Sarah Kemp’s strong 2023 season reached another high point when she birdied the final hole to finish inside the top 10 at the Women’s Scottish Open at Dundonald Links.

It was the 37-year-old Australian’s second top-10 finish in the past three starts and it had bigger implications outside of the prizemoney.

Kemp’s last-hole birdie at Dundonald put her into the field for the season’s fifth major – this week’s AIG Women’s Open in England as a top-10 finisher in Scotland.

It was a good week for the Australians in Scotland, with three finishing inside the top 15.

Steph Kyriacou and Minjee Lee were both tied-13th overall, with Lee having to rue a sluggish start – an 80 on the Thursday in windy conditions.

On the Epson Tour, Australia’s Gabriela Ruffels continued her stellar season with a tied-fourth in Indiana, and she remains on top of the standings and ready to graduate to the LPGA Tour in 2024.

The unluckiest Aussie loser of the weekend was another veteran, Scott Hend, who reached the 18th tee at the Asian Tour’s Indonesia Open in a tie for the lead but hit his tee shot out of bounds. The resulting double bogey pushed him back to a tie for second.

Elsewhere in the world, Adam Scott’s remarkable run of appearances in the PGA TOUR’s season-ending playoffs has come to an end but two Australians – Cam Davis and Jason Day – are into the big-money tournaments beginning this week in Memphis.

Scott only missed his 17th consecutive playoff berth narrowly; he bolted around in 8-under-par 62 to finish tied-seventh at the Wyndham Championships in North Carolina today but fell just short.

Having started the week in 80th spot and needing to get inside the top 70, his ultimate Fedex Cup finish was 72nd.

It is the first year that the tour has mandated that only the top 70 progress to the playoffs. Previously the top 125 on the points list qualified, and Scott’s absence leaves only American Matt Kuchar as having qualified for every edition of the FedEx Cup playoff series.

Results
LPGA Tour
Women’s Scottish Open
Dundonald Links, Ayrshire, Scotland
1             Celine Boutier                   69-68-66-70–273   $US300,000
T9           Sarah Kemp                       69-68-72-70–279  $41,824
T13        Minjee Lee                         80-66-68-66–280   $35,318
T13        Stephanie Kyriacou          76-67-71-66–280     $35,318
MC         Karis Davidson                   78-70–148

Epson Tour
French Lick Resort Charity Classic
French Lick, Indiana
1             Jiwon Jeon                         72-64-66-71–273    $50,250
T4           Gabriela Ruffels                70-69-69-73–281    $16,243
28           Robyn Choi                        76-69-71-73–289   $3,283
T38        Hira Naveed                       73-74-73-72–292   $2,247
MC         Cassie Porter                     71-78 – 149
MC         Sarah Jane Smith              80-70 – 150