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The work he put in throughout 2023 is finally coming to fruition for Brock Gillard who earned his second adidas PGA Pro-Am Series win since December at the Cardinia Beaconhills Pro-Am.
The Head PGA Professional at Yarrambat Park Golf Course, Gillard’s pro-am starts have been infrequent yet his recent form has raised the possibility of returning to Challenger PGA Tour of Australasia Qualifying School in April.
Winner of the Maffra Pro-Am on December 11 and runner-up at Settlers Run on January 5, Gillard’s 6-under 65 in the morning round at Cardinia Beaconhills Golf Links would hold up all afternoon as Alex Edge (66), Kyle Michel (66) and Wade Lowrie (66) all got within one. Cameron Kelly and Lachlan Armour would round out the top five with rounds of 4-under 67.
HOW THE ROUND UNFOLDED
Starting his round from the 11th tee, Gillard was quick out of the blocks.
He birdied his second hole and then added two more at 14 and 15 to be 3-under after five.
A dropped shot at 16 was quickly forgotten with birdies at 17 and 18, heading to the front nine at 4-under par.
A second bogey at the par-3 second threatened to suck the life out of a round that showed so much promise early but he steadied with birdies at three and seven, separating himself from the field with a closing birdie at the par-5 10th.
WHAT THE WINNER SAID
“I haven’t been playing that much but when I have been playing I’ve been hitting it really straight, which is a nice change, and the putter has been running a little bit hot.
“It’s been really nice for everything to be clicking.
“I did not touch a club at all (over Christmas). The 5-under at Settlers Run was a surprise and it’s a surprise again today.
“I really worked on my game last year and didn’t get the results that I wanted. It’s just shining through now.
“Q School is definitely on the radar. Haven’t made my decision just yet though. Need to see how things align with that but it’s definitely an option.
“I wouldn’t mind seeing a little bit more of this form before I dive more deeply back into it.
“It’s very nice to be able to turn up and actually post a nice score and enjoy your day.”
LEADERBOARD RUNDOWN
1 Brock Gillard 65
T2 Wade Lowrie 66
T2 Alex Edge 66
T2 Kyle Michel 66
T5 Cameron Kelly 67
T5 Lachlan Armour 67
NEXT UP
The adidas PGA Pro-Am Series heads north into New South Wales on Wednesday for the 35 Latitude Waratah Pro-Am at Waratah Golf Club in Newcastle.
Kelsey Bennett has blitzed her way through the Sunday match-play finals to be crowned – literally – The Athena champion.
The 24-year-old, who celebrated her birthday only weeks ago, played consistently in Saturday’s Combine skills challenges, plotting her way around without any stand-out shots, before a clinical Sunday performance.
“I just thought I’d aim for the win yesterday, and worse case I’d finish where I was,” she said.
“I didn’t end up using the mulligan because I was playing steady enough that I just couldn’t really choose a time to play it.”
Today the woman from New South Wales revealed she was saving her best game for the Sunday matches, going -1, -1 and Even in her three four-hole matches.
“I just felt like I knew exactly where the ball was going to go the whole time, so yeah, it’s a good feeling,” Bennett said, drenched in champagne.
Bennett faced the in-form Jess Whitting in her first match of the day, and looked to have the win secured before a long par-saving Whitting putt on the last.
Forced to make a tester now for par herself to tie and force a putt-off, Bennett stepped up and poured it in, and again in the putt-off while Whitting missed. One down.
Her second match proved to be a little easier, with Sarah Yamaki Branch – who knocked out day one leader Cassie Porter – struggling off the tee against Bennett. Two down.
Amy Chu, who defeated Steph Bunque in an extended putt-off and Elmay Viking in rounds one and two, stood between Bennett and the trophy.
An eagle-par-par start for Bennett, to Chu’s birdie-bogey-bogey afforded Bennett a three shot buffer heading down the last.
Finding the fairway bunker off the tee, then the back greenside bunker, Bennett’s buffer began to shrink.
The shrinking continued on the putting surface with a couple of missed putts, but the scoring and hard work over the first three holes allowed for that, Bennett finally tapping in to make The Athena trophy hers.
Bennett heads to the Singapore Women’s Open next week, before the Women’s NSW Open and the Australian Women’s Classic, where a another win could prove life-changing.
The Athena is Bennett’s biggest win, adding to her WPGA Tour of Australasia Qualifying School win last year.
