Cameron John earns first Australasian Tour victory – image Australian Golf Media
The final event of the 2023 / 2024 PGA Tour of Australasia season has been completed with the National Tournament at the National Golf Club’s Moonah course bringing to an end a season that began at the PNG Open in May of last year.
This week’s event finalises a lot of various Order of Merit positions which, in turn, play a role in determining the immediate playing future of a number of the leading players in the standings.
This week’s event was won by first-time winner 22-year-old Cameron John of Victoria who finished three shots ahead of NSW golfer Daniel Gale with Josh Younger and Aaron Townsend sharing 3rd place, albeit four shots from the runner-up.
While the $36,000 will be a boost for John as he looks to build on his professional career in which his previous best finish was when runner-up at the 2018 NSW Open, his jump to 7th on the finalised order of Merit opens up other possibilities for him including access to events like the Alfred Dunhill Links at St Andrews later this year.
John and Gale were locked in battle for much of the final round after Gale had begun round four five shots off John’s lead.
By the turn Gale had drawn within one but John birdied his opening three holes of his closing nine to put the result all but beyond doubt. John would hold on over the closing stages for what was a comfortable win although at various stages throughout the final round things could have gone either way.
Gale might perhaps be disappointed in not winning what would have been his 4th PGA Tour of Australasia title but a great consolation is that by finishing runner-up in the current season Order of Merit he earns one of the three DP World Tour cards for the 2025 season.
The other two cards go to the Order of Merit winner, Kazuma Kobori, and third-placed Brett Coletta (pictured below) who are taking advantage of the relatively new pathway formed in an alliance with the DP World to advance their cause.
As the leaders battled it out in the final group, players throughout the field were playing for their immediate futures on the Challenger PGA Tour of Australasia.
Over the course of a windy but pleasant afternoon on the Mornington Peninsula Nathan Barbieri (70), Jack Munro (71), Kit Bittle (68), Townsend and Younger moved in and out of the top-50 cut-off who keep their category for next season.
Ultimately it would be only Younger who finished the season inside the top 50, Munro (51), Bittle (52), Townsend (53) and Barbieri (54) now facing the prospect of a return to Qualifying School next month to improve their category.
Daniel Gale – Kazuma Kobori and Brett Coletta – imzge Australian Golf Media
