Want to recieve exclusive news, videos, tournament highlights, golf important tips and more ?
Want to recieve exclusive news, videos, tournament highlights, golf important tips and more ?
Sydney’s Harrison Crowe believes he is now ready to take his game to the world after taking out The National Tournament in impressive fashion at The National Golf Club on Sunday.
Harnessing the thousands of rounds he has played at Michael’s Golf Club on Sydney’s southern coastline, Crowe defied the 50km/h winds that whipped across the Gunnamatta Course to post the only bogey-free round of the final day of the 2024/2025 Challenger PGA Tour of Australasia season.
Paired with Quinn Croker (71) and Denzel Ieremia (76) in the final group, Crowe shot a 4-under 68 to finish at 19-under for the tournament, two strokes clear of Queenslander Anthony Quayle (69), who produced the shot of his life to make birdie at the par-4 18th and snare outright second.
That result saw Quayle leapfrog South Australian Jack Buchanan (68) into fifth on the Order of Merit and secure a DP World Tour card for the 2026 season, a target he set himself when he turned his back on the Japan Golf Tour to play more on home soil late last year.
There are Order of Merit rewards coming too for Crowe, who finishes the year in eighth position. That guarantees him a start at the Alfred Dunhill Links Championship on the DP World Tour in Scotland in October and will open the door to a host of major qualifying schools later in the year.
For a 23-year-old who burst onto the scene by winning both the New South Wales Open and the Asia-Pacific Amateur in 2022, this latest win looms as the springboard he has been chasing ever since.
“I’ve been hanging around for this win for quite some time,” said Crowe.
“It just feels great to finally get it done and I feel like this could be the one that kind of kicks the door down a little bit more.”
A message from coach John Serhan after Round 3 emphasised the need to stay present and be ready for whatever the conditions or other players might throw at him.
Before he had even reached the first green there were seven players tied for the lead at 15-under, but what shaped as a Sunday sprint to the finish soon developed into a battle of attrition.
Croker and Quayle both had brief stints in the outright lead as Todd Sinnott, Andrew Martin and Maverick Antcliff all joined the conversation.
Crowe, Quayle, Martin, Croker and Antcliff were all tied at 17-under midway through the front nine, Antcliff the first to break out of the logjam and reach 18-under with birdie at the par-5 sixth.
NZ Open champion and Rookie of the Year Ryan Peake was in the mix until the birdie putts stopped dropping while Curtis Luck surged after the turn thanks to birdies at 11, 12 and 16.
His bogey-bogey finish would have Order of Merit implications but as he and others dropped shots, Crowe remained resilient.
A brilliant 5-iron to seven feet at the par-4 ninth went unrewarded but a par save on 13 and another superb 5-iron into the par-4 14th gave Crowe a three-shot buffer over the closing holes.
“That was certainly one of the best shots I’ve hit,” said Crowe.
“I think I had 175 (metres) to the pin and I just thought, I’m going to hit 5-iron and I’m going to really hit this thing low.
“To save par on the hole before and then to hit that that shot into there just calmed me down a little bit more.
“It was very testing out there and I just kind of had to keep bringing myself back and just stay really in the moment.
“It was easy to wander off – what the lead was, what the score was – and trying to look too far ahead but I think I did a really, really good job today of just being present and staying really, really patient.”
Quayle’s second-place finish was his best result of the season and eighth top-five finish as Martin (67), Luck (68) and Croker (71) shared third.
New South Welshman Harrison Crowe has vowed to tap into a ‘big game’ mentality as he chases a breakthrough win as a professional at the season-ending The National Tournament on Sunday.
Crowe will start the final round at The National Golf Club’s Gunnamatta Course in a three-way tie for the lead at 15-under-par with Queenslander Quinn Croker (63) and New Zealand’s Denzel Ieremia (66), the trio one clear of Maverick Antcliff (67), Ryan Peake (67), Jason Norris (68) and Anthony Quayle (69).
Twenty players will start the final round of the season within four strokes of the lead and with a variety of Challenger PGA Tour of Australasia Order of Merit rewards at stake.
Peake cannot be unseated as the No.2 behind Elvis Smylie, Croker is all but guaranteed of retaining his card for next season while Quayle can secure a DP World Tour card for the 2026 season with a third win on Tour.
Entering the week 10th on the Order of Merit, Crowe could move as high as seventh with a first professional win to go with the 2022 New South Wales Open that he won as an amateur.
