The Tasmanian-based pro has been named as captain of the Australian squad which will play in the Four Nations Cup on home soil at Moonah Links against teams from South Africa, Canada and New Zealand in September.

The Four Nations Cup is a professional tournament with a difference. To be eligible for selection, players must be a Full Vocational Member of the PGA of their respective country and not hold a full Tour card.

Now a Teaching Professional at Royal Hobart Golf Club, Laycock had a long and successful career as a touring pro, gaining four Tour victories, playing in three majors and climbing as high as 69th on the Official World Golf Ranking.

The 51-year-old, who finished full-time touring life in 2016, won last year’s PGA Professionals Championship National Final at Yarra Yarra Golf Club in Melbourne and will be joined in the Australian team by the next three placegetters in that event – TJ King, Jayden Cripps and Bradley McLellan.

Laycock’s only previous golf captaincy experience is limited to being assistant captain for the great Peter Thomson at the Dongfeng Cup, a teams event pitting the Asia-Pacific against China.

And the challenge of leading the Aussies at Moonah Links is one he’s keen for.

“It’s exciting. I’m really looking forward to it,” the two-time PGA Tour of Australasia winner said.

“I’ve never been a captain of any team; unless you count being captain of a soccer team when I was 13 or 14-years-old.

“Even though I’m busy here at Royal Hobart, I still try to keep my hand in at the playing side with some senior events or playing with the members once a week.

“With the Four Nations coming up, I’ll try to get a bit more practice in to make sure I’m as ready as I can be and provide any help I can to make it a successful event for us.”

Laycock has been based at Royal Hobart since late 2019 and said the move to teaching had come quite naturally.

“Like most pros on tour, I was always trying to assist anyone I was playing with if they wanted to improve their game,” he said.

“It was probably a natural fit to do what I’m doing now which has been a great move for me personally.”

King, who is based at Mt Coolum Golf Club on Queensland’s Sunshine Coast, is the only member to back up from representing Australia in the inaugural Four Nations Cup at the Kyalami Country Club in South Africa.

McLellan is currently based at Cool Clubs Melbourne, while Cripps has been focussing on the playing side of the game after previously being based at The Ridge in Sydney’s south.

The Aussies finished second behind Canada in the 2022 Four Nations after finishing with a 15-13-2 record from their 30 fourball and singles matches.

This year’s Four Nations Cup, running from September 18-21, will be contested over six rounds, with each team playing three single matchplay rounds and three fourball matchplay rounds.

Each day will consist of four single games in the morning, and two fourball games in the afternoon, allowing a maximum of one team match point and six individual game points per day available to be won.

Spectators are welcome to watch the action at Moonah Links.

Updates on each day’s play will appear on www.pga.org.au.