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Back-to-back weeks of senior major championships will see 12 Aussies and two Kiwis tee it up in the 2025 Senior PGA Championship at famed Congressional Country Club.
Host to the US Open in 1964, 1997 and 2011, Congressional was chosen by the PGA of America to host eight championships across two decades, the first being the 2022 KPMG Women’s PGA Championship won by In Gee Chun.
A week after Michael Wright’s eighth-place finish led the Aussie contingent at the Regions Tradition, Brendan Jones, Scott Hend, Andre Stolz and Wisconsin-based PGA Professional Mick Smith, who qualified for a second consecutive Senior PGA Championship by finishing tied for 13th at the 2024 Senior PGA Professional Championship.
A 15-time winner on the Japan Golf Tour and a PGA TOUR Champions rookie in 2025, this week represents a senior major championship debut for Jones.
He has made five starts on the Champions Tour this season to date, his best finish a tie for 19th at the Hoag Classic.
Battling injury and illness playing on the Asian Tour last year, Jones saw an opportunity to join the seniors circuit in the US that he hadn’t seriously contemplated previously.
“I was injured, I was sick, and then you get to 50 and go, well, this is too hard, going to some of these countries that I’m going to,” conceded Jones, who earned his Champions Tour card at Qualifying School late last year.
“The Japan Seniors is always a fallback for me, but I just thought now’s the time to do something that I probably didn’t see myself doing.
“It’s exciting again. Getting beat up by those young kids on tour, it’s not a lot of fun when you’ve been one of those guys beating up on the young kids.
“Back when I was playing my best golf, every tournament that I turned up to, I felt that I was going to be competitive and I just haven’t had that feeling the last year or so.
“I’m going to be playing with the guys that I watched on TV growing up, which is going to be pretty cool.”
As the reigning PGA Legends Tour Order of Merit winner, Andre Stolz
Details
Senior PGA Championship
Congressional Country Club, Bethesda, Maryland
Past champion: Richard Bland
Past Aussie winners: Peter Thomson (1984)
Prize money: $US3.5m
TV times: Live 3am-6am Friday on Fox Sports 505; Live 3:15am-6am Saturday on Fox Sports 506; Live 5am-8am Sunday, Monday on Fox Sports 505 and Kayo.
Australasians in the field
Steven Alker (NZ)
Previous appearances: 2 (2022-2023)
Best finish: 1st (2022)
Last start: T5 in 2023
PGA TOUR Champions wins: 9
Best finish in a senior major: Won, 2022 Senior PGA
Robert Allenby
Previous appearances: 1 (2022)
Best finish: MC (2022)
Last start: MC in 2022
PGA TOUR Champions wins: 0
Best finish in a senior major: 62nd, 2022 Regions Tradition
Stuart Appleby
Previous appearances: 3 (2022-2024)
Best finish: T14 (2024)
Last start: T14 in 2024
PGA TOUR Champions wins: 0
Best finish in a senior major: T3, 2022 Regions Tradition
David Bransdon
Previous appearances: 1 (2024)
Best finish: MC (2024)
Last start: MC in 2024
PGA TOUR Champions wins: 0
Best finish in a senior major: T38, 2025 Regions Tradition
Michael Campbell (NZ)
Previous appearances: 3 (2019, 2022-2023)
Best finish: T55 (2022)
Last start: MC in 2023
PGA TOUR Champions wins: 0
Best finish in a senior major: T41, 2023 Senior Open
Richard Green
Previous appearances: 3 (2022-2024)
Best finish: 2nd (2024)
Last start: 2nd in 2024
PGA TOUR Champions wins: 0
Best finish in a senior major: 2nd, 2024 Senior PGA and 2024 Senior Open
Scott Hend
Previous appearances: 1 (2024)
Best finish: T4 (2024)
Last start: T4 in 2024
PGA TOUR Champions wins: 0
Best finish in a senior major: T4, 2024 Senior PGA
Mark Hensby
Previous appearances: 3 (2022-2024)
Best finish: T8 (2022)
Last start: T67 in 2024
PGA TOUR Champions wins: 1
Best finish in a senior major: 3rd, 2022 US Senior Open
Brendan Jones
Previous appearances: 0
Best finish: N/A
Last start: N/A
PGA TOUR Champions wins: 0