In true Athena fashion, all the competitors were out supporting the remaining groups all day, where the camaraderie and fun atmosphere bleeds into the strong competition.
In its fourth year, The Athena has demonstrated again that this is golf done different. It is fun, exciting, and let’s Australia’s brightest golfers showcase their skill and personality.
A red-hot Peter Lonard produced the first round of 59 in PGA Legends Tour history to score a remarkable victory at the Moama Masters on Rich River Golf Club’s East Course on Friday.
The three-time Australian PGA champion and two-time Australian Open winner collected 12 birdies on his record-setting day and would have posted a 58 had he not bogeyed his final hole, the short par-3 ninth, where he found the greenside bunker.
Feeling some nerves in the moment, the 56-year-old holed a bogey putt from just inside two metres to break the magical 60 barrier for the first time in his career. He had two rounds of 60 more than two decades ago.
Lonard’s great day out sent PGA Legends Tour officials searching through their records to establish whether he had become the first player to beat 60 in an over-50s professional event in Australia.
While there have been a number of 60s on a par-64 course and a 61 on a par-67 course, the check revealed that no-one had managed to achieve what Lonard had just completed.
After starting the second day nine shots behind the overnight lead after an opening 3-over 73, the Sydneysider’s 14-shot turnaround was enough to claim the 36-hole Masters by one stroke over John Onions, who closed with a 63 to finish on 7-under.
American Shaquill Mongol and England’s Ben Jackson had a chance to draw level with Lonard at -8, but they both bogeyed their final hole to drop back to a share of third.
Simon Tooman produced another final-round highlight with a hole-in-one on the 145m eighth hole.
HOW THE WINNING SCORE UNFOLDED
Starting his day on the 10th tee, Lonard picked up six birdies in three groups of two on his first nine (holes 11-12, 14-15 and 17-18).
Another spurt of birdies, three in a row from the second to the fourth, moved him to 9-under-par for the day and he reached double-figures under-par with a three on the par-4 sixth.
Two more birdies on the seventh and eighth holes had him standing at 12-under for his round coming to the last.
WHAT THE WINNER SAID
“It was a bit of a day today,” Lonard said.
“Yesterday I was never playing again, giving up golf and getting a job and today all of a sudden I’m back, I love the game and everything’s happy.
“It’s a funny game. Sometimes it gives it to you and sometimes it doesn’t.
“It’s the first time I’ve had a 59. I’ve had a couple of other goes at it. I parred the last in Sao Paulo years ago for a 60 and at the Jack Newton Classic at Twin Waters (in 2002) I missed a putt for a 59.
“I didn’t think I’d get another chance of doing it. It’s a nice little thing to happen towards the end of my career I suppose.
“I was very happy to see that last putt go in.”
LEADERBOARD RUNDOWN
-8: Peter Lonard (73-59)
-7: John Onions (70-63)
-6: Shaquill Mongol (68-66); Murray Lott (66-68); Ben Jackson (64-70)
-5: Mark Boulton (65-70)
-4: Terry Price (70-66); Peter Senior (69-67)
NEXT UP
The Melbourne swing on the PGA Legends Tour gets underway with the Southern Golf Club Legends Pro-Am on Monday followed by Settlers Run (Tuesday), Albert Park (Thursday) and Gardiners Run (Friday).
He might be the most unlikely player on the PGA TOUR Champions in 2024 but Queensland’s Michael Wright is determined to make the most of his rookie season on the senior tour.
Wright will make his Champions Tour debut in Morocco on Thursday night AEDT the day after celebrating his 50th birthday.
Teeing it up against major champions including Tom Lehman, Jose Maria Olazabal, John Daly and Angel Cabrera might be the best birthday present Wright could hope for, a gift that has been 10 years in the making.
Winner of the 2011 WA PGA Championship when it was on the secondary Von Nida Tour, Wright’s career has been largely spent just fighting to keep the dream alive.
He has juggled professional golf with his career as a PE teacher but changed the trajectory of his career in spectacular fashion when he holed his third shot for birdie on the 72nd hole of Champions Tour Final Qualifying School last December.
As improbable as it all may seem, it’s the culmination of a plan hatched a decade ago.
“I could not fast forward time quick enough,” Wright said of the goal he set himself after turning 40.
“As soon as you get into adulthood you want to rewind the clock. But I was always trying to fast forward it.”
“Now I’m trying to pause it because I’m obviously the youngest of the lot over there.”
