New Pga Tour To Bridge The Gap
Sydney Morning Herald
Wednesday January 12, 1994
A restored NSW Open and PGA will head a secondary Australian professional circuit similar to the successful Nike Tour in the US.
The Australian PGA has established the circuit to bridge what has been a yawning gap between pro-am tournaments and the Australasian PGA Tour's Order of Merit circuit.
To be called the Foundation Tour, it will comprise several State championships and at least two State Opens in a tentative schedule of 10 tournaments.
The tour will start with next month's NSW Open at Manly and continue until the Queensland PGA championship in October.
"Progressing from the pro-am circuit to the PGA tour represented a quantum leap for many professionals," Australian PGA general manager Max Garske said yesterday. "Our aim is to provide a stepping stone; one that is both a viable alternative for those struggling on the PGA Tour and a training ground for those on their way."
Events will be over 54 holes or 72 holes, usually offering a minimum$50,000 in prize money. The tour will be open to Australian PGA and Australasian PGA Tour members and will feature a national Order of Merit.
This year's leading player will receive an exemption for the 1995 Australasian Tour (in effect a place in the top 60 exempt players). The next four top players will receive Tour membership.
The Tour will offer about $500,000 but this will double if the anticipated maximum of 20 events is met.
The tentative schedule is:
February 3-6; NSW Open, Manly, $50,000;
March 8-11, NSW PGA, Cromer, $50,000; (to be considered);
March 17-20, Victorian PGA, Keysborough, $50,000 (TBC);
March/April 30-3, Tasmanian Classic, venue to be announced, $35,000 (TBC);
April/May 27-1; South Australian PGA, TBA, $50,000 (TBC);
May 5-8; West Australian PGA, Joondalup, $50,000 (TBC);
May 11-15, West Australian Open, Meadow Springs, $75,000 (TBC);
May 18-22, Nedlands Masters (restricted field), Nedlands, (TBC);
June 7-13, Darwin Classic, Darwin Golf Club, $50,000 (TBC);
Early October, Qld PGA, Indooroopilly, $50,000 (TBC).
A NICE COURSE INDEED, IF YOU CAN AFFORD IT
The Vines Resort course just outside Perth has been named the best resort course in Golf Australia's annual survey of Australia's top 25 courses.
The Vines, host to the Heineken Classic this month, was ranked 12th, ahead of other resort courses Hope Island (14th), Sanctuary Cove (equal 17th), Twin Waters (19th), Coolum (21st), Laguna Quays (22nd) and Kooralbyn Valley (24th)
This intelligence will be of limited interest to the average hacker. The Vines is certainly a terrific course and a terrific resort, but it shares something in common with all the resorts.
Unless you're a millionaire or media freeloader, you'll never get to play or stay there, or on any of the other courses, unless you sneak in and pitch a tent.
Failing that, a week's cottage rental and a round at somewhere like Tuggerah Lakes, Hawks Nest or Mollymook is almost as good, and you can splurge on a kilo of prawns.
BUSHFIRES HAVE MINIMAL EFFECT
More than 20 golf courses on the North Shore have reported reduced playing numbers but only minor damage after the bushfires, according to AAP.
Layouts from the public nine-holer at Lane Cove to the exclusive private trio of Elanora, Monash and Cromer were counting their blessings.
The blaze may have blocked the F3 freeway and several railway lines but it could not stop golfers venturing out.
Nor did the dense smoke, although most clubs reported half-size fields for Saturday and Sunday competitions.
Killara members hosed down the clubhouse before teeing off. (Blue Mountains golfers at Springwood were determined to play no matter what and eventually had to be ordered off by police.)
Clubs were elated at being spared what could have been millions of dollars in repairs.
The worst affected course was Monash, which lost a green and two tees.
"One of our members is a district fire officer, and with 15 other members we fought it," secretary-manager Terry Hill said.
"We used water from our dam and if it hadn't been for (the fire officer), we would have lost the clubhouse. He knew where it was coming from and what it was going to do."
Television reports had neighbouring Elanora Country Club on fire, but professional's assistant Peter Stratford said the club had been incredibly lucky.
"The perimeter burnt down but there was virtually no damage to the course at all, only to about half the 14th fairway, which should grow back in six months," Stratford said. "We were very lucky. The flames came within 20m of the clubhouse and were lapping at the greenkeeper's shed."
The exclusive and recently-opened Terrey Hills club was closed because of heavy smoke.
The fire came up to the edge of the seventh, ninth and 18th holes.
Roseville, Killara, Gordon and Pymble, where hundreds of trees fell four years ago in a fierce storm, reported no damage.
Farther up the F3, Asquith was surrounded by fires but the course was never threatened.
On the lower North Shore, Chatswood abandoned play at 2pm Saturday when houses behind the par three 12th were evacuated.
PRICE FOR AUSTRALIAN MASTERS
Player-of-the-year on the US PGA Tour, Nick Price, will return for next month's Australian Masters at Huntingdale. The popular Zimbabwean won six times last year, including four times on the US PGA tour, where he earned a record $US1.478 million ($2.2 million).
Price opened 1993 by winning an international event in South Africa and closed it with a 12-shot victory in the Million Dollar Challenge at Sun City.
© 1994 Sydney Morning Herald
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