Another year of innovation on the European Tour gathers pace this week with the brand new ISPS HANDA World Super 6 Perth in Australia. We run you through the exciting new format and all the other essentials…
THE FORMAT
The ISPS HANDA World Super 6 Perth will combine 54 holes of traditional stroke play across the first three days with an exciting knockout match play format for the fourth and final round.
A regular cut will fall after 36 holes before the field is then further reduced to the top 24 players following 54 holes of regulation play, with any ties for 24th place being decided by a play-off. Those remaining players will then earn their places in the six-hole shootout.
Any matches tied after the six holes will be decided in a hole-by-hole play-off. The winner will then progress to the next round of the match play or, in the case of the final match, be crowned champion of the ISPS HANDA World Super 6 Perth.
REWIND
With its innovative format introduced this year, the ISPS HANDA World Super 6 Perth is officially an all-new tournament, but the former ISPS HANDA Perth International did take place on the same course from 2012-2014 as well as in 2016 with a different date.
The two most recent winners of that event are in the field this week, with South African Louis Oosthuizen arriving in Western Australia as the ‘de facto’ defending champion.
The 2010 Open Champion entered the final day three shots clear and, although he opened the door for multiple challengers with a bogey at the second hole, three birdies in six holes from the seventh saw him close out an eighth European Tour victory, even being afforded a bogey at the last.
Alexander Levy finished with a flourish 12 months ago, claiming runner-up spot courtesy of a final-round 66, while Jason Scrivener was the best of the home hopefuls in third place.
THE FIELD
Alex Noren is the highest-ranked player in the field this week as the World Number 11 makes his first appearance in Western Australia following a solid start to the 2017 season.
The Swede was a sensation in 2016, claiming four European Tour titles and moving into the top ten of the Official World Golf Ranking for the first time in his career. After a top 15 at the Abu Dhabi HSBC Championship was followed by a share of 21st position at the Commercial Bank Qatar Masters, he will surely be in confident mood in Perth.
Noren has a strong field to content with, however, including former Major Champion Oosthuizen and his fellow Lake Karrinyup winner, 2014 ISPS HANDA Perth International champion Thorbjørn Olesen. The 27 year old will be looking for further success Down Under, having won the World Cup of Golf with Søren Kjeldsen in Australia in 2016.
The Dane is joined by other winners from the 2016 season in Marcus Fraser, Wu Ashun, Nathan Holman, SSP Chawrasia and Shih-chang Chan, as well Sam Brazel, the winner of the UBS Hong Kong Open last December.
Other local favourites will include the reigning US Amateur Champion Curtis Luck, as he continues his preparations for the Masters Tournament, as well as Jason Scrivener (who finished in third place at Lake Karrinyup last year), Perth native Brett Rumford and many others.
THE COURSE
Regularly ranked among the top golf courses in Australia, Lake Karrinyup Country Club boasts a unique and memorable clubhouse which was constructed with washed limestone and hardwood jarrah timber-lined walls and sits atop the highest elevation point of the site on North Beach Road in the north-west suburbs of Perth.
The course is spread around the lake after which the club is named and, with its undulating terrain and tree-lined fairways, is very easy on the eye – especially if you are lucky enough to see a kangaroo or two…
The fairways are generally spacious and forgiving but the seaside winds can play a part and it will be by no means a walk in the park for the stars of the European Tour, Asian Tour and PGA Tour of Australasia this week.
Karrinyup’s most important feature is undoubtedly its tropical lushness and magnificent flora and fauna, underpinned with the eucalypts dotted around the towering trees. It is a course which feels natural to its surrounding environment, designed and created by its habitat as much as its architects Alex Russell, the original designer back in the 1920s, and Mike Clayton who made some revisions ten years ago.
DID YOU KNOW?
- The ISPS HANDA World Super 6 Perth will be the first of two new events on the 2017 European Tour International Schedule. The other is the Rocco Forte Open – Verdura – Sicily.
- For the first time in European Tour history an event will use both stroke play and match play to decide the champion. The first 36 holes will be comprised of 156 players, with a cut of the top 65 professionals and ties. A further cut after round three will see the field size reduced to 24. (A sudden-death play-off will take place if required to reach this number). The fourth and final round will be a six hole match play knockout format, with 24 players finally being reduced down to two, from which the winner will be decided.
- The first time Lake Karrinyup Country Club staged a European Tour event was the 2002 Johnnie Walker Classic. The course played host to that event in 2003 as well. From 2012-14 and in 2016 the ISPS HANDA Perth International was also staged here.
- This tournament will become the eighth different European Tour event to be played in Australia. The other seven were: the Heineken Classic (1996-2005), Johnnie Walker Classic (1997, 2002-03, 06, 09), Greg Norman Holden International (2000-01), WGC – Accenture Match Play Championship (2001), ANZ Championship (2002-04), Australian Masters (2007-09) and ISPS HANDA Perth International (2012-14 and 16).
- This will be the first of two events on the 2017 calendar to be tri-sanctioned by the European Tour, PGA Tour of Australasia and Asian Tours. The other is the Fiji International.
- Thorbjørn Olesen will hope for more success Down Under. He won the 2014 ISPS HANDA Perth International at Lake Karrinyup. He also partnered Søren Kjeldsen to claim Denmark’s first win in the World Cup of Golf in November 2016, at Kingston Heath Golf Club in Melbourne.
- History was made at Lake Karrinyup Country Club in the 2003 Johnnie Walker Classic where Ernie Els broke the European Tour record for the lowest winning 72 hole total in relation to par of 259 (-29). The other new mark established by the four-time Major Champion was the lowest first 54 holes in relation to par of 193 (-23). His 72 hole total of 259 was only one shot behind the lowest winning total in European Tour history.
- His fellow South African Major Champion, Retief Goosen also put his name in the European Tour record books in 2002 Johnnie Walker Classic at Lake Karrinyup. On his way to victory in 2002 he established the largest the largest 54 hole lead of 13 shots.
- Five different Australians have won European Tour events on home soil: Jarrod Moseley (1999 Heineken Classic), Lucas Parsons (2000 Greg Norman Holden International), Aaron Baddeley (2001 Greg Norman Holden International and 2008 Australian Masters), Craig Parry (2005 Heineken Classic) and Rod Pampling (2009 Australian Masters (played in November 2008).
