By the time they were teenagers, both Jan Stephenson and Marc Leishman were attracting attention. Now the pair face off for a place in the quarter-finals in our continuing search for Australia’s Greatest Golfer.
Stephenson advanced to the second round with a convincing decision over Randall Vines while Leishman’s spot in Round 2 was secured when he accounted for Nick O’Hern in their first-round clash.
Born in Newcastle, Stephenson first displayed her prodigious ability with victory at the 1964 New South Wales Schoolgirl championships at just 12 years of age. She would successfully defend that title in each of the next four years.
The son of seven-time Warrnambool club champion Paul Leishman, Marc showed that he had been paying close attention to his old man and possessed natural ability all of his own when he too added his name to the honour board at just 13 years of age.
The game is littered with junior phenoms who found it difficult to transition to the professional ranks but both Stephenson and Leishman continued on their upward trajectories as they advanced beyond the amateur ranks.
Stephenson turned professional in 1973 and won the Wills Australian Open as a 21-year-old, joining the LPGA Tour a year later as her rapid ascension gained a global following.
Her breakthrough win in the US came in February 1976 at the Sarah Coventry Naples Classic yet her lasting legacy to Australian golf was becoming the first Aussie female to win a major at the Peter Jackson Classic in 1981.
It would be the first of three major triumphs for Stephenson among her total of 16 LPGA Tour wins to go with two Australian Open titles, a Ladies European Tour victory and two wins in Japan.
Elevated to the World Golf Hall of Fame last year, off the golf course Stephenson has been a long-time ambassador for blind and disabled golf through her association with ISPS HANDA and in 2018 was awarded the Order of Australia Medal for her service to golf and to not-for-profit organisations.
Leishman too has contributed significantly to charitable organisations through his Begin Again Foundation established in 2015 and is building a resume on the golf course that puts him among our very best.
Renowned for his ability to go super-low in his early days as a professional, Leishman won locally and in Korea before taking his game to the United States, advancing to the PGA TOUR in 2009 and promptly claiming the Rookie of the Year award.
The most recent of his five PGA TOUR wins came at the Farmers Insurance Open in January but despite a number of close calls the 36-year-old is yet to land that tournament win that cements his place in history.
Runner-up in a three-man playoff at The Open Championship in 2015, Leishman was tied for fourth when Adam Scott triumphed at the 2013 Masters and has two further top-six finishes at The Open.
Back home he finished runner-up behind good friend Cameron Smith at the 2018 Australian PGA Championship and is only top 10 finish at the Australian Open came last year at The Australian Golf Club.
Time is on his side and as that teenager showed at home in Warrnambool, he is not afraid of taking on the big boys.
Jan Stephenson
Career wins: 26
Major wins: 3 (1981 Peter Jackson Classic, 1982 LPGA Championship, 1983 US Women’s Open)
LPGA Tour wins: 16
Women’s Australian Open: Won (1973, 1977)
Legends Tour wins: 3
Marc Leishman
Career wins: 12
PGA TOUR wins: 5
Australasian Tour wins: 4 (Von Nida Tour)
Australian Open: T10 (2019)
Australian PGA: 2nd (2018)
Adam Scott will make a return to live golf on Friday, although the only way to watch him will be via Instagram.
Two weeks after the 14-time PGA TOUR winner sent the Sunshine Coast into a frenzy by popping in to play at Maleny Golf Club in the hinterland, Scott has agreed to a return visit that will be broadcast to the world.
Scott and long-time friend, PGA Professional and Maleny General Manager Wayne Perske will face off at the picturesque 18-hole layout from 8am on Friday morning, Perske joking that he might need a five-shot handicap to keep pace with the 2013 Masters champion.
With the ongoing COVID-19 pandemic making crowd attendance impossible, Scott’s Maleny match will be shown via his Instagram account (@adamscottofficial) and give Aussie golf fans a rare opportunity to watch live golf featuring one of our very best.
Adam Scott backswing, 340 meter drive. https://t.co/SPar2QsxQm via @YouTube
— Wayne Perske (@Wayneperske) April 19, 2020
“He came up on Tuesday with his dad for a game and asked whether we could do an Instagram Live match on the back nine on Friday morning,” said Perske, a former winner on the Japan Golf Tour.
“I’m thinking there’ll be quite a few people logging on to watch and I’m sure it will end up on YouTube afterwards.
“I don’t know why he chose me but it’s going to be pretty cool.
