Aussie Majors 2025

I’m back. And so is Aussie Tour golf. The most crucial part of the season begins with major increases in prize money and points for three of the next four events in the coming month. Starting with the New South Wales Open at The Vintage GC next week where 3x the usual OOM points will be awarded to the winner, along with approximately $135,000. A huge opportunity to play against a familiar PGATA field for a hefty purse.

Following the NSW Open players will head north for the Queensland PGA Championship. These will be the final two events for players outside the cut-off to play their way into the flagship events via the Mini Order of Merit (more on this later). Culminating in the DP World Tour co-sanctioned events in the Australian PGA Championship and Australian Open.

The next four weeks -

13th - 16th Nov - NSW Open ($800,000 Purse / 3x OOM Points)

20th - 23rd Nov - QLD PGA Championship ($200,000 Purse / 1x OOM Points)

27th - 30th Nov - Australian PGA Championship ($2,500,000 Purse / 4x OOM Points)

4th - 7th Dec - Australian Open ($2,000,000 Purse / 4x OOM Points)

To highlight how much a role this chunk of the season plays. Take a look at last year’s Order of Merit before and after this period (last season the NSW Open, Aus PGA and Aus Open were played consecutively).

Ranked Via End of 2024/25 Season OOM

Ranked by Pre-Majors 2024/25 OOM

It’s obvious you want to play well during this period, but how much does it affect your season?

Taking last season’s top 10 on the final Order of Merit, these players moved up on the OOM by a total of 361 places combined, on average earning more than 50% of their total season points in just the three marquee events (NSW Open, Aus PGA, Aus Open).

On the flip side, players ranked in the top 10 prior to these events and didn’t perform well (scoring less than 25% of their season points in this period), moved down a combined 61 positions (average of 10.2 each) by the close of the Australian Open.

To throw a spanner in the works, the hype around the 2025 Australian Open has thrown the entry list into disarray. Players that have earned a “full” tour card by finishing in the top 50 on last season’s Order of Merit, are now unsure if they’ll even make it into the 156 player fields. Players in Category 11a (31-50 OOM last season) are in jeopardy in missing out when they would all usually make the event.

So where are we losing our positions for full members? I’ve had multiple enquiries about where I think the cut-off will fall, so I’ve done my best to break it down here based on confirmation announcements from the tour the publicly available entry list.

The Australian PGA Championship (PGATA entries close 13th November)

Confirmed Players (Exemption)

Marco Penge (DWPT Exempt)

Abraham Ancer (Invite)

Cam Davis (Invite)

Marc Leishman (Invite)

Daniel Hillier (DPWT Exempt)

Carlos Ortiz (International Federation List)

Seb Munoz (Invite)

Jose Ballester (Invite)

The above players have not been allocated a spot on the entry list as yet. I haven’t included confirmed Aussie players/former winners as they are already on the entry list in their applicable category.

Entries for 2025 are based on time of writing (8th November 2025)

The above image shows how many players have entered in each category versus previous years. I have included 2023 although it’s not relevant to this year as the Australian schedule conflicted with other DPWT events in South Africa, which meant less DPWT players made the trip. Assuming there are no further entries, and ALL Tournament Invites are allocated, I have 15 players from the Category 11a making the PGA field. That would make the last player in the field Haydn Barron. If a player from the back end of Category 11a (Denzel Ieremia/Sam Brazel/Jack Murdoch) or a lower category wins either the NSW Open or QLD PGA, this will drop by one making it 14 and the last player in the field being Brady Watt. And if we have two winners from there the last man will fall to Darcy Brereton. This relies on the entry list remaining the same from today, so it’s still likely we have something slightly different with further entries or withdrawals through injury. For clarity on the current entry list, as of now, Andrew Campbell is listed at 156 (however there are 11 unallocated positions for Former Champions, International Federation List, Top 100 OWGR, QLD PGA and NSW Open winners).

So for the Australian PGA, the MAJORITY of players from Category 11a will get into the event. (AT THIS STAGE!!!!!!)

The Australian Open is a different story.

The Australian Open (PGATA entries close 20th November)

Confirmed Players (Exemption)

RORY MCILROY (DPWT Exempt)

Marco Penge (DPWT Exempt)

Marc Leishman (Invite)

Daniel Hillier (DPWT Exempt)

Carlos Ortiz (Invite)

Seb Munoz (Invite)

Jose Ballester (Invite)

Karl Vilips (Invite)

The rest of the “confirmed” announcements I found are for players that already have status on tour and are already on the entry list.

