Australian PGA Preview
Posted by GolfBox on 8th Nov 2016
Last but not least on the Australian tour is the Australian PGA Championship.
Players will be competing for the Joe Kirkwood Cup, named in honour of the golfer who was the first Australian to win in the US and subsequently put the game on the map back home.
Australian PGA Championship - December 1 - 4
$1.5 million prize money
The course
RACV Royal Pines Resort on the Gold Coast will again host the Australian PGA's flagship tournament. The course has hosted the event since 2013 with Nathan Holman, Greg Chalmers and Adam Scott all successful around the layout. The tournament is again co-sanctioned by the European Tour.
The format
72 holes of strokeplay. The winner receives a two-year exemption on the European Tour.
Who's teeing it up?
Adam Scott loves having the opportunity to play in his home State of Queensland and will be paired for the first two rounds with US Amateur winner Curtis Luck, from Perth's Cottesloe Golf Club.
Defending champion Nathan Holman will return to Royal Pines after spending the year travelling the world on the European Tour, his reward for winning last year's PGA.
Marc Leishman will back-up after the World Cup and the 2015 Nedbank Champion will be looking forward to playing his first Australian PGA since 2014, when he finished tied 11th behind Greg Chalmers.
Australia's Olympic pairing of Marcus Fraser and Scott Hend will also play in the PGA Championship. Hend and Fraser, both winners on the European Tour, are also fighting for supremacy on the Asian Tour’s Order of Merit
European Tour members Brett Rumford, from Royal Perth, and Mandurah's Jason Scrivener are also in the PGA field.
Rumford won the event as an amateur in 1999 and is a five-time winner on the European Tour, while Scrivener currently sits 106th in the 2016 Race To Dubai, with the top 111 retaining their cards for 2017 (the Australian PGA is the second event on the European Tour's 2017 season).
Top English players James Morrison, Tommy Fleetwood, Tom Lewis and Eddie Pepperell have all nominated to play in the tournament.
Interesting fact
Jarrad Moseley and Peter Lonard were declared joint winners of the 2002 PGA Championship after darkness called a halt to their playoff.