“We used to play in a few amateur events together but I was 20 and he was 15 at the time. He’ll say that I beat him a few times but that’s probably what a 20-year-old should do to a 15-year-old.”
As he was playing his second round at Maleny on Tuesday, Scott received national recognition for a story by renowned journalist Roy Masters in the Sydney Morning Herald that proclaimed the Queenslander as the winner of the “lockdown act of kindness” award.
Ross Campbell’s daughter Leigh reached out to Scott as her father – suffering with seven brain tumours – believes that he and Adam are best mates and regularly play together at Riverside Oaks in Sydney’s north-west.
Given their relationship, Ross was not at all surprised by Adam’s phone call but for his wife, Pam, it was a moment in time that she will cherish forever.
“Many high-profile athletes must get so many requests to put themselves out, yet Adam responded to my daughter’s request straight away,” Pam told the Sydney Morning Herald.
“The video he sent also shows him practising putting and Ross can watch it any time he feels inclined.”
Wayne Perske has seen it many times before.
Adam Scott pitching. https://t.co/ggkemYnf0A via @YouTube
— Wayne Perske (@Wayneperske) April 20, 2020
Upon his return to Australia last month Scott reached out to Perske and Caloundra Golf Club PGA Professional Tom Arnott asking in what ways he could help.
Perske suggested the publicity generated by a visit to the club would do wonders; Arnott had to politely decline when Scott offered to come and help clean golf carts due to a shortage of staff.
“That’s the kind of stuff Adam does all the time and most of the time no one ever finds out about it,” adds Perske.
“The lady obviously wanted to give him some credit for what he did but he doesn’t do it for any fanfare or accolades.
“A bloke saw that I played with Adam the other day. He sent a message asking whether I could ask Adam to send a video message to his 9-year-old son who just idolises Adam.
“He didn’t hesitate. He spent 30 seconds wishing the kid a happy birthday, thanking him for his support and encouraging him to keep practising.
“He does that stuff all the time without batting an eyelid.”
A portrait of Scott by Perske’s wife Vanessa that was entered into the 2014 Archibald Prize hangs in the modest clubhouse at Maleny and now also boasts the autograph of the subject.
When he played two weeks ago Scott hit a soaring 2-iron 268 metres from the 10th tee to the 12th green that landed within eight inches of the hole, leaving those who witnessed it with a story to tell every time they step onto that tee box.
Although in awe of the shot himself, Perske has no doubt there will be something extra special to come out of their match on Friday.
“It went 100 stories in the air and just dropped down beside the hole,” Perske recalled.
“All the people here are on such a high because they never thought something like that would happen.
“He’s our honorary touring professional at the moment and the Instagram Live match is going to be huge for Maleny Golf Club.
“I think we’ll see him up here fairly often between now and when he goes back to the States so he might do something even more special by then.”
A diminutive giant of Australian golf and an Asian pioneer go head-to-head as Norman von Nida and Brian Jones face off in our latest match in search of Australia’s Greatest Golfer.
Such are the stories that legends share of ‘The Von’ that it is easy to remember the character ahead of the accomplishments of Norman von Nida.
Whether giving bunker lessons to the likes of Gary Player and Peter Thomson or – with failing eyesight – instructing Nick Faldo to make a swing adjustment simply by listening to the sound the ball made on the clubface, von Nida’s impact on the game in this country was lengthy and varied.
From his days as a teenager caddying in Brisbane, von Nida regularly spent time amongst golf royalty.
He caddied for Walter Hagen at just 14 years of age and at 22 beat the newly crowned British Open champion Gene Sarazen after challenging him to a 50-pound winner-takes-all match.
Although small in stature, von Nida’s powerful arms propelled him to some 100 wins around the world and he was a trailblazer for Australians playing in Europe, encouraging golfers such as Thomson to also make the long journey to opportunity.
Although he had success prior to World War II – he was twice runner-up to Jim Ferrier in the 1938 and 1939 Australian Open – it would be when the war ended that von Nida became a dominant force in both Australia and Europe.
In 1947 he won seven times in Europe and on home soil was close to unbeatable in our major events.
Between 1946 and 1951 he won the Australian PGA Championship on four occasions – disposing of first Eric Cremin and then Ossie Pickworth 6&5 in the final in successive years in ’50 and ’51 and in a seven-year span between 1949 and 1955 either won or was runner-up at the Australian Open every year, Pickworth, Thomson and Bobby Locke the only men to deny him in that time.
