The PGA of Australia believes it can secure some entertaining big-name internationals for this year’s tournament after sidestepping schoolies week on the Gold Coast and a direct clash with an Ashes Test at the Gabba later this year.
This year’s PGA Championship will be played for the first time at Royal Pines resort from November 7-10.
The new venue and date follow a split with the Coolum resort on the Sunshine Coast which had hosted the previous 11 championships until a falling out with new owner Clive Palmer.
It has been re-positioned perfectly to follow the HSBC Championship in Shanghai — the last World Golf Championship event of the year which brings some of the world’s best golfers to Australia’s doorstep — and the Australian Masters at Huntingdale the following week.
“From a field perspective, we think there’s a good prospect of getting the international guys coming down from having played China and tying it in with the Masters augurs well for attracting our Aussie stars playing back-to-back tournaments at home,” said PGA chief executive Brian Thorburn.
“We’ve avoided schoolies week for obvious reasons and we’ve also avoided the (Brisbane) Ashes Test which was another big factor against playing in December.
“The worst thing we could have done was go up against a Gabba Ashes Test, especially for viewership television-wise – that would be crazy.”
With the PGA Championship to be played in Melbourne Cup week, Thorburn said there would be a strong racing theme to the tournament.
He said tentative negotiations had already started with some players which would escalate during next month’s US Masters in Augusta.
While he was not in a position to reveal any names, he said public appeal would be as important as world rankings.