This week’s Australian PGA Championship will mark a new era in The European Tour when the oldest and most prestigious event on the PGA Tour of Australasia is co-sanctioned for the first time at RACV Royal Pines Resort.
No fewer than 20 different nationalities will be represented in the field, with European Tour winners such as Scott Jamieson, Edoardo Molinari and Peter Uihlein lining up alongside a host of Australians who have tasted success on The European Tour including Stephen Allan, Robert Allenby, Peter O’Malley, Craig Parry, Brett Rumford, Peter Senior, Marcus Fraser and Richard Green.
“The opportunity being one of the first events on the European Tour calendar is that it’s effectively a two year exemption,” explains Rumford.
“It’s a huge incentive but whenever you have an opportunity like that then the competition is going to be strong as well.
“It’s certainly not going to be easy to go out there and win a golf tournament, but if you do, it will be well deserved and it’s going to be a huge opportunity.”
The Royal Pines resort course with the Gold Coast skyline as a back drop. (Photo – www.europeantour.com)
The American Ryder Cup player Brandt Snedeker and David Lingmerth of Sweden, who won his maiden US PGA Tour title earlier this year in beating Justin Rose in a play-off for The Memorial title, are also among the luminaries present at the AUS$1,750,000 event.
Australia is one of 25 countries to feature among the 45 tournaments on The 2016 Race to Dubai, with the Australian PGA Championship – which dates back to 1905 – the 28th European Tour sanctioned event to be held on Australian soil, following the ANZ Championship (2002-2004), the Australian Masters (2007-2009 – played twice in the 2009 season), the Heineken Classic (1996-2005), the Greg Norman Holden International (2000-2001), the Johnnie Walker Classic (1997, 2002-2003, 2006, 2009) and the Perth International (2012-2014).
It is only the second time the Tour has visited Queensland and the first time since the 1997 Johnnie Walker Classic, which was won by Ernie Els. The South African went on to win the second of his four Major titles at that year’s US Open Championship.
David Howell is a former winner of this event, and among those hoping to follow in his footsteps is young Irishman Paul Dunne, who stunned the world of golf when he led The 2015 Open Championship after three rounds as an amateur.
The 2010 Ryder Cup player Molinari will be hoping to add a third European Tour title to his repertoire after he regained his card for the 2016 season through Qualifying School Final Stage earlier this month.
Fellow Qualifying School graduates in the field include rookies Englishmen Laurie Canter and Chris Hanson, Italians Nino Bertasio and Nicolo Ravano and Austrian Lucas Nemecz.
Within the European Tour allocation of entrants are 30 Sunshine Tour spots, adding to the cosmopolitan make-up of the field.
In addition to the first prize of AU$315,000 and the opportunity to win in the final competitive week of the year before the festive break, the winner of Australian PGA Championship will be granted exemption into the 2016 BMW PGA Championship at Wentworth Club.
Australia’s Brett Rumford teeing up in this week’s Australian PGA Championship. (Photo – www.europeantour.com)
DID YOU KNOW…
• The Australian PGA Championship is included on The European Tour International Schedule for the first time for the 2016 season.
• The Australian PGA Championship is one of two new events on the 2016 schedule, the other being the Maybank Championship Malaysia.
• The Australian PGA Championship is the eighth different European Tour event to be staged in Australia.
• The Australian PGA Championship will be the 27th time The European Tour has played an official event on Australia soil overall.
• The Australian PGA Championship will be the second European Tour event to be staged in Queensland. The first was the Johnnie Walker Classic in 1997 at Hope Island.
• The Australian PGA Championship, dates back to 1905. The winner will receive the Joe Kirkwood Cup. The first was Dan Soutar from Scotland.
• Kel Nagle has the honour of winning the event the most times, on six different occasions.
• The last European to win the event was David Howell in 1998.
• Ten Major Champions have won the Australian PGA Championship.
Read more at http://www.europeantour.com/europeantour/season=2016/tournamentid=2015095/news/newsid=280141.html#OiGeqkheub5G7PXB.99
