The king is dead, long live the king. Yesterday marked the end of the 2023-2024 season of the DP World Tour, and this Thursday the 2024-2025 season kicks off. Why wait? There is no respite. The setting is the Royal Queensland Golf Club in Brisbane, and the tournament in question is the BMW Australian PGA Championship. No respite, no rest, and no complacency. Yes, there is a long way to go until the season ends again next November in Dubai, but here everyone wants to get their homework done as soon as possible. For this reason, no fewer than seven Spaniards will be participating in this first tournament in the Antipodes.
In Australian lands, we will have Alfredo García Heredia, Iván Cantero, Manu Elvira, Rafa Cabrera Bello, Ángel Ayora, Joel Moscatel, and Sebastián García Rodríguez. Of those who were not in the Dubai Final and could have been in this tournament, only Pablo Larrazábal, Santi Tarrio, and Adri Arnaus are missing. Additionally, Borja Virto is currently the fourth reserve. It seems difficult for him to get in, but we will have to stay alert. In any case, he should know today; otherwise, he wouldn’t have time to travel and compete on the other side of the world.
As you know, of those seven Spaniards, Alfredo, Iván, and Manu retained full playing rights through the Race to Dubai, while Rafa Cabrera Bello enters through the European Tour’s historical earnings category, Ayora and Moscatel come from the Challenge Tour, and Sebas García Rodríguez through the category of those who couldn’t retain their card via the Race to Dubai but finished quite close to the cut. All of them will be looking to become the second Spaniard to win a DP World Tour tournament in Australia. The first and only one so far was Miguel Ángel Martín in 1997 at the Heiniken Classic, when he won by one stroke over Fred Couples.
In addition to the Spaniards, a good number of the best Australian players are present. The main absence is Adam Scott, who finished third this Sunday in the Dubai Final. Beyond him, there are Cameron Smith, Jason Day, Cam Davis, Min Woo Lee, Marc Leishman, and Lucas Herbert. Additionally, other notable names include Victor Perez, Cristóbal del Solar, the Brazilian Fred Biondi, and the Chinese Wenyi Ding, who will make his debut with the DP World Tour card after earning it through the Global Pathway Amateur Ranking.
