Pro-Am boost to Tas Open

ORGANISERS hope the Tasmanian Open could eventually follow the footsteps of the hugely successful Victorian Open after it was announced prizemoney and professional players will return for next months’s tournament.

Around $40,000 will be on offer at Launceston Golf Club in the 54-hole event from February 23-25 for the first time in around three decades.

Professionals will also join the amateurs in the men’s and women’s fields. Golf Australia’s Tasmanian manager, Stuart Eaton, hopes being included on the PGA of Australia’s Pro-Am schedule will eventually lead to an upgrade to the Order of Merit (OOM) circuit, possibly as soon as next year.

The event hasn’t been on the Order of Merit, and as a result offered prizemoney, since the 1990s.

“We’re hoping to get some great golfers down here, we’ll get some leading professionals from around the country,” Eaton said.

“It’s a stepping stone. It’s a Pro-Am and not an Order of Merit, so we can only play it over 54 holes with the amount of prizemoney we’re offering.

“The hope is to in future years increase its status to an OOM event with an increased prize purse.

“We hope next year we would see the event increase, a 72-hole OOM event carrying a much bigger prize purse.”

The Victorian Open is widely regarded as the PGA of Australia’s next biggest event behind the Australian Open and Australian PGA.

“We’re trying to increase it to something like the Vic Open, that’s the next benchmark,” Eaton said. “The Vic Open is a flagship event at the moment. We’re certainly proud of getting this up and running with a prize purse.”

The Tasmanian Inclusive Championship, an official world ranking event for golfers with a disability, will be played in conjunction with the event for the second straight year.