Australian Masters

Australian Masters
Tournament information
Location Melbourne, Australia
Established 1979
Course(s) 2015 - Huntingdale Golf Club, rotates annually
Organized by IMG
Tour(s) PGA Tour of Australasia
European Tour (2006–09)
Format Stroke play
Prize fund A$750,000
Month played November
Tournament record score
Aggregate 268 Bradley Hughes (1998)
To par −24 (as above)
Current champion
Australia Peter Senior

The Australian Masters is an annual golf tournament on the PGA Tour of Australasia. The tournament was founded in 1979, and was co-sanctioned by the European Tour for the first time in 2006, with a significant 20% increase in the prize fund. Because the tournament is played late in the calendar year, in November or December, it formed part of the following year's European Tour schedule from 2006 through 2008. With the European Tour's decision to realign its schedule with the calendar year for 2010, the 2009 event was the first to be part of the current calendar year's tour schedule. The co-sanctioning with the European Tour was dropped after the 2009 event.

Until 2008, the Australian Masters was always held at the Huntingdale Golf Club in South Oakleigh, Victoria, Australia, but from 2009, a rotation system will be introduced and the event will be staged at different courses in the Melbourne area.[1]

Home golfers have dominated the event, with former world number one Greg Norman having the most success, winning the Gold Jacket on six occasions. Two other Australians have also won three times – Craig Parry and Peter Senior. Overseas players to have taken the title include European Ryder Cup stars, Bernhard Langer and Colin Montgomerie.

Since 2007, the Official World Golf Ranking has awarded at least 20 points to Australian Masters winners. Some editions have had top American and European players, which increased the points to 32 in 2011, 30 in 2010 and 28 in 2009.

On 18 March 2009 the Victorian State Government announced a major coup, confirming that then World Number 1 Tiger Woods would play in the 2009 event at its new venue, Kingston Heath.[2] The announcement caused a minor public backlash due to 50% of Woods' A$3 million appearance fee being paid by taxpayer funds. Woods' appearance was tipped to generate close to A$20 million for the Victorian economy via tourism and other related areas.[3]

The event is owned by IMG.[4]

The theme music for the television broadcast during the 1980s and 1990s was "Send Them Victorious" by Graham De Wilde.

The event will not be played in 2016 and its future is in doubt.[5]

Winners

As a sole-sanctioned event
YearWinnerCountryCourseScoreTo par
Uniqlo Masters
2016 No tournament
2015 Peter Senior (3)  Australia Huntingdale GC 276−8
BetEasy Masters
2014 Nick Cullen  Australia Metropolitan Golf Club 279 −9
Talisker Masters
2013 Adam Scott (2)  Australia Royal Melbourne Golf Club 270 −14
2012 Adam Scott  Australia Kingston Heath GC 271 −17
JBWere Masters
2011 Ian Poulter  England Victoria Golf Club 269 −15
2010 Stuart Appleby  Australia Victoria Golf Club 274 −10
As a European Tour co-sanctioned event
YearWinnerCountryCourseScoreTo parMargin
of victory
Runner(s)-up
JBWere Masters
2009 (2009) Tiger Woods  United States Kingston Heath GC 274 −14 2 strokes Australia Greg Chalmers
Sportsbet Australian Masters
2008 (2009) Rod Pampling  Australia Huntingdale GC 276 −12 Playoff Australia Marcus Fraser
MasterCard Masters
2007 (2008) Aaron Baddeley  Australia Huntingdale GC 275 −13 Playoff Sweden Daniel Chopra
2006 (2007) Justin Rose  England Huntingdale GC 276 −12 2 strokes Australia Greg Chalmers
Australia Richard Green

Years in brackets show the European Tour season the event fell into.

Prior to European Tour co-sanctioning
YearWinnerScore
MasterCard Masters
2005 Australia Robert Allenby (2) 271 (−17)PO
2004 Australia Richard Green 271 (−17)PO
2003 Australia Robert Allenby 277 (−11)PO
2002 Australia Peter Lonard 279 (−9)PO
Ericsson Masters
2001 Scotland Colin Montgomerie 278 (−10)
2000 New Zealand Michael Campbell 282 (−10)
1999 Australia Craig Spence 276 (−16)
1998 Australia Bradley Hughes (2) 268 (−24)
1997 Australia Peter Lonard 276 (−16)
1996 Australia Craig Parry (3) 279 (−13)
Australian Masters
1995 Australia Peter Senior (2) 280
1994 Australia Craig Parry (2) 282
1993 Australia Bradley Hughes 281
1992 Australia Craig Parry 283
1991 Australia Peter Senior 278
1990 Australia Greg Norman (6) 273
1989 Australia Greg Norman (5) 280
1988 Australia Ian Baker-Finch 278
1987 Australia Greg Norman (4) 273
1986 United States Mark O'Meara 284
1985 West Germany Bernhard Langer 281
1984 Australia Greg Norman (3) 285
1983 Australia Greg Norman (2) 285
1982 Australia Graham Marsh 289
1981 Australia Greg Norman 289
1980 United States Gene Littler 288
1979 New Zealand Barry Vivian 289

Note: all editions until 2009 were played at Huntingdale Golf Club.

References

  1. "Huntingdale's hold on Australian Masters at an end". The Australian. 23 October 2008. Retrieved 28 October 2008.
  2. Linden, Julian (19 March 2009). "Woods to play in Australia for first time in over a decade". Reuters. Retrieved 19 March 2009.
  3. "Tiger Woods comes to Melbourne, costing taxpayers $1.5m". Herald Sun. 19 March 2009. Archived from the original on 22 March 2009. Retrieved 19 March 2009.
  4. Connolly, Eoin (6 April 2010). "IMG ties JBWere to Australian Masters extension". SportsPro.
  5. Gould, Russell (30 March 2016). "Australian Masters 2016 called off and the future of the event remains unclear". Herald Sun.

External links

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