the 2024 Australian PGA and australian open
It’s time for the main events of the Australasian Tour with the Australian PGA and Australian Open back to back over the next two weekends. These events will have huge ramifications on the season long Order of Merit standings with 4x points awarded in each compared to a typical PGATA tournament - 760 points will be awarded to the winners (last season Kazuma Kobori won the OOM with only 841.08 points). Couple that with Cameron Smith and Lucas Herbert both being eligible to win the OOM this season (must play 4+ events), it’s a uphill battle for the Aussie Tour players to score their ticket to the DPWT for next season.
The Australian PGA will be the first event held in the new 2025 DPWT season, and with no South African events clashing, it’s the first time the DPWT has had to use a cut-off for either of these events. It’s comfortably the strongest set of European players making the trip over to Australia in the three years since the re-co-sanctioning between the DPWT and PGATA. There are 42 players that hold a genuine category on the DPWT making the journey this year, compared to only 20 in last year’s edition. Recently, these events have been dominated by players from stronger tours and with a larger contingent from Europe it will only be more difficult for the local players to score those valuable Order of Merit points.
BUT I STILL HAVE HOPE!
What we are seeing this year on the Aussie Tour is different to previous seasons. With the emergence of Jack Buchanan and Phoenix Campbell into the pro ranks, Elvis Smylie taking the next step in his early career, and some older guys that have come out firing like we haven’t seen before. Statistically, we also have our strongest group of players attempting to (hopefully) take down these international raiders.
So for those unfamiliar with our tour, I’m going to run through some of the guys that you may not have heard of that have a chance to contend these coming weeks.
#1 Jack Buchanan
Jack narrowly held on to the top spot on the Order of Merit with another top 5 last week in the NSW Open. He turned pro late last year after reaching 114th in the world’s amateur rankings which is higher than it sounds for someone not playing in the collegiate system. After only managing seven events and 71st on the OOM, he was forced to gain his card through Q-School which he managed to do moving into a qualifying position on the final day. Since then he hasn’t looked back. In the six events this season he has won twice, and run in the top 20 in every one of them.
His average event finishing position over the season is 6.33, which ranks 2nd of all players that have played 2+ events (sitting only behind Cam Smith). On average Jack has gained over three strokes per round (+3.08 SG), and averages an astounding +3.47 SG after the cut which is contesting against stronger players. For context, David Micheluzzi averaged +2.71 SG at the same stage two seasons ago. Buchanan also leads the tour with most rounds in the 60s, having done that 14 times, at a strike rate of 58.33%.
#2 Elvis Smylie
The most well known of the “local” players after qualifying into The Open last year. Elvis has already performed on our biggest stage, having made all four cuts in the Aus PGA and Aus Open over the past two years which includes a T12 here in 2022. Elvis grabbed his first professional win last month in the WA Open and is our next big hope to make it on the PGA Tour (or whichever is the “best” tour in a few years).
Elvis has made every cut this season and run top 10 in all but one of his five events. He sits just behind Buchanan in average finish position (Ranked #3 with 8.40), and ranks #2 behind Cam Smith in Strokes Gained per round with +3.12. Elvis has asserted his authority on the par 5s this year, ranking #1 in total eagles and holes per eagle. And also ranking 1st in Par 5 SG, gaining a whopping +1.35 strokes on those holes alone.
#3 Phoenix Campbell
Phoenix made a name for himself last season after winning the QLD PGA as an amateur. And then this year turning pro and, unbelievably, doing it again. Whilst his overall season statistics may not look as impressive as Jack and Elvis, Phoenix only turned pro six weeks ago and understandably didn’t have a strong week in his pro-debut at the WA Open, finishing T52.
Since then, he has played three events for a win and a further top 5, and sits above the magical +3.00 SG mark having gained an average of 3.20 strokes over those 12 rounds. He has won 26.18% of his potential prize money with ranks #4 on the season.