Best finish in a senior major: First start
Rod Pampling
Previous appearances: 4 (2021-2024)
Best finish: T20 (2021)
Last start: MC in 2024
PGA TOUR Champions wins: 2
Best finish in a senior major: T3, 2022 Regions Tradition
Cameron Percy
Previous appearances: 1 (2024)
Best finish: T21 (2024)
Last start: T21 in 2024
PGA TOUR Champions wins: 0
Best finish in a senior major: T11, 2024 Kaulig Companies Championship
Mick Smith
Previous appearances: 1 (2024)
Best finish: T75 (2024)
Last start: T75 in 2024
PGA TOUR Champions wins: 0
Best finish in a senior major: T75, 2024 Senior PGA
Andre Stolz
Previous appearances: 1 (2023)
Best finish: MC (2023)
Last start: MC in 2023
PGA TOUR Champions wins: 0
Best finish in a senior major: MC, 2023 Senior PGA
Michael Wright
Previous appearances: 1 (2024)
Best finish: T17 (2024)
Last start: T17 in 2024
PGA TOUR Champions wins: 0
Best finish in a senior major: T7, 2024 Kaulig Companies Championship
A birdie-birdie finish secured Victorian Richard Green a one-stroke lead at the halfway mark of the Regions Tradition at Greystone Golf and Country Club in Alabama.
Tasked with following a sublime 9-under 63 in Round 1 that matched the low round in tournament history, the Aussie left-hander struggled to convert birdie opportunities for much of Round 2 before a final flurry yielded a round of 4-under 68 and 13-under total through 36 holes.
That is a new 36-hole low since the tournament moved to Greystone in 2016 and gives the 54-year-old a one-shot advantage from Kiwi Steven Alker (67) who, in turn, has a three-stroke buffer from YE Yang (68), Chris DiMarco (65) and Alex Cjeka (69).
Green was 10-under for the championship when he birdied the par-3 10th to start day two but bogeys at 12 and 14 either side of a birdie on 13 brought him back to even par for the day.
Three straight birdies from the ninth hole saw Green return to the top of the leaderboard before taking another step back with a dropped shot at the par-4 sixth.
A silky approach to three feet set up a birdie at the par-4 eighth and then Green finally got a putt to fall on nine from 30 feet.
“It felt a little bit like probably what I should have got out of the day,” Green said of his closing birdies.
“I hit a lot of great iron shots and set up a lot of birdie chances and just missed them all.
“They’re a bit tricky, some of the reads today, so I was pleased to have finished well.”
A runner-up on the PGA TOUR Champions six times, Green is poised yet again to be in contention deep into Sunday.
Admitting that he was unlikely to match his score from Round 1, the three-time DP World Tour winner was content to continue to play well.
“It’s just the law of averages really, with the amount of times you actually do shoot blinding rounds of golf like that,” Green added.
“It’s rare to do that, and then to come and try to do it again, it’s hard to do mentally.
“It’s possible, it’s always possible, but law of averages say otherwise, don’t they.
“I’m happy to have gone out and had a few birdies still and set up a lot of chances. Lots of good signs.”
A frustrating day on the greens saw Greg Chalmers (71) drop outside the top 10 and into a tie for 13th at 6-under, Cameron Percy tied for 18th at 5-under after a round of 3-under 69.
David Bransdon (71) is in a tie for 26th through two rounds and Steve Allan (68) and Michael Wright (71) are tied 32nd heading into the weekend.
Photo: Jonathan Bachman/Getty Images
Cam Davis defied a dry spell dating back to the first week in February to sit just two strokes off the lead after Round 1 of the PGA Championship at Quail Hollow Club in Charlotte.
With just one top-50 finish in an eight-tournament stretch that included five straight missed cuts, Davis did not present as the obvious Aussie contender leading into the second men’s major championship of 2025.
Yet the 30-year-old gained six strokes on the field on the greens to shoot 5-under 66 and trail unlikely front-runner Jhonattan Vegas (64) by two by day’s end.