With top 10 finishes at the Australian Open, BMW Australian PGA Championship and Ford NSW Open and a tie for 15th at the New Zealand Open, Crowe’s best performances have come in the season’s biggest events.
The 23-year-old intends to tap into that mindset to finish the season by hoisting a trophy.
“Obviously it’s a good problem to have, saving my best golf for the big events,” said Crowe.
“The challenge for me was to really switch on in some of the smaller events.
“I’ve tried my best to do that this week and it’s a little easier to do that being the last event of the season.
“There’s a certain kind of fire in my belly for those big events.
“I’ll be going out there with guns blazing.”
At 44th and 56th respectively at the start of the week, Croker and Ieremia are all but assured of finishing inside the all-important top 50 to keep their cards for next year.
It has given Croker, in particular, a sense of freedom as he chases a breakthrough win.
Staying with 36-hole leader and great mate Billy Dowling, Croker matched Declan O’Donovan’s course record of 9-under 63 set on Thursday to climb 26 spots and into a share of the lead.
“I don’t know the exact math but once I played solid yesterday and was inside the cut I thought, I’m good now,” Croker said of a potential Order of Merit tightrope.
“It was a little bit like what it felt like last year when I was playing as an amateur.
“You’re a little bit like, well I can just do whatever I want. I can swing a lot freer and you make things happen and then all of a sudden, obviously a good score came out of it.”
Ieremia has also adopted a more relaxed approach that has yielded a strong run of form.
The 29-year-old had seven birdies in his round of 6-under 66 on Saturday and with strong winds expected on Sunday, will tap into the experience of playing in horrendous conditions at the Vic Open last month.
“I played really good on the front nine and I might’ve been close to the lead,” said Ieremia, who is aiming to become the fourth Kiwi winner in the last six tournaments.
“I didn’t know it at the time but I just fell off on the back nine.
“I’d like to have a week where I finish it off.”
Needing to win to leapfrog both Lucas Herbert and Cameron Smith on the Order of Merit, Quayle was denied joining the group at 15-under by a birdie putt that was spat out by a wicked horseshoe at the par-4 17th.
Currently fifth on the Order of Merit, South Australian Jack Buchanan will start Sunday four strokes off the lead and in a tie for 14th, also needing to win to wrap up a DP World Tour card.
Teenage amateur Billy Dowling is the only player standing between DP World Tour hopeful Anthony Quayle and the top of the leaderboard through two rounds of The National Tournament at The National Golf Club.
Entering the season finale sixth on the Challenger PGA Tour of Australasia Order of Merit, a win would see Quayle move past both Lucas Herbert (third) and Cameron Smith (fourth) and secure a coveted DP World Tour card for the 2025/26 season.
A positive mindset with the putter on Friday saw the Queenslander shoot 7-under 65 on the Gunnamatta Course to move into outright second at 11-under, one back of Dowling (66) who is still on the comeback trail after undergoing emergency appendix surgery in January.
Corey Lamb (65) and Curtis Luck (70) are tied for third at 10-under with Jason Norris (69), Lamb and Luck also seeking to improve their current Order of Merit positions of eighth and seventh respectively.
Luck is sitting 42 points behind Quayle who, with seven top-five finishes in his past 12 starts, is accustomed to playing in the later groups across the weekend.
A two-time winner on the Challenger PGA Tour of Australasia, the 30-year-old followed up a 68 on day one with a bogey-free 65 thanks in no small part to a more positive approach with the flatstick.
“I had a very poor putting day yesterday,” said Quayle. “I had -3 Strokes Gained: Putting on a day where I still shot 4-under.
“I did some putting work in the afternoon and my goal going into today was not one negative thought towards my putting at all. Not even thinking about maybe not putting well the last couple of months, just no negative thoughts about it whatsoever. To build a good relationship from where my ball was and where the hole is and trying to get a good feel for what ‘in’ looks like.
“I was a little bit slow onto it but built a little bit of momentum in the middle of the round and feel like I got on a run and holed some nice putts.”
Perhaps none was as nice as the 30-footer he rolled in for birdie at the 195-metre par-3 fifth, the first of three birdies in his final five holes.
“It was really challenging to get it close there,” Quayle added.
“I hit a little chip-cut 9-iron that landed 30 short on a side-slope and it rolled past the hole probably 30 feet.
“I holed that, which was awesome. It was the longest putt I’ve seen go in for a little while, so it’s kind of nice to start seeing them go in.”
