Current season, competition or edition: 2024–25 PGA Tour of Australasia | |
| Formerly | PGA Tour of Australia |
|---|---|
| Sport | Golf |
| Founded | 1973 (renamed PGA Tour of Australasia in 1991) |
| Countries | Based in Australia and New Zealand[a] |
| Most titles | Order of Merit titles: Greg Norman (6) |
| TV partner(s) | Nine Network (Australia) Fox Sports (Australia) Sky Sport (New Zealand) TV3 (New Zealand) |
| Related competitions | Von Nida Tour |
| Official website | https://www.pga.org.au/ |
The PGA Tour of Australasia, currently titled as the Challenger PGA Tour of Australasia for sponsorship reasons, is a professional golf tour for men, owned and operated by the PGA of Australia.[1] 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.[2] 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.[3]
Most of the leading players on the tour are Australian, with a smaller domestic contingent from New Zealand, but players from many other countries all over the world also participate. The very best Australasian players devote most of their time to the PGA Tour or the European Tour, typically returning home for events after the European and North American seasons end in mid-November, if they choose to play tournaments at home. Therefore, the Australasian Tour is a feeder for the larger tours. Some of the leading events are co-sanctioned by the European Tour to encourage higher ranked players to enter and to attract more sponsorship. Players with a background on the tour who have reached the world top 20 since the turn of the Millennium include Steve Elkington and Adam Scott. The leading tournaments on the tour include the Australian Open, the Australian PGA Championship, the Australian Masters and the New Zealand Open.
In November 2005 it was reported by the BBC that the tour was going through difficult times, with the schedule for the 2005/06 summer season reduced to six events, three of them co-sponsored by other tours. The Heineken Classic, which was the richest event in Australasia in 2005, was cancelled in 2006 due to the withdrawal of the sponsor. One factor in the tour's problems is the rise of the nearby Asian Tour. Tour chairman Wayne Grady, and player Mark Hensby both accused Australia's biggest golf icon Greg Norman, who is a US resident, of not doing enough to support the tour. Norman dismissed their comments.[4]
To earn a PGA Tour of Australasia card, one must place in the top 40 of the tour's qualifying school. To retain a Tour card, a golfer must finish in the top 60 of the Order of Merit. Golfers ranked 61st–75th are given conditional status and those ranked 61st to 100th are given entry to the final stage of Q School. Those outside the top 100 lose their Tour cards unless exempt by other means, such as top twenty on the career money list.
A win earns a two-year exemption for most events. Events considered Tier 1 are given three-year exemptions. Five-year exemptions are given to Order of Merit winners and the tour's three largest events (Australian PGA Championship, Australian Open, and Australian Masters). Entry to The Open Championship is given to the Order of Merit winner and the top three non-exempt players from the Australian Open.
The top three players on the Order of Merit at the end of the season earn status to play on the European Tour for the following season.[5]
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- ^ "About the Professional Golfers Association of Australia". PGA of Australia. Retrieved 18 February 2020.
- ^ "Tournament part of major golf circuit". The Bananacoast Opinion. New South Wales, Australia. 8 October 1974. p. 3. Retrieved 18 February 2020 – via Trove.
- ^ Moloney, Brendan (26 September 1991). "Rich golf circuit starts an exodus to Asia". The Age. Melbourne, Victoria, Australia. p. 29 – via Newspapers.com.
- ^ "Norman shock at Hensby criticism". BBC Sport. 24 November 2005. Retrieved 29 October 2008.
- ^ "DP World Tour and ISPS Handa PGA Tour of Australasia announce extension to Strategic Alliance". European Tour. 12 January 2022. Retrieved 22 February 2023.