Queensland PGA returns in 2009
BY Bruce Young | Australasian PGA Tour | 2009 Queensland PGA | General | 18 Jul 2009
Golf in Queensland received a welcome boost when it was announced that the Queensland PGA Championship – absent from the golfing calendar in 2008 – will again be played in 2009. This year’s event will be played from November 5th to 8th.
The Queensland PGA Championship was last played in 2007 when, in its last of five years at the Emerald Lakes Golf Club on the Gold Coast, Andrew Bonhomme completed a memorable season on the domestic front by winning over Darren Beck and Michael Curtain. The win assured Bonhomme of the Von Nida Tour Order of Merit Trophy that year.
At a launch for the tournament in Toowoomba, it was announced that the City Golf Club would host the time honoured event for the next three years with an option to extend after that time.
“City Golf Club is delighted to be hosting the 2009 Cellarbrations QLD PGA Championship not just in 2009, but for at least the next three years,” said City Golf Club President Ed Britnell.
“Hosting an event on the PGA Tour of Australasia presents us with an opportunity to showcase our facilities, the city of Toowoomba and the entire Darling Downs region to the world. We are very proud of our golf course and other amenities and we are sure that everyone who visits us will be too.”
The immediate future of this prestigious tournament has been secured as a result of the collaboration of the PGA, City Golf Club, naming rights sponsor Cellarbrations, Toowoomba Regional Council and the Queensland Government Department of Communities, Sport and Recreation Services and broadcast partner Coca-Cola Amatil.
The recently upgraded and superb clubhouse facilities will be ready in time for the event, the course layout also expected to undergo remodelling works over the next few years following the inaugural staging of this year’s event.
When last played, the tournament was part of the Von Nida Tour but early in 2009 a decision was made to bring these and other State Opens and PGA Championships under the umbrella of the PGA Tour of Australasia. That ensures all monies won in such events will now be credited towards a player’s standing on the PGA Tour of Australasia’s race for the Von Nida Trophy as the head of the money list.
The winner of the Cellarbrations QLD PGA Championship will also earn a start at the Australian Masters, the following week where of course Tiger Woods will participate.
The tournament is one of five such events either confirmed or under final negotiation at present for October and November.
Two weeks ago the NSW Open at the Vintage Golf Club in the Hunter Valley was confirmed for November 26th – 29th while it is expected that decisions on two events in Western Australia and one in NSW are expected to be formally announced soon.
Courtesy of their broadcasting sponsor, Coca Cola, The Cellarbrations Queensland PGA Championship and other events in this category will be televised via a one hour highlights package to be shown on One HD, the PGA Tour of Australia’s Official Broadcast Partner.