The last man in the field after his first PGA TOUR win on Sunday, Kiwi Ryan Fox (67) is just one back of Davis in a share of fourth as two late bogeys saw Adam Scott (69) drop back into a tie for 20th at 2-under.
Playing alongside Vegas, Elvis Smylie impressed in his first PGA Championship round, missing a par putt on his final hole from 14 feet in a round of 1-under 71 for a share of 29th.
Admitting that his game “just kind of left me” after three top-20 finishes in his first four starts in 2025, Davis felt vindicated that hard work paid off on the sport’s biggest stage.
“I haven’t been having the best results on course over the last few months and been working really hard to turn that around,” said the two-time PGA TOUR winner.
“To see the first real sign that it’s turning around happen in the first round of a major, it’s very encouraging.
“It’s just constantly trying to go back to things that have worked, trying to keep the head in a place where you’re not feeling like you’re banging your head against the wall all the time.
“It’s letting it organically come, good processes, good routines. All those little one per centers add up to good golf eventually, and I feel like this week has been a week of good preparation.”
In addition to the three birdie putts he holed from outside 15 feet, Davis saved par from outside nine feet on four separate occasions, a formula he believes is essential for success in major championships.
“Rolled a lot of putts that went in and kept the momentum going,” said Davis, who was tied for fourth at the 2023 PGA Championship at Oak Hill Country Club.
“I feel like for a major, when you’re playing a difficult golf course, if you can do that, you can keep things moving forward.
“Very happy with my work today, but it’s still a four-round event. But you can definitely help yourself a lot by having a good first round.”
Starting his round from the 10th tee, Davis had the outright lead at 6-under when he holed a putt from just inside 22 feet for birdie at the par-3 sixth, part of the 164 feet and 8 inches of putts he holed for the day.
Forced to play away from the pin after just clearing the water with his second shot on his way to par at the par-5 seventh, Davis missed a 20-footer for birdie on eight and then made just his second bogey of the day when he was unable to get up-and-down from short of the green at the par-4 ninth.
Three birdies in his first five holes gave Fox the early lead, three birdies and two bogeys in his final five holes resulting in a final total of 4-under for the ONEflight Myrtle Beach Classic winner.
Scott’s round got rolling when he made birdie from 42 feet at the par-3 sixth, following that up with further birdies at seven and eight to turn in 3-under.
Four-under and bogey-free when he picked up another shot at the par-4 14th put Scott within one shot of the lead.
But the 2013 Masters champion was unable to make par when his second shot into 16 fed into the rough behind the green and then three-putted from 70 feet for bogey at the par-3 17th.
An early chip-in at the par-4 11th was the highlight of Jason Day’s 2-over 73, Min Woo Lee’s 74 consisted of an eagle, four birdies, seven bogeys, a double bogey and five pars and Karl Vilips and Cameron Smith both shot 78.
A round equal to the best recorded at the Regions Tradition has earned Richard Green a two-stroke lead after Round 1 of the first senior major for 2025.
The Victorian left-hander had eight birdies and an eagle at the par-5 13th to post 9-under 63, two strokes clear of Kiwi Steven Alker and American duo Jerry Kelly and Stewart Cink.
An eagle at the par-5 15th was the highlight of Greg Chalmers’ opening round of 5-under 67 that has the West Australian in a tie for seventh as David Bransdon (69), Cameron Percy (70), Mark Hensby (70) and Michael Wright (70) finished day one inside the top 25.
Green’s 63 at Greystone Golf and Country Club matched that by Alker in Round 4 last year and Robert Karlsson in Round 3 of the 2023 championship and puts him in a front-running position in pursuit of a first PGA TOUR Champions victory.
The 54-year-old has been a runner-up on six occasions – including twice in senior majors last year – and knows that knocking on the door often enough will eventually nudge it open.
“It’s been a lot of good stuff last year and in big tournaments,” said Green, who has coach Darrell Brown with him in Birmingham, Alabama.
“I’ve taken that into this year and trying to find little improvements that I can try to make from last year, which is very difficult to do.
“I’ve just got to keep putting myself in there. I like four rounds. I’ve put myself in a great position today, so you never know.