Out in front at the halfway mark is Dowling, who was forced to withdraw after one round of the Australian Amateur in Melbourne in mid-January and was admitted immediately to hospital to have his appendix removed.
It meant a month where his only golf outlet was driving around in a cart while his mates played before returning to action at the Riversdale Cup three weeks ago where he finished fourth.
The 19-year-old has an international schedule of amateur events in the UK and US planned for the months ahead. A top-two finish this week would ensure status on the Challenger PGA Tour of Australasia next season through the Future Tour Order of Merit, should he choose to turn professional.
“I spoke to my parents and my coach and for me, if I could come away satisfied from the tournament, proud of my efforts and proud of my score, then that was all I could really ask,” said Dowling, who had consecutive top-10 finishes earlier in the season in professional company.
“I want to go over and play those international events and actually contend a little bit more. Really try and improve my game on links courses and I haven’t played too much in the US, so that’ll be a new experience and I’m sure I’ll enjoy that.”
Low round of day two belonged to West Australian Ryan Peake.
The NZ Open champ cannot be unseated as No.2 on the Order of Merit but, as one of only seven players to have teed it up in every event, insists he still has plenty to play for.
“I’ve just come off two missed cuts and the last thing I want to do is to win a tournament and then miss my last three cuts in a row, because that can beat you up a little bit,” said Peake, who is in a share of sixth at 9-under par alongside Jarryd Felton (71), Zach Murray (66), Daniel Gill (69), Maverick Antcliff (70) and Denzel Ieremia (70).
“I still had a lot to play for out there today. To go out there and shoot a good round and just make sure that I can play on the weekend and finish off the season on a good note.”
Overnight leader Declan O’Donovan followed his course record of 63 on Thursday with a 1-over 73 on day two and sits four shots behind Dowling in a tie for 13th.
Such was the strain that the game had put on Jarryd Felton’s nervous system, he considered not teeing it up at last year’s ISPS HANDA Australian Open.
Literally.
Putting troubles that can plague even the most accomplished players became so debilitating that Felton thought he might be better off not hitting the shots that would invariably lead to a green waiting ominously at the end of the fairway.
“I nearly pulled out because I was so nervous I didn’t want to put the tee in the ground,” Felton revealed after an 8-under 64 at The National Tournament on Thursday that has him just one stroke off the lead.
It is Felton’s lowest round on the Challenger PGA Tour of Australasia since he shot 64 in Round 2 of the Webex Players Series event at Bonnie Doon Golf Club in Sydney more than three years ago.
He won in a playoff with Brendan Jones that week, the most recent of his four victories on his home tour.
It’s not like there have not been signs of life in the three years since – rounds that show the talent is willing if the mind is sometimes not – but you have to go back almost 18 months to find the 29-year-old’s last top 10 finish.
Which is why there is so much more to play for over the next three days at The National Golf Club.
Yes, his current tie for second would be enough to climb back into the top 50 on the Order of Merit and secure full status for next season, but Felton is looking for more than that.
He is looking for validation that putting the tee in the ground on the 10th tee at Kingston Heath last November was the right thing to do.
“It’s a lot of hard work put in, a lot of people around you that support you and keep you going,” added Felton.
“You question it a lot of times. Am I still good enough to be out here?
“I think I still am and I think I’ve still got a lot to prove.”
It may not have been seen by anyone other than his playing partners on Thursday but the final putt of Round 1 was its own victory for Felton.
Eight-under through 15 holes, the West Australian dropped a shot at the par-4 seventh following an unfortunate bounce.
He made par on eight and then gave himself a birdie look from eight feet at his final hole, the par-4 ninth.
Any other week, a two-putt par for a round of 7-under would have barely raised an eyebrow.
The fact that Felton converted that chance to put himself in the mix provided further vindication that he is moving in the right direction.
“I hit 7-iron on the last to about eight feet and holed the putt,” Felton said when asked to nominate his best shot of day one.
“I’ve normally missed that, or something like that. But I go and hole that and shoot 8-under and it just sounds better than 7-under.
“It’s been a rough 18 months now but digging deep and trying to get little things out of each week.
“The year’s kind of a bit of a wash-out, but I’ve still got things to play for.
“I’ll still have obviously status next year, but I want to be in the big events.
“That’s where I should be and that’s where I want to be.”
New South Wales amateur Declan O’Donovan delivered a peerless display of ball-striking to smash the course record and take a one-stroke lead after Round 1 of The National Tournament on Thursday.
