Latest news with #AustralianPGA
News.com.au
2 days ago
- Sport
- News.com.au
Elvis Smylie will defend his Australian PGA Championship title with record prizemoney up for grabs
Elvis Smylie has had a tough time in his first season in Europe but has locked in a return to the place where he enjoyed the biggest moment of his fledgling career. The defending Australian PGA champion will be returning to fight for record prizemoney at Royal Queensland in November having outlasted Cameron Smith to secure the title in 2024. Smylie also overcame a pace-of-play warning from officials as he and Smith, playing together in the final pairing, walked onto the 17th tee. A two-shot victory earnt the 23-year-old left-hander, who is the son of Australian tennis great Liz Smylie, his DP World Tour card and a spot in this month's Open Championship at Royal Port Rush. Smylie has recorded two top-20 finishes in Europe this year but missed the cut at his past two events, and while there's 'a lot to play out' in 2025, he's already excited about coming home to defend his title. 'Winning the Joe Kirkwood Cup for the first time was a huge honour and definitely the highlight of my career so far,' Smylie said. 'I have some great memories of that final Sunday. It meant so much to win at home in front of my family and friends in one of Australia's most important championships. 'Although there's still a lot of this year to play out, I can't wait to get back to RQ and try to do it all again.' Last week, the PGA of Australia announced a $500,000 bump in prizemoney to $2.5m, more than the prizemoney on offer at the Australian Open the following week where Rory McIlroy will be the headline act at Royal Melbourne Golf Club. The boost in the prize pool, as well as continued co-sanctioning with the DP World Tour, could help boost the quality of the field this year, with headliners likely to again include Smith and Min Woo Lee as well as Adam Scott, who skipped the two Australian events last summer.
News.com.au
23-06-2025
- Business
- News.com.au
Rrecord prize pool for Australian PGA in Brisbane in November
Rory McIlroy will play for less prizemoney in his Australian Open return than those at the Australian PGA the week before, but both tournaments have had cash bumps across a huge summer of events with up to $7mn available. Just hours after Australian star Minjee Lee took out her third major championship, and collected $2.8m for winning the Women's PGA, Australian golf officials confirmed the record amount on offer for the home season, which will begin in August. The Australian PGA, won last year by Elvis Smylie and in 2023 by Lee's younger brother Min Woo, has been given the biggest prizemoney bump, up $500,000 to surpass the national Open for total prizemoney. The PGA prize pool is the biggest in the tournament's 121-year history. McIlroy, the world No.2, is set to earn more in appearance money after signing a two-year deal to play in the Australian Open, beginning with this year's event at Royal Melbourne, than should he win the Stonehaven Cup for a second time. With more than $160m in career earnings on the PGA Tour, however, money is not driving McIlroy, who spoke about his desire to explore new golfing horizons after his Masters triumph, and that includes returning to Australia for the first time since 2014. 'I've always loved the Australian Open,' he said last week. 'I've won there before. I played there as an amateur in the Australian Open, qualified for it, went through a qualifier in 2005, got through like a nine-man playoff to get in, so I've always had a huge affinity for that part of the world. The opening 10 events of the PGA Tour of Australasia were confirmed on Monday, beginning with the PNG Open at Royal Port Moresby Golf Club. The Australian PGA at Royal Queensland Golf Club, in the last week of November, and then the Australian Open at The Royal Melbourne Golf Club in the first week of December remain the flagship events. Both will be co-sanctioned with the DP World Tour and offer exemptions on top of prizemoney. 'The Challenger PGA Tour of Australasia season is all about 'the chase' and we're delighted our professionals will be chasing record prizemoney across the first half of the season,' PGA of Australia chief executive Gavin Kirkman said. 'They'll also be chasing titles, exemptions and opportunities to compete internationally. 'There is so much on the line for our players as they try to follow the pathway that has been created all the way to the PGA Tour 'We saw what was possible with Elvis Smylie winning twice on our Tour last year and going on to win the Order of Merit, earn his DP World Tour card and starts in two majors. 'Careers can be changed in just a few months.'
Yahoo
27-02-2025
- Sport
- Yahoo
Harrison Crowe goes low to snatch NZ Open lead
Former amateur star Harrison Crowe cashed in on a red-hot putter to take a one-shot first-round lead after a day of low scoring at the New Zealand Open. Sunny conditions left the Millbrook Resort layout at the mercy of the field on Thursday, and they took full advantage with more than half of the field breaking par. Nobody capitalised more than Crowe, who had one eagle and nine birdies in a nine-under round of 62 where the only blemish was a double-bogey six on the 13th after he lashed his tee shot out of bounds. Even then, the 23-year-old bounced straight back with an eagle-three on the following hole. 𝐓𝐡𝐞 𝐂𝐫𝐨𝐰𝐞 𝐬𝐡𝐨𝐰Harrison Crowe posted the lowest score of the day to hold the lead after Round 1 #NZOpen📸: @PhotosportNZ — PGA of Australia (@PGAofAustralia) February 27, 2025 "I definitely had a lot of things go my way today and I think to shoot these rounds you have to," said Crowe who won the Asia-Pacific Amateur and the NSW Open in 2022 before turning professional the following year. "After that double bogey, to back it up with the eagle ... it was a nice day out there." Crowe had a hot run before Christmas with top-10 finishes at the NSW Open, Australian PGA and Australian Open, but had missed his last three cuts on the Australasian Tour before arriving in Arrowtown. "It's felt a little bit annoying at times over the last month of golf," he said. "But it's got to turn around eventually because I've been playing solid-enough golf and the putts finally went in today so we've got to keep it rolling." Fellow Australian James Marchesani was in outright second at eight under, a shot clear of Australians Lucas Herbert and Kevin Yuan, and South Korean Guntaek Koh. LIV Golf star Herbert is playing the NZ Open for the first time since 2020 and is eyeing the guaranteed British Open spots on offer to both the Australiasian Tour Order of Merit (OOM) winner and the tournament victor. He holed a clutch birdie putt from off the fringe on the 17th on Thursday to get to seven under, but was frustrated not to drain another makeable birdie attempt on the last hole. "I've struggled with the putter for a while," said Herbert. "I felt like I putted OK without being amazing. "I hit a lot of good puttts but I couldn't get as many to go in as I would have liked. "It's probably going to be a week of low scoring so it was good to get off to a hot start and not feel like we're chasing from a long way back." OOM pacesetter Elvis Smylie is well placed in a big group tied for ninth at five under. Playing in the same group as Smylie, OOM contender Jack Buchanan had a dirty day. He eventually signed for an eight-over 79 to be in second-last spot. Takahiro Hataji from Japan made a middling start to his title defence in the $A1.8 million event with a two-under 69.