“Just got to keep doing your thing, keep battling your own battles and hopefully I’m there at the end.”
Green’s 63 was just one shy of his lowest round on the Champions Tour to date, a 62 in Round 2 of the 2024 Regions Charity Classic where he finished second.
A birdie at the opening hole on Thursday set the perfect tone, following that up with three on the trot starting from the par-5 fifth.
Two birdies after the turn continued Green’s momentum and when he made eagle on 13 and birdie at 14, scoring records were poised to fall.
A missed fairway led to his lone bogey for the day at the par-4 16th, a shot he earned back courtesy of a superb pitch over a bunker and birdie putt from nine feet at the par-5 18th.
Photo: Jonathan Bachman/Getty Images
He has been a professional less than a year yet Aussie prodigy Karl Vilips is “definitely on the radar” of 2026 Presidents Cup captain and major winner Geoff Ogilvy.
Vilips will further his progression when he plays his first major championship as a professional at the US PGA Championship starting late tonight AEST, the 23-year-old paired with Thorbjorn Olesen and Laurie Canter for rounds one and two.
A maiden PGA TOUR win in just his fourth start at the Puerto Rico Open in March earned Vilips his place in the field at Quail Hollow Club, and gave Ogilvy further cause to sit up and take notice.
Named captain of the International team for the 2026 matches in Chicago a fortnight ago, Ogilvy has been aware of Vilips from his day as a pint-sized precocious kid with his own YouTube channel collecting junior trophies across the globe.
That he is now being considered a contender to take on the might of the US is a surprise even to the man tasked with engineering an International win more than 25 years in the making.
“I’m not massive on social media, but I was always pretty aware that he was pretty good,” said Ogilvy.
“He went to Stanford and went all four years, which was impressive because these prodigies usually end up getting out there too early. That was really smart.
“Then he comes out of college and just goes win-win bang. And now he’s out here and he’s won on the main Tour. It’s pretty impressive.
“If you look at the top players in the world, usually they’ve had lives like him. Tiger (Woods) and Justin Thomas and (Phil) Mickelson and all these guys, and Ernie Els, they start golf when they’re starting to walk.
“And Karl was the same.
“That transition from college or amateur golf to pro golf is not easy – we’ve seen a lot of guys stumble at that hurdle – but he’s just made it look pretty easy.
“The future is bright for him. He’s definitely on my radar.”
Vilips first came on the radar of Jason Day’s long-time coach Colin Swatton at the 2014 US Open at Pinehurst when introduced by Karl’s father, Paul Vilips.
It wasn’t until Vilips broke his finger playing basketball and was enduring a challenging period in his development that Golf Australia’s High Performance Director, Brad James, reached out in 2020 to see if Swatton would coach a talented teen in need of direction.
“I met a kid that was extremely low on confidence, didn’t know really the direction his game was going to come out on the back end of the surgery,” Swatton shared.
“He was looking at changing grip positions because of the broken finger and he had some stuff going on in his swing that was definitely a red flag.
“Paul basically asked me to get involved from a short-game perspective and it wasn’t long until I was working with him from a long-game perspective.”
As he refines a swing and overall game that has already proven itself at the highest level, Swatton has marvelled at Vilips’ mental make-up.
Before he had played his first event as a PGA TOUR member, Vilips was speaking excitedly about playing the RBC Heritage at Harbour Town, one of his favourite golf courses.
The issue, as Swatton saw it, was that the RBC was a limited-field Signature Event worth $US20 million that his rookie charge was a long shot of playing.
And then Puerto Rico happened.
“I just thought to myself, here’s a kid that saw himself somewhere months before it happened,” Swatton added.
“And it’s the law of attraction. What you focus on is what will become your beliefs and your future.
“He wasn’t focused on anything else other than where he thinks he needs to be.
“It took Jason three years to figure out how to win on the PGA TOUR and he’s won within the first four events of being on TOUR.
“He’s definitely ahead of the curve and I think he could be really, really special.
“Given the right environment, given the right people around him, given the right information, I think he could be one of Australian’s great golfers.”
Long-time coach and mentor Col Swatton has taken Jason Day back in time to unlock a future he is convinced will feature further major championship success.
