The DP World Tour remains in Australia and South Africa this week for two historic national opens, with the ISPS HANDA Australian Open and the Investec South African Open taking place. Here are your five things to know.
Innovative Australian Open makes DP World Tour debut
After a two-year absence, the ISPS HANDA Australian Open returns with its most inclusive format ever. This year’s men’s edition – co-sanctioned by the DP World Tour and the ISPS HANDA PGA Tour of Australasia – will see the event taking place at the same time as the ISPS HANDA Australian Women’s Open and the Australian All Abilities Championship. First played in 1904, this is the first time that the Open has been played in its new format with men, women and All Abilities players competing together on the same courses at the same time. The historic mixed-gender Open is being held at Victoria and Kingston Heath Golf Clubs, with stellar fields assembled to compete for equal prize money of 1.7 million Australian dollars.
Superstar siblings set to tee it up in Victoria
Among the headline acts will be Minjee and Min Woo Lee as they make it a family affair in their home country. World Number Four Minjee, who won her second Major Championship earlier this year, has never won the Women’s Australian Open despite being in contention on numerous occasions in eight attempts, with a best finish of third at Royal Adelaide in 2017. Two-time DP World Tour winner Min Woo comes into the event on the back of a top-five finish in the season opening Fortinet Australian PGA Championship and will hope playing again in front of home fans will inspire him to another strong showing. Also teeing it up will be this year’s Open Champion Cameron Smith, Major winners Adam Scott, Karrie Webb and Ashleigh Buhai, while Ryan Fox will hope to end a hugely successful 2022 in style after missing the cut last week at Royal Queensland Golf Club following a hectic journey from the DP World Tour Championship in Dubai.
G4D Tour season gets under way
The second season of the G4D Tour gets under way this week with the Australian All Abilities Championship @ the ISPS HANDA Australian Open taking place from Friday to Sunday at Victoria Golf Club. Among the field is World Number One Kipp Popert, who was a four-time winner on the Tour's inaugural season. Brendan Lawlor – who was the first All Abilities player to compete in a DP World Tour event – and Juan Postigo Arce also taking part along with Mike Browne, a regular visitor to Australia for All Abilities golf, and fellow G4D Tour winner Tommaso Perrino. The event was first held in 2018 at The Lakes in Sydney, before it moved to The Australian a year later, on each occasion alongside the men’s Open. The third edition features seven of the world’s top ten, including two-time winner Johan Kammerstad. Denmark’s Mette Wegge Lynggaard makes it a mixed-gender field, while the highest-ranked Australian is 61-year-old professional Geoff Nicholas, who qualified for the 2019 Senior Open Championship.
Sunshine Tour partnership
The Investec South African is the second of three consecutive events being held in the country. Like last week’s Joburg Open, next week’s Alfred Dunhill Championship and next month’s AfrAsia Bank Mauritius Open it is co-sanctioned with the Sunshine Tour. The growth of South African events has been helped by the strategic alliance between the DP World Tour and Sunshine Tour, which was launched in July 2021. Due to the emergence of a Covid-19 variant in South Africa, the event was solely sanctioned by the South African-based tour last year. Daniel van Tonder is the defending champion after he pipped countryman Oliver Bekker by one shot with a final-round 65. Five of the last seven editions have been won by South Africans, with Christiaan Bezuidenhout the last DP World Tour winner of the event in 2020.
Bradbury goes again in Joburg
Fresh from claiming his maiden DP World Tour title in just his third start at the Joburg Open, England’s Dan Bradbury will be hoping to write more headlines. He came into the week with no status on any tour but made the most of a sponsor’s invite at Houghton Golf Club, clinching a brilliant three-shot win as the 2023 season got off to a memorable start. After his wire-to-wire success at the weekend, the 23-year-old joked Johannesburg was his new favourite city. With a two-year exemption on the DP World Tour and a spot into next year’s Open Championship at Royal Liverpool secured, the Florida State University graduate will be playing with a great degree of confidence. He now takes his place in a strong field alongside fellow DP World Tour winners including Dean Burmester, Sean Crocker and Thriston Lawrence, who was named as last season’s Sir Henry Cotton Rookie of the Year.