A generation of Australian players – and even the great Jack Nicklaus – turned to ‘The Von’ for advice but above all else he showed that Australian golfers should never be afraid to pit their talents against the best the world could throw at them.
Like von Nida, Jones helped to establish a new frontier for Aussie golfers.
Born in Sydney, Jones won the Western Australian Open the year before turning professional in 1971 and would soon after forge a successful career throughout Asia.
He won the 1972 Indian Open – a title he would claim again five years later – but it was in Japan where he would find his greatest success.
The first of 11 individual titles in Japan came at the 1977 KBC Augusta tournament and he would amass close to Y470 million in career earnings in Japan alone, his final triumph in the Land of the Rising Sun recorded at the 1993 Sapporo Tokyu Open.
A winner of three PGA Tour of Australasia events, Jones’ came closest to claiming one of our most prestigious titles at the 1980 Australian Open.
The third-round leader, Jones led Greg Norman by a stroke with six holes to play at The Lakes Golf Club but bogeys at 15, 16 and 17 opened the door for Norman to go on and record a one-stroke win.
In this afternoon’s match, five-time US PGA Tour winner Marc Leishman goes up against famed Tiger tamer Nick O’Hern.
Yet to record a major victory on home soil, Leishman has established himself as one of our most consistent performers on the world stage and a regular member of the International team at the Presidents Cup.
The only player to defeat Tiger Woods twice in match play competition, O’Hern’s best year was in 2006 when he was top-10 at the US Open and won the Australian PGA Championship at Coolum by holing a bunker shot from the back of the 18th green at the second playoff hole.
Match 23 | @CocaColaAmatil Australia's Greatest Golfer ?️
— PGA of Australia (@PGAofAustralia) April 28, 2020
Follow @PGAofAustralia & https://t.co/8tUxMHCgi8 to vote as we give you the chance to vote for our best Aussie in a decorated class of 64 greats.
Norman von Nida
Career wins: 48
European Tour wins: 14
Australasian Tour wins: 32
Australian Open: Won (1950, 1952, 1953)
Australian PGA: Won (1946, 1948, 1950, 1951)
Brian Jones
Career wins: 21
Japan Tour wins: 11
Australasian Tour wins: 3
Australian Open: 2nd (1980)
Marc Leishman
Career wins: 12
PGA TOUR wins: 5
Australasian Tour wins: 4 (Von Nida Tour)
Australian Open: T10 (2019)
Australian PGA: 2nd (2018)
Nick O’Hern
Career wins: 5
Australasian Tour wins: 2
Australian Open: 2nd (1999, 2005, 2007)
Australian PGA: Won (2006)
They took rather different approaches but Peter Senior and Michael Clayton both left an indelible impression on Australian Golf; they meet in our latest showdown to find Australia’s Greatest Golfer.
Chalk and cheese have got nothing on Peter Senior and Michael Clayton.
Two of Australian golf’s most prominent figures of the 1980s and 1990s, it is safe to say that the pair approached professional golf in vastly different ways.
Senior was the methodical grinder, devoid of emotion as he regularly put away longer hitters with bigger profiles and the egos to match.
Clayton took a more artistic approach to his golf, an uber-talented junior who came into the pro ranks unafraid to either celebrate his triumphs or express his displeasure.
Where Senior’s playing career is now in its sixth decade, Clayton resembled a comet in the sky, a burst of brilliance before pursuing careers in both journalism and course design with great success.
Perhaps it was Senior’s combination of short stature and unassuming ways that endeared him so greatly to the Australian public.
Turning professional in 1978, the first of Senior’s 21 wins on the PGA Tour of Australasia came at the 1979 Dunhill Australian Open; his most recent a defeat of rising American amateur Bryson DeChambeau, John Senden and Andrew Evans at the 2015 Uniqlo Masters.
For those counting at home, that’s 36 years of tournament success.
A three-time winner in 1987, Senior completed a clean-sweep of Australia’s three biggest events in 1989 when he put the broomstick putter in play for the first time, an instrument he would wield to great effect and which would become synonymous with Senior’s play.
He won the Australian PGA Championship, Australian Open and Johnnie Walker Classic in quick succession with a cumulative winning margin for the Open and Johnnie Walker Classic played in consecutive weeks an astonishing 12 strokes.
That performance elevated Senior inside the top 30 in the world and earned his one and only invitation from Augusta National Golf Club to play The Masters the following year.
Senior’s international success came predominantly in Europe where he had four victories and in Japan where he triumphed on three occasions.
