NEWS • GEAR • OPINION • TRAVEL • LIFESTYLE • • HOLIDAYS • INDUSTRY ISSUE 236 // JUNE 2025 WWW.INSIDEGOLF.COM.AU US OPEN CAN BRYSON GO BACK-TO-BACK? AUSTRALIA’S M O S T - R E A D GOLF MAGAZINE TRAVEL >GOLFING GEMS ON THE SUNSHINE COAST > VIETNAM > CAMBODIA > SCOTLAND EQUIPMENT WE TRIED IT >MIZUNO IRONS RORY RETURNS TO THE AUSSIE OPEN RITCHIE SMITH AUSTRALIAN GOLFING GURU CLUB OF THE MONTH MAROOCHY RIVER GREG CHALMERS TAKING ‘MAXIMUM CHANCES’ FOR AUTISM AWARENESS OSSIE MOORE A LEGEND CALLS TIME INSTRUCTION >NICK O’HERN >PLUS TAKE AWAY TIPS >THE IMPACT ZONE 2026 US Masters Tour Stay within walking distance of Augusta National and soak up the excitement all week! Fully escorted tour with hospitality nearby Hotel and private housing options available Options to add on golf in Augusta, Pinehurst, Pebble Beach, Las Vegas & more! P (02) 9555 5311 | E info@thegolftravelagency.com.au Contact us now for details on our Packages! www.thegolftravelagency.com.au FIND OUT MORE
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June 2025 www.insidegolf.com.au THE FIRST TEE 5 Rory is headed for Royal IN one fell swoop, Golf Australia has been able to resurrect our golfing jewel in the crown – the Australian Open. And at Royal Melbourne of all places. That’s because Rory McIlroy has been lured to the event to be played from December 4-7. And the Northern Irishman will play at Kingston Heath next year too. We shudder to think how much the Victorian government is stumping up to get McIroy here. But $1.5 million for each appearance would be a conservative estimate. And we’ll stick our necks out and say that while Rory does not have the charisma of a Tiger Woods, he will still drag golf fans through the gates at RM and the Heath. It is just brilliant for golf around the country that the national Open is back on everyone’s radar. Genuine golf fans will swell the galleries to what they used to be and that is great for the game. By the way, we doff our lids to the game’s governing body, Golf Australia, for trying something different by combining the men’s, women’ s and all abilities events for the last three years to form the Australian Open. It wasn’t the success they had hoped for but all power to them for trying something different. Graham Marsh, now 81 and living back in Melbourne, is a big Rory fan. “I’ve always loved Rory. In fact, when he came on the scene and the way he performed at such a young age, I thought he was going to be the one to challenge Tiger’s record. “I still love how he goes about it and the way he carries himself. I was delighted when he won the Masters, mind you he nearly did his best to lose it.” (We’ll hear more from Marsh, an Australian golfing legend, in our July edition). There’s absolutely no doubt McIlroy will breathe new life into the Open. Let’s hope the organisers can lure Australia’s best back here to lay down the gauntlet and test the 35-year-old World No 2 over the fabled RM composite course. McIlroy’s big fee may be a thorny issue for some Australian players. It has ever been thus. As far back as 1978, during a practice round before an Australian Open, Jack Newton was bleating to Jack Nicklaus about the inequity of overseas players being paid appearance money while the Australians came home to play the tournament for free. (Good luck with the latest group of ‘cashed-ups’ being prepared to do that.) Michael Davis michael.davis@insidegolf.com.au PUBLISHER: Sam Arthur | sam@insidegolf.com.au Outdoor Sports Publishing Pty Ltd ACN 113 836 301 ABN 30 043 104 919 PO BOX 437, Miami, QLD 4220 EDITORIAL: Editor: Rob Willis | rob@insidegolf.com.au Editor-At-Large: David Newbery david@insidegolf.com.au NSW/ACT Journalist: Michael Court michael@insidegolf.com.au VIC/TAS Journalist: Michael Davis michael.davis@insidegolf.com.au QLD Journalist: Peter Owen peter.owen@outlook.com.au Design & Layout: Stacey Broomhead CONTRIBUTORS: Larry Canning, Tony Webeck, Michael Cooney, Andrew Crockett www.insidegolf.com.au Inside Golf publishes opinion from a wide range of perspectives in the hope of promoting constructive debate about consequential questions. 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AUSTRALIA’S MOST-READ GOLF MAGAZINE Cover photos: Bryson DeChambeau Photo courtesy USGA But back then, the Golden Bear was so moved by Newton’s case that he tossed his $50,000 fee into the tournament prize purse. Mind you, Nicklaus recouped his outlay, and then some, when he lifted one of his many Stonehaven cups a few days later. While RM’s history is littered with fabulous international events, the Australian Open has not been played there since 1991. That’s when a young Wayne Riley holed a putt the length of a cricket pitch across the 72nd green to deny a callow youth by the name of Robert Allenby. This will be McIlroy’s first Australian Open appearance in 11 years, after he won the Stonehaven in 2013 in a thrilling duel at Royal Sydney with Adam Scott, then returned to try to defend it in 2014. McIlroy is a big fan of the Melbourne sandbelt courses and an advocate of the Australian Open. He believes the event “should almost be the fifth major”, as it was considered when Nicklaus, Gary Player, Arnold Palmer and Greg Norman won the event during the last century. “I’m proud to be committing to the Australian Open for the next two years, especially with it being played on the worldclass Melbourne sandbelt, somewhere I’ve always wanted to play professionally” McIlroy said. “Melbourne is known for being one of the world’s great sporting cities and I can’t wait to be part of that atmosphere and soak in everything it has to offer, both on and off the course.” Golf Australia CEO James Sutherland said the commitment from the Victorian Government and McIlroy will help elevate the men’s Australian Open to new heights. Gavin Kirkman, CEO of the PGA of Australia, said the move to a men’s event in its own right, and the confirmation of McIlroy, “will elevate the men’s Australian Open to one of the most anticipated tournaments on the global golf calendar in 2025.” We can’t wait. Footnote: Dates for this year’s Women’s and All Abilities Australian Open’s are yet to be announced. ULTRALITE JMX UltraLite™ BIGGER IS BETTER 2x major winner bryson dechambeau JMX UltraLite 2x major winner bryson dechambeau Michael Davis enjoyed a long and illustrious career as a sporting journalist with The Australian and Melbourne’s Herald Sun newspaper. In his role as a golf writer, he was a regular at Australia’s most significant tournaments, including numerous Australian Open championships. Get in touch If you have an opinion on this or any other topic in the magazine, send your letter to the editor to rob@insidegolf.com.au and you’ll be in the running to win a gripping prize.
