Stars lineup for 25th staging of Mastercard Masters
IN: News | Australasian PGA | MasterCard Masters (2003) | General | 01 Dec 2003
The 25th staging of the MasterCard Masters will take place this week at Huntingdale Golf Club in Melbourne with a quality field ready to contest the AUD$1.25 million event. Robert Allenby, Rich Beem, Steve Elkington, Adam Scott and defending champion Peter Lonard headline the entry list for one of the most prominent events on the Australasian Tour.
Allenby is ranked 18 in the world, a four-time winner in the US, a former Australian Open champion, and is seeking his first gold jacket afforded to winners of the MasterCard Masters. Lonard, who won his second MasterCard Masters in 2002 after a three-man playoff with Scott and Gavin Coles, is ranked 38 and finished in fourth place at the 2003 WGC Accenture Match Play in California. Scott, 23, now holds a world ranking of 23 and is coming off a stellar year, which included a maiden victory on the US Tour at the Deutsche Bank Championship and a win at the Scandinavian Masters.
Elkington and Beem are two former US PGA champions who will be at Huntingdale. Elkington, who won the US PGA title in 1995, is making a welcome return to tournament play in Australia after a five-year absence. The Texas-based Elkington, the last Australian to win a major title, has recovered from a recent shoulder operation and is keen to rejoin golf's elite. Beem, the 2002 US PGA champion, played in the Australian Open last year in Melbourne and drew plenty of attention finishing in a tie for second place.
The field next week also includes three-time MasterCard Masters winner Craig Parry, dual Australian Open champion Aaron Baddeley and exciting Victorian Geoff Ogilvy. Another notable entrant is 19-year-old amateur Nick Flanagan of New South Wales who won the 2003 US Amateur Championship. Flanagan became the first Australian in 100 years to win that prestigious title last August.
In a new development, the winner of the 2003 MasterCard Masters will receive an invitation to play in the 2004 Bay Hill Invitational presented by MasterCard in the US. The tournament, hosted by Arnold Palmer, has been won by Tiger Woods for the past four years and will be played from March 18-21 in Orlando and carry prize money of US $4.5 million.
