The professional golf world was dominated by talk of the breakaway league this week but it wasn't the only thing to happy on tour. Here's our weekly round-up:
Paula Reto went wire-to-wire to win the Sunshine Ladies Tour’s SuperSport Ladies Challenge at Gary Player Country Club in Sun City on Friday. A closing one-under-par gave her a 10-shot victory over Casandra Alexander, with Sweden’s Linn Grant, last week’s winner of the Dimension Data Ladies Challenge, and reigning Investec South African Women’s Open champion Lee-Anne Pace shared third on two-under-par.
While she wasn’t quite as rampant as in the second round, Paula Reto still romped home by 10 strokes after a closing one-under-par 71 in the Sunshine Ladies Tour’s SuperSport Ladies Challenge, presented by Sun International at Sun City on Friday.
Talking about her first professional title in her home country, she said:
“It means a lot. I’ve been getting lots of messages, especially from my family. It shows I can do it, and to do it here in my home country makes it that much bigger – one of my bigger wins, for sure."
Meanwhile, GolfRSA’s number one ranked amateur Isabella van Rooyen secured the Leading Amateur trophy with a joint 14th place finish after posting rounds of 75, 73 and 74.
The fourth stop on the 2022 Sunshine Ladies Tour is the R1-million Jabra Ladies Classic at Glendower Golf Club.
Hannah Green makes history in Australia
Green made history on Sunday when she became the first woman to win a four-round mixed-gender tournament when she won the Webex Players Series event - the TPS Murray River at Cobram Barooga by four-shots.
Here is the full story. This win comes following her victory in the mixed-gender Vic Open the week before.
Joaquin Niemann wins Genesis Invitational
The 23-year-old became the youngest winner of the Genesis Invitational since World War II. His wire-to-wire victory was his second PGA Tour title and a level-par final round was enough to hold off a chasing Collin Morikawa by two shots.
Chilean Niemann is hoping the win will bring him some much-needed confidence for future events, he said:
"It's got the best field, the best players are here and that proves to myself that I can be competing with the top guys. I can be up there in the world ranking. I think it's going to give me a lot of confidence for what is coming next."
End of the potential breakaway league?
Whilst the wild antics of the 16th at Phoenix Open last week took our focus briefly away from talk of the breakaway Saudi golf league. This was a topic that dominated press conferences across the Genesis Invitational.
Sunday saw statements from Dustin Johnson and Bryson DeChambeau which will now surely mean that there is little chance of the breakaway tour getting off the ground.
A sentiment that was echoed by Rory McIlroy who was asked yet again about his thoughts following his final round of the Genesis Invitational. Did he think the threat of a breakaway league was over? McIlroy said:
"Yeah, yeah. Who's left? Who's left to go? I mean, there's no one. It's dead in the water in my opinion. I just can't any reason why anyone would go."
As for Phil Mickelson, his controversial comments on the PGA Tour may have damaged his reputation amongst his peers and the fans that have long supported him. Asked about Mickelson's comments, McIlroy added:
"I don't want to kick someone while he's down obviously, but I thought they were naive, selfish, egotistical, ignorant. It was just very surprising and disappointing, sad. I'm sure he's sitting at home sort of rethinking his position and where he goes from here."
It will be interesting to see what the next chapter is in this Saudi saga.
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