Entries for 2025 are based on time of writing (8th November 2025)

If you move your eyes to the 31-50 row in the above image, you can see a much more dire situation is occurring for the Australian Open. As is stands today, only six players from that category will make the field. This makes the last man in the field Jye Pickin. It gets worse. If anyone outside that cut-off wins the NSW Open, QLD PGA, or Australian PGA, that will move the cut-off even higher. It’s possible only three players make the field if all three of those events are won from players outside, and that’s assuming NO MORE ENTRIES. At time of writing, Jimmy Zheng is listed at 156 (there are 11 unallocated positions for Former Champions, Top 100 OWGR, QLD PGA & Aus PGA winners).

This makes the next two weeks even more important than just the purse and points. Whoever wins the NSW Open or QLD PGA is automatically in both events.

The Mini Order of Merit is another form of entry which is now going to include players from Category 11a for the first time. I’ve included all players in 11a just in case it comes to that for the Aus Open. This is as it stands after the WPS South Australia.

*Players from Category 11a

Rank	Player	OOM Points	Events
1	Nathan Barbieri*	247.24	5
2	Jay Mackenzie	208.41	5
3	Will Florimo*	146.60	5
4	Adam Bland	119.60	3
5	Zach Ion	114.13	5
6	Haydn Barron*	102.58	3
7	Jared Edwards	83.93	5
8	Ty Gingerich	72.69	5
9	Blake Windred	71.10	4
10	Douglas Klein	70.46	5
11	Lincoln Tighe	65.49	5
12	Cameron Harlock	63.73	5
13	Marc Leishman	54.67	1
14	Andrew Campbell*	53.02	4
15	Jason Hong	52.30	4
16	Louis Dobbelaar	51.56	5
17	Peter Cooke	45.76	4
18	Mako Thompson	43.95	5
19	Patrick Healy	43.67	4
20	Jack Munro*	42.80	5
21	Dillon Hart	42.14	4
22	Brady Watt*	41.87	3
23	Tom Power Horan	39.17	3
24	Josh Armstrong	34.48	5
25	Tyler Wood*	33.91	4
26	Samuel Slater	32.54	5
27	Todd Sinnott	29.70	1
28	Christopher Wood	28.04	5
29	Gavin Fairfax*	27.70	4
30	Aaron Townsend	26.14	3
31	Brett Rumford	23.49	2
32	Connor McDade	22.66	4
33	Aiden Didone	21.92	4
34	Wil Daibarra	20.68	5
35	Cooper Eccleston	20.05	5
36	Darcy Brereton*	19.55	2
37	Jye Pickin*	19.33	5
38	Andrew Kelly	18.38	5
39	Connor McKinney*	16.83	2
40	James Mee	15.14	5
41	Jaron Leasure	10.89	2
42	Daniel Fox	10.65	3
43	Dimitrios Papadatos	10.44	3
44	Jayce Hargrove	10.03	4
45	Zach Murray	9.79	4
46	Braden Becker	9.37	4
47	Andrew Evans*	8.66	3
48	Jack Tanner	8.54	4
49	Nathan Page	8.17	4
50	James Hydes	7.43	5
51	Jarryd Felton	6.71	4
52	Deyen Lawson	5.58	4
53	Josh Younger	5.26	1
53	Jason Norris*	5.26	4
55	Lucas Higgins	5.05	5
55	Jack Pountney	5.05	5
57	Hamish Murray	4.84	4
58	Jose De Sousa	3.90	4
59	James Tauariki	3.37	5
60	Bradley Kivimets	3.01	5
60	Sota Fujii	3.01	5
62	Josh Clarke	2.77	3

As mentioned earlier, most of the 11a players will make it into the Australian PGA. Only those in the lower part of the category will be fighting for entry via the Mini OOM. However most will be eligible for Australian Open entry so it’s a big couple of weeks for them. The Mini OOM is finalised after the QLD PGA and points earned in the Australian PGA will not count.

One final note. I only count five invites allocated for each of the major events, six for the PGA if Vilips is playing both (although I can’t find any confirmation for the PGA so I assume he is only in for the Open). Of course the Tour can use these invites to elevate their event however they like, but the Australian Open already has already generated a HUGE amount of interest and can only be elevated further by pulling another global superstar.

If anyone from the Tour actually reads this - PLEASE CONSIDER using other invites for players from Category 11a, or leave them unallocated so they fall to those players next in line. It’s amazing that our events have so much hype, but it’s also a huge shame that some players with FULL cards will not gain a start.

Winning the Australian PGA in 2024 rocketed Elvis Smylie onto the world stage a year earlier than we might have seen him, and now is an outside chance of scoring a PGA Tour card. Ryan Peake started the season in the Q-School category (12) and finished with a full DPWT card when all was said and done. Guys from that category won’t even be in either of the two big ones this season.

At the end of the day, that is what it’s all about: giving our local players their best chance of making it to a major tour. And their best chance of staying there. So if we can get those players who deserve to be in, to actually be in the field, then I think we should do that.

So PLAY WELL EVERYBODY (especially if you’re in 11a). I’ll see you out there.