Inspired by the performances of Kiwi Steven Alker the past two years, Wright begins his Champions Tour journey in good form.
Thanks in no small part to a dedicated gym regimen and daily stretching routines, Wright is physically in good shape and has amassed four top-10 finishes this season on the Challenger PGA Tour of Australasia.
It’s why he joins the senior circuit with high hopes.
“I’m such a more complete player now,” Wright insists.
“That’s partly maturity, partly that flexibility and strength. I’m probably stronger now than I ever was.
“It’s always been hard because I’ve had that financial gremlin knocking at my head in the subconscious.
“I think I’ll even play better as the year goes on because that financial bug that’s in the back of my head will disappear.
“This year will be great and then the following years, if all goes well, it’ll just keep getting better and better I think.
“But I’ve really got to make my mark in the first few years. That’s my best chance.”
"It was one shot, but it was 25 years of hard work." ❤️
— PGA TOUR Champions (@ChampionsTour) December 9, 2023
With a hole-out birdie at the 72nd hole, Michael Wright is a 2024 Champions Tour member! pic.twitter.com/MrQpmollJf
As Wright expands the Aussie presence to nine in Morocco, West Australian Hannah Green makes her first appearance for 2024 at the Honda LPGA Thailand.
Starting the year No.28 in the Rolex Women’s World Golf Ranking, Green will be keen to stave off the challenge posed by both Grace Kim and Stephanie Kyriacou with the Paris Olympics less than six months away.
Harrison Endycott and Aaron Baddeley will be joined by Kiwi Ryan Fox at the PGA TOUR Mexico Open and there are 17 Aussies teeing it up at the International Series Oman on the Asian Tour.
Round 1 tee times AEDT
PGA TOUR
Mexico Open at Vidanta
Vidanta Vallarta, Vallarta, Mexico
12:41am* Maverick McNealy, Ben Taylor, Ryan Fox (NZ)
1:47am Harrison Endycott, David Skinns, Matt Atkins
5:15am Nate Lashley, Aaron Baddeley, Alex Smalley
Defending champion: Tony Finau
Past Aussie winners: David Graham (1980), Jarrod Lyle (2008, Nationwide Tour)
Prize money: $US8.1 million
TV times: Live 2am-11am Friday, Saturday; Live 1am-10am Sunday, Monday on Fox Sports 503 and Kayo.
DP World Tour
Magical Kenya Open
Muthaiga GC, Nairobi, Kenya
3:20pm* Josphat Rono, Connor McKinney, Kristian Krogh Johannessen
4:30pm Sam Jones (NZ), Om Prakash Chouhan, Ronald Rugumayo
9:10pm* Haydn Barron, Benjamin Rusch, Andrea Pavan
9:40pm* Thomas Power Horan, Oliver Bekker, Rasmus Neergaard-Petersen
Defending champion: Jorge Campillo
Past Aussie winners: Nil
Prize money: $US2.5 million
TV times: Live 9pm-2am Thursday, Friday; Live 8:30pm-1am Saturday; Live 8pm-1am Sunday on Fox Sports 503 and Kayo.
Asian Tour
International Series Oman
Al Mouj Golf, Oman
1:45pm Aaron Wilkin, Justin Quiban, William Harrold
1:45pm* Justin Warren, Ye Wocheng, Saud Al Sharif
2:15pm* Wade Ormsby, Sebastian Munoz, Jinichiro Kozuma
2:35pm Andrew Dodt, Michael Maguire, Jeev Milkha Singh
2:55pm* Poom Saksansin, Sihwan Kim, Harrison Crowe
3:15pm Faisal Salhab, Deyen Lawson, Yeongsu Kim
6:25pm* Tatsunori Shogenji, Joshua Grenville-Wood, Maverick Antcliff
6:35pm Sampson Zheng (a), Jaco Ahlers, Jack Thompson
6:45pm Ratchanon Chantananuwat (a), Danny Lee (NZ), Eugenio Chacarra
6:45pm* Richard T Lee, Scott Hend, Matt Jones
6:55pm Ben Campbell (NZ), Branden Grace, Scott Vincent
7:05pm Travis Smyth, Dean Burmester, Kieran Vincent
7:15pm Denwit Boriboonsub, Lucas Herbert, Takumi Kanaya
7:15pm* Pavit Tangkamolprasert, Seungtaek Lee, Jed Morgan
7:35pm* Kevin Yuan, Rattanon Wannasrichan, Mingyu Cho
7:45pm* Carlos Pigem, Junggon Hwang, Todd Sinnott
7:55pm Jared Du Toit, Marcus Fraser, Chikkarangappa S
7:55pm* Zach Murray, Ervin Chang, Wooyoung Cho
Defending champion: Takumi Kanaya
Past Aussie winners: Nil
Prize money: $US2 million
TV times: Live 8:30pm-12:30am Thursday on Fox Sports 507; Live 10:30pm-12:30am Friday on Fox Sports 505; Live 7pm-11pm Saturday, Sunday on Fox Sports 507 and Kayo.