Seventh on the European Tour Order of Merit in 1987, Senior did earn a PGA TOUR card for the 1986 season but after struggling to adjust to the American style of play returned to Europe midway through the year.
In the early 1990s Senior was a regular fixture near the top of the leaderboard at The Open Championship, his best finish a tie for fourth in 1993 as he finished inside the top-20 each year from 1991-1994.
Now one of the most respected voices in Australian golf and a prominent figure in architecture around the world, Michael Clayton emerged in the late 1970s as a Melbourne amateur of great promise.
Winner of the 1977 and 1981 Victorian Amateur, Clayton won the 1978 Australian Amateur 1 up over Tony Gresham at Royal Queensland, a course he would go on to redesign some 30 years later.
When he turned professional in 1981 Clayton immediately joined the PGA Tour of Australasia and won for the first time a year later at a star-studded Victorian Open at Metropolitan.
Clayton played for more than a decade on the European Tour with his sole win coming at the 1984 Timex Open, a win that pushed him to a career-high finish of 18th on the moneylist.
Six years later Clayton almost added a second win to his resume but was edged out by fellow Aussie Rodger Davis at the seventh playoff hole of the Bob Hope British Classic.
Like Senior, when Clayton’s confidence was up he could rival anyone in Australian golf, claiming both the 1994 Heineken Classic and Coolum Classic and finishing top three in the opening two events of 1995 to rise to a career-high of 91 in the world.
Peter Senior
Career wins: 34
European Tour wins: 4
Australasian Tour wins: 21
Australian Open: Won (1989, 2012)
Australian PGA: Won (1989, 2003, 2010)
Michael Clayton
Career wins: 8
European Tour wins: 1
Australasian Tour wins: 6
Australian Open: T2 (1993)
Australian PGA: T6 (1991)
They won the first two Australian Opens of the 1960s and were giants of Australian golf for a decade; Bruce Devlin faces Frank Phillips in the latest match in the search for Australia’s Greatest Golfer.
Given the limitations – and expense – of international travel in the 1960s, the vast number of Australian golfers had to wait until the world’s best arrived on our shores to get a complete measure of their game.
When they did, Bruce Devlin and Frank Phillips had no hesitation in showing them just how strong Australian golf was.
Born in Adelaide, Devlin delivered one of the most spectacular entries to professional golf the game has ever seen in this country.
Victorious at the 1959 Australian Amateur and a member of the 1958 Australian team that won the Eisenhower Trophy, Devlin claimed the 1960 Australian Open ahead of fellow amateur Ted Ball at Lake Karrinyup, Devlin and Ball members of the Australian team that finished second behind a Jack Nicklaus-led US team at the 1960 Eisenhower trophy.
Soon enough the lure of America proved too great and Devlin would win eight times and miss out in playoffs on three separate occasions.
His first win came by four strokes at the 1964 St Petersburg Open Invitational and he won two times in a season three times in 1966, 1970 and 1972.
Ten years after his shock Australian Open win, Devlin teamed up with great mate David Graham to spank the rest of the world at the 1970 World Cup in Argentina, finishing 10 shots clear of local favourites Roberto De Vicenzo and Vicente Fernández and 19 ahead of third-placed South Africa.
In addition to his Australian Open win Devlin was winner of the Australian PGA Championship in consecutive years in 1969-70 and in 1963 alone triumphed at the New Zealand Open, Queensland Open, Victorian Open, Adelaide Advertiser Tournament (in a tie with Phillips), Wills Classic and Caltex Tournament.
From 1964 until 1976 Devlin finished in the top 10 at The Masters five times and was top 20 on five further occasions and in 1965 – where he was tied for 15th at Augusta – Devlin finished no worse than a tie for eighth in the other three majors.
Tied for 18th in 1962 and 12th in 1963 at The Open Championship, Phillips was not a regular fixture in golf’s grandest events, preferring to dominate the Australasian and Asian circuits.
Hailing from the Southern Highlands south of Sydney, Phillips broke through to win the 1955 New Zealand PGA Championship a year after joining the professional ranks but came to prominence with his victory at the 1957 Australian Open at Kingston Heath.
A year earlier Phillips had spent three months travelling Europe with Norman von Nida and it helped to solidify the lanky Phillips’ play, holding off South African legend Gary Player both in 1957 and in his second Australian Open victory in 1961 at Victoria Golf Club.