#4 Jak Carter
Jak Carter burst onto the scene last year after a strong performance at 2023 Q-School, rolling out three top 10s in his first six events of the season. He made both cuts at the Aus PGA and Aus Open and went on to finish 7th in the Order of Merit following two more top 10s. Starting his playing career late, Jak is known for his elite iron play and narrowly missed his first win this season after losing out in a play-off to both Elvis Smylie at the WA Open and Phoenix Campbell at the QLD PGA.
Carter ranks #6 for Strokes Gained per round and #4 for SG/round after the cut. His turn is coming, and hopefully it’s in the next fortnight.
#5 Brett Rankin
A stalwart of the Aussie Tour, Rankin was forced back to Q-School for the first time since 2018. He has come out flying this season, being only one of five players to make the cut in every event and has scored a top 20 in all but one. Brett leads the tour for most sub-par rounds with 18 at a 75% strike rate and sits #3 in total Strokes Gained over the entire season.
His single professional win came at the 2019 NT PGA and is playing his best golf since. Rankin has multiple top 10s and top 20s in the Australian PGA and Australian Open.
#6 Cory Crawford
Cory is back to playing some great golf after struggling on the PGA Tour of Canada and missing a bunch of last season on the PGATA through a severe back-injury. Being able to maintain conditional status has enabled him to get back on track and he has well and truly done better than that.
He has five top 20s in six events (just missed with T22 in PNG), ranks tied 2nd in sub-par rounds with 17 at 70.83 and ranks #5 in average finish position at 15.83. With conditional status there wasn’t any hope of playing these big events but he has scored entry via the Mini-OOM category due to his brilliant start to the season. I think Cory can surprise a few here.
#7 Andrew Campbell
Campbell finally “found it” last year after finishing 14th on the Order of Merit and retaining his PGATA card for the first time. This season is much the same with two top 10s, a further top 20.
He has shot in the 60s ten times at a 55.56% strike rate which puts him in a tie for 5th on the season. His +1.95 SG/round figure ranks him 11th and is a further improvement on his last season’s figure of +1.65.
#8 Matias Sanchez
Sanchez is another promising Aussie player that is going to win one as a pro soon. Matias won the Australian Amateur in 2017 which subsequently scored him an invite into the Australian open where he finished T15 as a 19 year old. Having only played three events this season due to DPWT Q-School, Sanchez has made the cut each time along with a T9 at the WA PGA and a solo 4th at the WA Open.
He sits 13th on the SG rankings with +1.81, and has only missed one cut in his past 19 tour events. Super consistent and can hopefully take a further step forward this week.
#9 Quinnton Croker
Quinn’s season on tour as an amateur last year was incredible. Playing in eight PGATA events, he ran top 10 in three of his first four which included a T2 at the Heritage Classic. He finished the season ranked 2nd for Strokes Gained behind Kazuma Kobori, earned his tour card for this season via the Futures Tour, and went on to win the QLD and Australian Amateur moving him into the top 100 in the World Amateur Golf Ranking.
Only three starts into his professional career and already boasting a top 10 and 20, if he can continue his form from before he was playing for money we will see him with a late tee-time on Sunday.
#10 Kerry Mountcastle
Kerry seems to fly under the radar on tour but is an ever-consistent presence on the leaderboards. His first ranked win came last season at the Gippsland Super 6s and helped him finish 11th on season OOM.
This season has seen him make five cuts from five events, and shoot one of the greatest rounds we have seen in recent years on tour in the QLD PGA when he carded an eight-under 64. That day in very tough conditions the field had a scoring average of 73.5 and Mountcastle gained 9.50 strokes, making it statistically the best round of at least the past 10,000 rounds on the PGATA. He ranks tied 10th on the season for sub-par rounds with 12 at a rate of 60% and here’s hoping we see four more this week.
It’s looking likely we see a match race between Cam Smith and Lucas Herbert for the Order of Merit and that valuable DPWT card. So if there was ever a time for a local player to punch their ticket to Europe by winning one of these, it is now.
Let’s get one.