Busy weekend of results for NZ golfers

A busy weekend for New Zealand Golf resulted in six top 10 finishes.

LYIDA KO

Lydia Ko has let another Major Championship slip out of her grasp after a tough final round of three over par at the US Womens Open in San Martin.

Entering the final round with a one stroke lead, she was once again odds on favourite to take out the title. Sadly things went pear shaped when she bogeyed the eighth hole, then found the water on the ninth to record a painful double bogey.

This then put time pressure on the group as they had to race around to keep above their time par which seemed to take effect on the world number one who couldnt recover. Needing eagle on the 72nd hole, her 100 yard pitch shot was close but didnt drop for the 19 year old.

"This has been a lot of fun, the fans are great and the majority of the holes the fans are cheering me on and it was a great experience and this is something I am going to learn from," said Ko.

Lydia Ko will now turn her attention to the Marathon Classic on the LPGA Tour next weekend, but is also looking forward to the Olympic announcement on Monday 18 July to have confirmation she will be going to Rio.

Ko certainly wont be stressing about it, sitting number one in the world and with 48 events played in the two years of recording qualification stats, she has finished in the top 16, 39 times and of those, 22 of them have been top three finishes. Not bad.

DANNY LEE

Danny Lee completed a successful week on the links with a tied third at the Scottish Open on the European Tour to hold him in good stead leading into the Open Championship starting this week.

Finishing 12-under the card, two shots behind winner Alexander Nore, his more than solid rounds of 71, 66, 70 and 69 werent quite enough for the Kiwi.

Lee banked an impressive $302,076 NZD for his overnight efforts, but what he did with that money only adds to his already great image. Every birdie recorded for the week Lee donated $500 USD for the West Virginia recovery efforts, totalling $8500 ($11,654 NZD). The devastating floods forced the Greenbrier Classic to be cancelled meaning Lee was unable to defend his maiden PGA Tour title.

Lee missed a chance on the 72nd hole to jump into second place, but through all the bad weather and close calls, but at the end of the day the world number 48 will take huge confidence heading into arguably the biggest tournament on the planet, the Open Championship.

GREG TURNER and PETER FOWLER

On the European Seniors Tour, Greg Turner has also recorded a top 10 finish after a good week at the Winston Golf Senior Open. With rounds of 72, 70 and 69 he settled for eighth alone. Peter Fowler topped that with a tied third finished to add to the successful golfing weekend.

RYAN FOX vs MIKE HENDRY

Michael Hendry continued his superb form over the weekend on the Japan Tour finishing tied fourth overnight at the Japan PGA Championship.

It was highly publicized that he was going head to head with Ryan Fox to try and secure the final Olympic position and he did his utmost to try make this happen. As it stands, the Official World Golf Rankings have Fox at 184 and Hendry 186 in the world which shows how close this really was.

After two years of fighting for the one remaining position behind New Zealand number one Danny Lee, it all came down to one round of golf on the European Challenge Tour where Fox sealed their fates with sensational back to back eagles midway through the back nine.

"Im pretty happy, it was a bit of a nervy wait this afternoon and we were hoping the maths was right too. I left it a little late on the back nine but happy to hit some good shots under pressure," said Fox.

"Mike has played some very impressive golf over the last few weeks to make it a great little battle between us and I'm sure he's going to get his second win in Japan soon."

Fox must now wait nervously because from here the New Zealand Olympic Committee have to ratify his selection into the New Zealand Olympic team which will be announced on Monday 18 July.

- This story has been automatically published using a media release from Golf NZ