Winner of the New South Wales Open four times, Phillips accrued an impressive list of national open titles throughout Asia, twice winning the Singapore Open and Hong Kong Open crowns as well as victories in the Philippines and Malaysia.
Match 16 | Australia’s Greatest Golfer ?️
— PGA of Australia (@PGAofAustralia) April 23, 2020
They won the first two Australian Opens of the 1960s and were giants of Australian golf for a decade; Bruce Devlin faces Frank Phillips in the latest match in the search for Australia’s Greatest Golfer.
Bruce Devlin
Career wins: 31
PGA TOUR wins: 8
Australasian Tour wins: 19
Australian Open: Won (1960)
Australian PGA: Won (1969, 1970)
Frank Phillips
Career wins: 32
Australasian Tour wins: 23
Asian Golf Circuit wins: 7
Australian Open: Won (1957, 1961)
Australian PGA: 2nd (1961, 1965)
Revered as much for their knockabout personalities as their accomplishments on the golf course, Stuart Appleby and Ian Stanley face off in the latest match of our search for Australia’s Greatest Golfer.
Some golfers are remembered for what they do on the golf course, others for the way that they do it.
When evaluating the careers of Stuart Appleby and Ian Stanley it’s hard to look past the personalities to their actual accomplishments.
Both men had their grounding on the Melbourne sandbelt, Stanley becoming a much-loved figure at Huntingdale Golf Club and Appleby joining Yarra Yarra Golf Club after making the move down from Cohuna on the Murray River.
A two-time Victorian Junior champion, Stanley completed a three-year apprenticeship under Geoff Flanagan at Huntingdale and then in 1975 recorded his first win as a professional in, of all places, Papua New Guinea. Also that year Stanley was joint winner of the Martini International along with Christy O’Connor and won the Queensland Open by four strokes, the first of eight wins on the PGA Tour of Australasia.
Runner-up at the 1974 Australian PGA Championship when he lost an 18-hole playoff with Billy Dunk by a single stroke, Stanley’s greatest accomplishments on the course arguably came after his 50th birthday.
Shortly after joining the seniors ranks ‘Stan the Man’ won the 1998 Australian Senior PGA Championship and in 2001 claimed the Senior British Open, defeating New Zealand’s Bob Charles in a playoff in a field that boasted Jack Nicklaus, Dave Stockton and Gary Player.
The winner of 30 professional events in his career, it was Stanley’s charitable efforts following the accident to good friend Jack Newton in 1983 that endeared him to everyone within Australian golf.
He travelled the country raising money for the Jack Newton Trust and would later establish Tee Up for Kids that raises money for underprivileged kids in Victoria, passing away after a long battle with cancer in July 2018 at age 69.
Appleby too has used his profile to help others, establishing the Stuart Appleby Junior Golf foundation to aid the development of juniors in Victoria.
Winner of the 1991 Queensland Open as an amateur, Appleby turned professional the following year, his first win as a bona fide pro coming at the 1994 Victorian PGA Championship.
In 1995 Appleby made the move to the United States and made an instant impression, winning his first event on the then Nike Tour and adding a second title in October, finishing fifth on the moneylist to earn promotion to the PGA Tour.
It only took until Appleby’s second year on tour to earn his breakthrough PGA TOUR title at the 1997 Honda Classic but there would be two feats in particular that would make Appleby a household name.
Appleby had rounds of 62 and 63 in his victory at the 2003 Las Vegas Invitational which earned a return to the Tournament of Champions in Hawaii in 2004, Appleby winning three years in succession to be dubbed the ‘King of Kapalua’.
The most recent of Appleby’s nine PGA TOUR wins came at the now-defunct Greenbrier Classic in 2010 and it was one for the record books, becoming just the fifth player to shoot 59 in a PGA TOUR event – in the final round no less – to win by a shot. Later that year he was awarded PGA TOUR Comeback Player of the Year.
Appleby boasts a top-10 finish in each of golf’s four majors, the closest he came to the trophy coming at the 2002 Open Championship when he and fellow Aussie Steve Elkington finished one shot behind Ernie Els in the four-hole aggregate playoff.
Within Australia Appleby has claimed three of our most enduring tournaments, the 1998 Coolum Classic, 2001 Australian Open and 2010 Australian Masters.
Stuart Appleby
Career wins: 17
PGA TOUR wins: 9
Australasian Tour wins: 3
Australian Open: Won (2001)
Australian PGA: T2 (1997)
Ian Stanley
Career wins: 30
European Tour wins: 1
Seniors Tour wins: 3
Australasian Tour wins: 19
Australian Open: T3 (1975)
Australian PGA: 2nd (1974)
Two people who continue to contribute to Australian golf had playing careers to be envied; Graham Marsh meets Karen Lunn in our continuing search for Australia’s Greatest Golfer.