Reunited at the start of this year, it is 10 years since Swatton and Day celebrated one of the seminal moments in Australian golf when they fulfilled major championship destiny at the 2015 US PGA Championship at Whistling Straits.
Not only did it mark the summit of a shared journey that began when Day came under Swatton’s watch as a troubled teen attending the Hills International School west of the Gold Coast, it was the centrepiece in a stretch of golf that made Day the best player in the game.
In the decade since, Day’s family with wife Ellie has expanded to five children, he has endured a debilitating back injury and, after parting ways with Swatton in 2020, sought swing changes with a range of coaches and a period where he chose to go solo.
The past decade has also seen Day record runner-up finishes at the PGA Championship (2016) and The Open Championship (2023) and win a further six times on the PGA TOUR, spending 51 weeks as the world No.1.
Now 37 years of age, Day spent the majority of 2022 outside the top 100 but has enjoyed a resurgence, a resurgence Swatton believes can continue by looking back at what made him great in the first place.
“Jase just needs to, in his own words, quiet the noise that he’s been going through for the last three or four years,” said Swatton, who has both Day and rookie Karl Vilips in the field this week at Quail Hollow Club.
“He also needs to get back to the things that have made him great, and I think he’s gotten away from those a little bit in the last three or four years.
“Part of my job and part of my role is to come back in and say, ‘Hey, this is what you did when you were the best player in the world.’ Remind him of that, but also to hold him somewhat accountable to that. To be able to say, ‘This is what you did. We need to get back to that winning formula and allow everything else to fall into place.’”
When the pair combined for major championship glory, Day was a tenacious 27-year-old in the midst of four wins in the space of six events with world golf at his mercy.
The motivating forces may have changed in the decade since, yet Swatton sees the game and a new cause driving him to the best in the sport again.
“Jason’s in a different place now. He’s got five kids; Dash (Day’s eldest) is a very fine golfer in his own right,” said Swatton.
“When you reach the highest of highs and you become the best player in the world, you get to the top of the mountain and you go, OK, that’s great, it smells and looks a little different up here.
“I think Jase wants to set examples and sort of say, ‘This is what your dad did, but also, too, this is who your dad is.’ Set examples, lifetime lessons for his kids.
“I think he wants to prove not only to himself, but to his family, that this is who Jason Day is.
“I’ve definitely seen the signs that I need to see to feel encouraged and I think Jason’s seen the signs that he needs to also feel encouraged.
“Whether it’s this year or not, I definitely think he’s got another (major) in him, if not more.”
Day was at the peak of his powers when he held off world No.1 Jordan Spieth at the 2015 PGA Championship with Swatton on the bag.
With legacy on his shoulders and Lake Michigan sitting ominously to his left, Day delivered a superb tee shot to the heart of the green at the par-3 17th to protect his three-shot advantage.
When Day marked his ball after his birdie putt from 40 feet came to rest a foot from the cup on the 72nd hole, tears began to flow.
Reflecting on that moment, Swatton admitted that he started to become overcome by emotion back in the 18th fairway.
“It is a tough hole to get it done, to be fair. It’s a difficult shot,” Swatton recalled of the par-4 finisher.
“It’s a semi-blind tee shot and the second shot you are hitting to this amphitheatre green with the whole clubhouse in the background and the crowd lining the right side of the fairway.
“I remember Jason turning to me and I’m trying to have this conversation with him. I’m trying to give him the yardage, give him the wind direction, give him everything else and he just said, ‘Tell me where to hit it.’
“It was probably that moment, for the first time all day, that I kind of got a little nervous and I allowed the moment to get a little bit… not out of control, but just envelop us both.
“It was like, you knock it on the green here and you manage the two putt and you’re going to become a major championship winner and win the PGA Championship.
“That’s probably the moment that I kind of allowed it to get maybe a little too much for the both of us.
“That embrace after he knocked that putt in and watching Jase just do the belly cry and sob, there’s nothing better than that.”
Photo: Jamie Squire/Getty Images
Seventeen Australians and two of our Kiwi brethren will contest two major championships separated by just 630 kilometres in the US this week.
