History of quality winners at QLD Open

BY iseekgolf.com | Von Nida Tour | 2006 Queensland Open | Preview | 24 Oct 2006

The Ipswich Golf Club, south west of Brisbane, hosts the Roadcon Group Queensland Open Championship for the fifth consecutive year this week when the Von Nida Tour event gets underway on Thursday October 26th.

With three of the four winners during the Ipswich Golf Club’s tenure as venue for the event either going on to become USPGA Tour players or, as is the case with the 2002 Champion Andrew Buckle, on the verge of USPGA Tour status, the event has provided further proof of its important place in the careers of Australia’s leading players. Scott Hend (2003) and Steve Bowditch (2004) became USPGA Tour members soon after winning the title at the Ipswich Golf Club and Andrew Buckle (2002) has all but secured his PGA Tour card for 2007 following an impressive season on the 2006 Nationwide Tour.

Not only has it been in recent times that the event has produced high quality winners but a look at the honour role also identifies the names of several of Australia’s greatest golfers permanently etched on the Queensland Open trophy. Greg Norman, Norman Von Nida, David Graham, Ian Baker-Finch, Kel Nagle, Graham Marsh, Jim Ferrier, Bruce Devlin, Eric Cremin, Ossie Pickworth, Billy Dunk, Peter Senior and Stuart Appleby are but a few of the great names of Australian golf who can claim the Queensland Open trophy amongst their list of victories.

The tournament is the third of four consecutive Von Nida tournaments being played in Queensland. It follows successful tournaments in Cairns (North Queensland X-Ray Services Cairns Classic) and Townsville (Minniecon and Burke Queensland Masters) and will be followed by the Greater Building Society’s Queensland PGA Championship next week at Emerald Lakes on the Gold Coast.

The Ipswich Golf Club’s current Leichhardt facility was officially opened in 1950 after the club’s first fifty years were spent at Limestone Hill but the layout is about to undergo significant changes following a land swap arrangement with the Roadcon Group. This now provides the opportunity for the IGC to remodel seven of their existing holes and to create eleven brand new holes on adjacent land. Areas of the existing golf course will be set aside for residential development by the Roadcon Group. The new work is expected to be underway early in 2007 following the completion of the approval process.

The redevelopment work will be staggered in such a way that it will not impact on the Ipswich Golf Club’s hosting of the event in 2007 with the Roadcon Group already committed to sponsoring the event next year.

The favourite for this year’s event is likely to be Queenslander, Peter Senior, who won the event in 1984 but 22 years on is still the man to beat whenever he tees it up in a Von Nida Tour event. He was runner up last year to Brad McIntosh after a last round of 65 kept the pressure on the New South Welshman. Senior’s recent good form and undoubted class have him as the most likely contender late on Sunday. The presence of one of Australia’s greatest in any Von Nida Tour event field brings an added dimension to the tournament.

Terry Price, a two time winner of the event, is expected to arrive back in Queensland from Spain after playing in just two events on the European Tour in 2006. A leg broken in unusual circumstances in August of 2005 has prevented him from playing four round events until the recent Dunhill Links Championship where, following a reasonable start, he was disqualified in round three after inadvertently taking a drop that was ruled illegal. Price played last week in Mallorca off the coast of Spain where he made the cut.

Brad Kennedy returns from a successful Asian Tour campaign to play his own State Open with a huge finish at the recent Singapore Open fresh in his mind. The Gold Coast based Kennedy finished third at the Sentosa golf Club behind Adam Scott and Ernie Els, earning US$183,000 in the process. He is currently in 6th place on the 2006 Asian Tour money list and will head to the United States two weeks after the Queensland Open to tee it up at stage two qualifying for the 2007 USPGA Tour.

One player whose appearance at Ipswich Golf Cub will create interest, should he play, will be Brisbane golfer Wayne Perske. Perske is currently entered for the event but his wife Vanessa is expecting their second child on the Friday of the tournament so his participation might well be a day to day proposition. Perkse won earlier this year on the Japan Golf Tour picking up a cheque for A$260,000 in the process and is now established as one of the leading foreign golfers in Japan.

Another Queenslander who might do well this week is 25 year old Adam Blyth. Blyth has made steady progress in his two seasons on the Asian Tour, retaining his card in both 2005 and again this year. Blyth finished third here as an amateur in 2003 behind Scott Hend but is clearly a far more experienced player with two seasons on the road that is professional golf behind him.

James Nitties, who finished runner up to Peter Lonard at the Australian PGA Championship just a month after turning professional in 2004, is another who will attract his share of attention. Nitties struggled with a mystery illness or much of 2005 while competing in the USA but now has his career headed back in the right direction. A brilliant amateur, Nitties represented Australia at the Eisenhower trophy just prior to turning professional and now that he has his health back he is looking to fulfil the potential his amateur career suggested he possessed.

High class 21-year-old Australian amateur, Tim Stewart gets a start as the 2006 Australian Amateur Champion. Earlier this year Stewart won his National title in Tasmania and fared well in several amateur tournaments in the US including when runner up at the Eastern Amateur and Players Amateur events. Perhaps a little unfortunate to miss out on Eisenhower Trophy honours, Stewart will be keen to play well during the same week the Eisenhower Trophy is being played for in South Africa.

The Queensland Open has often provided outstanding young amateurs the opportunity to hone their skills against professional golfers and this year is no exception. In addition to Stewart, the tournament sees the likes of Andrew Dodt, Ray Beaufils, Paul Donahoo, Kevin Lee, the fourth placed golfer at the recent Cairns Classic, Justin Maker, and the leading amateur at last week’s Minniecon and Burke Queensland Masters, Nathan Uebergang in the field.

As has already been seen by results on this year’s Von Nida Tour to date, the chances do not stop there however. This is a very ’open’ Roadcon Group Queensland Open Championship and the spread of players capable of winning the title will ensure an intriguing contest.