LPGA Tour
Honda LPGA Thailand
Siam Country Club (Old Cse), Chonburi, Thailand
12:02pm Hannah Green, Natthakritta Vongtaveelap, Chanettee Wannasaen
12:26pm* A Lim Kim, Stephanie Kyriacou, Anna Nordqvist,
12:38pm Sarah Kemp, Xiyu Lin, Emily Kristine Pedersen
12:50pm Erika Hara, Nasa Hataoka, Grace Kim
Defending champion: Lilia Vu
Past Aussie winners: Nil
Prize money: $US1.7 million
TV times: Live 2:30pm-7pm Thursday; Live 2pm-7pm Friday; Live 5pm-7:30pm Saturday, Sunday on Fox Sports 503 and Kayo.
Ladies European Tour
Lalla Meryem Cup
Royal Golf Dar Es Salam (Blue Cse), Morocco
7:25pm* Hannah Burke, Anne-Lise Caudal, Momoka Kobori (NZ)
12:07am Sophie Witt, Cara Gorlei, Kirsten Rudgeley
Defending champion: Maja Stark
Past Aussie winners: Karen Lunn (2012)
Prize money: €450,000
PGA TOUR Champions
Trophy Hassan II
Royal Golf Dar Es Salam, Rabat, Morocco
7:52pm Rob Labritz, Ángel Cabrera, Stuart Appleby
7:52pm* Tim Petrovic, John Senden, Olin Browne
8:16pm Tom Gillis, David McKenzie, Billy Mayfair
8:40pm* Steve Allan, Ricardo Gonzalez, Carlos Franco
8:52pm* Michael Jonzon, Russ Cochran, David Bransdon
9:04pm* Michael Wright, Esteban Toledo, Joakim Haeggman
9:16pm Richard Green, Billy Andrade, Boo Weekley
9:28pm Ken Duke, Rod Pampling, Paul Broadhurst
9:40pm KJ Choi, José María Olazábal, Mark Hensby
Defending champion: Stephen Ames
Past Aussie winners: Nil
Prize money: $US2 million
TV times: Live 1am-3am Friday; Live 12:30am-3am Saturday; Live 12am-3am Sunday on Fox Sports 505 and Kayo.
Challenge Tour
NMB Championship
Humewood GC, Port Elizabeth, South Africa
5pm* Hayden Hopewell, Peter Karmis, James Kamte
Defending champion: Dylan Mostert
Past Aussie winners: Nil
Prize money: $US350,000
Cancer-survivor Michael Hendry firmly believes he can add a second New Zealand Open title to his resume when the 103rd event tees off in Queenstown next week.
Now a cancer-free, leaner, fitter Hendry – more worldly for his experiences – is confident he can play a major hand at the New Zealand Open at Millbrook Resort. And what has changed, should he not attain his goals, is that he is at peace with his journey to return to the game he loves.
His last biopsy has come back negative of any trace of leukaemia and now he is turning his attention to achievement on the golf course.
“Success nine months ago would have been just being able to turn up,” said Hendry.
“Fortunately, the hard work I have done has put me in a position where I feel I have a genuine chance to win the tournament if things click.”
For the full story click here
Photo: Courtesy of Photosport NZ
A blistering finish over the final five holes enabled Grahame Stinson and Greg Smith to split the Victorian PGA Seniors Foursome Championship with Guy Wall and Perry Parker.
Playing for the Jack Harris and Brian Twite Trophy on the West Course at Rich River Golf Club, the winning pairs both posted scores of 4-under 67 but did so in vastly different fashion.
Out in the first group of the day, Wall and Parker began their round with a birdie and were 2-under through five holes before making the turn at 1-under.
They moved back to 2-under with a birdie at the par-4 11th and then edged clear with back-to-back birdies on 15 and 16.