In conditions that could only be described as idyllic on the often windy Mornington Peninsula, The National’s Gunnamatta Course was laid bare for the taking, a staggering 19 players shooting scores of 6-under or better as the field finished the day a total of 322-under par with a scoring average of 69.42.
Round of the day was O’Donovan’s 9-under 63, the Avondale Golf Club member having professional playing partners Louis Dobbelaar and Corey Lamb in awe with his iron play.
Breaking the course record set in 2022 by two strokes, O’Donovan’s 63 not only featured an eagle at the par-5 first but birdies at all three of the hardest holes on the golf course in Round 1.
He hit a “stinger 4-iron” to four feet at the 197-metre par-3 fifth and 7-iron to eight feet at the 192m par-3 16th but said his best of the day was a 3-iron from 215 metres to 12 feet at the par-4 18th for birdie on the toughest hole on the golf course.
“I actually don’t like looking at the leaderboard, but I accidentally saw just before I teed off (on 18) that some of the boys were 7-under through nine,” said O’Donovan.
“To do that up the last was a nice little finish, especially considering during the practice rounds I was talking about how hard the last is.”
A contender early in tournaments three times this season, the 21-year-old is quickly learning to take one round at a time.
Deep down he knows that a win this week would allow him to bypass Qualifying School next month and that a high finish might be enough to secure status next season through the Future Tour Order of Merit.
He also knows that today’s round counts for little when he tees off in Round 2.
“It’s a big skill to be able to go low and then keep it going and keep it going,” he added.
“Everybody finds their own way of doing it and I think I’m starting to find my way.
“The biggest thing I’m focusing on right now is what’s right in front of me and the processes that I can control.
“That’s what’s been keeping me present and playing really nicely, is that I do my best to stay away from those future thoughts.”
West Australian Curtis Luck is also delaying what might happen in future but for different reasons.
Currently plagued by a bulging disc in his neck that is restricting the number of tournaments he can play, Luck sits seventh on the Challenger PGA Tour of Australasia Order of Merit from just five starts.
Sharing second with Jarryd Felton at 8-under after Round 1, a win this week may be enough to secure a DP World Tour card for 2026, but Luck refuses to look more than a day ahead.
“Obviously there’s some Order of Merit things on the line this week but realistically, for the way my last 12 months have been, to get through a week feeling like somewhat healthy is the most crucial bit going forward,” said Luck.
“It is so much better than it was, considering eight months ago I wasn’t playing, and I’m super happy and thankful about that. The question right now for me is, ‘Can I play multiple weeks in a row?’ And the answer to that is no.
“It’s weird coming out and knowing that my objectives, realistically, is testing how my health is rather than my golf.”
Six players are in a share of fourth at 7-under including New South Welshman Lucas Higgins, who had a hole-in-one with a 5-iron at the 213m par-3 11th, his second hole of the day.
At 8-under through 12 holes, Higgins threatened to take the outright lead but dropped shots at four and eight to shoot 65.
In the final countdown to a possible DP World Tour card, Jack Buchanan (fifth on the Order of Merit) opened with 6-under 66 and Anthony Quayle (sixth) shot 68.
Good things are happening for Ryan Peake.
On Thursday, he will tee it up in the season-ending The National Tournament, destined to finish second on the Challenger PGA Tour of Australasia Order of Merit.
Given Elvis Smylie’s BMW Australian PGA Championship win, Peake will effectively assume the category of this tour’s No.1 player when he embarks on his rookie season on the DP World Tour later this year.
There is a major championship debut awaiting the 32-year-old at The Open Championship, reward for his victory at the New Zealand Open that formed part of the Open Qualifying Series.
Yet Peake’s well-documented past lingers, the after-effects of five years in prison creating roadblocks that others in his position never have to confront.
He has a Great Britain and Northern Ireland passport that ensures he will be able to tee it up at Royal Portrush from July 17-20 but entry into other countries – particularly throughout Asia – will be problematic.
Another bonus of Peake’s win in the co-sanctioned NZ Open is status on the Asian Tour. Using that status, however, is mired in visa and immigration law.
It’s why as his life-changing season draws to a close, he can’t yet bring himself to look too far forward.
“I’ve sat down with my manager and team and we’ve looked at schedules, but as far as excitement goes, it’s not quite there yet,” conceded Peake, who tees off at 12:50pm Thursday with former Order of Merit winners Jed Morgan and David Micheluzzi.
