2008: A New Golf Year Dawns
BY Bruce Young | 29 Dec 2007
With 2008 all but upon us, it is a good opportunity to look at where we will first see action on the various golf tours worldwide in the New Year.
With so many Australians about to tee it up on new horizons, the following provides a quick look at the significant representation players from this part of the world will have in all corners of the golfing globe.
USPGA Tour
The USPGA Tour gets underway on January 3rd in Kapalua on the island of Maui in Hawaii. In a field limited to tournament winners in 2007, only two Australians, Adam Scott and Aaron Baddeley, will get the chance to tee it up. A total of 34 players are eligible to compete although the final number in the field will not be determined until just a few days prior to the event getting underway.
The Mercedes Championship is the first of 48 official tournaments the PGA Tour will stage in 2008, prizemoney totalling a staggering US$277.9 million ranging from the US$3.5 million on offer for the events in Puerto Rico and Mexico to the US$9 million available at the Players Championship.
The first full field USPGA Tour event of the 2008 season takes place starting on January 10th when the Sony Open in Hawaii begins on January 10th at Waialae in Honolulu. Most of the new Australasian recruits to the PGA Tour will discover whether their efforts on the Nationwide Tour and or the PGA Tour School in 2008 have been sufficient to earn them a start in the first event of the season for which they will be eligible.
One or two who only just made it through might have to wait a week or two as this year’s Sony field is strengthened by players looking to get their 2008 season underway after a longer off season break than normal and because so many players will be keen to get Ryder Cup points up early.
While there are nineteen Australasians with full status on the USPGA Tour, six of them are rookies and most will be looking to get their USPGA Tour careers off to a flying start at the Sony Open. Nick Flanagan, Jason Day, Matthew Jones, Brett Rumford, Tim Wilkinson and David Lutterus are in that category and all with the possible exception of Lutterus should get starts at the Waialae Country Club.
Three other Australasian players have limited status in 2008, namely Steve Allan, Andrew Buckle and Gavin Coles while Michael Sim might get some early season starts via his minor medical exemption category.
European Tour
Although the European Tour has already travelled halfway around the world and played six events of their 2008 schedule, its first event of the actual calendar year of 2008 gets underway in Johannesburg on January 10th when the Joburg Open is played at the Royal Johannesburg and Kensington Golf Club in South Africa. Amongst the Australasians entered at this stage are Tour School graduate, New Zealander Gareth Paddison, Challenge Tour graduate, Peter Fowler, and two players who went close to getting their cards at the European Tour School, Terry Pilkadaris and Scott Barr.
Also on in the same week is the Ryder Cup like Royal Trophy between Asia and Europe, which will be played in Thailand.
Following the event in Johannesburg the European Tour moves to the Middle East for events in Abu Dhabi, Qatar and Dubai before the groundbreaking and lucrative Emaar-MGF Indian Masters starts at the Delhi Golf Club starting on Feb 7th. Many will remain in Asia over the next few weeks, apart that is from those eligible to play the Accenture World Match Play in Arizona from Feb 20 – 24.
Australasian Tour
The 2008 Australasian Tour begins in New Zealand when the co-sanctioned New Zealand PGA Championship is again played at the Clearwater Golf Club in Christchurch from Feb 14 – 17. That event is followed by the Moonah Classic at Moonah Links on the Mornington Peninsula in Victoria in Australia. Those events will be preceded by a Von Nida Tour event in Victoria and International Final Qualifying for the British Open Championship, that qualifying staged on Feb 5th at the Lakes Golf Club in Sydney.
Nationwide Tour
The Nationwide Tour events here will form part of the 30 event Nationwide Tour, its first event being played in Panama on January 21st followed a week later by an event in Mexico before a break of one week then the New Zealand PGA Championship. The Tour will travel to five countries outside of the USA including Australia, New Zealand, Mexico, Panama and Canada. Prizemoney ranges from a minimum of US$500,000 to the US$1 million available at two events and will total a record US$18.95 million.
More than a dozen Australasians will ply their trade on the Nationwide Tour as they look to advance to the PGA Tour in 2009. They include David McKenzie, Scott Gardiner, Aron Price, Greg Chalmers, Steve Bowditch, Jarrod Lyle, Michael Sim, Paul Gow, Phil Tataurangi, Grant Waite, Brad Hughes and, when they are unable to gain starts on the PGA Tour, Steve Allan, Andrew Buckle and Gavin Coles.
Several others will have limited access to the Nationwide Tour including Brad Iles, Won Joon Lee, Brad lamb and Wade Ormsby.
