Rory effect as golf superstars chase summer down under
Darren Walton |
Fan favourite Bryson DeChambeau remains the No.1 target as officials promise “some of the best golfers on the planet” will assemble for the first Australian PGA Championship staged in Sydney in almost 30 years.
The iconic Lakes Golf Club will host the first Australian “major” of the summer from November 26-29 in what will also be the first PGA Championship held anywhere in NSW since 1998.
The showpiece tournament will kick off a massive fortnight of golf down under.
Rory McIlroy is already locked in to return to Melbourne the following week chasing a second Australian Open crown, seven months after becoming the first player since Tiger Woods to win back-to-back Masters green jackets.
Australian golf great and PGA Tour of Australia chairman Ian Baker-Finch last week revealed dual US Open winner DeChambeau was the priority “needle mover” powerbrokers were trying to lure to Sydney.
“I would absolutely love to have Bryson DeChambeau come to Australia and play the BMW PGA. I would love him to. I think he wants to come,” Baker-Finch said at Augusta National.
But organisers will not be content with just one superstar in the PGA Championship field.
“What we have to offer in Australia is second-to-none,” the 1991 British Open champion said.
“To have the guys come down and play, the Aussie Open at Kingston Heath, best course in Australia, to come to an iconic venue in Sydney the week before.
“I think everyone wants to come to Australia and see Sydney and Melbourne. They all want to come and play the great courses, maybe do something else in a week before or a week after, go up to the Great Barrier Reef. Maybe come and play some of the other courses.
“Everyone around the world, not just Bryson, they seem to be talking a lot about what’s going on in Australia right now. And, rightly or wrongly, they feel like the tour’s been rejuvenated.”
Baker-Finch and PGA Tour of Australia boss Gavin Kirkman spent Masters week meeting with top-50 player agents at Augusta National.
But Kirkman said, whether or not it was a result of the “Rory effect” from the superstar’s Australian Open appearance at Royal Melbourne last year, this scouting mission felt different.
“The biggest thing is, this trip the player managers have come to us,” Kirkman said.
“And the first question we ask is, ‘Are your players travelling this year?’
“And that means, do they want to come? Are they travelling the world and that could be due to family or not this year, they’ve got new-borns, little babies.
“But this has been the most promising Masters I’ve been in and we’ve had for a while, where the managers are coming to us – and this is all top-50-in-the-world players.
“So there’s more interest in Australia than ever at the moment.”
Eight times an Australian Open host, The Lakes will be staging the Australian PGA Championship for a fourth occasion.
Co-sanctioned with the European tour, the showpiece tournament will also launch the European tour’s Race to Dubai.
AAP