If we were on a quest to discover the most influential people in Australian golf history, Graham Marsh and Karen Lunn would almost certainly qualify for the quarter-finals.
Both remain heavily entrenched within Australian golf, Marsh in his capacity as designer of two courses that have hosted PGA Tour of Australasia events in recent years and Lunn as CEO of the Australian Ladies Professional Golf, providing playing opportunities for members that she had to fight so hard for in her playing days.
Indeed, Marsh was integral in the establishment of accepted worldwide practices for the PGAs across the globe in the late 1970s and was voted in as the inaugural president of the Tournament Players’ Section of the PGA of Australia.
His first act of business was to campaign for Kel Nagle to be granted an exemption into the 1978 Australian Open, an exemption the Australian Golf Union finally granted.
But this is a measure of Marsh and Lunn as players and both possess resumes of such quality as to put them among Australia’s finest.
A maths teacher prior to pursuing a professional golf career, Marsh brought a methodical approach to the game and found success across the globe.
In 1973 he was the holder of five Open championships (Switzerland, Germany, India, Thailand and Scotland) and was the first player to win $100,000 in prize money without teeing it up in an event on American soil.
Ultimately he did try his luck in the US and claimed the 1977 Heritage Classic on the PGA TOUR, voted Australian Sportsman of the Year later that year, but it was in Japan where Marsh had his greatest success, winning 20 times between 1973 and 1990.
Although he finished inside the top-10 in majors on six occasions it wasn’t until Marsh joined the over-50s that he tasted major success, winning the 1997 US Senior Open and the 1999 The Tradition, two of his six wins on the Champions Tour.
Lunn’s crowning glory was a major triumph if not quite recognised in the record books.
The Women’s British Open was not considered a major championship when Lunn demolished the field at Woburn Golf Club by eight strokes in 1993, the tournament added to the LPGA Tour schedule in 1994 and elevated to major status in 2001.
After turning professional in 1985 Lunn wasted little time in asserting her talents in Europe, the 1986 Borlange Open the first of 10 tournament wins on the Ladies European Tour.
In addition to two wins on the Ladies Asian Golf Tour Lunn also won four times on the ALPG Tour that she now presides over.
Match 15 | Australia’s Greatest Golfer ?️
— PGA of Australia (@PGAofAustralia) April 22, 2020
Two people who continue to contribute to Australian golf had playing careers to be envied; Graham Marsh meets Karen Lunn in our continuing search for Australia’s Greatest Golfer.
Graham Marsh
Career wins: 70
European Tour wins: 10
Japan Tour wins: 20
Australasian Tour wins: 7
Australian Open: 2nd (1979, 1986)
Australian PGA: Won (1972)
Karen Lunn
Career wins: 16
Ladies European Tour wins: 10
Australasian Tour wins: 4
ANZ Ladies Masters: 6 (1992)
One was a prominent figure in a golden era for Australian golf, the other has quietly gone about writing his name into the record books; Rodger Davis is up against Matt Jones in our search for Australia’s Greatest Golfer.
There’s a case to be made that both Rodger Davis and Matt Jones are under-appreciated within Australian golf.
Davis spent much of his career swimming in the shadow of the Great White Shark while Jones has forged a career on the PGA TOUR and won two Australian Opens without any of the fanfare associated with contemporaries such as Adam Scott and Jason Day.
Indeed, Jones was introduced to Greg Norman in 1987 in a Channel Seven news segment at just six years of age after a hole-in-one at the local Kareela Golf Club in Sydney’s south, the next ‘blonde bomber’ waiting in the wings.
“I like his personality. He’s got a good swing, got a good attitude,” Norman said.
In a career boasting 30 wins worldwide, Davis would likely have won even more tournaments if not for Norman’s presence yet revelled in the energy the Aussie No.1 brought wherever he played.
“It was great being in that era with Greg because he could flat-out play,” Davis said in a 2018 interview with Australian Golf Digest.
“You just hoped you could get in his slipstream.”
Four years Norman’s senior, Davis turned professional in 1974 but after early success – including a two-stroke win over Norman at the European Tour’s State Express Classic in 1981 – put family first and moved to the Sunshine Coast to run a motel.