When they walked off the 11th hole in the group directly behind, Stinson and Smith were 1-over par and three shots off the pace but would turn that around in spectacular fashion.
A birdie on 12 got them back to level par and followed that up with four straight birdies from the 14th hole to match Wall and Parker’s 4-under total.
The legendary Peter Senior and great mate Greg Rix were outright third at 3-under 68 with four pairings sharing fourth spot at 2-under.
The PGA Legends Tour stays at Rich River Golf Club for the next two days to play the Moama Masters on the East Course.
PGA Immortal Alex Mercer and legendary Tour player Billy Dunk stole the show at a gathering of PGA Members from New South Wales and the ACT at The Lakes Golf Club on Monday.
Held every two years in recognition of PGA Members with more than 50 years of membership, Monday’s get together had a combined PGA Membership of more than 2,000 years including Life Members and past Presidents.
PGA of Australia Chair Rodger Davis, PGA of Australia CEO Gavin Kirkman and PGA of Australia Senior State Manager David Barker were also in attendance in a celebration of the formative years of the Association and those who paved the way.
There were 31 Members present with more than 50 years of Membership of the PGA and CEO Gavin Kirkman was honoured to be able to join them to mark such significant milestones.
“All of these Members have sweated the brand and positioned the PGA to where we are today,” said Mr Kirkman.
“They are the founders and the pioneers who took the PGA through the tough times when Professionals weren’t allowed in clubhouses and the like.
“We are now in a place where more than 150 PGA Members are General Managers at golf clubs throughout Australia and we conduct tournaments for men, women, juniors and All Abilities players to play together.
“We are now a leader of our sport and we have arrived here due to the hard work and the hard knocks that the founding members took in establishing the PGA of Australia.”
Due to turn 90 next month and now in his 68th year as a PGA of Australia Member, Alex Mercer carries with him a gentle aura that those within Australian golf and admire and respect.
A five-time winner of the Australian PGA Championship, Billy Dunk (below, with Gavin Kirkman) is a Life Member of the PGA and credited with more than 30 course records during his time in professional golf.
Both spoke on Monday and reiterated to Kirkman, and all of those in the room, why they take such pride in their Membership of the PGA of Australia.
“To be in the room with Mr Mercer – as I call him – was not just a thrill and an honour for me but for all of the Members in the room,” Mr Kirkman added.
“What comes through is their passion and what the PGA means to them.
“Billy Dunk spoke to this, that they were successful and have very good life journeys because they were PGA Members. They don’t forget that.
“That’s why I have the best job in golf, because I get to watch the game grow and evolve and innovate but while holding true to the tradition and history of the sport.
“These are the people that helped shape and advance our Association and we certainly have a lot to thank them for.”
A struggle to find the fairways ultimately caught up with Jason Day as he fell out of contention in the final round of the Genesis Invitational at famed Riviera Country Club in Los Angeles.
Four back and in a tie for fifth through three rounds, Day was unable to generate birdie opportunities on Sunday as he failed to regularly find Riviera’s narrow, twisting fairways.
The 36-year-old hit less than 43 per cent of fairways for the week and found just six of 14 in a final round of 1-over 72 to finish outright ninth, the 94th top-10 result of his PGA TOUR career.
It is his third top-10 from five starts this season and is projected to see him hold firm at No.19 in the Official World Golf Ranking, one ahead of eventual Genesis Invitational champion, Hideki Matsuyama.
“This is probably the most stressful and frustrating golf course you can potentially play if you’re just missing fairways,” Day said after his third round.
“Like it’s really difficult to hit the greens when you miss fairways.”
A two-time winner at Riviera, Adam Scott closed with an even-par 71 to earn a share of 19th while Cam Davis fell away after an opening round of 6-under 65 to finish 49th.
Making his second start of the season, Mark Hensby was denied from launching a final round charge at the PGA TOUR Champions Chubb Classic in Florida.
Four back of Canadian Stephen Ames after two rounds, heavy rain and storms forced the cancellation of the final round, Hensby left to be content with a tie for third as fellow Aussie Richard Green grabbed a share of seventh in his first start of the year.
New South Welshman Kevin Yuan was the best of a strong Aussie contingent at the Asian Tour’s IRS Prima Malaysian Open.
With three spots at The Open Championship at Royal Troon up for grabs, Yuan (68) made a late play with birdie on 15 and eagle on 17 but would have needed to make up two shots on the final hole to earn an Open exemption.
