PGA Tour events resume normal transmission
Steve Alker with his 2022 Senior PGA Championship trophy – can he make it another? – image PGA of America
Following a week of gripping action at Augusta National last week, the PGA Tour will have its normal transmission resumed this week when the Heritage Classic is played on the PGA Tour, while the PGA Tour Champions will stage their first major of the year when they play the Senior PGA Championship in Bradenton, Florida.
Just three Australians and one New Zealander are in the field for the Heritage Classic, being played at the iconic Harbor Town Golf Links on Hilton Head Island, but at the Senior Players Championship, 15 Australasians take to the fairways of the Concession Golf Club in Bradenton on the west coast of Florida.
The Heritage Classic has long been a favourite for Australians, with the likes of Greg Norman, Graham Marsh, Peter Lonard and Aaron Baddeley all having won there, perhaps the very Australian feel to a layout with tight fairways requiring shaping of the ball, and small greens providing a comfort zone for Australasians who may see similarities to many of their own courses back home.
Greg Norman also finished runner-up twice and Aaron Baddeley once, but this year it will be Jason Day, Min Woo Lee and Karl Vilips who will fly the Australian flag, while New Zealand’s Ryan Fox gets his chance after so nearly making the cut last week despite recovering from recent kidney stone procedures.
In eight starts in the event, Day has perhaps surprisingly only recorded one top ten, Min Woo Lee also with a poor record when missing the cut in his first start and finishing 61st at his other. Lee was disappointing last week at Augusta National when expected to do well, so it will be interesting to see if he can bounce back with a reasonable week while Day was veru much in the thick of things at Augusta Nationa until a por last round.
The only other Australian in the field is Karl Vilips, who made the cut last year on debut after a second round of 65 but eventually finished 51st.
Fox is playing the event for the first occasion, but it might well be a golf course to suit and he will be keen to return to the sort of form he was building into when struck down by those medical issues a few weeks ago, which required hospitalisation.
The PGA Tour Champions plays its first major of the year when the Senior PGA Championship is played at the Jack Nicklaus / Tony Jacklin designed Concession Golf Club south of Tampa with Steve Alker looking to add to his previous win in the event in 2022 when he became the only Australasian to have won this significant title.
In three starts this season on the PGA Tour Champions, Alker has already won one event and finished 7th at his last start three weeks ago, so he appears the best hope by some margin from this part of the world, but he is joined by one of the largest line-ups of Australasians in the event’s history.
Stephen Allan, Michael Wright, Richard Green, Cameron Percy, Greg Chalmers, Mark Hensby, Stuart Appleby, Michael Campbell, Brendan Jones, Scott Hend, Mathew Goggin, Brad Burns, Craig Hocknull, and Mick Smith all get their chance in the US$3 million event.
