The Race to Dubai heads down under this week for the Australian PGA Championship. Take a look at five things to know before the golf swings into action.
Expect a play-off
Two of the last three Australian PGA Championships have been won in a play-off, and it was a couple of local favourites that hoisted the trophy in front of family and friends on the Gold Coast.
Last year Cameron Smith signed for a final round of 68, to force the play-off with fellow compatriot Jordan Zunic. When the pair went back down 18 on two occasions, Smith parred the first and second extra hole, while Zunic parred the opening hole before bogeying the second to see Smith clinch his first European Tour title.
In 2016, Nathan Holman claimed his maiden European Tour title when he beat Dylan Frittelli and Harold Varner III in a three-man play-off. Frittelli and Varner III made bogey on the first play-off hole, while Holman parred the hole to claim the title on home soil.
Back in the day
The first Australian PGA Championship took place in 1905 and was won by Scotland’s Dan Soutar. The event was originally played as a match play tournament with Soutar victorious on three successive occasions from 1905 to 1907, before lifting the trophy once again in 1910.
The event switched to a 72-hole stroke play format in 1964 and became co-sanctioned by the European Tour and PGA Tour of Australasia in 2015.
Aussie shootout
With over 80 Australians teeing it up at RACV Royal Pines Resorts, the home crowd will be hoping to cheer one of their players to victory with Cameron Smith and Marc Leishman expected to attract most of the attention.
Defending champion Smith will be looking to start his season in style once again, while Leishman, who clinched the CIMB Classic at the start of the 2019 PGA Tour campaign, will be aiming to maintain his impressive run of form.
Major winners
The Australian PGA Championship is a famous event, which has been won by Major Championship winners, including the late, great Seve Ballesteros, Ian Baker Finch, Wayne Grady, Kel Nagle, Greg Norman, Geoff Ogilvy, Gary Player, Adam Scott and Peter Thomson.
Nagle, the 1960 Open Championship winner, holds the record for the most victories at the Australian PGA Championship with six. Aussie duo Grady and Norman have lifted the trophy twice, while Player won the event when it was a match play format in 1957.
Aussie domination
Since the first edition of the Australian PGA Championship in 1905, there have been seven different nations represented by the winners. Australia has been represented 80 times by the victor, 11 times for Scotland, twice by America, and once for England, New Zealand, Spain and South Africa.