“We’re not a hundred percent sure on where exactly I’ll get to first because it’s going to be a bit of a process.
“There’s a lot of countries that I will get into, but it’s not just going to be a couple-of-week process.
“We’re looking more between four to six months of figuring it all out.
“It’s all my own doing, but it still does suck.”
But for the knocks that may come, there are moments to look forward to.
Peake’s family will join him for The Open at Royal Portrush in Northern Ireland and he will finish 2025 as a member of the DP World Tour.
What happens in between will be determined on a week-to-week basis.
“It’s a major – it’s my first major – and my whole family’s coming so it’s going to be a very special week,” he added.
“But in saying that, once that week’s done, it’s back on to the other tours as well.
“Obviously I want to play well and see what happens from there, but it is one tournament as opposed to a whole season out there.
“It is all a new experience for me, so every tournament that I play on the calendar season is going to be one to look forward to.”
Round 1 of The National Tournament teed off at 8:10am on Thursday morning and entry to spectators is free all four days. The final two rounds are broadcast live on Fox Sports and Kayo from 3pm-6pm Saturday and 1pm-6pm Sunday AEDT.
In one sense, the equation is simple: Winning solves everything.
As the Challenger PGA Tour of Australasia 2024/2025 season reaches its conclusion at The National Tournament this week, a variety of opportunities and exemptions await those who finish prominently on the Order of Merit.
Jack Buchanan and Anthony Quayle shape as the two with most to gain.
Elvis Smylie has secured the Order of Merit title but, as the winner of the co-sanctioned BMW Australian PGA Championship, is now exempt on the DP World Tour until the end of the 2027 season.
NZ Open champion Ryan Peake sits second on the Order of Merit and is guaranteed one of the three DP World Tour cards on offer for the top three not otherwise exempt.
Which is where it gets tricky.
Three-time DP World Tour winner Lucas Herbert and The Open champion of three years ago, Cameron Smith, both qualify for the Order of Merit having played the minimum four events and currently sit third and fourth.
Which leaves Buchanan (No.5) and Quayle (No.6).
Given Herbert is not in the field this week, either can leapfrog into third spot with victory on Sunday.
Circumstances could dictate that both might earn DP World Tour status without a win this week, but confirmation could be weeks in the waiting.
For two players both looking to launch their international careers, doors are about to open regardless of what happens at The National.
Winner of the WA PGA championship and Webex Players Series South Australia, Buchanan is exempt into 10 International Series events on the Asian Tour and believes he now has the grounding to take his game to the world.
“If someone told me I did what I did this season, I probably wouldn’t believe them,” said Buchanan, who will celebrate his 23rd birthday on Tuesday.
“I always have a bit of self-belief, but as my official first rookie year on the Aussie Tour, having two wins and some other good results in some big events is a pretty good achievement.
“I’m not too sure how it all works with the Order of Merit stuff, but I’m in a pretty good position to where a win this week would pretty likely get me a European Tour card.
“A lot of people would tell you they want to be world No.1 or whatever, but I always just want to play big events and have big moments in big events, wherever that may take me.”
After seven years playing the Japan Golf Tour, Quayle hit reset and returned to the Challenger PGA Tour of Australasia late last year.
With seven top-five finishes from his past 12 starts, the 30-year-old can see a path to pursue his career either in Europe or in the US.
“The path I was going down in Japan was not a productive one,” said Quayle, who needs all 190 points awarded to the winner this week to surpass Herbert and Smith. He trails Buchanan by 63 points.
“It was hard to really see any kind of progress being made or love of the game really. It was just really difficult.
“Right now, the pathway is not as clear or straightforward as what you might like it to be, but I know that there will be opportunities. I just have to be a bit more open-minded with it.
“Since I finished third at the Aussie PGA, I’ve already got some (DP World Tour) points that don’t show up on the moneylist now, but they kind of count. With the Alfred Dunhill Links, that’ll be a DP event and if I play well that week, I might rack up a few more points.
“I’ll be doing the US Open and British Open final qualifying, so if I can get into one of those, there’s also a lot of points on offer there.
“There’s still some avenues. If I play how I’m playing at the moment, I feel like it’ll open some doors.”
In addition to the three DP World Tour cards, the top 10 Order of Merit finishers earn an exemption into the Alfred Dunhill Links Championship in Scotland, the leading five players get a spot at the Singapore Classic and Hero Indian Open next year and there are exemptions into Final Stage of Qualifying Schools for the PGA TOUR, DP World Tour, Japan Golf Tour and Asian Tour.
