| Country | Australia |
|---|---|
| Governing body | Golf Australia |
| National team(s) | Australia |
International competitions | |
Golf has been played in Australia since 1839. The Professional Golfers Association (PGA) Tour of Australasia is the main men's tour in Australia. In women's golf, the ALPG Tour has operated since 1972.
Golf Australia is the national sporting body that runs golf in Australia. It was formed in 2006 as a merger of the Australian Golf Union (AGU) and Women's Golf Australia (WGA). The state golf associations are Golf New South Wales, Golf Northern Territory, Golf Queensland, Golf South Australia, Golf Tasmania, Golf Victoria and Golf Western Australia.
The PGA Tour of Australasia is the main men's tour in Australia. It was founded in 1973 as the PGA Tour of Australia, and changed to its current name in 1991. The tour is one of the five charter members of the International Federation of PGA Tours, making it a 1st tier tour. In 2007 the tour had a schedule consisting of 12 events, but only three of them were sole-sanctioned by the PGA Tour of Australasia. The PGA Tour of Australasia's development tour is the Von Nida Tour.
Australia's premier golf tournament and national Open is the Australian Open, run by Golf Australia, which has been held since 1904. Other tournaments include the Australian PGA Championship, which has been held since 1929, and the Australian Masters, held from 1979 to 2015.
In women's golf, the ALPG Tour has operated since 1972. It became a member of the International Federation of PGA Tours in 2009 when that organisation expanded to include all of the major women's tours. In its most recent season, 2011–12, the tour consisted of 12 events. The two richest are respectively the Ladies Masters, held since 1990, and the Women's Australian Open, held since 1974. Both events are co-sanctioned with the Ladies European Tour, and since the 2012 edition, the Women's Australian Open has also been co-sanctioned by the U.S. LPGA Tour.
In addition to regular tournaments, Australia has hosted the 1998 Presidents Cup, 2001 WGC-Accenture Match Play Championship, 2007 Lexus Cup, 2011 Presidents Cup and 2013 World Cup of Golf. The 2016 World Cup of Golf was scheduled to be played in Melbourne.
Australia's top golfers, whether male or female, generally move to more lucrative tours—the European Tour or the U.S. PGA Tour for men, and the Ladies European Tour or the U.S. LPGA Tour for women—at the first opportunity.
The Australian Amateur Championships for men and women is the premier amateur event in Australia run by Golf Australia. Hundreds of golf clubs across Australia also participate in nationally organised amateur events at their local clubs. The most popular are Handiskins [1] (Individuals), and the Volkswagen Scramble [2] (Teams), where amateur golfers with varying handicaps compete at club-sanctioned events for club prizes and qualification to contest national championships.
There are several claims for the earliest golf played in Australia. To date, there is only one claim with contemporaneous evidence. This primary source evidence comes from ten entries in 1839 in the diary of Alexander Brodie Spark. [3] [4] These show that golf was played in 1839 at Grose Farm, which is now part of urban Sydney. Spark and his friends instituted the New South Wales Golf Club on 1 June 1839, but the Club and the golf at Grose Farm had very short lives and there is no direct connection to the current New South Wales Golf Club. Spark was a wealthy merchant, a well-connected and well-respected member of colonial society, and can be considered as a reliable witness. Golf at Grose Farm was strongly influenced by the Royal Blackheath Golf Club in England.
The NSW Golf Club (no continuous connection to the present NSWGC) and Grose Farm are the first golf club and first golf course in Australia. The oldest club and course in continuous existence are different. Determining them is difficult and there is no consensus. The oldest continuous surviving club is believed to be The Australian Golf Club in Sydney. The members met as an informal club in 1882/83 and the Club was formally constituted in 1884, but the Club lost its home course from 1888 to 1895. They may or may not have played elsewhere. They continued to exist as a legal entity by keeping their bank account open and in credit. When they resumed playing, at a new course in Queens Park, they played for the same trophies as in 1884. Their Cadogan Cup is the oldest golf trophy played for in Australia. [5]
As a result of The Australian Golf Club's lack of a course for a period, the Royal Melbourne Golf Club maintain that they are the oldest golf club in Australia 'without interruption'. [6] Other claims are made for early golf played at the Ratho estate at Bothwell, Tasmania, [7] [ dead link ] though these are now believed to relate to the Bothwell district in general in the 1860s. Contemporary evidence dates the Ratho course to the early 20th Century. [8]
Apart from the references below, The Brassie of February 2015 and November 2015, contains articles with further on early golf history in Australia. [9]
Australians have won a total of 27 majors in men's and women's competitions. [10] Some notable players include:
The Ladies Professional Golf Association (LPGA) is an American organization for female golfers. The organization is headquartered at LPGA International in Daytona Beach, Florida, and is best known for running the LPGA Tour, a series of weekly golf tournaments for elite women professional golfers from around the world.
