– In a while, at nine tonight, the 2024-25 season of the DP World Tour kicks off. It gets underway with the BMW Australian PGA Championship, the first of two consecutive stops the European circuit will make in the Spanish Antipodes.
– A total of seven Spaniards are present in the tournament: Sebastián García Rodríguez, Rafa Cabrera Bello, Manu Elvira, Iván Cantero, Alfredo García Heredia, Joel Moscatel, and Ángel Ayora. Moscatel and Cabrera Bello finished last year in seventh place.
– Min Woo Lee is the defending champion. Last year, he donned a chef’s hat when he won the tournament, and since then, he has been known that way on the courses. It has become his trademark.
– The week is marked by rain in terms of weather. Water is expected throughout the week and some wind in the afternoon. However, the greens remain firm despite the moisture. All this suggests we will see a tournament with results similar to last year. It’s true that Min Woo Lee won with -20, but second place was -17, and the top 10 was reached with -11. Four under par a day would be a cannon for anyone. The greens are very undulating. It’s the great defence of a course that is not very long.
– The winner will lift a trophy called the Joe Kirkwood Cup, in memory of the golfer who put Australian golf on the map. He won 13 tournaments on the PGA Tour and achieved top 10 finishes in the PGA, US Open, and British. He played in the third Masters in history. In his first tournament in England, he defeated Harry Vardon and gained great popularity.
– The course is the Royal Queensland Golf Club, inaugurated in 1920, although the current design is by Mike Clayton in 2007.
– In addition to opening the DP World Tour season, it will also be the first tournament of the Opening Swing, the first of the mini-tours into which the DP World Tour calendar is divided for the second consecutive year. One of the attractions this week, as well as the upcoming ones until Mauritius, is that the best golfer of this initial tour who is not qualified for the Hero Dubai Desert Classic will receive a spot for that first Rolex Series. As for the Spaniards, this prize would be very beneficial for Sebas García, Moscatel, or Ayora, who do not have their place secured in the desert classic.
– David Micheluzzi will be responsible for taking the first shot of the season on the 1st tee.
– Friday of the tournament will be dedicated to the memory of golfer Jarrod Lyle, who tragically passed away at the age of 36 from leukaemia. In his honour, Yellow Day is celebrated.
