Toyota Queensland PGA offers unique prize package

BY Bruce Young | Von Nida Tour | 2004 Queensland PGA | General | 27 Oct 2004

Although the prize money for the Toyota Queensland PGA Championship has increased by only 5% in 2004, the inclusion of a Toyota Echo car as part of the package to be collected by the winner on Sunday November 14th, further highlights the growing status of this event.

Toyota’s naming rights sponsorship will also include a Toyota Echo for the winner of the Daikin Night Golf Shootout on the Monday evening (Nov 8th) of ’tournament Week and yet another Toyota Echo for a lucky member of the large galleries who are expected to attend the series of events throughout the week.

At the event’s official launch today, David White, the General Manager of Marketing and Leisure Operations for the Nifsan Group who own the tournament’s venue, Emerald Lakes on the Gold Coast, said that the package of vehicles was a first in Australian golf and was expected to add a new dimension to the tournament.

“We had a great base to work from following the Von Nida Tour event’s successful debut at Emerald Lakes last year,” said White, “but with the involvement of both Toyota, and Daikin, who will sponsor the Daikin Night Golf Shootout, we are in for what promises to be quite a week.”

The defending champion at the Toyota Queensland PGA is David Diaz, but he will need to fend off a very enthusiastic Australian PGA Champion, Peter Senior, who today expressed delight at his current form. “I really played well on my recent trip to Ireland and Scotland to play the American Express and the Dunhill Links and I was only let down by some ordinary putting. I don’t recall having felt this enthusiastic about my game for some time.”

Others likely to be very much in the mix at the end of 72 holes are Terry Price who finished third last week in Madrid and who is coming off his best ever season in professional golf, Scott Hend who will be returning from a meritorious first season the USPGA Tour, and the current fourth placed player on the Australasian Tour money list, Scott Gardiner.

It was also announced that the ten player field to line up at the Daikin Night Golf Shootout will also include a somewhat resurgent Nicole Lowien, who is returning to tournament golf after a break of several years.

Lowien recently earned access to the final stage of USLPGA Tour qualifying but before she heads to Florida she has some work to do on Monday night of tournament week. There she will line up against the likes of Senior, Diaz, Terry Price, Scott Hend, Scott Gardiner and four others who will play for the US$10,000 and the Toyota car over nine holes under lights at Emerald Lakes as a prelude to the Toyota Queensland PGA Championship.

Lowien will play from the same tees as the men and will be looking to emulate or improve on the performance last year of local Jenny Sevil, who lasted five holes before bowing out.

Also present today was the Australian, New Zealand and World Junior Champion in 2004, Jason Day, who has a sponsor’s invite to play the event.

At today’s launch, the great Australian golfing icon, Norman Von Nida, after whom the Von Nida Tour is named, presented Sunshine Tour’s Callaway Order or Merit winner, Eddie Barr, with his prize of two air tickets to the US to visit the Callaway factory in Carlsbad, California.

The Sunshine Tour draws to a close on Friday at the Pacific Golf Club in Brisbane having started in April in Papua New Guinea and then travelling the length and breadth of Queensland and northern New South Wales.