The 107th US PGA Championship will be played for the second time at the Quail Hollow Club in Charlotte, North Carolina as the senior circuit readies for its first major of 2025 with the Regions Tradition in Birmingham, Alabama.
Marking 10 years since Jason Day became the fifth Australian to lift the Wanamaker Trophy, Aussies Day, Cam Davis, Min Woo Lee, Adam Scott, Cameron Smith, Elvis Smylie and Karl Vilips will be joined by New Zealand’s Ryan Fox.
The Challenger PGA Tour of Australasia Order of Merit winner in 2019, Fox was the last man admitted to the field on the back of his PGA TOUR breakthrough win at the ONEflight Myrtle Beach Classic.
Smylie, the reigning PGA Tour of Australasia Order of Merit winner, was granted a special exemption to play his second major just last week while Vilips secured his first major as a professional by virtue of his Puerto Rico Open win in March.
Coach of both Day and Vilips, Col Swatton believes the depth of Aussie talent is testament to the coaching quality built through the PGA of Australia.
“We keep on producing great talent and I think that’s a tribute to the system,” said Swatton.
“The PGA of Australia – of which I’m a proud member – has done a great job and I think that just stands the test of time.
“It’s just saying you guys are doing a great job of what you’re doing to help us do a great job of what we need to do with these athletes. We’re proving that we’re competitive on the world stage.
“That’s a tribute to what we’re doing from a holistic approach to making better golfers.”
Twenty-six years after Graham Marsh won a Regions Tradition reduced to 36 holes by spring snow in Arizona, 10 Aussies and Kiwi Steven Alker will tee it up at Greystone Golf and Country Club.
The influx of Aussies on the PGA TOUR Champions has been significant in recent years, this year’s Regions Tradition the first for Greg Chalmers, David Bransdon, Cameron Percy and Michael Wright.
Both major championships will be broadcast live on Fox Sports and Kayo, Round 1 coverage of the US PGA Championship to begin at 3am Friday morning on Fox Sports 503 and coverage of the Regions Tradition to begin at 5am Friday morning on Fox Sports 505.
Photos: Gary Kellner/PGA of America via Getty Images (PGA); Alex Slitz/Getty Images (Regions Tradition)
Details
US PGA Championship
Quail Hollow Club, Charlotte, North Carolina
2024 champion: Xander Schauffele
Past Aussie winners: Jim Ferrier (1947), David Graham (1979), Wayne Grady (1990), Steve Elkington (1995), Jason Day (2015)
TV times: Live 3am-9am Friday, Saturday, Sunday, Monday on Fox Sports 503 and Kayo.
Australasians in the field
Cameron Davis
World ranking: 68 (Highest: 38)
Previous appearances: 4 (2021-2024)
Best finish: T4 (2023)
Last start: MC in 2024
Best finish in a major: T4, 2023 US PGA
Jason Day
World ranking: 32 (1)
Previous appearances: 15 (2010-2024)
Best finish: 1st (2015)
Last start: T43 in 2024
Best finish in a major: Won, 2015 US PGA
Ryan Fox (NZ)
World ranking: 71 (23)
Previous appearances: 6 (2017-2019, 2022-2024)
Best finish: T23 (2023)
Last start: 75th in 2024
Best finish in a major: T16, 2019 Open Championship
Min Woo Lee
World ranking: 27 (22)
Previous appearances: 3 (2022-2024)
Best finish: T18 (2023)
Last start: T26 in 2024
Best finish in a major: T5, 2023 US Open
Adam Scott
World ranking: 40 (1)
Previous appearances: 24 (2001-2024)
Best finish: 3rd (2018)
Last start: MC in 2024
Best finish in a major: Won, 2013 Masters
Cameron Smith
World ranking: 148 (2)
Previous appearances: 9 (2015, 2017-2024)
Best finish: T9 (2023)
Last start: T63 in 2024
Best finish in a major: Won, 2022 Open Championship
Elvis Smylie
World ranking: 206 (197)
Previous appearances: Nil
Best finish: N/A
Last start: N/A
Best finish in a major: MC, 2024 Open Championship
Karl Vilips
World ranking: 117 (106)
Previous appearances: Nil
Best finish: N/A
Last start: N/A
Best finish in a major: MC, 2024 US Open
Regions Tradition
Greystone G&CC, Birmingham, Alabama
2024 champion: Doug Barron
Past Aussie winners: Graham Marsh (1999)
TV times: Live 5am-8am Friday, Saturday; Live 4am-7am Sunday, Monday on Fox Sports 505 and Kayo.
