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| Country | Australia |
|---|---|
| Governing body | Golf Australia |
| National team(s) | Australia |
International competitions | |
Golf in Australia 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 has a schedule consisting of 12 events, but only three of them are 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 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] though these are now believed to relate to 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 competition. [10] Some notable players include:
The PGA Tour of Australasia, currently titled as the ISPS Handa PGA Tour of Australasia for sponsorship reasons, is a professional golf tour for men, owned and operated by the PGA of Australia. Official events on the tour count for World Golf Ranking points. The tour is recognised as being founded in 1973 when the PGA of Australia instituted an Order of Merit. Despite always including at least one tournament in New Zealand, the tour was known as the PGA Tour of Australia until it adopted its current name in 1991 following the inclusion of three events in Asia.
Dame Laura Jane Davies, is an English female professional golfer. She has achieved the status of her nation's most accomplished female golfer of modern times, being the first 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.
Liselotte Maria "Lotta" Neumann is a Swedish professional golfer. When she recorded her first LPGA Tour win, by claiming the 1988 U.S. Women's Open title, Neumann also became the first Swedish golfer, male or female, to win a major championship.
Peter Albert Charles Senior is an Australian professional golfer who has won more than twenty tournaments around the world.
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.
Alexis Noel Thompson is an American professional golfer who plays on the LPGA Tour. At age 12, she was the youngest golfer ever to qualify to play in the U.S. Women's Open. She turned professional in June 2010 at age 15. On September 18, 2011, Thompson set a then new record as the youngest-ever winner of an LPGA tournament, at age 16 years, seven months, and eight days, when she won the Navistar LPGA Classic. Three months later she became the second-youngest winner of a Ladies European Tour event, capturing the Dubai Ladies Masters by four strokes on December 17, 2011. She won her first major championship at the 2014 Kraft Nabisco Championship at the age of 19 years, 1 month and 27 days, making her the second youngest LPGA golfer to win a major.
Joanne Nicole Mills is an Australian golfer, and former player on the Ladies European Tour.
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 2013.
Julia Elisabeth Boland is an Australian professional golfer. She graduated to the LPGA Tour after finishing 8th in the 2012 Symetra Tour.
This article summarizes the highlights of professional and amateur golf in the year 2014.
Greg Norman Medal is awarded annually to best male or female professional Australian golfer on the world stage. The award was established in 2015 by the Professional Golfer's Association of Australia (PGA) with the support of the Australian Ladies Professional Golf (ALPG).
This article summarizes the highlights of professional and amateur golf in the year 2017.
This article summarizes the highlights of professional and amateur golf in the year 2019.
Céline Boutier is a French professional golfer.
Sarah Kemp is an Australian professional golfer. She has played on the LPGA Tour, Ladies European Tour (LET) and ALPG Tour.
Maja Sofia Stark is a Swedish professional golfer. She has six Ladies European Tour titles and earned LPGA Tour membership through her victory at the 2022 ISPS Handa World Invitational. As an amateur she was in contention at the 2020 and 2021 U.S. Women's Open, and after turning professional in August 2021 she won two tournaments in three starts on the Ladies European Tour.
The Players Series, titled as the Webex Players Series for sponsorship reasons, is a series of professional golf tournaments played in Australia with men and women competing in the same field, although they play from different tees. The series began in 2021. The tournaments are played as part of both the PGA Tour of Australasia and WPGA Tour of Australasia schedules.
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.
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