Round 1 tees off at 8:10am on Thursday morning at The National’s Gunnamatta Course.
The final two rounds are broadcast live on Fox Sports and Kayo from 3pm-6pm Saturday and 1pm-6pm Sunday AEDT.
He was briefly brought back into his shadow but James Conran has now joined father Steven in creating a unique piece of Australian golf history.
In winning last Sunday’s Heritage Classic, James and Steve – the 1995 Singapore Open champion – have become the first father-son duo to win on the Challenger PGA Tour of Australasia since its establishment in 1973.
Fathers and sons to have both played on Tour is rare – David and Charlie Smail played the 2019 New Zealand Open – and winners globally are few and far between.
They are not the first Australian father-son duo to win on a major tour – Joe Kirkwood Snr and Joe Kirkwood Jnr were the third to do so on the PGA TOUR when Joe Jnr won the 1949 Philadelphia Inquirer Open.
Having grown up in the locker rooms of golf tournaments throughout Australia and Japan, James was thrilled to create a slice of history alongside his father.
“It’s pretty cool now that I think about it,” said James ahead of the final event of the season, The National Tournament starting Thursday.
“I never really realised growing up how highly ranked in the world rankings and stuff Dad was. I never really thought about it too much.
“Now that I’m a bit older, I can see what he accomplished so it means a bit more now.
“I remember going to Aussie Opens, Aussie Masters, Aussie PGA, they’d send me into the creche and I’d be crying. I wanted to go watch the golf with them.
“I just remember going to tournaments when I was a little kid and being around all the golfers in the locker room and stuff. It was pretty cool.”
A silky player who spent almost 20 years on the Japan Golf Tour, Steve Conran won the KBC Augusta tournament in 2004 and accumulated career prize money of ¥471,023,313 (approx. $4.984m).
With his 59th birthday approaching in May, Conran has been a prolific winner on the PGA Legends Tour. He also has the occasional win over his 26-year-old son.
“I still go home now and he’s 60 years old and he is still beating me up, so that’s not very good,” James laughed.
“The most I’ve learned from him is probably how to score a golf course. Course management and just hitting it to the correct spots.
“You hear it all the time, course management, but I’ve grown up watching how he did it.
“He’s not the longest hitter but he would just shoot 2-under, 3-under every day and it added up over the week.
“That’s what I’m trying to get a bit better at the moment. I can have those 5, 6, 7-under rounds, but I have too many of the 1, 2, 3-over rounds at the moment.
“That’s what I’ve learned the most from him, how to score a golf course.”
Leading by three strokes with nine holes to play at the PNG Open before being run down by Will Bruyeres, Conran is now 16th on the Order of Merit and with playing rights secured for the next two seasons.
Thirty years after his dad’s win in Singapore, James now knows what winning on Tour represents.
“It was a cool feeling just seeing the messages on my phone,” said James.
“I had over 200 messages to reply to and that was 10 minutes after I finished.
“It’s cool to know that everyone was watching and supporting.”
The National Tournament tees off at 8:10am Thursday. The final two rounds are broadcast live on Fox Sports and Kayo from 3pm Saturday and 1pm Sunday AEDT.
Photos: Dan Pockett (James Conran), Darren England/ALLSPORT (Steve Conran)
Elvis Smylie may have been crowned the Challenger PGA Tour of Australasia Order of Merit winner last Sunday at the Heritage Classic but there remains much to be decided at the season finale.
The National Tournament at The National Golf Club’s Gunnamatta Course marks the conclusion of a 19-event season that began with Will Bruyeres’s PNG Open breakthrough and will climax on Sunday.
Given Smylie earned exemption on the DP World Tour by virtue of his victory at the BMW Australian PGA Championship, three additional players will secure DP World Status for the 2026 season.
NZ Open champion Ryan Peake is already guaranteed the first of those, the likes of Jack Buchanan, Anthony Quayle and Curtis Luck all looking to advance their chances at The National.
There are further rewards on offer through Order of Merit finishes, not the least of which is earning status for next season for those who end the year inside the top 50.
The Order of Merit champion two years ago, David Micheluzzi returns this week, as does 2022 Order of Merit winner Jed Morgan along with 10 winners from the current season all seeking to end the year on a high.