June 2025 www.insidegolf.com.au 6 Rory confirmed ITS official, Rory McIlroy is heading down under to compete in the Australian Open for the next two years. As detailed on our Page 5 editorial written by Michael Davis, the US Masters champion will tee it up at Royal Melbourne from December 4-7, before also returning in 2026 at a venue yet to be determined but rumored to be Kingston Heath. The 2013 Australian Open champion, it will be McIlroy’s first appearance in Australia since he returned to defend his title in 2014. After completing golf’s Grand Slam by winning at Augusta in extraordinary circumstances, McIlroy struggled at the US PGA Championship at Quail Hollow, but as is the case at most tournaments he contests, was likely to be one of the favourites for the US Open, then also when the Open Championship is played in his homeland at Royal Portrush in July. Tickets are now available for the 2025 Australian Open, with course passes starting from just $36 and a range of hospitality options on offer. Go to the ticketing link at www.golf.org.au/ ausopen/tickets to purchase or to find out more. INSIDE NEWS BakerFinch biography NOT only is he one of the good guys of Australian golf, Ian Baker-Finch also boasts an impressive golfing resume, one that includes a major championship victory, winning the 1991 Open Championship as the highlight alongside 17 professional wins around the world. There were also some down times along the way, with Baker-Finch forced to walk away from competitive golf before embarking on what has been a successful 25-year career as a television analyst in the US. In the first book written on the popular Queenslander, author Geoff Saunders has produced an authorised biography, Ian Baker-Finch: To Hell and Back, a memoir detailing Baker-Finch’s days as a young pro on the Troppo Tour, to documenting and celebrating the Open Championship triumph, while examining the golfing demons which resulted in his premature retirement from competitive golf. And much more. And you could own a copy of To Hell and Back, provided by publisher Hardie Grant Books for Inside Golf to present to five readers who will receive a copy of the book. Email ed@ insidegolf.com.au – including an email and mailing address to go into the draw to win. Also see our book review on page 28 of this edition of Inside Golf. Rory McIlroy is a confirmed starter at the 2025 Australian Open at Royal Melbourne. Go low, or go home THE modern-day player is talented and well prepared, hits the ball a long way and is capable of low scoring irrespective of the course or the set up. However, a nine-under par cut brings into question the quality of the tournament venue, as was the case at a recent Korn Ferry Tour event. The Korn Ferry Tour is made up of players who have been on the PGA TOUR and after failing to retain status have bounced back to the secondary Tour, or up and comers looking to make the next step. No question they are good, but that said, a cut with 71 players nineunder par or better after 36-holes, is somewhat difficult to comprehend. The Veritex Bank Championship at the Texas Rangers Golf Club in Arlington, Texas, is a course that plays to a distance of 7,010 yards (approx. 6,400 metres) from the back tees, with a par of 72. Par was obviously irrelevant for the majority of the field, with two rounds of 60 during the tournament, a handful of 61’s also recorded and a scoring average for the week of 66.922. It would come as no surprise that number is the lowest in Korn Ferry Tour history. For the record, American Johnny Keefer, with rounds of 63-61-66-64, for a 30-under par total, emerged the winner, three-shots clear of a group of five players on 27-under. Keefer made 31 birdies and two eagles throughout the week. INSIDE NEWS IN THIS ISSUE AMATEUR GOLF 20 CLUB NEWS 30 LETTERS BUNKER-TOBUNKER SUNSHINE COAST FEATURE 40 39 53 PRO NEWS 7 INDUSTRY NEWS 25 TRAVEL 46 SPECIAL FEATURE 42 65 News, views and observations from around the golfing world With Inside Golf Editor Rob Willis rob@insidegolf.com.au 63 INSTRUCTION DEMO DAYS NEW GEAR 62 FASHION ON THE FAIRWAY 60 19TH HOLE 66 THE impressive 2025 form of Chilean Joaquin Niemann continued when he recorded his third victory of the current season at the recent LIV Golf Mexico City event. The win saw Niemann consolidate his position on top of the LIV Golf rankings, while also securing an exemption into the upcoming US Open, awarded to the mid-season leader of the 2025 LIV points list. It was the fifth title on the LIV Golf Tour for Niemann, who began the final round trailing leader Bryson DeChambeau by three, before shooting a last day 6-under par 65 for a 54-hole total of 16-under par. DeChambeau tied for second, alongside Aussie Lucas Herbert who closed with a sizzling 10-under par 61 on Sunday at the Club de Golf Chapultepec course Mexico City, for what was his best individual result since joining LIV at the beginning of the 2024 season. His win in Mexico City was the third for Joaquin Niemann on the LIV Golf Tour in 2025. GOLF DIRECTORY 68 VICTORIAN Lucas Herbert backed up from a recent second placing on the LIV Golf Tour to score an impressive win in the US$3 International Series Japan event on the Asian Tour. The 29-year-old Herbert closed with a seven-under-par 64, for a 20-under par total at the tournament played at the Caledonian Golf Club in Chiba to win by five shots. Herbert was five behind the leader with three holes to play in the third round, before two eagles in the last three holes, then a 64 on Sunday, a round which included seven birdies and an eagle on the 18th, saw him secure his first Asian Tour title. Japan’s Yuta Sugiura and South Korean Younghan Song tied for second. Coming into the event in Japan Herbert had three top-10s on LIV Golf, and was fifth on the tour’s point standings at time of Inside Golf going to print. Lucas Herbert, a runner-up on the LIV Tour, then a winner of the International Series Japan event. Herbert wins in Japan WIN Five for Niemann
June 2025 www.insidegolf.com.au PRO NEWS 7 Poise and precision, Scheffler a three-time major champion FOLLOWING a win at Quali Hollow, his third major championship success, in the space of three years and three months Scottie Scheffler has 15 PGA Tour victories, included amongst them two US Masters titles and now a PGA championship. And at just 28 years of age, Scheffler may just be getting started. Beginning the final day three shots clear of the field after a spectacular finish to his third round in playing the final five holes five-under par, Scheffler was challenged, with Jon Rahm joining him at the top of the leaderboard as the players made their way to the back nine on Sunday. However, in the final washup the world number one showed his class and composure to runout a comfortable winner of the 107th PGA Championship. PGA CHAMPIONSHIP A soft outer feel with an engineered interior for a grip built for comfort without sacrificing control. Scottie Scheffler, winner of the Wanamaker Trophy as the 2025 US PGA champion. Smylie shows he can cut it, Davis, Scotty tied as top Aussies IN his first appearance in a major championship on US soil, Elvis Smylie