2024 Australian PGA Championship News — Royal Queensland Golf Club (November 21-24)

Who’s the defending champion? Min Woo Lee. He won by three shots last year.
Wait, is that the chef hat guy? Yes! Golf crowds can be quite a reserved bunch but Min Woo has his own social media-inspired on-course catchcry. It’s “Let him cook”.
Let him cook? It means let him do something he’s good at. Geddit?
OK, so who am I watching apart from Min Woo? Queenslanders Cam Smith and Jason Day return home. Cam’s Ripper GC teammates Lucas Herbert and Marc Leishman are also teeing it up, as is US-based Sydneysider Cam Davis. And Thailand’s Kiradech Aphibarnrat is always worth a watch — if you can see him through the massive vape cloud that often accompanies him.
That Cam Smith seems like a good bloke. The moustachioed and mulleted captain of Ripper GC has been playing the Australasian PGA tour for the past couple of weeks. He teed it up surrounded by flies and sheep at Murray Downs GC last week at the NSW Open, which must’ve seemed a world away from when he won the Open Championship at St Andrews in 2022. Full credit to him for supporting the local tour and giving back to the game.

So he won the NSW Open last week then? No! Lucas Herbert just edged him.
Wow. Where’s the Australian PGA Championship being played, then? Royal Queensland Golf Club, which is next to the muddy Brisbane River. The Australian PGA has been played there for the past three editions after previously being held in Queensland at RACV Royal Pines Resort on the Gold Coast and Coolum Resort on the Sunshine Coast.
Coolum? Was that where they had that weird animatronic dinosaur display at the Australian PGA one year? Yes. Which may explain why the tournament moved on soon after.
How much money is up for grabs? There’s a $2 million purse. The winner gets $340,000 and the Joe Kirkwood Cup, which actually looks like a proper trophy.
Any Europeans making the trip Down Under? There’s actually a whole bunch of them because the tournament is co-sanctioned tournament with the DP World Tour. France’s Victor Perez is the top ranked Euro and is playing, although he probably had to because apparently his wife is from Australia. English star Jordan Smith is in the field, along with a young bloke from Denmark called Rasmus Neergaard-Petersen who appears to have serious talent.
What about the Americans? None of the big guns you’d be familiar with. There is Harry Higgs though, the guy who exposed his flabby torso a couple of years ago in Phoenix and became semi-famous. He won twice on the KFT this year and is heading back to the PGA Tour next season

Sorry, what’s the KFT? The Korn Ferry Tour. It’s the second-tier US tour and a few of the top guys have received invitations to play at the Australian PGA this year.
Anyone I would’ve heard of? Probably not, although Chile’s Christobel del Solar shot a record round of 57 in a KFT event in Columbia in February, which was a pretty decent effort. Aldrich Potgieter, who played his junior golf at Joondalup, also won a KFT event this year and is playing. Coincidentally, Aldrich fired a 59 in the tournament del Solar shot his 57. And Cottesloe’s Curtis Luck returns to Royal Queensland after an injury ravaged KFT season. He finished fourth at the Australian PGA last year.
I get thirsty watching golf. What are my options on course? The par three 17^th is the party hole. It’s basically one big bar that looks like a grandstand. That might be a good place to start.
What’s the best Aussie underdog story this year? Perth’s Danny List will play in his first DP World Tour event after earning his card at Q School a couple of weeks ago. Victorian David Micheluzzi had a stunning first season in Europe and an early breakthrough for his maiden win this week would be special.
Who’s going to win then? Elvis Smylie. In a massive upset, the lefty will birdie the last to win by a shot, earn immediate promotion to the DP World Tour and become the first player named Elvis to win on a global tour.