European Challenge Tour
Europe’s secondary tour and feeder tour to the European Tour plays its first event of 2008 in February and will travel the length and breadth of the globe. Challenge Tour events will be played in Europe, Britain, Africa, Mexico and South and Central America. While the full schedule has not yet been released, if 2007 is anything to go by then 32 events will be played worldwide as players look for one of the 20 places at year’s end that will give them access to Europe in 2009.
Asian Golf Tour
The rapidly expanding Asian Tour plays its first individual event of 2008 in India when it joins the European Tour in the co-sanctioning of the Emaar-MGF Indian Masters at the Delhi Golf Club in New Delhi on Feb 7th. It commences a series of 31 individual events in Asia where prizemoney will range from the US$300,000 at events such as the Cambodian Open to the US$5,000,000 at the HSBC Champions and Singapore Open events.
The list of Australasians with status in Asia has increased this season with another 15, in addition to those 18 or so already qualified, recently gaining or regaining their playing rights at the recent Tour School to play on a tour that is rapidly becoming significant in its own right rather than purely a stepping stone to riches elsewhere. Australasia’s leading players in Asia in 2007, including Scott Hend, Mark Brown, Kane Webber Scott Barr, Adam Blyth and Gary Simpson will again look to further develop their games and careers in Asia.
Japan Golf Tour
Events on the Japan Golf Tour will recommence on April 17th at the Token Homemate Cup in Nagoya beginning a series of 25 events in 2008 where prizemoney ranges from a minimum of ¥100 million (A$1 million) to the ¥200 million on offer in events such as the Japan Open, the Dunlop Phoenix and the newly introduced Lexus Championship, Canon Open and the Asia Pacific Panasonic Open.
Of interest this season is the introduction of an event co sanctioned between the Japan and Asian Golf Tours to be played in China in May.
Australasians Brendan Jones, David Smail, Steve Conran, Chris Campbell, Wayne Perske, Craig Parry and Scott Laycock will be joined by recent Japan Golf Tour School graduates, Ben Burge, Eddie Lee, Craig Jones, Ryan Haller and Richard Backwell.
LPGA Tour
While some LPGA Tour players will take the chance to play one or two events internationally before the LPGA Tour season gets underway, the first individual event of 2008 on the LPGA Tour begins on Feb 14th at the SBS Open at Turtle Bay in Kahuku, Hawaii. 33 events are currently scheduled with prizemoney ranging between US1 million and US$3.1 million.
Australasians Karrie Webb, Rachel Hetherington, Lindsey Wright, Katherine Hull and Wendy Doolan will be joined by Tour School graduate Sarah Kemp and those with limited status such as Anna Rawson, Sarah Jane Kenyon and Michelle Ellis.
Ladies European Tour
A record 27 events carrying prizemoney totalling €12.3 million is the feature of the 2008 LET season.
The first event is the World Cup of Golf in South Africa on January 18th but the first individual LET event is the MFS Australian Women’s Open at Kingston Heath on January 31st followed the next week by the ANZ Ladies Masters on the Gold Coast. The LET then has a nearly two month break before the events begin again in Europe with the European Ladies Golf Cup.
Australasians Joanne Mills, Nikki Garrett, Lyn Brooky, Karen Lunn, Leah Hart and others will be joined by Dana Lacey, Frances Bondad and Bronwyn Mullins-Lane as they chase the dollars or experience in the quest for what will hopefully eventually be USLPGA Tour status.
The MFS Australian Women’s Open will be preceded by the further upgraded LG Bing Lee NSW Women’s Open at Oatlands Golf Club over 54 holes during the Australia Day long weekend. That event forms part of the Australian LPG Tour of which the Open and the ANZ Ladies Masters are also part.
Japan Ladies Tour
The first event of the Japan Ladies Golf Tour normally takes place in Okinawa or one of the southern areas of Japan in early March. Nikki Campbell and Tamie Durdin are the two Australians who will again play a tour which escapes the attention of many but one which has proven to be a substantial and lucrative tour on which to play.
Of interest in 2008 is the Japan Ladies Golf Tour event, the JLPGA Australian Championship, to be played at the Lakelands Golf Club on the Gold Coast in the final week of March. While not officially co-sanctioned with the ALPG Tour in Australia as such, the event will offer some 30 places to Australian ALPG members.
Von Nida Tour
Australia’s secondary tour, the Von Nida Tour, is again expected to have ten events spread across Victoria, Queensland, New South Wales, South Australia and Western Australia. At the time of writing there are still no confirmed dates for all events although the first is expected to be the NAB Victorian PGA Championship starting on January 31st at Sanctuary Lakes Resort.
