Daikin again support Night Golf Shootout

BY Bruce Young | Von Nida Tour | 2006 Queensland PGA | General | 18 Aug 2006

The highly successful Daikin Night Golf Shootout will again play a key role in the lead up to this year’s the Greater Building Society Queensland PGA Championship.

The event, which will be played for the fourth consecutive year, is played over nine holes at the Emerald Lakes Golf Club on Queensland’s Gold Coast on Tuesday October 31st. Emerald Lakes’ closing nine hole are fully lit for night golf and the event has proven popular with golf fans on the Gold Coast with as many as 1200 people following the starting group of ten players.

The format sees one player per hole being eliminated, either by recording the highest score or, in the event of a tie, being the most distance from the hole in regulation. By the time the event reaches its final hole two players remain to play the par four 18th to decide the winner of the event.

In the three staging’s of the event to date, local golfer Stuart Bouvier won in 2003, outstanding 2006 USPGA Tour rookie, Nathan Green, in 2004 and last year local golfer and Sunshine Tour Order of Merit winner, Rowan Beste, outlasted the man who would go on to win the Greater Building Society Queensland PGA just a few days later, Scott Gardiner.

Daikin’s Queensland State Manager, Gerard Cassidy, expressed his delight to again be associated with the event. “We at Daikin are excited about the prospect of being involved as Naming Rights Sponsor again in what has clearly been a very successful event in our two year association to date. We were pleased with the exposure our product received as a result of our participation and our close business relationship with Nifsan (the owners of the Emerald Lakes Golf Course) makes our involvement all that more special to us.”

This year’s field will include several of the leading players who will line up in the Von Nida Tour’s Queensland PGA just two days later and one or two invited guests.

One player who is already a confirmed starter in the event and who will provide a lot of local interest is the Emerald Lakes trainee professional Nick Teague. Teague made headlines locally when he recorded a round of 59 at Emerald Lakes early in 2005 and last year finished in third place at the Greater Building Society Queensland PGA Championship at the course.

“I feel honoured to have been given the chance to play in the event by both the sponsors and the Queensland PGA and I am excited about the prospect of playing against the leading players from the PGA Championship under this format. Having done my traineeship at Emerald Lakes I have often played the course at night and hopefully that will work in my favour in the event,” said the 22 year old. Teague completes his traineeship at Emerald Lakes later this year and plans to head to the Asian Tour Qualifying School at that time.

Other players already confirmed for the event are Queensland golf’s great benefactor, Peter Senior, and local golfer, Terry Price, who is in the process of a comeback after nearly a year away from tournament golf.

Price will return to the European Tour at the Dunhill Links event in Scotland in early October following a painful and lengthy recovery after breaking his leg last August but all going well will line up at the Daikin Night Shootout.

The 2006 winner, Rowan Beste, will also be back to defend his title and was present at today’s launch. Beste, who last year won the Sunshine Tour’s Order of Merit, is playing the Asian Tour this year. He will head to Brunei next week to play the remaining events he is eligible for on the Asian Tour before returning for the Daikin Night Golf Shootout and the Greater Building Society’s Queensland PGA Championship. The Emerald Lakes event will be the only Von Nida Tour event in which he will play in the latter half of this season.

David White, the General Manager for Nifsan, the development company who own Emerald Lakes, has spoken highly of Daikin’s continuing support of the event.

“The Daikin Night Golf Shootout has now established itself as a key ingredient in the success of the Greater Building Society Queensland PGA Championship. That we are able to determine a winner in two and a half hours seems of great appeal and the support from the local Gold Coast public in the last three years has been very pleasing. We are blessed with a rather unique facility at Emerald Lakes with nine holes under lights and it is great to be able to showcase that via the Shootout. Daikin’s ongoing support continues to make that possible.”