We Are Back
The PGA Tour of Australasia returns this week with the traditional opener in Papua New Guinea and with the strongest field at the event in recent years. We have 24 players from last season’s top 50, eight of those winners. Compare that with the 2023 edition in PNG where we only had 16 from the prior season’s top 50 (1 winner - defending champion Lachie Barker). I am surprised at the lack of Q-School guys as the PNG Open is the weakest event on the schedule and is a good spot to bank some early points for the re-rank and the Mini OOM. Every man and his dog will want to play the Australian Open at Royal Melbourne this year so there will likely be less Q-School spots than usual and the Mini OOM might be that way in for some guys with less status. Early points here can score you entry into many future events.
A story out of last year’s PNG Open that I haven’t seen written about. James Conran played here with no status last year, he finished outright 2nd and banked 107 OOM points. Via a new category which awarded starts to the leading three players on the Order of Merit list that were not already exempt, those points gained him entry into seven of the next nine events (all excluding the Aus PGA and Aus Open). In the final event of 2024, the Gippsland Super 6, James managed 16th and 16.83 OOM points which made him eligible to join the re-rank category and he became exempt into every event for the second half of the season. James won the Heritage Classic in early 2025. An event he likely would have not been in the field had he missed the PNG Open in 2024.
This year, William Bruyeres returns to defend his crown aside other PGA Tour of Australasia regulars; Harrison Crowe, Jake McLeod, Lachie Barker, James Marchesani, Corey Lamb, and probably my favourite golfer on tour - THE HONORABLE JAMES MARAPE. The Prime Minister of Papua New Guinea plays this event every year his schedule allows.
I am interested to see how the US Q-School graduates perform this season and we will have our first look at two of those grads in Chris Malec and Ty Gingerich. A host of others from the US stage that missed out on a full card are also in attendance.
A welcome increase in prizemoney puts this year’s PNG Open purse at $225,000 and will award $40,500 to the winner.
Expect high scores (not just from the PM) as winds are forecast at 30-40kph every day. Neither side of the draw looks favourable. The weather looks mostly fine, with some small patches of rain on Thursday.
Most Aussie players have either been spelling on the Pro-Am circuit in the off-season so we don’t have much to go off. In the past 6 weeks, the strongest performers in Pro-Ams with more than five rounds have been Douglas Klein (+4.62 SG/Rd), Nathan Barbieri (+4.53 SG), Chris Wood (+3.63 SG), Tim Hart (+3.30 SG) and Jack Munro (+3.05 SG). A surprising name high up on that list is 2024 PGA Associate of the year, Harry McMillan. Harry has gained 12.86 strokes over three rounds (+4.29 SG) against the strongest Pro-Am fields. A very small sample but good signs leading into his second ever PGATA event.
If forced to tip someone: Nathan Barbieri appears to never stop playing golf, has played well in Pro-Ams, and won’t be battling the rust some others in the field might be.
On the weekend, the ladies will also contest the PNG Women’s Open over 36 holes. A field of 15 (9 WPGA, 6 PNG amateurs) will play for a prize pool of $21,800.