was successful in making the 36-hole cut, before finding the going a little bit tougher on the weekend. The young Queenslander would eventual finish 10-over and in a tie for 72nd at the US PGA Championship, with his next major start to now come at the Open Championship in Ireland in July. Of the other Australians to compete at Quail Hollow, Sydneysider Cam Davis who started strongly with a five-under 66 on Thursday, and Adam Scott in his 95th consecutive major championship start, tied for 19th, the pair shooting tournament totals of twounder par. While Scott, Davis and Smylie progressed to the weekend after the cut fell at one-over, Min Woo Lee (+4), Jason Day (+6), Cameron Smith (+7) and Karl Vilips (+11) failed to progress. Only Smith, courtesy of his 2022 Open Championship win and Scott due to his world ranking and the category exempting those players who qualified for the 2024 FedEx Cup finale, were in the field for the US Open at Oakmont in Pennsylvania when Inside Golf went to print. A number of other Australians will attempt to play their way into the US Open through Final qualifying events held at multiple sites. It’s a long ‘one’ for Si Woo Kim at the PGA Championship KOREAN Si Woo Kim enjoyed a solid tournament at Quail Hollow, however there was a significant highlight for the 29-year-old who delivered one of the most exciting moments of PGA Championship week. Playing the sixth hole during the second round (his 15th hole of the day) Kim made a hole-in-one on the 252-yard par-three. While a special shot, what made it more so was the fact that it was the longest ace carded in major championship history, beating his own record after previously making the longest ‘major’ hole-in-one, that coming on the 238-yard, par-three 17th at Royal Troon at the 2024 Open Championship. Kim’s 72-hole score of four-under at the PGA Championship saw him finish in a tie for eighth. Korean Si Woo Kim. Elvis Smylie made the 36-hole cut at his first appearance in a major championship on US soil. Scheffler closed with an even-par 71, for an 11-under par total, five shots clear of a trio of Americans in Bryson DeChambeau, Harris English and Davis Riley. Rahm would stumble late to finish four-under and in a tie for eighth, while Rory McIlory, who following his win at Augusta in April arrived at Quail Hollow as a red-hot favourite, was back in the pack on three-over and in a tie for 47th. The victory came just two weeks after Scheffler had lapped the field near his hometown of Dallas, Texas in winning the CJ Cup Byron Nelson by eight shots. While he has a long way to go to be in the conversation when comparing him to some of the game’s greats, Scheffler is certainly trending in the right direction, his PGA Championship victory making him the third youngest in the last 80 years – after Jack Nicklaus and Tiger Woods – to have three major titles to his credit.
June 2025 www.insidegolf.com.au PRO NEWS 8 Can Bryson go back-to-back? IT was a memorable victory at Pinehurst in 2024, with Bryson DeChambeau outlasting Rory McIlroy in a last round shootout to secure a second US Open title. That win came four years on from his first US Open triumph in 2020, with DeChambeau showing a liking for what is traditionally golf’s most demanding course set up. Now 12 months on from his second national open victory, and with a couple of his high-profile rivals in form after taking out the first two major championships of 2025, the question is, can Bryson go back-to-back at the upcoming US Open? On recent form, many will agree it is a distinct possibility, with DeChambeau threatening for a time over the final two rounds of the PGA Championship, before finishing as the runner up, coming after playing alongside McIlroy in the last group on Sunday at the US Masters in April. And in between the two major championship events, DeChambeau claimed an impressive win on the LIV Golf Tour in South Korea. In a last day duel with Charles Howell, DeChambeau countered his Crushers GC teammate’s nine-under par 63 with a 66 of his own to win by two shots. Prior to that at his previous two LIV events DeChambeau had been in winning positions, leading after 36-holes on both occasions before being run down by Joaquin Niemann in Mexico City and by Aussie Marc Leishman in Miami. While the two US Open wins on DeChambeau’s resume is impressive and will give him confidence, so too will his tie for 15th as a 21-year-old rookie professional when the tournament was last played at Oakmont back in 2016. However, while DeChambeau will arrive at the 2025 staging of the US Open as one of the favourites, the challengers are lining up. McIlroy will be looking for some sort of redemption after his heartbreaking US Open loss last year, Scottie Scheffler now has three major titles to his credit and is a player to beat every time he tees it up, while Jon Rahm is a class performer who bobbed up at the PGA and wouldn’t surprise were he to win at Oakmont. Throw in Niemann, the standout player on the LIV Tour over the past two years, Xander Schauffele, a twotime major champion in 2024, along with the young guns including Ludvig Aberg, and the 2025 US Open, bringing the best players together, promises to be another enthralling contest. Scott’s major streak continues – but now there’s work to be done WHILE the ramifications may not be felt until next year, following a late collapse at the PGA Championship 44-yearold Adam Scott will have some work to do should he hope to continue his remarkable streak of consecutive appearances in the major championships. Scott had climbed the leaderboard at Quail Hollow in Charlotte in the final round, and at six-under playing the short 14th hole, a score which would finish second, was every chance of finishing amongst the leaders. What followed was a bogey at 14, another at 17, then a double bogey six at the par four 18th and Scott slipped to a tie for 19th, outside the top 15 who earn an automatic exemption into the field for the 2026 PGA Championship. As a result of his late round struggles, Scott will now have to earn a place in next year’s event by other means, for what would potentially be his 99th consecutive appearance at a major, the longest sequence among active players. The PGA Championship was his 95th major in a row, with his unbroken 24-year sequence, which began at the 2001 Open Championship, almost double that of Jordan Spieth, who with 49 appearances has the next-longest run among active players. The streak is second only to Jack Nicklaus who played 146 majors without missing one between 1962 and 1998. Scott, who will play the upcoming US Open, then the Open Championship at Portrush, before as a former champion the US Masters next April, could guarantee a start at the 2026 PGA by winning another PGA TOUR event, or by finishing in the top70 on the season-long PGA TOUR FedEx Cup rankings. 2025 US OPEN | OAKMONT, PENNSYLVANIA | JUNE 14-17 In strong form following a recent LIV win in Korea, Bryson DeChambeau will now look to defend his US Open title when the event gets underway at Oakmont on June 14. The US Open will be Adam Scott’s 96th consecutive appearance in a major championship.
