PGA to act on Garcia success
AUSTRALIAN PGA organisers are hoping the announcement that US Masters winner Sergio Garcia will play the Royal Pines tournament will help land one of Australia’s biggest fish for the event.
Organisers scored a massive coup in luring Garcia to the Gold Coast for the $1.5 million tournament from November 30-December 3 and are now hunting the signature of either Jason Day or Adam Scott to further bolster the roster.
The pair have said they will return to Australia this summer but both have heavy schedules and are expected to play just one home event this summer.
The Australian Open will be held in Sydney the week before the Australian PGA, with British Open winner Jordan Spieth already a confirmed starter.
Spieth’s presence could have lured Day and Scott to Sydney but yesterday’s announcement that Garcia will play on the Gold Coast could entice the pair to return home to the Coast to play the PGA championship.
Scott has played the Australian PGA three of the past four years, including in 2013 when he brought the green jacket back to the
Gold Coast after winning the US Masters, a feat Garcia (right) will repeat this year, having promised to bring the famous garment to Royal Pines.
Scott is set to return to the Coast next month with wife Marie and daughter Bo for the birth of their second child and playing at Royal Pines ticks plenty of boxes for the Gold Coast product, who has also been working with Sanctuary Cove teaching professional Matt Ballard on his short game this year.
As pleased as they would be to have Scott though, PGA of Australia boss Gavin Kirkman would love to have Beaudesert’s Jason Day join Garcia at Royal Pines.
“We’ve had indication from Jason Day that he’s coming back home to play in Australia this year,” Kirkman said.
“His comment recently was: ‘I’m coming down to play an event on the PGA Tour of Australasia’. We don’t know which one. We spoke to his team last week and he’s got a very heavy schedule.
“As soon as we find out about Jason’s schedule, I’ll be singing about it pretty loud.
“But we’re happy that he’s coming back to play in Australia this year, that’s really exciting for us.”
Kirkman was set to advise Scott’s team of Garcia’s signing yesterday in a possible sweetener for him to play at Royal Pines.
“Adam’s been a great supporter of the Australian PGA championships. He’s played in the event three of the last four years, so talking to Adam’s team, he’s very keen to play in Australia. He doesn’t know his schedule yet but we’ll announce it as soon as we find out.
“Adam and Jason have both indicated they’ll play in Australia this year and we’ve got the Australian Open and Australian PGA back-to-back.
“We hope once they finalise their schedules they’ll let us know and we can publicise that to the Australian public.”
The popularity of Garcia, combined with $25 general admission tickets, should draw a great crowd to the event, something that will bolster the PGA of Australia’s negotiations for an extension of the Royal Pines contract.