The deal turned sour and left Davis and his family virtually bankrupt and with little choice but to return to tournament golf.
With renewed dedication to fitness and determination to provide for his family, Davis won four times in 1986 and by the time he won the 1991 Volvo Masters had risen to 10th in the world. His best finish in a major came in 1987 when he was runner-up by a stroke to Nick Faldo at the Open Championship at Muirfield, a tournament in which he opened with a course record 64.
Currently, the chairman of the PGA of Australia, Davis is perhaps best remembered for his win at the 1988 Bicentennial Classic played at Royal Melbourne.
In a field boasting local legends such as Norman, Ian Baker-Finch, Wayne Grady, Craig Parry and Brett Ogle along with US stars Jack Nicklaus, Ben Crenshaw, Hale Irwin, Johnny Miller and Craig Stadler competing for the richest prize in Australian golf history it was Davis and his famous plus-twos who rose to the top, defeating Fred Couples at the second playoff hole.
Davis also owns the honour of being the latest Australian to win on the Champions Tour, winning the 2003 Toshiba Senior Classic by four strokes.
In contrast to Davis and his unmistakable fashion choices, Jones has established his credentials in relative anonymity.
Save for his early star turn with the Shark, Jones has made steady progression throughout his career.
An All-American during his time at Arizona State, Jones turned professional in 2001 but took until 2008 to play his way onto the PGA TOUR courtesy of finishing seventh on the Nationwide Tour moneylist the year prior.
His sole win in America came at the 2014 Shell Houston Open where he chipped in to defeat Matt Kuchar at the first playoff hole but it is his performances at The Australian Golf Club that have elevated his standing most.
A junior member at the club, Jones holed a nervy putt on the 72nd hole to finish one stroke clear of Adam Scott and Jordan Spieth to win the 2015 Australian Open and endured another dramatic finale to his second Stonehaven Cup win last December.
Believing he had a two-shot buffer standing on the 18th tee of the final round, Jones was informed after finding the fairway bunker with his tee shot that South African Louis Oosthuizen had eagled the par-5 finishing hole to close the margin to one.
After his second shot clipped a tree branch Jones required a delicate up-and-down to become just the 14th player to win the Australian Open on more than one occasion, successfully holing out from five feet to win for the second time at the famed Kensington layout.
Showing his fondness for his national championship, Jones has also finished runner-up in 2010 and 2017 and was top 10 in both 2012 and 2013.
Rodger Davis
Career wins: 30
European Tour wins: 7
Australasian Tour wins: 14
Australian Open: Won (1986)
Australian PGA: 2nd (1984, 1990, 1996)
Matt Jones
Career wins: 3
PGA TOUR wins: 1
Australasian Tour wins: 2
Australian Open: Won (2015, 2019)
Australian PGA: T30 (2017)
Australia’s first million-dollar golfer and one who won her first two events as a professional go head-to-head as Bruce Crampton and Katherine Kirk face off in our search for Australia’s Greatest Golfer.
The list of great Australian golfers not to have won a major is both extensive and heartbreaking yet few came as close as often as Bruce Crampton.
One of many successful Aussie professionals to have done time under Billy McWilliam at Beverly Park Golf Club in Sydney, Crampton announced himself by winning the 1956 Australian Open at Royal Sydney as a 23-year-old.
A year later he headed to America and soon began mixing it with the elite of world golf.
Tied for 13th at the 1956 Open Championship – won by countryman Peter Thomson – Crampton accrued numerous top-20 finishes in majors before making his presence known near the top of the leaderboard in 1963.
Tied for fifth at the US Open and tied for third at the US PGA Championship, Crampton was regularly in contention, his nearest misses coming almost a decade later, both at the hands of Jack Nicklaus.
At the 1972 Masters Crampton began the final round four shots back of Nicklaus and although the Golden Bear shot 2-over 74 Crampton was unable to bridge the gap, finishing three shots back and level with Bobby Mitchell and Tom Weiskopf.
Crampton would finish second to Nicklaus again at the next major, the 1972 US Open at Pebble Beach Golf Links.
Tied with Nicklaus at the top through 36 holes, Crampton shot 76 in a fourth round played in strong winds to once again finish three shots shy of a breakthrough major.
It was the start of an extraordinary run of form for Crampton who won four times on the PGA TOUR in 1973 to finish second on the moneylist, in so doing becoming just the fifth player in PGA TOUR history to earn more than $US1 million in prizemoney, joining Nicklaus, Arnold Palmer, Billy Casper and Lee Trevino.