June 2025 www.insidegolf.com.au PRO NEWS 9 The Shark and Fuzzy’s mock surrender DID gamesmanship lead to Greg Norman’s first major heartbreak loss at the 1984 US Open? It could have been a factor, according to Norman’s former coach Charlie Earp. Charlie was on the Shark’s bag the year American Fuzzy Zoeller tormented the Australian during the 18-hole playoff showdown. Some time ago, Charlie kindly rekindled the memories of the 1984 US Open at Winged Foot in New York. Charlie, how did you come to be on Greg’s bag at the US Open in 1984? He always wanted me to caddie for him in a tournament and it happened to be a US Open at Winged Foot. On the first day, I was a bit jumpy because we were playing with Jack Nicklaus. We were walking down the fairway and Jack said, ‘Isn’t it good to get the first one (tee shot) out of the road’. Fast forward to the 72nd hole. There was some drama, wasn’t there? Yes, but before we go there, we have to go back to the 16th. We cut one from the tee behind a tree and Greg had to chip out. Of course, everyone was with Fuzzy but a few Yank kids came along and said, ‘we’re with you two’. There wasn’t anyone on the right-hand side of the fairway – they were all on the left with Fuzzy. Well, Greg chipped out, hit a seven-iron to six feet and canned the putt. Then on the 17th, he knocked in another good putt for a par. David Newbery david@insidegolf.com.au US OPEN FLASHBACK On 18 (72nd), he hit a good drive and we had a little talk about what he was going to do. He decided to hit a six-iron. I watched his six-iron shot and thought the way we’re going this could hit the grandstand and might bounce on the green. I knew it was going to go right because he was too tight through the ball. Anyway, suddenly this guy jumped up and grabbed the ball when it hit him and it bounced down into the long grass. He didn’t have a good lie and chunked it out across the green to about 45 feet. As we walked across he said, ‘see that spot there – I’ve got to hit it straight over that’. Then he told me to bugger off. Well, he hit it straight over the top of that spot and sank the putt for par. Was that when Zoeller waved a white towel in mock surrender? Fuzzy was a hole behind and thought Greg’s putt was for birdie and that’s when he pulled out the white towel. When Fuzzy knocked his on the green I can remember Laura [Greg’s wife at the time] saying to me, ‘what can happen?’ I said ‘only three things: he can one-putt to win, two putt to be in a playoff or three putt and Greg wins’. He two putted and got in the playoff. Tell us about the 18-hole playoff. Before the playoff, Fuzzy gave Greg a toy telephone and told him to ring his mother. He said ‘you’re going to get a thrashing, you know that’. They play the mental games. Graham, Ogilvy fly Aussie flag ONLY two Australians have won the US Open – David Graham in 1981 and Geoff Ogilvy in 2006. Five Aussies have finished runner-up. Greg Norman lost the playoff in 1984 and was second to Corey Pavin in 1995 and Jason Day was runner-up to Rory McIlroy in 2011 and tied for second in 2013 when Justin Rose lifted the trophy. In 2003, Stephen Leaney finished three shots behind Jim Furyk, Bruce Crampton was runner-up to Jack Nicklaus in 1972 and Gary Player edged out Kel Nagle (7174) in the 18-hole playoff in 1965. It didn’t end well for Greg, did it? Both Greg and Fuzzy birdied the first playoff hole and on the second hole Greg decided to use his driver for the first time instead of the two-iron we had been using. When I pulled the iron out of the bag, Greg said ‘no, give me the driver’. He carved it right, had to chip out and knocked it near the flag. Fuzzy was up the back of the green with a monstrous (20m) putt downhill and to the right, over a ridge and he canned it for birdie. Greg said to Fuzzy, ‘what did you do that for’ and Fuzzy replied by saying he was only trying to get it close. Greg made double-bogey and was three behind after two holes and four behind after four holes. After that, Greg just started rushing and lost his concentration. FOOTNOTE: In the playoff, Norman carded a 75 to Zoeller’s 67. Greg Norman and coach-cum-caddie Charlie Earp at the 1984 US Open.
