The New Crop
We are five events into season 2024/25 and so far we’ve seen some incredible talent burst onto the scene. First it was South Australian Jack Buchanan, who turned professional 12 months ago and scored his first win at the WA PGA in Kalgoorlie. Second, Elvis Smylie (arguably already emerged) had his turn and won the WA Open winning in very trying conditions. Then Phoenix Campbell went wire to wire as defending champion at the QLD PGA winning at his third start as a pro only a week and half ago.
These three players lead the season’s Money List and are shaping up as the key hopes in the Order of Merit race. But how good are they?
The Order of Merit race transitioned away from a Money List and to a points system for the 2022/23 season, which was a welcome change. The Money List was skewed far too heavily towards the events with big purses, which made the smaller events almost irrelevant. The current points system still needs work as the Band 2/3 events, which contain very similar fields to Band 1 events, are awarding double or triple points.
The NSW Open begins tomorrow and is the tours first ever Band 3 event, which will award 570 OOM points to the eventual winner. With our current leader, Jack Buchanan, sitting at 452.38 points after five events, it’s very likely that whoever wins the NSW Open will be the new Order of Merit leader. That doesn’t sit well with me when it’s the same field as a typical week barring a few marquee players. However, that discussion is for another post.
After two full seasons using the points system, we have seen some commanding performances. First with David Micheluzzi in 2022/23, who won three times, scored ten top 10s, made all but one cut, averaged +2.85 SG/round, and scored an incredible 1,455.34 Order of Merit points. Micha won the Order of Merit that year by over 580 points. Then last year, we had Kazuma Kobori turn professional and contend in the majority of his events. Kazuma had three wins and seven top 10s from 12 events, averaging +2.50 SG/round, with 841.08 Order of Merit points. Kobori also had a comfortable victory, leading second position by 194.24 points at season’s end.
This season will see the largest amount of Order of Merit points awarded, and with Cam Smith and Lucas Herbert playing in four events each that will make them eligible in the OOM, we will likely see David Micheluzzi’s record comfortably broken. In saying that, the season these young guys are having so far is statistically extraordinary so it’s anyone’s game.
I love a good chart race, so I was interested to see where they sit in relation to our previous Order of Merit winners. So far, without any marquee events being played, they are on track to chase down Micha.
Although what I was more interested in, is how they shape up in terms of Strokes Gained per round. Both Micheluzzi and Kobori averaged over 2.5 strokes per round over a whole season, which is an astonishing figure. All four players that finished 2nd or 3rd on the Order of Merit over the past two seasons gained less than 2.0 strokes on average per round. This statistic really shows how well they are playing:
Both Jack and Elvis are sitting above the +3.0 SG/round. A figure that Micheluzzi only maintained for three events in 2022, and one that Kobori didn’t reach at all. After Phoenix missed the cut in his first professional start, he has rocketed up the chart having gained +3.83 strokes per round over his past two events.
With the Australian PGA and Australian Open coming up, which will see a much stronger fields with DPWT players attending, and it will become more difficult to gain strokes. That will be the true test. But in saying that, they are already setting records, so how long can they go for? I’m keen to find out. Bring on the golf.
Below I’ve included the same graphics with the top 3 from each season included. It becomes a bit of a mess but it’s here for anyone interested.
