Golf Australia have announced a historic move with the men’s Australian Open to partner with the PGA Tour for the first time.
The national open will continue to be co-sanctioned between the DP World Tour and the PGA Tour of Australasia, while the PGA Tour partnership will provide a significant boost in prize money.
FOX SPORTS, available on Kayo Sports, is streaming The 2026 PGA Tour LIVE & Exclusive | New to Kayo? Join now and get your first month for just $1.
Last year’s tournament at Royal Melbourne was played in front of bumper crowds for a total prize purse of A$2 million.
By comparison, a standard PGA Tour event has players compete for a prize pool of US$8-9m, while signature events are for US$20m.
It is yet to be confirmed what future prize purses will be, but the new deal is set to help bridge the gap.
Prize money has been a problem in attracting top talent to travel down under – back-to-back Masters champion Rory McIlroy’s presence at Royal Melbourne and his upcoming return to Melbourne at Kingston Heath this December was agreed via a separate appearance fee.
The boost will not impact this year’s tournament, however, with the agreement in place for three years from 2027 to 2029.
The timing of that is significant as the landscape of men’s professional golf changes.
Recent reports suggested that LIV Golf had tried to partner with the Australian Open and other national opens around the globe.
But the PGA Tour have also been exploring a more condensed schedule, which would allow for its stars to play outside of the United States during the southern hemisphere summer.
The first half of next year’s PGA Tour schedule is locked in to start in January, but the US-based tour is reportedly exploring a new system for 2028 and beyond.
There had been reports of shortening the season to a February to September window before last month PGA Tour CEO Brian Rolapp reportedly showed players a two-tier model.
It would create a situation where the four majors, three majors and 16 Tour events would fall into the first tier.
While, the second tier would have 20 other tournaments.
This partnership between Golf Australia and the PGA Tour may be the first domino to fall in that new structure that could potentially free up the game’s biggest names.
The PGA Tour’s senior vice president, international, Christian Hardy, said that the agreement will give PGA Tour players the opportunity to compete in the Australian Open more easily.
“We are thrilled with this agreement between our Strategic Alliance partners, the DP World Tour and the Capital.com Australian Open,” Hardy said in a statement.
“The Capital.com Australian Open remains one of the most prestigious events in global golf, and our members have long valued the opportunity to compete in Australia. We look forward to continuing to build on this relationship in the years ahead.”
READ MORE
‘Significant’ Australian Open boost after LIV raid plan with fresh deal reportedly signed
Historic shift for Australian Open as $45m LIV Adelaide fear sparks huge coup
Meanwhile, the DP World Tour’s chief tournament and operations officer, Ben Cowen, emphasised the important of having historic national opens under their banner.
“We are delighted at today’s announcement which confirms that the Capital.com Australian Open will continue to feature on our schedule,” Cowen said in a statement.
“Since our Tour’s inception over 50 years ago, National Opens have been, and will continue to be, critical for us; the fact we currently sanction 17 in total around the world merely emphasises the point that we are Golf’s Global Tour.
“To have a National Open of the stature of the Capital.com Australian Open amongst that number and to have it commit to us for another three years is great news, and further illustrates the strength of the partnership we enjoy with Golf Australia and the PGA Challenger Tour of Australasia.
“Today’s news also reinforces the Strategic Alliance we enjoy with the PGA TOUR and the opportunity to work with them alongside the Australian organisations to help grow the stature of this tournament globally, is an exciting one.”
McIlroy famously said in a press conference that the Australian Open could be the fifth major before he committed to come down under last year.
Golf Australia CEO James Sutherland stopped short of going that far, but the organisation has been working to restore the tournament to its former glory in recent years.
The bumper crowds at Royal Melbourne were seen as a throwback to Australian golf’s halcyon days by many within the sport.
Sutherland is hopeful that this deal will help recreate those scenes in the coming years, wherever the tournament may be played next year as now deal is in place as well as at the new North Adelaide Golf Course.
The public facility, which was redeveloped to be the future host of LIV Adelaide, will host three Australian Opens from 2028 to 2034.
“The Australian Open has a proud history going back to 1904 and is recognised globally as one of the great national championships of world golf,” Sutherland said in a statement.
“Our ambition is clear. We want the men’s Capital.com Australian Open to be recognised among the top 10 most prestigious golf tournaments globally, and everything we are doing for the event flows from that ambition.
“Getting the Australian Open right is about securing the total mix. That means world-class venues, strong host-state partnerships, commercial partners, sanctioning partners, broadcast reach, a great fan experience and the ability to attract strong international fields.
“This agreement with the PGA TOUR, DP World Tour and the Challenger PGA Tour of Australasia strengthens the global relevance of the championship and gives us another important platform to keep growing the event year-on-year.
“Together with our partnerships with Victoria, South Australia, Capital.com, our host venues and our other commercial partners, this puts us in the best possible position to realise our ambition of making the men’s Australian Open one of the world’s great golf events.”
#Adessonews seleziona nella rete articoli di particolare interesse.
Se vuoi leggere l’articolo completo clicca sul seguente link
Source link