June 2025 www.insidegolf.com.au PRO NEWS 10 Ritchie Smith – Australian golf’s coaching man of the moment RENOWNED West Australian golf coach, Ritchie Smith, has made two life changing decisions albeit years apart. The first was to quit playing the Australian PGA Tour once his wife, Lou, became pregnant with their first child. “It was the perfect time for me to quit the tour. I was turning into a bit of a wanker, anyway. I did not like the person I was becoming,” Smith says frankly. The second big decision was not that long ago cutting his client list from 1000 to just 12. “It was just killing me. It was too hard,” says Australian golf’s coaching man of the moment who will travel to this year’s Open Championship at Royal Portrush to oversee three of his charges – Min Woo Lee, Ryan Peake and Elvis Smylie. Lee and Peake are long term students of Smith, with Smylie coming under his tutelage just 18 months ago. During coaching journey Smith has guided many fine players, Hannah Green, Minjee Lee, Oliver Goss, Matt Jaeger and, more recently, Sue Oh, among them. “I was at the Australian Institute of Sport in the third year of my traineeship. I could play but, in my mind, I always had weaknesses. But I was good at disguising that at the AIS. I think they thought I was a better player than I thought I was. I had that inner self-doubt.” In hindsight, he says he would have amounted to very little but for the influence of cutting-edge elite coaches Ramsay McMaster and Ryan Lumsden, believing his time at the AIS still helps him when he’s dealing with the complexities surrounding the many talented players who have come under his tutelage. “All I really aspired to be was the head professional at Melville Glades Golf Club, which I did for 14 years. I was coaching most of the time anyway, so I decided to do it full time.” He speaks openly about his own journey and the three very different players he will support at Royal Portrush. Peake, 32, the big hitting left hander who spent time in jail after joining an outlaw motorcycle gang, is in the Open after winning in New Zealand Open this year. A great story, Peake was working with Smith as a talented 17-year-old. “Like a lot of youngsters that age he fell out of love with the game. I don’t think, to be honest, he ever felt comfortable or that he ‘belonged’ in the game. “He was always a tremendously talented and a very loyal person. “(As a youngster) Ryan went searching for somewhere to belong… it could have been a footy club, a cricket club or any group he could be with. “Unfortunately, he chose a bikie gang and it was by loyalty to those people that he landed himself in jail.” Michael Davis michael.davis@insidegolf.com.au RITCHIE Smith was named PGA WA Coach of the Year for an eighth time, while Hannah Green received the Outstanding Golf Achievement Award, as well as being announced as the WA Golfer of the Year at the ADH Club Car WA Golf Industry Awards held at Crown Perth. The two high profile Western Australian professionals were just two winners at the annual event, which is a joint initiative event between GolfWA, the PGA, Golf Course Superintendents Association of WA and Golf Management Australia (WA). Green, who enjoyed a three-win season on the LPGA Tour in 2024, beat out a quality list of finalists to win her second WA Golfer of the Year accolade, with Minjee and Min Woo Lee, Kirsten Rudgeley and amateur stars Isabella Leniartek and Spencer Harrison amongst the other nominees. And while Smith’s award came in the High Performance category, Mark Tibbles of The Vines Golf & Country Club was awarded PGA WA Coach of the Year – Game Development, for a second time. Busselton Head Professional Grant Williams was the Hilary Lawler PGA WA Club Professional of the Year for the second consecutive year, with his young colleague Jeremy Crabb the PGA WA Associate of the Year. Busselton was called to the winner’s podium for a third time in taking out the Outstanding Game Development Program category, where the highly successful ‘Swing & Sip’ Women’s Beginner Program was recognised. Margaret River Golf Club was another to collect three gongs on a night which featured 17 separate award categories, headlined by the club being announced as the Regional Golf Facility of the Year after an outstanding 2024 where they added 151 new members and increased revenue by $168k, allowing for significant reinvestment in course improvements and facilities. In recognition of the role he played in driving this success, the PGA WA Management Professional of the Year went to Margaret River’s GM Andrew MacAuslan, while Jackie Dickson took home the Volunteer of the Year Award. Kalgoorlie Golf Course and Lake Karrinyup Country Club won the respective Regional and Metropolitan Golf Course of the Year categories, with Mandurah Country Club – host of the 100th WA Open last October – the Metropolitan Golf Facility of the Year. Lake Karrinyup stalwart John Hopkins, who has held key positions with Golf Australia and was previously President of the Australian Golf Union, received the Distinguished Service Award. Hopkins has also served as a referee at major tournaments around the world, including The Open Championship, US Open and Australian Open. The big hitting left hander, now, 32, is now writing a new chapter in his life, thanks to the man who mentored him as a teenager. “I had lost contact with him so wrote a letter and was stunned when he replied in a letter from inside prison. “It was beautifully written and in it he apologised for letting me and so many other people down. I said he had made a mistake and encouraged him back into the game.” Min Woo Lee, like Peake, has been coached by Smith since he was a teenager. But that’s where the similarity ends. Min’s greatest asset is his “lack of fear when performing on the big stage”, his coach says. “He’s not afraid of failure and he likes the limelight. He has long been world class driving, chipping and putting. “He’s a very difficult student. The hardest one I have. He has a short attention span but he’s had incredible results. The big thing he has had going for him right from the start is his preparation off the course. He looks like he’s a party boy, but he never has been.” Smith says Min has never been that interested in the technical side of the game until relatively recently. “He was only interested in ball flight He liked to concentrate on what he saw.” Smith says all his charges are complex and adds, “it’s just how you unravel them to get the most out of each one.” Asked what he thinks he brings to the table as a coach, Smith says simply, “genuine care, patience, knowledge and experience. Trust, honesty and an ability to connect with them are also vital ingredients.” Above all he demands a strong work ethic. Smylie has only been under Smith’s tutelage for 18 months and had to agree to take on an entirely new team including a psychologist, physiotherapist and bio mechanist before he could join the stable. All Smith-coached players work under his specially assembled support crew. “Elvis is a talent but still very much a work in progress.” Smith thinks he’s been fortunate to be able to guide such a great group of players. “I am enjoying it. My journey here has been a relatively upward trajectory. It has not had too many up and downs, although my wife might disagree,” he says jokingly. “I still look back at tournaments my players have lost and I feel responsible for that. But that’s part of elite sport, I guess. “Though it’s nice when you hear your words come out of their mouths, when they have done well.” One thing all Smith proteges have shown is a capacity for hard work, with talent alone not enough. “There are a lot of very talented golfers selling golf tees over the counter at Drummonds,” he concludes somewhat dryly. Smith and Green recognised at the WA Golf Industry Awards Hannah Green, named WA Golfer of the Year for a second time. Ritchie Smith back in 2017 with a young Minjee Lee. Ritchie Smith, left, with star pupil Min Woo Lee.