He would par the final hole to finish outright fifth at 19-under, two clear of Deyen Lawson (68) with Travis Smyth (65) the third Aussie to finish inside the top 10.
At the $US5 million Aramco Saudi Ladies International, Stephanie Kyriacou’s tie for 14th led the way for the Aussies, Thailand’s Patty Tavatanakit running away with a seven-stroke victory.
Photo: Harry How/Getty Images
PGA TOUR
The Genesis Invitational
The Riviera Country Club, Pacific Palisades, California
1 Hideki Matsuyama 69-68-68-62—267 $US4m
9 Jason Day 65-69-69-72—275 $600,000
T19 Adam Scott 72-68-67-71—278 $251,400
49 Cam Davis 65-73-73-75—286 $54,000
Asian Tour
IRS Prima Malaysian Open
The Mines Resort & Golf Club, Malaysia
1 David Puig 66-71-62-62—261 $US180,000
5 Kevin Yuan 65-64-68-68—265 $41,000
T7 Deyen Lawson 66-67-66-68—267 $26,500
T9 Travis Smyth 68-66-69-65—268 $18,550
T22 Maverick Antcliff 67-68-70-65—270 $9,400
T31 Jack Thompson 69-68-66-68—271 $7,211.11
T31 Andrew Dodt 66-68-71-66—271 $7,211.11
T40 Jed Morgan 68-69-66-69—272 $5,840
T40 Brendan Jones 68-69-68-67—272 $5,840
T52 Jordan Zunic 68-68-68-70—274 $3,960
T57 Ben Campbell (NZ) 69-66-71-69—275 $3,300
T57 Douglas Klein 71-63-73-68—275 $3,300
69 Scott Hend 67-70-73-73—283 $2,400
MC Aaron Wilkin 72-67—139
MC Sam Brazel 69-70—139
MC Marcus Fraser 69-70—139
MC Zach Murray 71-69—140
MC Justin Warren 70-70—140
MC Lachlan Barker 75-69—144
WD Todd Sinnott 75
WD Wade Ormsby 69
Ladies European Tour
Aramco Saudi Ladies International Presented by PIF
Riyadh Golf Club, Saudi Arabia
1 Patty Tavatanakit 66-70-69-65—270 $US697,743
T14 Stephanie Kyriacou 76-71-69-69—285 $83,147.71
T42 Kirsten Rudgeley 73-74-69-74—290 $23,897.70
T50 Grace Kim 72-75-71-73—291 $19,846.91
MC Gabriela Ruffels 79-71—150
Champions Tour
Chubb Classic
Tiburon Golf Club, Naples, Florida
Reduced to 36 holes due to storm
1 Stephen Ames 67-64—131 $US270,000
T3 Mark Hensby 66-69—135 $99,000
T7 Richard Green 68-68—136 $61,200
T10 Rod Pampling 70-68—138 $39,960
T15 Steven Alker (NZ) 67-72—139 $27,990
T21 David Bransdon 69-71—140 $19,500
T35 Stuart Appleby 74-68—142 $10,170
T53 Steve Allan 74-71—145 $4,320
T56 John Senden 73-73—146 $3,600
Challenge Tour
Dimension Data Pro-Am
Fancourt Golf Estate, George, South Africa
1 David Ravetto 68-66-71-69—274 €54,447.60
T34 Hayden Hopewell 75-74-67-70—286 €2,988.61
MC Connor McKinney 73-72-77—222
Athletes in Golf Australia’s High Performance Program have been given a new opportunity to study at the PGA Institute to secure their future in the golf industry, whether that is on the course or not.
The High Performance Program is designed to guide the country’s brightest junior golfers on their long-term development as players, and this new collaboration will ensure that development continues even if athletes decide not to pursue becoming a professional golfer.
General Manager – High Performance Brad James is excited for this new educational pathway for athletes in the program.
“Aligning with the PGA Institute will provide our athletes with the knowledge and skills to remain actively involved in the sport, whether they wish to compete at the highest level or not,” he said.
“It’s another significant step forward that we will be able to continue to support our athletes in their future careers.
“We will be encouraging the High Performance members to consider studying at the PGA Institute in addition to working on their game and development as athletes.”
The courses on offer to high performance athletes include both the Diploma of Golf Management and Diploma of Sport, as well as a suite of Micro credentials comprising Golf Athlete Essentials, Brand and Stakeholder Management, and Golf Management.
