Moonah Classic showcases future stars

BY Bruce Young | Australasian PGA Tour | 2008 Moonah Classic | Preview | 20 Feb 2008

The Moonah Classic is played this week at Moonah Links on Victoria’s Mornington Peninsula, the second of the two successive events in Australasia co-sanctioned between the Nationwide and Australasian Tours.

After the misfortune brought about by bad weather at the New Zealand PGA Championship last week in Christchurch, 156 players will line up at the Peter Thomson designed Moonah Links looking to not only further foster the value of the co-sanctioning arrangement but to enhance the integrity of Moonah Links itself.

The owners of Moonah Links have been keen to re-establish the reputation of their facility after the course received criticism, both veiled and unveiled – and much of it perhaps unwarranted – as a tournament facility during the two Australian Open Championships held there in 2003 and 2005.

While some have been critical of the venue, Australian golfer Peter Lonard, who won the first event held here in 2003, was generous in his praise for the layout.

Given Lonard’s tendency to say things as he sees them, his comments were not based purely on the euphoria of victory and countered some of the negativity that surrounded the event that year.

Robert Allenby was also generous in his praise following his win in 2005 and it will be with much interest as to how this week’s field, many of whom will play the venue for the first occasion, will react.

In general discussion this week amongst players appears to be positive in terms of the set up and overall condition of the golf course. The weather plays a significant part on the southern Mornington Peninsula and this week’s forecast provides concern in that regard with showers and rain forecast following the high temperatures of earlier in the week.

Moonah Links is a relatively long walk for spectators but does provide outstanding overviews from many locations around the course – almost British Open like – with the layout winding its way through the natural sand dunes only a kilometre or two from Bass Strait. The big issue this week will be just how many spectators turn up to watch a field of far less strength than those assembled to play the previous Australian Opens at the venue.

The course is located about 90 minutes from the CBD of Melbourne and with the highest world ranked player and only player from the world top 100 in the field likely to be New Zealander David Smail at 93, it will not be superstar status that brings the much vaunted Victorian golf fans south.

Nationwide events have shown however that with the right promotion they can offer the viewing public an insight into the future of the game and many who play this week might yet become stars of the game in the years ahead.

One such player who fits very much into that category is the 22 year old Won Joon Lee who finished runner up at the recent Australian Open and in his most recent start finished midfield at last week’s New Zealand PGA Championship.

Korean D.H. Lee is another promising young golfer, who has played the Japan Golf Tour in recent times winning the Mizuno Open last year and went close to gaining his card at the USPGA PGA Tour school. He is expected to make the grade in the US eventually and this offers a good opportunity to display his game to Australian fans.

Rick Kulacz, who only turned professional in October, has already put together several solid weeks in professional golf. The always precocious talent won the Von Nida Tour’s New South Wales Open as an amateur in 2006 and while it may be a little early to expect him to succeed at this higher level he is on track to do so before long.

One international golfer that should have little problem with the Moonah layout is the South African Garth Mulroy, who recently lost a playoff at the Joburg Open in South Africa an event co-sanctioned with the European Tour and in a similar event late last year finished third in a much stronger field at the South African Open than the one he faces this week.

New Zealander, David Smail, is in rare form at present with runner up placings at the Australian PGA Championship and last week’s New Zealand PGA Championship against a very similar field. Smail also finished runner up in the 2007 Australasian Order of Merit and as mentioned earlier is the highest ranked player in this field.

Amongst the Australians Paul Sheehan is a possible challenger. He finished runner up to Robert Allenby at this venue in 2005 and did well at the recent New Zealand Open where he shared second with Steve Bowditch, both performances making him worthy of consideration. So too are Jarrod Lyle and Greg Chalmers who have both played well in recent events.

The Americans are an eclectic mix of old and new but D.A. Points and Jeff Klauk have chances amongst others. Points is a player good enough to have finished 14th at the recent PGA Tour event at Pebble Beach and then 5th last week in Christchurch, while Klauk was runner up in Panama recently.

The chances don’t end there by any stretch of the imagination and by week’s end someone will be well on their way to the PGA Tour in 2009.