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June 2025 www.insidegolf.com.au PRO NEWS 12 Jessica on target to represent again THOUGH she performed a little below her expectations, Sunshine Coast professional Jessica Cook has no doubt that competing for Australia in last year’s Women’s PGA Cup in the United States is the highlight of her golfing career. “Having a place on the team in 2024 was amazing and being able to play for not only the PGA, but for Australia, I can’t even put it into words,” Cook said. So fulfilling was the experience that Cook immediately made a promise to herself to get into the Australian team for the next of these biennial tournaments, to be held next year in the United Kingdom. And she got off to a flying start by winning the PGA Professionals Championship of North Queensland in late April, a performance that secured her a place in the $100,000 PGA Professionals Championship National Final in November. The only woman in the field, Cook fired an even-par round of 72 that included five birdies and five bogeys at Mirage Country Club in Port Douglas. “Being the leading qualifier in North Queensland has given me a lot of confidence going to the final,” she said. “I know there are several months to prepare, but I’ll be focusing my efforts to peak at the right time.” Even if she became the first woman to win the National Final, to be played at the Heritage Golf and Country Club in Victoria, it would not guarantee Cook a place in next year’s Women’s PGA squad. By Peter Owen LPGA comes to Black Desert EARLIER this year Inside Golf was invited to visit the unique Black Desert Resort in southern Utah, a relatively new and exciting Tom Weiskopf-design located just a twohour drive from Las Vegas. (Course review included in the April 2025 edition of Inside Golf) A course with fairways winding their way through black lava rock, with stunning red rock mountains as the backdrop, Black Desert hosted its first LPGA Tour event in early May and will back that up when the PGA TOUR comes to town for the second Black Desert Championship in late October. A large contingent of Australians contested the LPGA’s Black Desert Championship presented by Greater Zion, with Stephanie Kyriacou finishing her tournament in remarkable fashion, the Sydneysider holing her five-wood second shot on the 72nd hole for an albatross. Kyriacou would finish in a tie for sixth, Grace Kim was a shot further back in ninth. The winner at Black Desert was Haeran Ryu, the Korean golfer opening with a 63, closing with 64, her 26-under par total five shots clear of Germany’s Esther Henseleit and Chinese professional Ruoning Yin. Haeran Ryu, winner of the LPGA’s Black Desert Championship. But just making the National Final has given her the inside running to secure a place in a team that will compete against squads from the United States, Canada, Great Britain, South Africa and Sweden. Cook, 25, became the youngest team member to ever represent Australia when she replaced the injured Jenna Hunter in last year’s PGA Cup held at the Sun River resort in Oregon, US. Teams of five vocational professionals compete in a 54-hole stroke play competition, the low three scores of each team counting towards the team total for each round. Cook’s scores of 75 and 79 counted on the first two days. Cook has just taken up a new role as assistant professional at Mt Coolum Golf Club, after completing her traineeship at Windaroo Lakes Golf Club, south of Brisbane, followed by a stint as assistant professional at Maroochy River. Her father Paul was the long-time head professional at Woodford before his retirement. Cook’s first victory as a professional came last year when she won the Gatton Junior and PGA Associate Pro-Am at Gatton, west of Brisbane, while still completing her Membership Pathways Program. She shot 66, breaking the course record set by Rachel Hetherington, an eight-time winner on the LPGA Tour. Cook is coached by John Wright, with whom she worked at Maroochy River Golf Club. Also on that club’s teaching staff is Katelyn Must, the captain of last year’s Women’s PGA Cup team which finished third behind the US and Canada. Jessica (2nd from left) and her teammates in last year’s Women’s PGA Cup team. Jessica Cook, treading a path she hopes will see her win a place on the Australian team to compete in next year’s Women’s PGA Cup in Great Britain. Scan to see our Stay & Play packages #LetsPlayPortStephens www.pacificdunes.com.au | 02 4916 0500 Huntingdale Place, Medowie Your Port Stephens’ Golf Getaway! 235-323 Rowbotham St, Middle Ridge, Toowoomba, QLD 4350 Open Competitions Wednesdays and Sundays Or the Perfect venue for your next corporate golf day Social Play available For more information or to book a round call our team on (07) 46 351219 toowoombagolfclub.com.au Come and play at Toowoomba Golf Club The premier course on the Darling Downs
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June 2025 www.insidegolf.com.au PRO NEWS 14 Ogilvy to lead the Internationals at the 2026 Presidents Cup VICTORIAN Geoff Ogilvy has been named International team Captain for the 16th Presidents Cup to be contested at Medinah Country Club’s Course #3 in September 2026. The 47-year-old Ogilvy played on three consecutive International Teams (2007, 2009, 2011), where he amassed a 7-6-1 record, while also serving as a captain’s assistant in the last four iterations of the event. Ogilvy has claimed eight career PGA TOUR titles, including the 2006 US Open, in addition to winning two of Australia’s biggest tournaments – the 2008 Australian PGA and 2010 Australian Open. “The Presidents Cup has been a significant part of my career. I am honored to now take on the role of Captain of the International Team for the 2026 Presidents Cup at Medinah Country Club’s Course #3, a place that means a great deal to me,” Ogilvy said when the team captains were announced. Ironically, Ogilvy’s golf course design firm, OCM, oversaw the renovation of the host venue, Course #3 at Medinah – a two-year project that delivered a much larger scale to match the topography of the property. The course, now punctuated by larger greens, scale bunkering and wider fairways, along with a new routing, re-opened to play in the summer of 2024. “Geoff Ogilvy is the perfect captain to lead the International Team into Chicago in 2026, drawing on both his great history with the Presidents Cup and a vast knowledge of Medinah,” PGA TOUR commissioner Jay Monahan offered. Fox a winner on the PGA TOUR AT his 68th start and at the age of 38, Kiwi Ryan Fox has won his first title in becoming the ninth PGA TOUR winner from New Zealand and first since