Professional golfing year builds momentum
New Zealand’s Josh Geary defends his Vic Open title
The world of professional golf builds momentum into 2026, when the DP World Tour and the PGA Tour begin their seasons in Dubai and Hawaii, respectively.
In Dubai, the Dubai Invitational at the Dubai Creek Resort provides a forerunner to next week’s significantly more lucrative Dubai Desert Classic at the Emirates Golf Club, but with Rory McIlroy and Tommy Fleetwood as entries into the event, the field offers plenty of star power.
Australasian entries in this week’s restricted field (60 professionals) tournament are Ryan Fox and Daniel Hillier, the event played in a pro-am format over the opening 54 holes, with the final round for professionals only.
In Honolulu, the event, which has traditionally been the second event of the season to follow the opening Sentry Championship, gets the PGA Tour underway this year, as the normal opening event, the Sentry Championship, was unfortunately cancelled due to drought conditions and associated water problems.
Australasians currently entered in this week’s field at the Waialae Country Club are Adam Scott and Cam Davis, Davis looking to reverse the form that saw him slip from inside the top 50 in the world twelve months ago to outside the top 130 at present.
In Victoria, the time-honoured Victorian Open for both men and women is played at the 13th Beach Golf Club on the Bellarine Peninsula, where New Zealand’s Josh Geary looks to defend the title he won by four shots over last week’s Webex Series Perth winner Connor McKinney.
Prize money is significantly below what it was in earlier years, when the event was played as part of the DP World Tour
Local golfer Su Oh won the women’s event.