Australasians in the field
Steven Alker (NZ)
Previous appearances: 3 (2022-2024)
Best finish: 2nd (2024)
Last start: 2nd in 2024
PGA TOUR Champions wins: 9
Best finish in a senior major: Won, 2022 Senior PGA
Steve Allan
Previous appearances: 1 (2024)
Best finish: T67 (2024)
Last start: T67 in 2024
PGA TOUR Champions wins: 1
Best finish in a senior major: T33, 2024 Kaulig Companies Championship
Stuart Appleby
Previous appearances: 3 (2022-2024)
Best finish: 3rd (2022)
Last start: T11 in 2024
PGA TOUR Champions wins: 0
Best finish in a senior major: 3rd, 2022 Regions Tradition
David Bransdon
Previous appearances: Nil
Best finish: N/A
Last start: N/A
PGA TOUR Champions wins: 0
Best finish in a senior major: MC, 2024 Senior PGA
Greg Chalmers
Previous appearances: Nil
Best finish: N/A
Last start: N/A
PGA TOUR Champions wins: 0
Best finish in a senior major: 3rd, 2024 Senior PGA
Richard Green
Previous appearances: 2 (2023-2024)
Best finish: T11 (2023)
Last start: T14 in 2024
PGA TOUR Champions wins: 0
Best finish in a senior major: 2nd, 2024 Senior PGA and 2024 Senior Open
Mark Hensby
Previous appearances: 2 (2023-2024)
Best finish: T18 (2024)
Last start: T18 in 2024
PGA TOUR Champions wins: 1
Best finish in a senior major: 3rd, 2022 US Senior Open
Rod Pampling
Previous appearances: 4 (2021-2024)
Best finish: T3 (2022)
Last start: T37 in 2024
PGA TOUR Champions wins: 2
Best finish in a senior major: T3, 2022 Regions Tradition
Cameron Percy
Previous appearances: Nil
Best finish: N/A
Last start: N/A
PGA TOUR Champions wins: 0
Best finish in a senior major: T11, 2024 Kaulig Companies Championship
John Senden
Previous appearances: 4 (2021-2024)
Best finish: T29 (2021)
Last start: T52 in 2024
PGA TOUR Champions wins: 0
Best finish in a senior major: T29, 2021 Regions Tradition
Michael Wright
Previous appearances: Nil
Best finish: N/A
Last start: N/A
PGA TOUR Champions wins: 0
Best finish in a senior major: T7, 2024 Kaulig Companies Championship
Ben Campbell earned the biggest prize of his professional golf career so far by winning the 2025 Victorian PGA Associate Championship at Club Tocumwal.
The only player to shoot under-par rounds on the Captains Course on each of the four days, Campbell (71-71-68-71) finished on 7-under-par to beat fellow Victorian Tony Walker by a shot, with Queensland’s Drew Herbert a further stroke behind in third place.
A first year associate professional from The Sands Torquay, Campbell has made the switch to the Membership Pathway Program after experiencing life as a Tour pro and as a college player in the United States.
He was the third-round leader by one, but made a horror start to his final round, stumbling to a double-bogey on the par-4 first hole followed by a bogey at the par-3 second.
However he picked up a birdie at the fourth before holing out for an eagle at the par-4 fifth and gaining another shot at the sixth.
Walker, a former Tasmanian Open champion now based at Yarramat Park Golf Course, challenged with three consecutive birdies on the back nine but had his challenge thwarted by a bogey at the par-4 16th.
It wasn’t the eagle that was at the forefront of Campbell’s mind post-round. He was quick to look back on a hole-out from a bunker for a birdie on the par-3 17th that was pivotal to him securing the win.
“That allowed me to go two ahead of Toby. It was a pretty wild round really,” the 27-year-old said.
“Holing out on the fifth got me settled into the round.