Danny Lee won the 2015 Greenbrier Classic. Fox shot a 15-under par total, then holed a chip shot from right and long of the 18th green at the first playoff hole to beat Harry Higgs and Mackenzie Hughes to win the ONEflight Myrtle Beach Classic. While Fox is a four-time winner in Europe and has claimed three PGA Tour of Australasia titles, his previous best finishes in the US has been a pair of fourth placings, one at the Zurich Classic of New Orleans and the other at the same ONEflight Myrtle Beach Classic 12 months prior. The win qualified Fox for the PGA Championship the following week, which was to be his 23rd major championship appearance. The win will also vault Fox, who also won the 2019 Australasian PGA Tour Order of Merit in 2019, into calculations for inclusion in the International Team for the 2026 Presidents Cup. Ryan Fox is a winner on the PGA TOUR after taking out the Myrtle Beach Classic. “Geoff will capitalize on the upward trend of the International Team, where we have seen a passionate level of support from players and fans over the years. With his pedigree as a major champion and experience in the team room, Geoff was primed to take on this role for the 16th edition of the event.” Brandt Snedeker, who represented the US in the 2013 Presidents Cup at Muirfield Village, Ohio, and has also played on two Ryder Cup teams in 2012 and 2016, was announced as Captain of the American team. “It’s a tremendous honour to be named US Team Captain for the 2026 Presidents Cup by my peers, and I’m looking forward to leading our guys into Medinah for what will certainly be an amazing week of golf,” Snedeker said. “Representing my country in team competition has been a highlight of my PGA TOUR career, and I will lean on those experiences to ensure we are prepared and ready to compete against what I know will be a unified and determined International Team.” Snedeker, 44, owns nine career wins on the PGA TOUR, including the 2012 TOUR Championship, a year in which he also won the FedEx Cup. The former Vanderbilt University standout is one of 14 players in PGA TOUR history to card a sub-60 round, doing so at the 2018 Wyndham Championship. Team USA will be defending the Presidents Cup, scheduled for September 22-27, 2026, after winning the most recent staging of the biennial matches in Canada in 2024. The US has won the last 10 Presidents Cup’s and has a 13 win, one loss, one tie record from the previous 15 matches. Geoff Ogilvy (left) and Brandt Snedeker will captain their respective teams at the 2026 Presidents Cup.
June 2025 www.insidegolf.com.au PRO NEWS 15 The Tiger Woods effect WHILE most players found being paired with Tiger Woods in his prime a daunting proposition, Geoff Ogilvy, who won the 2006 US Open, relished the opportunity to tee it up with the 15-time major winner. “I liked playing with Tiger and mostly played well when I was with him,” Ogilvy told Subpar podcast’s Colt Knost and Drew Stolz. “With him it was fun because you knew you were with one of the best players of all time … not comparing your game to his but seeing what you could learn and pick up. Playing alongside Tiger was fun, says Ogilvy “You were hoping he’d do something Tiger Woods in front of you so you could say ‘I was there when he did this’. To play with a guy that good was pretty special and we were all fortunate to play in that era. “He could be playing rubbish all day, but he would always hit the important shots well. If you were at the Masters and he was playing rubbish and missing every fairway but then he would pipe one down 15, hit his approach to eight feet, make eagle and fix his round. “He never missed the shot that mattered. And every time there was high expectations for Tiger to do well, he’d go and win the tournament. “We have all played with great players like DJ (Dustin Johnson) and Brooks (Koepka), Scotty and Sergio who can play outrageous golf – and it was a high level – but every time when the expectations were high Tiger met or exceeded them. “I don’t know how you do that because the biggest anchor in golf is your own expectations, but he just beat it every time. “Tiger was a genius at finishing 72 holes in front of everyone else. He’d be pretty casual on Thursday and Friday, then on Saturday he’d be a bit more serious and Sunday you couldn’t talk to him. “He just wouldn’t look anyone in the eye. He was almost meditating, walking slow and measured. He just somehow knew how to get to the end in front of everyone else. “He was just better at it than everyone else.” Ogilvy, who is 18 months younger than Woods, first encountered the American when they were teenagers. “Commentators were saying ‘this kid (Tiger) is going to be great’ and we’re saying he can’t be that great or as good as us (me or my friends),” Ogilvy laughed. “But the first time I saw him play for real was at the Western Amateur at Point O’ Woods GCC in the mid-1990s. We are all bouncing drivers into the trees at the end of the range and he was flying three-woods over the top of the trees. “He was hitting it 30 yards past us. I’d never seen anything like it and thought this guy is another level. “The next year I saw him play at the British Open at Royal Lytham and watched him shoot 65 or 66 in the third round and thought ‘this kid is different’.” Tiger Woods went on to win 15 majors – five Masters, four US PGA titles, three US Open titles and three Open Championships. His last major win was at the 2008 US Open. Another player who enjoyed duelling with Tiger was Ernie Els. In fact, when Tiger was still an amateur in 1996, he sought the Big Easy’s advice. “Tiger and I go back a long way and I played a lot of golf with him in 1994-95 when he was an amateur. He was winning the US Amateur so he would be invited to the majors. “I was having a beer in the locker room (at the 1996 Open Championship) and he asked me what I thought about his game and if I thought he was ready to turn pro. “I said absolutely. I joke that I regret saying that but he wouldn’t have listened to me if I’d said he wasn’t ready. When I look back now, I should have told him he wasn’t good enough and should wait another five years,” laughed Ernie. For the record, Tiger took Ernie’s advice and turned pro six weeks later. “I did have some good battles with him, and I did beat him here and there, but he was the best closer of a tournament I have seen in my life. “Tiger’s always been a good friend and one of the greatest competitors ever.” – DAVID NEWBERY A career highlight for Geoff Ogivly was his victory in the 2006 US Open. Playing with Tiger Woods was daunting for many, however it was always an enjoyable experience for Geoff Ogilvy.
