With the on course action
coming down to a three-way playoff between Nathan Holman (AUS), Dylan Frittelli
(RSA) and Harold Varner III (USA) at the 2015 Australian PGA Championship this weekend
there has been plenty to talk about, however, there are some things you may not
know about the Championship, until now.

156 players, from 20
countries contested the Championship, which was held at RACV Royal Pines Resort
on the Gold Coast. Australia was the highest represented country with 85
players followed by South Africa with 17 players and New Zealand with eight.

15 Turf Managers work at
RACV Royal Pines Resort across the year managing 90 hectares of golf course. In
the lead up to the tournament this was increased to 25 Turf Managers who worked
in split shifts to get the course ready for international competition.

The back -9 holes were
only opened on the Sunday before the event, following the completion of the
AU$10million redesign by Graham Marsh.

13.5kms of rope and 1.3kms
of shade cloth are hung around the course.

The strongest recorded
wind gust for the tournament was 58km per hour during Round One on Thursday.

Players used 9,675 golf
balls across the week and walked an average of 48.09kms over the four
competition days.

A team of 380 volunteers
helped the tournament in roles such as scorers, spectator marshals and
tournament drivers.

The 13^th hole
proved the hardest to play across the weekend with it’s neighbour, 12, the
easiest. 

With a bar and US Masters-style deckchair seating set up around the green
thousands of spectators enjoyed the atmosphere at the par-3 16^th
hole, designated the Million Dollar Hole. 
On Sunday 71 players attempted a hole-in-one on for the chance to take
the million dollar prize with the closest player, Nino Bertasio, landing the
ball only a few inches from the hole. Unfortunately for him close wasn’t close
enough and he had to settle for a top-10 finish at the tournament instead.

Only 18 eagles were
recorded across the weekend, 1065 birdies, 4837 pars, 1844 bogeys, 310 double
bogeys and 71 players recorded a triple bogey or worse. The average round was
75, or 3-over par.

Hungry spectators devoured
1050 buckets of hot chips, 1566 meat pies, 1611 sausage rolls, 9547 bottles of
soft drink and 6701 beers. 

More than 2500 people
enjoyed the action from corporate marquees at the 18^th hole,
consuming nearly 800 litres of wine across the weekend and 1,500 litres of CC
& Dry – more than 5,000 schooners.

The Championship had a
reach of 450 million houses globally and, while final numbers are still to be
confirmed, was watched live on course by more than 35,000 spectators with over
5,000 of those travelling from overseas or interstate.

The total prize pool for
the event was AU$1.75M with Nathan Holman the champion taking home AU$315,000.