In addition to his 14 wins on the PGA TOUR, Crampton was a dominant force on the Champions Tour, winning 20 times and falling short in the playoff at the 1993 PGA Seniors Championship.
Twenty-one years of age and an eight-time winner during her college career at Pepperdine University, Katherine Kirk (nee Hull) was named the 2003 NCAA College Player of the Year and rocketed into the professional ranks by winning the first two events that she played on the Duramed Futures Tour.
Later that year she finished 42nd at LPGA Tour qualifying school to earn non-exempt status for 2004 and has maintained that status ever since, boasting more than $5 million in career prize money.
Touted as the successor to Karrie Webb as Australia’s top-ranked female player, Kirk secured her first LPGA Tour title in 2008 at the Canadian Women’s Open and rose to a world ranking high of 19 after finishing runner-up at the 2010 Ricoh Women’s British Open.
Her biggest win in Australia was at the 2009 ANZ Ladies Masters at Royal Pines Resort where she won by five strokes and then went head-to-head with Webb in the final round of the 2010 tournament, Webb reaching a tournament-record 26-under par as she won by six.
Kirk’s most recent LPGA Tour win came at the 2017 Thornberry Creek LPGA Classic and when she finished tied for third at the Evian Championship later that year returned to the top 50 in the world for the first time in more than five years.
Along with Lindsey Wright and Vicky Uwland, Kirk was also a member of the successful Australian team that claimed the 2002 Espirito Santo Trophy in Malaysia.
Bruce Crampton
Career wins: 45
PGA TOUR wins: 14
Champions Tour wins: 20
Australasian Tour wins: 6
Australian Open: Won (1956)
Katherine Kirk
Career wins: 11
LPGA Tour wins: 3
ALPG Tour wins: 6
Women’s Australian Open: T4 (2010)
ANZ Ladies Masters: Won (2009)
Enigmatic players who both found success in Europe, Ian Baker-Finch and Brett Rumford face off in the latest match on the way to identifying Australia’s Greatest Golfer.
Ian Baker-Finch and Brett Rumford both knew how to make an impression.
Playing in his first major championship after winning the 1983 New Zealand Open, Baker-Finch shot 68-66 in the opening two rounds of The Open Championship at St Andrews to take the 36-hole lead, for a moment overshadowing the likes of Tom Watson and Seve Ballesteros.
Rumford, a West Australian who took out the Australian Amateur in 1998, hadn’t even joined the professional ranks when he won the ANZ Players Championship a year later at the fourth playoff hole against Craig Spence, a controversial win given his amateur status.
With a fashion palette that wasn’t afraid to embrace pink, Baker-Finch was destined to stand out for more than just his prodigious talent.
After his major entrée at St Andrews, ‘IBF’ joined the European Tour and notched his first win in 1985 at the Scandinavian Open.
He was invited to play on the PGA TOUR for the first time later that year and continued to share his ability with the world.
He won twice in Europe, twice on the PGA TOUR, three times in Japan and 10 times back on the Australasian Tour, his crowning glory the 1991 Open Championship at Royal Birkdale.
Sitting in a tie for 28th through 36 holes, Baker-Finch produced 27 holes of rare brilliance to set up his major triumph.
A 6-under 64 allowed Baker-Finch to join Mark O’Meara at the top of the leaderboard and when he played the first seven holes on Sunday in 5-under par – shooting 29 for the front nine – he had taken the tournament by the scruff of the neck.
Following his shock win at Royal Queensland in 1999 Rumford turned professional in 2000 and by 2001 was plying his trade in Europe, his five-stroke win at the 2003 Aa St Omer Open in France set up by a course record 64 in the opening round.
Hailed as possessing one of the best short games in all of professional golf to this day, Rumford won again in 2004 and 2007 before achieving the rare feat of winning in successive weeks in 2013, first claiming the Ballantine’s Championship in Korea and then the Volvo China Open a week later.
Those two wins and a top-10 at the Volvo World Match Play in his next event propelled Rumford to a career high world ranking of 74.
Ian Baker-Finch
Career wins: 17
Major wins: 1 (1991 Open Championship)
PGA TOUR wins: 2
European Tour wins: 2
Australasian Tour wins: 10
Australian Open: 2nd (1983)
Australian PGA: Won (1993)
Brett Rumford
Career wins: 9
European Tour wins: 6
Australasian Tour wins: 3
Australian Open: 3 (2014)
Australian PGA: 5 (2016)