Top international golfers, blanket television coverage and bolstered Australasian Tour events is what fans can look forward to as the 2009 summer of golf gets ready to sizzle.
Tiger Woods, Greg Norman, Vijay Singh and the cream of Australasian golf including Geoff Ogilvy, Adam Scott, Robert Allenby, Stuart Appleby, Rod Pampling, Aaron Baddeley, Mat Goggin, John Senden, Nathan Green, Nick O’Hern and Australia’s hottest young golfers Michael Sim and Marc Leishman headline a galaxy of stars ensuring golf fans will be treated to what promises to be the biggest summer of Australian golf in years.
The consolidated tour which has seen six events played so far in 2009 re-commences its pre-Christmas schedule this month with the newly christened John Hughes Geely WA Open. To be held at the Cottesloe Golf Club from October 22-25, it marks the return of the WA Open to the Tour with a new sponsor and a professional prize purse of $110,000.
The Tour will remain in the west for the new-look Laurance Scrap Metals WA PGA Championship the following week. With a new sponsor, the event will be played for the first time at Bunbury Golf Club, two hours south of Perth. Local talent Michael Long won the event in 2008 when it was on the Von Nida Tour schedule and ultimately took out the Von Nida Tour’s Order of Merit honours.
A week later the action heads to the east coast for the Cellarbrations Queensland PGA Championship which returns to the new location of City Golf Club in Toowoomba. The sports mad ‘Garden City’ which has bred so many Australian sporting champions will host the event for the next three years and promises to deliver a memorable championship. An exciting bonus for the winner of the WA Open, WA PGA and Queensland PGA Championships will be an immediate inclusion into the Australian Masters the following week.
The golfing world will then be focused on Kingston Heath Golf Club as the Tour stages the newly sponsored $1.5 million JBWere Masters headlined by World Number One Tiger Woods and Australia’s highest ranked golfer Geoff Ogilvy. It will be Tiger’s first appearance in Australia since the 1998 Presidents Cup and with tickets already sold out the event will ensure that over 100,000 fans will pass through the gates over the four tournament days.
In another first for the Tour, the Cellarbrations NSW PGA Championship will be held at the Wollongong Golf Club and will be staged the week following the Masters. One of the biggest golf events ever hosted on the South Coast, the $110,000 Championship promises to attract big names as players look to keep their game fresh heading into the final events of the year.
Still in NSW the NSW Open will then return to The Vintage in the Hunter Valley from November 26-29. The week immediately prior to the Australian Open, the NSW Open features the Team Challenge Pro-Am format, which gives amateurs the opportunity to play alongside the pros throughout the last 36 holes of the Championship. With 78 years of tradition the NSW Open promises to follow on from the success of 2008 which saw local talent Aaron Townsend claim the crown.
OneAsia then makes its debut Down Under with the Australian Open. The $1.5 million event will be held at the New South Wales Golf Club and is the penultimate tournament on both the Australasian and OneAsia calendars. Headlined by Australian legend Greg Norman and 2006 US Open Champion Ogilvy, the strong Australian field also boasts Adam Scott, Mat Goggin, Stuart Appleby and former champions Aaron Baddeley, John Senden and Greg Chalmers.
The 2009 action culminates with the PGA of Australia’s flagship event, the Australian PGA Championship presented by Coca-Cola. Returning to the Hyatt Regency Coolum for the seventh consecutive season, the grand finale on the Australasian and OneAsia Tours will be held from December 10-13. Australia’s oldest professional event, now in its 104th year, the Australian PGA Championship boasts a stellar field including three time Major Champion Vijay Singh who returns to Australia for the first time since the Fijian star helped the Internationals win the 1998 Presidents Cup in Melbourne. Singh will come up against tough Australasian opposition as last year’s Champion Geoff Ogilvy returns to defend the title he claimed in 2008 - his first win as a professional on Australian soil. With the redesign of the Hyatt Regency Coolum course and the addition of six new and exciting holes the Australian PGA Championship, affectionately known as the ‘family event,’ will prove to be a show-stopper as the race for the Norman Von Nida Order of Merit Trophy, the Australasian Tour’s most prestigious award comes down to the wire.
PGA of Australia CEO Max Garske said the entire Australian golf industry was excited about the end of season schedule.
“Collectively the Australian golf industry has worked tirelessly to bring our dedicated fan-base what they have asked for and we are proud to say we will deliver exactly that,” said Garske.
“We have top international talent, the best of the Aussies, the introduction of OneAsia fields, extensive television coverage and a race for the Order of Merit which will determine our top ranked golfer for 2009. We look forward to seeing golfing fans at all our events for what will be without a doubt one of our best seasons ever.”
The Final Stage of Australasian Tour Qualifying School will be held for the first time at the ‘Home of the PGA of Australia’, the Sandhurst Club from December 15-18, the week following the Australian PGA Championship presented by Coca-Cola.
2009 AUSTRALASIAN TOUR END OF YEAR SCHEDULE:
22-25 Oct John Hughes Geely WA Open, Cottelsoe Golf Club, WA, $110,000
29 -1 Nov Laurance Scrap Metals WA PGA Championship, Bunbury Golf Club, WA $110,000
5 - 8 Nov Cellarbrations Queensland PGA Championship, City Golf Club, Toowoomba, QLD, $110,000
12-15 Nov JBWere Masters, Kingston Heath Golf Club, VIC, $1,500,000
19-22 Nov Cellabrations NSW PGA Championship, Wollongong Golf Club, NSW, $110,000
26 -29 Nov NSW Open, The Vintage, NSW, $135,000
2-4 Dec PGA Tour of Australasia Qualifying School First Stage, Amstel Golf Club (Ranfurlie Course), VIC
3-6 Dec Australian Open, NSW Golf Club, NSW $1,500,000
10-13 Dec Australian PGA Championship presented by Coca-Cola, Hyatt Regency Coolum, QLD, $1,500,000
15-18 Dec PGA Tour of Australasia Qualifying School Final Stage, Sandhurst Club (Champions Course), VIC
The PGA Tour of Australasia Order of Merit is the most coveted title on the PGA Tour. It combines all of the tournaments sanctioned by the PGA Tour of Australasia and is awarded to the player who achieves the best performances across the season. The rankings are based on prize money won at each Order of Merit Tournament and the winner is awarded the Norman Von Nida Order of Merit Trophy.