“Playing 72-hole Tour events in the past really helped me to stay patient, knowing it would be a long week and there’d be some ups and downs.”
Campbell says he has always had an interest in golf coaching and decided to head down that career path after trying out Tour life.
“It’s been really seamless. I’m really enjoying it and where I’m at,” he said.
“I’m not sure if I’ll back to the Tour or not. We’ll just see how the rest of the year plays out.”
Leaderboard
-7: Ben Campbell (Vic) 71-71-68-71
-6: Toby Walker (Vic) 69-69-73-71
-5: Drew Herbert (Qld) 73-68-72-70
-4: Joseph Hodgson (SA) 78-67-68-71
-2: Levi Sclater (Vic) 70-73-71-72
-1: Daniel Gill (Vic) 71-72-68-75; Lachlan Chamberlain (ACT) 75-70-72-70; Ryan Thomas (Tas) 74-72-73-68
Jessica Cook and Shane McHenry have earned exemptions into the $100,000 PGA Professionals Championship National Final in November by finishing as the top two in the PGA Professionals Championship of North Queensland.
Contested at Mirage Country Club in Port Douglas, the first PGA tournament played at the facility in more than 20 years, Cook took out the NQ title with an even-par round of 72 that included five birdies to sit alongside five bogeys.
A member of the Australian team at last year’s Women’s PGA Cup in the United States, Cook has recently accepted a role as an Assistant Professional at Mt Coolum Golf Club.
“I really want to make the Australian Team for the PGA Women’s Cup in 2026 and I knew to give myself a chance, I needed to qualify via the National Final,” Cook said.
“Having a place on the team in 2024 was amazing and to represent my PGA and my country was certainly a career highlight.
‘Being the leading qualifier in Norh Queensland has given me a lot of confidence going to the final and although there are several months to prepare, I’ll be focussing my efforts to peak at the right time.”
McHenry, the owner of indoor golf facility Cairns Golf Academy, earned the second national final exemption with a 3-over 75.
The PGA Professionals Championship National Final will be played at Heritage Golf and Country Club with the winner earning a start in the BMW Australian PGA Championship.
The PGA Professionals Championship of North Queensland was supported by event partners Acushnet, CCEP and Club.
Australia will provide its fourth captain of the International Team at the Presidents Cup with major winner Geoff Ogilvy to take on the role at Medinah in the United States in 2026.
The former US Open champion follows David Graham (1994), Peter Thomson (1996, 1998, 2000) and Greg Norman (2009, 2011) as Aussie captains of the Internationals.
Ogilvy, 47, played on three consecutive International Teams (2007, 2009, 2011), where he amassed a 7-6-1 record.
He also served as a captain’s assistant in the last four iterations of the event. The Australian owns eight career PGA TOUR victories, in addition to winning two of Australia’s biggest titles – the 2008 Australian PGA and 2010 Australian Open.
“The Presidents Cup has been a significant part of my career. I am honored to now take on the role of Captain of the International Team for the 2026 Presidents Cup at Medinah Country Club’s Course #3, a place that means a great deal to me,” Ogilvy said.
“Since Ernie Els debuted the shield in 2019, the International Team’s spirit has intensified and grown as we have rallied around this symbol, which embodies our shared ambition and unifies both players and fans.
“I intend to carry that momentum forward, just as the captains before me have, to build strong support for our international players in the lead-up and throughout the event.”
Ogilvy’s golf course design firm, OCM, oversaw the renovation of Course #3 – a two-year project that delivered a much larger scale to match the topography of the property. The course, now punctuated by larger greens, scale bunkering and wider fairways, along with a new routing, re-opened to play in the summer of 2024.
PGA TOUR Commissioner Joel Monahan said: “Geoff Ogilvy is the perfect captain to lead the International Team into Chicago in 2026, drawing on both his great history with the Presidents Cup and a vast knowledge of Medinah.
“Geoff will capitalise on the upward trend of the International Team, where we have seen a passionate level of support from players and fans over the years.
“With his pedigree as a major champion and experience in the team room, Geoff was primed to take on this role for the 16th edition of the event.”
Brandt Snedeker was named captain of the defending champion United States team.