By taking the opportunity to study at the PGA Institute, the High Performance Program members will open up a myriad of internal and external pathways.
The internal pathways within the PGA of Australia are unlocked through accumulating credits towards the academic component of the Membership Pathway Program.
Externally, athletes can open pathways to higher education partners of the PGA Institute including scholarships to Torrens University, as well as credits for courses at Holmesglen TAFE, Deakin, Griffith and Victoria universities.
As well as the educational and future-proofing benefits, PGA General Manager for Membership and Education Geoff Stewart said there are further advantages to study.
“Research indicates that the combination of sport and study is both helpful and important in the overall development of the athlete in a range of sports, and it’s pleasing that golf can now make this available in Australia,” he said.
“In addition to future off-course job outcomes following the conclusion of a playing career, study can also assist with enhancing transferable competencies such as leadership, commitment, goal setting, prioritisation and planning – skills that will improve practice and on-course performance.
“This new collaboration means that high performance golfers don’t need to neglect their education – they can combine performance development and success with a range of study options.
“We are delighted to collaborate with Golf Australia to provide Australia’s next generation of high-performance golfers a program that complements the on-course development and achievements of the players with off-course success”.
If High Performance members choose to take this opportunity at the PGA Institute, Golf Australia will financially invest a considerable percentage of the study costs.
Click HERE to find out more information about the PGA Institute.
Australian Richard Green has been studying the dominant forces on the PGA TOUR Champions so that he can elevate his game and ultimately join them.
Green will lead a bolstered Australian presence on the Champions Tour in 2024, Q School graduates Steve Allan and David Bransdon joining former winners Rod Pampling and Mark Hensby and Stuart Appleby and John Senden at this week’s Chubb Classic in Florida.
Michael Wright and Cameron Percy will also play the Champions Tour for the first time this year and would do worse than to match Green’s rookie season in 2023.
In 26 starts last season, Green had six top-10s and won $US1,221,196 to finish 15th on the moneylist.
To catch the likes of Steve Alker and Steve Stricker – the top two money-earners in 2023 – Green and coach Darrell Brown have looked into what separates them from the field… and the margins are slim.
“I’ve been going over last year with my coach and comparing my game to Steve Alker – who has been doing really well over there – and Steve Stricker.
“Working out where I’m not quite up to it and it’s one or two shots here and there. It might be half a shot in putting, a shot in scrambling.”
A three-time winner on both the DP World Tour and the European Legends Tour, Green had four top-five finishes in his rookie season in the US, his best finish a playoff defeat to Harrison Frazar at the Dominion Energy Charity Classic.
It was a further endorsement that, at 52 years of age, his game can match it with Hall of Famers and major champions.
“It was a bit of a learning curve but pleasantly surprised once I got over there how well I played and how competitive I was amongst those guys,” said Green, whose last hit-out before leaving Australia was a tie for sixth at the Vic Open.
“Ernie Els, Vijay Singh, Steve Stricker, Padraig Harrington, all those guys that have been playing good enough golf to hover around the top 10 in the world, I was playing good enough golf to be hovering around with them most of the time and contending.
“I probably out-performed myself really. I thought if I finished top-36 I’d be having a great year and I finished 15th.
“With the experience that I gathered last year, if I go over there and play just as well, if not better, and learn from the experience of the things that didn’t go quite right, there’s probably no reason why I couldn’t go over and win more.“
Green begins his campaign alongside Tom Lehman and Rocco Mediate at 12:43am Saturday AEDT with Allan and Bransdon paired together in their Champions Tour debuts.
Photo: Grant Halverson/Getty Images
Round 1 tee times AEDT
Champions Tour
Chubb Classic
Tiburon Golf Club, Naples, Florida
12:43am Tom Lehman, Richard Green, Rocco Mediate
1:38am Ernie Els, David Toms, Steven Alker (NZ)
2:22am Ken Duke, Lee Janzen, Mark Hensby
2:33am Steve Flesch, Rod Pampling, Paul Broadhurst
3:39am Stuart Appleby, Notah Begay III, Scott Verplank
4:12am Rob Labritz, John Senden, Jason Bohn
4:45am Steve Allan, Michael Muehr, David Bransdon
Prize money: $US1.8 million
Defending champion: Bernhard Langer
Past Aussie winners: Nil
TV times: Live 4am-7am Saturday; Live 7am-9:30am Sunday, Monday on Fox Sports 505 and Kayo.
