Nick Voke has finished in a share of ninth place at the Simmons Bank Open for the Snedeker Foundation on the Korn Ferry Tour, his best finish of the year.

His previous high finish of 2021 was a tie for 21st at the Huntsville Championship last week. He surpassed that three consecutive rounds of two-under 70 before carding a final round of three-under 69 to climb to nine-under on the leaderboard, and finish seven shots back of winner Austin Smotherman.

Voke is also projected to climb nine places on the season-long race for The 25 into 84th.

Voke, who bases himself out of America, got off to a terrific start in his final round, making birdies at the second and fourth holes to get to red figures early in his round as he looked to make a dent in the lead.

That momentum halted with a bogey at the sixth, but three solid pars meant he’d make the turn at one-under for the day.

He picked a further shot up at the 11th with a birdie to get back to two-under and made another at the final hole after a string of pars.

With the 2021 Korn Ferry Tour season combining with the 2020 season due to Covid-19, it’s Voke’s third-best finish of the season behind a tie for second at the Pinnacle Bank Championship presented by Aetna and a tie for seventh finish at the Evan Scholars Invitational in 2020.

Fellow Kiwi Steve Alker missed the cut after rounds of 81 and 74.

Meanwhile on the LPGA Tour, Lydia Ko continues to prove she is a force to be reckoned once again following an 11th place finish at the Honda LPGA Thailand.

Ko carded rounds of 66, 67, 67, and 71 to finish at 17-under for the event, five shots back of Ariya Jutanugarn.

She started the day in a share of fourth place and two shots back of Patty Tavatanakit’s lead but unfortunately failed to get her putter going, which saw her slowly fall out of contention.

Ko made three birdies with two bogeys to sign for a final round of one-under, which saw her drop seven places on the leaderboard.

She’s now projected to move up into the top spot on the LPGA Tour’s season-long points competition, the Race to CME Globe.

Daniel Hillier played in his second start on the Challenge Tour since jetting off a couple of weeks ago.

He teed it up in the Dimension Data Pro-Am at Fancourt Golf Estate in South Africa and finished in a tie for 50th after rounds of 71, 69, 71, and 74 to finish three-under par.

He moves to 55th in the Challenge Tour Rankings.

Finally, Tim Wilkinson has finished in a tie for 58th at the Wells Fargo Championship on the PGA Tour.

Wilkinson shot rounds of 74, 68, 78, and 69 to finish at five-over par, 15 shots back of Rory McIlroy.

Danny Lee withdrew from the tournament in the first round due to a back injury.