Von Nida Tour
Current season, competition or edition: 2017 PGA Tour of Australasia
|
|
| Formerly | PGA Tour of Australia |
|---|---|
| Sport | Golf |
| Founded | 1973 (renamed PGA Tour of Australasia in 1991) |
| Director | Wayne Grady |
| Countries |
 Australia New Zealand Fiji
|
| Most titles |
Kel Nagle (61) |
| TV partner(s) |
Seven Network (Australia) Fox Sports (Australia) Sky Sport (New Zealand) TV3 (New Zealand) |
| Official website | ISPS Handa PGA Tour of Australasia |
The PGA Tour of Australasia, currently known for sponsorship reasons as the ISPS Handa PGA Tour of Australasia, is a professional golf tour for men. Official events on the tour count for World Golf Ranking points. The tour was formed in 1973 as the PGA Tour of Australia and adopted its current name in 1991.
Most of the leading players on the tour are Australian, with a smaller domestic contingent from New Zealand, but players from many other countries all over the world also participate. The very best Australasian players devote most of their time to the PGA Tour or the European Tour, typically returning home for two or three events each year or even not at all. Therefore, the Australasian Tour is a feeder for the larger tours. Some of the leading events are co-sanctioned by the European Tour in order to encourage higher ranked players to enter and to attract more sponsorship. Players with a background on the tour who have reached the world top 20 since the turn of the Millennium include Steve Elkington and Adam Scott. The leading tournaments on the tour include the Australian Open, the Australian PGA Championship, the Australian Masters and the New Zealand Open.
In November 2005 it was reported by the BBC that the tour was going through difficult times, with the schedule for the 2005/06 summer season reduced to six events, three of them co-sponsored by other tours. The Heineken Classic, which was the richest event in Australasia in 2005, was cancelled in 2006 due to the withdrawal of the sponsor. One factor in the tour's problems is the rise of the nearby Asian Tour. Tour chairman Wayne Grady, and player Mark Hensby both accused Australia's biggest golf icon Greg Norman, who is a U.S. resident, of not doing enough to support the tour. Norman dismissed their comments.
...
Wikipedia