Karrie Anne Webb is an Australian professional golfer. She plays mainly on the U.S.-based LPGA Tour, and also turns out once or twice a year on the ALPG Tour in her home country. She is a member of the World Golf Hall of Fame. She has 41 wins on the LPGA Tour, more than any other active player.
The WPGA Tour of Australasia, formerly known as the ALPG Tour, is a professional golf tour for women which is based in Australia. WPGA stands for Women's Professional Golfers' Association.
Dame Laura Jane Davies, is an English professional golfer. She has achieved the status of her nation's most accomplished female golfer of modern times, being the second non-American to finish at the top of the LPGA money list as well as winning the Ladies European Tour (LET) Order of Merit a record seven times: in 1985, 1986, 1992, 1996, 1999, 2004 and 2006.
Jan Lynn Stephenson is an Australian professional golfer. She became a member of the LPGA Tour in 1974 and won three major championships and 16 LPGA Tour events. She has 41 worldwide victories including (10) LPGA Legends Tour wins and 8 worldwide major championships. She has 15 holes-in-one with nine in competition. She was elected to the World Golf Hall of Fame, class of 2019.
This article summarizes the highlights of professional and amateur golf in the year 2007.
The Women's Australian Open is a women's professional golf tournament played in Australia, operated by Golf Australia and the WPGA Tour of Australasia, long co-sanctioned by the Ladies European Tour (LET). Beginning with the 2012 event, it is also co-sanctioned by the U.S.-based LPGA Tour. In 2008, it was the second-richest women's golf tournament on the ALPG Tour, with a prize fund of A$500,000, and was raised to A$600,000 in 2010. With the co-sanctioning by the LPGA, the total purse was nearly doubled, and was also fixed in U.S. dollars. The purse was US$1.1 million in 2012, and increased again to its current level of US$1.2 million for 2013. Since 2011, the tournament's name has been the ISPS Handa Women's Australian Open.
Katherine Kirk is a professional golfer from Australia, currently playing on the U.S.-based LPGA Tour and the ALPG Tour. She played under her maiden name, Katherine Hull, until her marriage to Tom Kirk on 2 August 2012 and also under the name Katherine Hull-Kirk.
This article summarizes the highlights of professional and amateur golf in the year 2010.
This article summarizes the highlights of professional and amateur golf in the year 2011.
This article summarizes the highlights of professional and amateur golf in the year 2012.
This article summarizes the highlights of professional and amateur golf in the year 2013.
Su-Hyun Oh is a South Korea-born Australian professional golfer. She became the number one ranked amateur in the world in October 2013.
The Women's Victorian Open is an annual golf tournament held in Australia. It was founded in 1988 and played annually through 1992. After a 20-year hiatus it returned in 2012 as a tournament on the WPGA Tour of Australasia.
This article summarizes the highlights of professional and amateur golf in the year 2014.
Céline Boutier is a French professional golfer who plays on the Ladies European Tour and the LPGA Tour. She has multiple wins on both tours including one major, the 2023 Evian Championship.
Hannah Green is an Australian professional golfer and winner of the 2019 Women's PGA Championship.
Sarah Kemp is an Australian professional golfer who has played on the LPGA Tour, Ladies European Tour (LET) and ALPG Tour concurrently for most of her career. She has been runner-up at the Catalonia Ladies Masters, New Zealand Women's Open, Lalla Meryem Cup and Women's Victorian Open.
The 2020–21 PGA Tour of Australasia, titled as the 2020–21 ISPS Handa PGA Tour of Australasia for sponsorship reasons, was the 47th season on the PGA Tour of Australasia, the main professional golf tour in Australia and New Zealand since it was formed in 1973.
Grace Kim is an Australian professional golfer who plays on the LPGA Tour. She won the TPS Sydney on the ALPG Tour in 2021 and 2022. As an amateur, she won the Australian Girls' Amateur, Australian Women's Amateur and the 2018 Summer Youth Olympics.