The final two rounds of The National Tournament will be broadcast live on Fox Sports and Kayo with coverage starting at 3pm AEDT on Saturday and 1pm Sunday.
LAST YEAR’S CHAMPION: Cameron John
PRIZEMONEY: $200,000
COURSE DESIGNER: Tom Doak (Gunnamatta Course)
COURSE RECORD: 65, Derek Ackerman (Round 1, 2022) and Harrison Crowe (Round 4, 2022)
LIVE SCORES: pga.org.au
TV COVERAGE: The National Tournament is live on Fox Sports, available on Foxtel and Kayo.
*All times AEDT.
Round 3: Saturday 3pm-6pm (Fox Sports 503/Kayo)
Final Round: Sunday 1pm-6pm (Fox Sports 503/Kayo)
HEADLINERS
David Micheluzzi: 2024 Challenger PGA Tour of Australasia Order of Merit winner
Jed Morgan: 2023 Challenger PGA Tour of Australasia Order of Merit winner
Ryan Peake: NZ Open winner
Jack Buchanan: 2024 WA PGA and Webex Players Series South Australia champion
Curtis Luck: Korn Ferry Tour winner
Josh Geary: 2025 Vic Open winner
Anthony Quayle: Two-time Tour winner
Jack Thompson: 2021 Gippsland Super 6 winner and 2025 NZ Open runner-up
Few golf properties on the planet have the luxury of three championship-calibre courses capable of hosting a tournament at a moment’s notice.
The National Golf Club on Victoria’s Mornington Peninsula is Australia’s only golf club with three 18-hole courses at a single site – The National boasts a fourth course, Long Island, at Frankston – and is the host course for a fourth straight year of The National Tournament starting Thursday.
For the second time, the tournament will be played on the Gunnamatta Course, a Tom Doak layout on the site previously occupied by the Peter Thomson, Mike Wolveridge and Ross Perrett-designed Ocean Course.
The jewel in the crown that is golf on Victoria’s Mornington Peninsula, Minister for Tourism, Sport and Major Events, Steve Dimopoulos, acknowledged the impact hosting such events has on the entire region.
“It’s fantastic to see The National Tournament return to the spectacular Gunnamatta Course at The National,” said Mr Dimopouulos.
“It’s a world-class course that’s a true test of skill and strategy, and it will be a brilliant setting for spectators to see some amazing golf.
“The National Golf Club boasts four of the finest courses in the country, and the Mornington Peninsula as a whole is one of Australia’s premier golfing destinations – with stunning landscapes continuing to attract elite competition and passionate golf fans.
“This tournament, in addition to the fantastic success of the recent Australian Open and Vic Open, reinforces Victoria’s reputation as Australia’s sporting capital and a world-class destination for golf.
“Events like this not only showcase our incredible courses but also support local businesses, drive tourism and cement our state’s position on the global golfing stage.”
Sydney’s Nathan Barbieri is another excited by the tournament’s return to the Gunnamatta course.
Runner-up to American Derek Ackerman three years ago, Barbieri has finished top 10 at each Challenger PGA Tour of Australasia tournament played at The National and was medallist at Qualifying School that was played on the Mornington Peninsula last April.
It should come as no surprise that he finds comfort in the creativity called upon at each of The National’s courses.
“It’s a nice property,” said Barbieri.
“The courses are always good and I like that style of golf. You need a lot of imagination with the slopes and the positioning of the green sites.
“I’ve always enjoyed golf in Victoria, where you get to play the ball along the ground a lot. You just get to be creative.
“My main memory of the Gunnamatta course is the bowl greens where you can be creative depending on the hole locations each day.
“All the courses at The National are really nice.”
One of golf’s most acclaimed course architects, Barbieri’s comments will be music to the ears of Tom Doak, who sought to enhance playability for members and provide a stage for professionals to showcase a variety of skills.
“A lot of the old green sites were kind of fighting into a big slope and if you didn’t get the ball up to the green, it came rolling back at you,” said Doak.
“They reshaped a few of them to try and reduce that but they basically just had some greens in hard places.
“Changing it around, we’ve got a lot of greens in bowls or at least there’s one part of the green you feel like you can get to comfortably.
“That may not be where you want to get it to today, but at least you’ve got a safe play. The old course, you really didn’t have many safe plays; it was hard.”
The National Tournament is the final event of the 2024/2025 Challenger PGA Tour of Australasia season and will see the finalisation of the Order of Merit.
Tune in this weekend
