Walters weary but looking forward to Jacob's Creek
BY iseekgolf.com | Australasian PGA Tour | 2005 Jacob's Creek Open | Preview | 16 Feb 2005
Defending Champion Australian Euan Walters leads a line up of top Australasian and Nationwide Tour players as the Australasian Tour returns to Australia this week for the 2005 Jacob’s Creek Open, starting at the Royal Adelaide Golf Club tomorrow.
After three seasons at the Kooyonga Golf Club, the event moves to Royal Adelaide which has played host to nine Australian Open Championships and in 1991 was the site of the Four Tours World Championship of Golf.
Walters, along with Peter Senior, Greg Chalmers, Jarrod Moseley, Peter Fowler, Peter O’Malley Jarrod Lyle, Paul Sheehan and Wayne Grady are part of a 156 strong field, comprised of 68 from the PGA Tour of Australasia, 78 from the USPGA Nationwide Tour and 10 invited players.
The Jacob’s Creek Open is a co-sanctioned event between the PGA Tour of Australasia and the US Nationwide Tour, which provides a pathway for players to win their way onto the USPGA Tour. In 2004, Australasians Brendan Jones, Paul Gow, Brad Hughes, Euan Walters, Michael Long, and Gavin Coles all secured 2005 US PGA TOUR cards, by finishing in the top 20 on the season ending Nationwide Tour moneylist.
Winning the Jacob’s Creek Open Championship has proven to be a good omen in its first three years of existence with all three winners graduating to the PGA TOUR the following season. It started with Australian Gavin Coles in 2002 and was followed by American Joe Ogilvie in 2003 and then Euan Walters in 2004. All three are currently competing on the PGA TOUR.
Walters, from Melbourne has returned to Adelaide to defend the title he won last year at Kooyonga Golf Club. He finished second on the 2004 PGA Tour of Australasia Order of Merit and 14th on the Nationwide Tour and admits that whilst defending the title is exciting, coming to Adelaide this year is a bit tougher than last as he has already played five events this year.
“Defending the title means a lot as last years event was a real turning point in my career, said Walters before teeing off in today’s pro-am. "Adelaide is an awesome place and its great to be back, but I feel a bit like I’m at the opposite ends of the scale as opposed to last year. There’s a bit of fatigue there because I’ve played the Sony and the Buick Open in the US, then was back for the Vic Open and the Heineken here, then went back to the US for the Pebble Beach last week and now I’m back in Australia and its catching up a bit."
Not that Walters isn’t used to putting in the hard yards. Last year prior to winning the Jacob’s Creek Open, he played in the Victorian Open, the Johnnie Walker Classic and the Heineken Classic where he then drove from Melbourne to Port Stephens in NSW to play in the ANZ Championship, leaving on the Sunday afternoon to drive to Adelaide.
Whilst Walters feels his form isn’t quite there, he is happy to be back and rates the Royal Adelaide course highly. “I haven’t played here since the 1998 Australian Open and actually haven’t been out yet, but from what I remember and from what the others have said, this is a great course. It’s a typical aussie sandbelt course which is demanding but fair. If you hit good shots, you’re rewarded and if you hit badly, you’re punished. I think that’s the measure of a good golf course.”
Also joining Walters in a bid for the $180,000 first prize purse are past winners Queensland’s Stuart Bouvier (1998) and New Zealand’s Steve Alker (1997). Exciting youngsters James Nitties who led the 2004 Cadbury Schweppes PGA Championship at Coolum before finishing runner up to Peter Lonard and Heineken Classic crowd favourite, Jarrod Lyle. Lyle won the hearts of many golf fans two weeks ago in Melbourne when he held his own with the experienced and popular Australian’s Craig Parry and Nick O’Hern in the final round of the Heineken Classic, eventually finishing tied for 3rd with England’s Simon Dyson. WA’s Greg Chalmers, winner of the 1998 Australian Open at Royal Adelaide and currently on the 2005 US PGA TOUR is also in the field and obviously has a liking for the Seaton based course.
Complimenting the field is current Nationwide Tour Money Leader and one of the favourites Vance Veazey from Memphis. Veazey won the season opening Bellsouth Panama Championship in January. He is joined by seven US PGA Tour winners and young guns Bill Haas, Bryce Molder and Brandt Snedeker. Sweden’s Pierre Fulke adds to the international flavour of 48 players from 20 countries who are members of the Nationwide Tour this year.
The Jacobs Creek Open is the second event on the Nationwide Tour Schedule for 2005.
Past winners of the Jacobs Creek include Peter Lonard, Craig Parry, Greg Norman, Wayne Smith, Brett Ogle and Nick Price.
The Jacob’s Creek Open will be telecast LIVE on Thursday and Friday on Fox Sports and Saturday and Sunday on Fox Sports and the Seven Network.
The Nationwide Tour moves to Christchurch, New Zealand next week for the second of the co-sanctioned events with the Australasian Tour, the ING New Zealand PGA Championship.
Source – PGA Tour