June 2025 www.insidegolf.com.au PRO NEWS 16 Moore calls time on a remarkable career WHEN golf professional Ossie Moore blacked out at the wheel of his Mercedes sedan not far from his Gold Coast home, it was lucky the car was travelling at only 40kph. Even so, when the Mercedes left the road and hit a tree it was a write-off, and Moore spent a week in hospital. But it could have been so much worse for the popular golfer, who travelled the world as a touring pro before becoming a commentator, and later a highly respected club professional and mentor. Moore’s brush with death came two years ago, just after he’d accepted an offer to become general manager of The Grand Golf Club, the Gold Coast’s premier members-only club, with one of the country’s finest golf courses. When he was in hospital, doctors discovered Moore had cardiac arrhythmia, a condition that occurs when the heart beats too fast or too slow – or, as was the case with Moore, when it stops beating at all. After several operations – including one unfortunate episode when a wire pierced the wall of his heart while a surgeon was installing a pacemaker – and a change of medication, Moore’s heart issues now seem to be behind him. But no doubt they had a role to play in his decision last month to retire from the golf industry after a career that began on the Gold Coast where, apart from seven years playing on the European Tour, he’s lived all his life. “We live on acreage and there’s a lot of work for me to do,” Moore, 66, said. “But I’ll still play golf and I love lawn bowls. We don’t intend doing much travelling, though – I did enough of that when I was playing.” Moore was still studying at Miami High when he won the Australian schoolboys championship, and still a teenager when he won two club championships at Southport Golf Club. By Peter Owen He took up a scholarship to study at university in the United States, before returning to capture the Australia Amateur Championship at Royal Adelaide in 1981. Moore was also a member of Royal Queensland Golf Club, and won both the junior and senior club championships there before turning professional in 1982. He won his first professional tournament, the Nedlands Masters in Perth, in 1984, and a year later topped the Australasian PGA Tour’s Order of Merit – one of his proudest achievements. “I didn’t win a single tournament that year, but I still won the Order of Merit,” he said. “I think I had eight top-fives and didn’t miss a top-10. I played very consistently. “The following year I won two tournaments and finished only third in the Order of Merit.” His OOM success took him overseas where he campaigned on the European Tour until 1991, when he lost his card, failed to win it back at Q School, and returned home. It also gained him starts in the British Open, the US Open and US PGA Championships. While in the US he was listed to play in the Kemper Open at Congressional Golf Club in Maryland, where he ran into his old Royal Queensland mate Greg Norman. “Hey, Ossie, what are you doing here?” Norman asked. And when Moore told him he was there for just the one event, Norman asked if he would like to play in other tournaments. Moore said he would, and Norman replied: “I’ll give someone a phone call.” Before he knew it, Moore had gained starts in the Canadian Open at Glen Abbey and two other PGA Tour events. “Being the No 1 golfer in the world sure carries some weight,” Moore said. The pair have remained good friends and Moore is a staunch supporter of the two-time British Open champion. “Norman will do 60 great things, then perhaps one that’s a bit controversial, and the media will focus on that one thing. It’s so unfair,” Moore said. In 1986 Moore won the Victorian Open and the first of his two Queensland PGA titles. His second came in 1992. He also won the Australian Matchplay Championship in 1989 and represented Australia in the 1987 World Cup. Moore was still competing on the Australasian Tour in 1995 when tour officials offered him a spot in their television commentary team, on the condition that he give up playing. He agreed, and spent the next 20 years providing commentary on Australian events. “I loved every minute of it,” he said. “I knew all the players and loved being around them.” Away from the commentary, Moore was involved in international golf academies and teaching at Sanctuary Cove before being offered a position as golf coordinator at The Grand Golf Club in the Gold Coast hinterland. It was a role that gave him time to continue commentating. He remained at The Grand for 19 years – as a teacher, golf professional and golf coordinator. In 2023 he was appointed general manager, placed on a six-month trial, and given the option to make the role permanent, an opportunity cut short by his heart issues. Looking back on an extraordinary career in golf, Moore says he has no regrets, cherishes the memory of playing two rounds of golf with Arnold Palmer, and values the lifelong friends he has made. He’s touched that The Grand made him an honorary member on his retirement, providing him with the opportunity to continue playing there – something he says he’ll do a couple of times a week. He’ll also be a regular at the Helensvale Bowls Club, playing a sport he discovered more than a dozen years ago. And that’s where he does have a regret. “I should have started playing bowls much earlier,” he said. “They say it’s a sport for old-timers, but if you’re over 35 you’ll never make a national team. I’m just too old.” NT PGA to return to Palmerston GC in 2025 THE Tailor-made Building Services NT PGA Championship will return to the Challenger PGA Tour of Australasia schedule in 2025. After undergoing significant upgrades to its course and clubhouse, the Palmerston Golf and Country Club will play host to the Northern Territory’s most prestigious golf tournament from August 28-31. The Tailor-made Building Services NT PGA Championship was last played in 2023 when NSW professional Daniel Gale claimed the title by four shots over Queensland’s Chris Crabtree. First played in 1995, the list of former NT PGA champions includes multiple Tour event winners Jordan Zunic, Travis Smyth and hometown favourite Aaron Pike. This year’s tournament will be the second on the 2025/26 Challenger PGA Tour of Australasia season following on from the PNG Open at Royal Port Moresby Golf Club on August 14-17. PGA of Australia General Manager of Tournaments and Global Tour Relationships Nick Dastey said the NT PGA Championship was one of the favourite events of the year for the country’s leading professionals. “We’re looking forward to getting back to Palmerston Golf and Country Club and seeing the results of all the renovations that have been undertaken there on and off the golf course,” Dastey said. And for the first time, the final two rounds will be broadcast live by Fox Sports on Foxtel and Kayo. “Televising the event for the first time is going to help take the tournament to the next level, giving us the opportunity to really promote the Territory and all the great things to do in the area, including as a golf destination.” Palmerston Golf & Country Club General Manager Matt Hewer said: “After the clubhouse underwent a multi-milliondollar renovation and we completed course upgrades specifically to the irrigation systems, this a great time to showcase not only the event, but the entire NT to a national audience on TV.” The tournament will be supported by the Northern Territory Government through Northern Territory Major Events Company. Reigning Tailor-made Building Services NT PGA champion Daniel Gale. A successful tournament professional, Ossie Moore was more than competitive with the best players of his era. Ossie Moore has announced his retirement from the golfing industry.
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