Australia struggles to stay relevant in PGA Tour schedule
The PGA Tour of Australasia has shrunk considerably since the halcyon days of a couple of decades ago when Japanese sponsorship money and the regular presence of home-grown superstar Norman combined to create a perfect storm that yielded a dozen or more world-class tournaments.
As the heavyweight US PGA Tour revamps its schedule and continues to expand internationally, it is becoming increasingly difficult for the world’s other tours to survive, let alone thrive.
Nowhere are the problems more acute than in Australia, a proud golfing nation that has produced some of the game’s greatest players, including this year’s Masters champion Adam Scott and former world number one Greg Norman.
The PGA Tour of Australasia has shrunk considerably since the halcyon days of a couple of decades ago when Japanese sponsorship money and the regular presence of home-grown superstar Norman combined to create a perfect storm that yielded a dozen or more world-class tournaments.
This year, the tour has dwindled to just four tournaments offering prize money of at least US$1 million (HK$7.78 million). That might not be too much of a problem if the country’s top players competed in all four, but this will not be the case.
Among the notable absentees will be Australian veteran Stuart Appleby, a nine-time winner on the PGA Tour who intends to skip his home circuit for the first time.
“I haven’t got any plans to play in Australia this year,” Appleby, 42, told Reuters. “It will be the first time I’ve aborted the whole schedule.