live 6am-9am Sunday; Live 5am-8am Monday on Fox Sports 505 and Kayo Sports.
DP World Tour
Betfred British Masters hosted by Sir Nick Faldo
The Belfry Hotel & Resort, Sutton Coldfield, England
5:20pm Kazuma Kobori (NZ)
5:20pm* Daniel Hillier (NZ)
4:40pm* Elvis Smylie
10pm Danny List
10:10pm* Jason Scrivener
10:20pm* Harrison Endycott
11:20pm* Daniel Gale
11:30pm* David Micheluzzi
Recent champion: Niklas Norgaard
Past Aussie winners: Graham Marsh (1979), Greg Norman (1981-82), Robert Allenby (1996)
Prizemoney: $US3.5m
TV times: Live 9:30pm-3am Thursday, Friday; Live 9pm-2am Saturday, Sunday on Fox Sports 505 and Kayo Sports.
PGA TOUR Champions
The Ally Challenge
Warwick Hills G&CC, Grand Blanc, Michigan
1:40am Michael Wright
1:45am* Cameron Percy
1:50am David Bransdon
2am Brendan Jones
2:10am John Senden
2:15am* Mark Hensby
2:20am Rod Pampling
2:35am* Greg Chalmers
3am Steven Alker (NZ)
3:10am Steve Allan
3:20am Richard Green
Recent champion: Stewart Cink
Past Aussie winners: Nil
Prizemoney: $US2.2m
TV times: 1pm-2:30pm Saturday on Fox Sports 506; Live 4:30am-6:30am Sunday; Live 3:30am-6:30am Monday on Fox Sports 507 and Kayo Sports.
Ladies European Tour
Hills Open
Hills Golf & Sports Club, Sweden
4:24pm Maddison Hinson-Tolchard
5:36pm Amelia Garvey (NZ)
6pm* Whitney Hillier
10pm Momoka Kobori (NZ)
10:12pm Amy Walsh
10:24pm Sarah Kemp
10:24pm* Kelsey Bennett
Recent champion: Inaugural event
Past Aussie winners: Nil
Prizemoney: €300,000
Japan Golf Tour
ISPS HANDA Summer Golf Battle
Hokkaido Brooks Country Club, Hokkaido
8:30am Brad Kennedy
12:25pm Denzel Ieremia (NZ)
12:45pm Michael Hendry (NZ)
Recent champion: inaugural event
Past Aussie winners: Nil
Prizemoney: ¥213m
PGA TOUR Americas
Manitoba Open
Breezy Bend Country Club, Winnipeg, Manitoba
4:30am Grant Booth
Recent champion: Johnny Keefer
Past Aussie winners:
Prizemoney: $US225,000
Sunshine Tour
SunBet Challenge – Times Square
Wingate Park Country Club, Pretoria
Round 1 scores
T23 Austin Bautista 69
Recent champion: Thriston Lawrence
Past Aussie winners: Nil
Prizemoney: R2m
Epson Tour
Dream First Bank Charity Classic
Buffalo Dunes Golf Course, Garden City, Kansas
12:13am* Su Oh
12:24am Jennifer Elliott
3:56am Soo Jin Lee
5:46am Jess Whitting
Recent champion: Kathleen Scavo
Past Aussie winners: Gabriela Ruffels (2023)
Prizemoney: $US200,000
HotelPlanner Tour
The Dutch Futures
The Dutch, Spijk, Netherlands
4:10pm Sam Jones (NZ)
5pm Hayden Hopewell
Recent champion: Inaugural event
Past Aussie winners: Nil
Prizemoney: €300,000
Legends Tour
Grass & Co. English Legends
Brocket Hall, Hertfordshire, England
5:30pm Stephen Leaney
6:20pm Scott Hend
6:50pm Michael Long (NZ)
7:40pm Michael Campbell (NZ)
8:50pm Mark Brown (NZ)Recent champion: Robert Coles
Past Aussie winners: Nil
