Words: Paul Prendergast.
Image: Mark Wilson – Golfplus Media
| 28/4/2023 Only a month on from David Micheluzzi concluding a memorable season atop the 2022-2023 ISPS HANDA PGA Tour of Australasia Order of Merit, a new season is already upon us with the return of the PNG Open at Royal Port Moresby next week. To be played from May 4-7, the tournament will feature many of the players who competed strongly in the season just gone and includes recent tour winners such as Jay Mackenzie and Chris Wood. Total prize money on offer is $180,000 as the South Pacific nation restores its connection to the Australasian Tour. “It’s great to welcome the PNG Open back to our Tour after COVID-19 made it impossible to stage a tournament in Papua New Guinea,” said PGA of Australia Director of Tournaments Australasia, Nick Dastey. “We are always looking to create more playing opportunities for our members but we also believe we have an important role in promoting the game throughout our island neighbours. Papua New Guinea, Fiji and Samoa have all hosted PGA of Australia-sanctioned tournaments in the past and we have no doubt that will continue in future.” Other prominent players to have entered the PNG Open include Lincoln Tighe, Michael Wright, Josh Armstrong, adidas PGA Pro-Am Series Order of Merit winner Tim Hart. Tighe (pictured) is coming off the best season of his career on the Australasian circuit, finishing 10th on the Order of Merit behind Micheluzzi. Despite such a positive result, he would probably admit to having some unfinished business despite displaying such consistent form across the season. In a season of ‘what could have beens’, Tighe finished narrowly on the wrong side of the ledger in two playoffs in Victoria and the Hunter Valley and missed out on earning a single OOM point or dollar on offer at the three biggest tournaments on the schedule – the Australian Open, PGA and NZ Open. Getting off to a flyer in the new season will be a top priority for the Wollongong resident in a country where he has tasted success previously, as the winner of the 2013 Morobe Open and runner-up in the PNG Open at Royal PM the same year. “The winner at Royal Port Moresby will be exempt on our tour for the next two years so there is always a lot at stake,” Dastey added. “We will likely have a number of players go straight from Final Stage of Qualifying School to PNG where they will have a chance to improve their category position for the bigger events later in the year.” “We were really pleased with how the past season finished and we’re confident that the PNG Open won’t be the only new addition to the 2023-2024 schedule.” |
