Scott

Hend

The 47-year-old made back-to-back starts at Costa Adeje and dipped into some low scoring early in both events: He opened with a 66-64 at Tenerife, finishing with 71-67 on the weekend for a T-8 result, and last week at the Canary Islands, he started by going 67-66 before posting a 70-72. Hend also had moderately strong showings in Kenya, where he held a share of the lead midway through the Magical Kenya Open after shooting 67-64. He faded to finish T-16 following a 68-73 on the weekend. Hend also finished T-42 at the Kenya Savannah Classic. At 5-of-8 cuts made on the season, he’s already tracking better than last year when he went 8-for-19. Hend missed the cut at last year’s British Masters. A three-time winner on the European Tour, Hend hasn’t seen the winner’s circle since the Maybank Championship in Kuala Lumpur in March 2019.

The Aussie owes his rather elevated position in the Race to Dubai to his WGC Mexico Championship appearance because T17 in Abu Dhabi, T67 in Oman, alongside missed cuts in Dubai and Saudi Arabia would not seem enough to be 83rd in the rankings. However, the big money of the WGC allows even a lowly T65, better than only seven in the field, to boost the bank and points tally. A prodigious world traveler, it’s often forgotten that the big-hitter played 2004 to 2006 on the PGA Tour, albeit with little success (two top tens). He found his feet on the Asia Tour (ten wins), three of them co-sanctioned on the European Tour. He’s also a two-time playoff loser at Crans in the European Masters. That fiddly track is far from the only layout of its type on which he thrives, perhaps counter-intuitively – he’s also a winner of the Hong Kong Open and added another top ten there in 2018.

The Aussie is a confirmed winner in this part of the world, grabbing ten victories on the Asian Tour, three of them co-sanctioned with the European Tour. He’s never quite transferred that quality into the highest levels however. In nine major starts he lacks a top 30 and in nine WGC appearances he has a best of T10. He does have three top 25s in this event, but the best was T19 in 2015 and since then he has added T54 and T62, uninspiring stuff in limited fields. He won the Maybank Championship back in March but since then has had, in Aussie parlance, a shocker. He’s made 17 starts, just seven cuts and a best of T28.

Hend and Wade Ormsby drew their final Group C match 1-1 with France to finish 1-1-1 with four holes won. Germany Women, represented by Esther Henseleit and Laura Fuenfstueck, had an identical record so the teams headed to the sixth hole for a play-off. Both made par which meant nearest the pin to decide the winner. Hend and Fuenfstueck looked to be virtually the same distance away but, after both tee shots were measured, Hend’s was 17.8 feet to Fuenfstueck’s 19.3. Australia will play favorites Spain in Saturday’s quarter-final.

The Aussie is a prolific tweeter and spent much of his journey home from England discussing many issues with followers, but it also highlighted the fact that he really does spend a lot of time in airports and airplanes (Manchester to Copenhagen is 600 miles, via Florida it is 9,000). This is the first time he will play Himmerland because his only previous experience of the event (and country) was when shooting 79-75 to miss the cut at Silkeborg last year. He won the Maybank Championship but has since then failed to capitalize on good starts: T4 at halfway in India (T35), T18 after 36 holes in China (T65) and T11 after two laps in England (T35).

The Aussie won last week’s Maybank Championship and has not given up his seat on the birdie train this week on the DLF G&CC’s Player Course. It’s just as well, because midway through his first lap, playing the back nine first, he played 17 and 18 in bogey-triple bogey. But he made seven birdies either side of that, another four on Friday (at the first, fourth, ninth and 15th) and he’s now bogey-free (and 9-under) for his last 27 holes on a course where most are shelling shots left, right and centre. His rounds of 69-68 are quite a contrast with his previous course visits (73-82 in 2017, 82-76 in 2018).

What a conclusion at Saujana G&CC. Hend started the day in the final three-ball, but three swings back of the leader Elvira, however a blistering front nine (with birdies at 1, 4, 6, 7 and 9) saw him make the turn in the lead. He exchanged bogey-birdie at 10 and 13 yet headed up the par-5 18th with a one shot lead. On the green in three, Hend watched as Elvira lined up a pitch – and then thunder cracked overhead as he hit, distracting him. A delay was inevitable and after it the Spaniard stunned everyone by holing his 25’0" birdie putt. Hend had endured two play-off defeats, the second particularly cruel, since his last European Tour victory, but on the first extra hole he made birdie-4 to Elvira’s par to atone for that pain. And all this after spending the eve of the final round defending himself on Twitter from critics saying his intentional use of the grandstand as a back board was cheating.

The Australian big hitter is touring Saujana G&CC for a fourth time and seeking a first top 25 (and just his second top 70), but on Saturday he used all his creativity to race into contention. There was a flurry of birdies on the front nine (at 1, 3, 5, 6 and 8), another on the back nine (at 11, 13 and 17), there were also errors at 4, 14 and 16. But he played a stunning approach to 15, with the ball above his feet in wispy grass, water short and left of the green; he went straight at the flag. It got better at 18 when, after his second shot found the trees, he used the grandstands as a back board. “We had 120 yards to the bottom of the board,” he said. “I hit a 6-iron 140 to hit the Maybank sign for the angle to get the ball to bounce back onto the green. I didn’t have any other shot. Low punch off the board.” He’s eyeing a Sunday charge: “Look at last year, Sharma shot a ten under 62 in the last round. Somebody is going to light it up, someone always does.&qu

Twelve months ago, the Aussie opened with a pair of 71s to sit tied 33rd at halfway and hopeful of a weekend move up the leaderboard. Instead, he went the other way with rounds of 75-73 to end T56th. This event marks another two-week stretch of desert golf and the Aussie had a decent time in the first last month. He closed with a 67 to take tied 27th in Abu Dhabi, added T48 at the Dubai Desert Classic and rode a second-round 63 to tied sixth in the Saudi International. Hend then returned home to play the two Aussie events but couldn’t find much with MC at the Vic Open and T34 at the World Super 6 Perth. With less pressure on him in the desert, there’s a decent chance he could bounce back this week.

That’s four swings back from leader Dustin Johnson, who fired a 61. With the vast majority of good scores coming in the morning session, this is a particularly noteworthy performance from the Aussie, who knew that any over-par score would likely lead to a missed cut. Instead, he splashed red numbers all over his card, starting with four in five holes from the 10th, the sequence broken by a bogey at 12. Hend picked up further shots at 17, 18 and 1 before wiping out a square at 3 with two more circles at 4 and 7. This is the veteran’s lowest lap since he also hit 63 in the third round of July’s Scottish Open where he finished T14.