Emerald Lakes Golf Club to host Queensland PGA
BY iseekgolf.com | Von Nida Tour | 2003 Queensland PGA | General | 13 Oct 2003
The Queensland PGA Championship, one of Australian golf’s time honoured professional championships, will be played from November 6th to the 9th this year at Emerald lakes Golf Course on the Gold Coast. This will be the thirteenth time in the last fourteen years that the event has been held on the Gold Coast, although a first for the redeveloped Emerald Lakes course.
First played in 1926, the event has been won by several of Australia’s most notable golfers including several major winners. David Graham won the event in 1967, Greg Norman in 1979, and in 1984 Ian Baker Finch took the title. Last year’s winner, Andre Stolz, is the current Australasian Tour’s Order of Merit Leader and a winner this year on both the Japan and Nationwide Tours.
This year the event will come under the umbrella of the recently formed Von Nida Tour, a highly successful and popular series of events where many of Australia’s emerging stars have the opportunity to showcase their talent. The event will carry prizemoney of AUD$100,000 with $18,000 to the winner and for those who do not already have it, access to the Australasian PGA Tour.
The Emerald Lakes course and facilities have undergone a major transformation in recent years with Graham Marsh Golf Design producing a layout that has maximised the site’s potential, while retaining the unique appeal of the course to the public golfer.
On Monday evening of tournament week the course will also play host to the “Night Shootout” with ten of the event’s leading players competing under lights for a purse of $10,000. Nine holes at Emerald Lakes are fully lit for night golf.
With just a few days to go before the entry deadline, players who have already entered include recent Von Nida Tour winner, Peter Senior, Wayne Grady, New Zealand Open winner and currently seventh ranked player on the Australasian PGA Tour money list, Mahal Pearce, Chris Downes, Nathan Green and Terry Price.
With a list of sponsors to include the course’s owner’s Nifsan, BHP Colorbond, Chris Couper & Associates, Reinforced Concrete Pipes, Radisson Resort Gold Coast, NBN Television and Coca Cola, the event has already been assured a solid backing.
