Surf Coast locals invited to take on the pros

The PGA of Australia today announced yet another twist for the Surf Coast Knockout that will see golfers from the Surf Coast region, including a 15-year old member of The Sands Torquay, line up in the PGA Tour of Australasia event.

The PGA today issued a series of invitations to twelve local golf clubs who will each have the opportunity to qualify one player for the tournament which is a full PGA Tour of Australasia Order of Merit event.

As Simon Butterly, General Manager of the PGA’s Tournament Division explains:

“To claim a spot, the most recent Men’s Club Champion must compete against one of their club’s PGA Professionals in an 18 hole match play event at their home course before December 31st 2010. The winner of that match will gain automatic entry into the field for the Surf Coast Knockout to be held at The Sands Torquay from January 20th –23rd, 2011.”

The twelve clubs that have been issued invites are;

The Sands Torquay, Thirteenth Beach Golf Links, Barwon Heads Golf Club, Torquay Golf Club, Anglesea Golf Club, Curlewis Golf Club, Lonsdale Golf Club, Clifton Springs Golf Club, Portarlington Golf Club Queenscliff Golf Club, East Geelong Golf Club and Moonah Links.

“With such a high standard of courses in the Surf Coast region it was difficult for us to select the clubs,” Butterly went on to say, ”however we believe that this is a great start for this, the inaugural year of the Surf Coast Knockout, and we hope with continued community support we can build on this initiative in the years to come.”

In addition to the twelve invitations, the PGA has also issued an invitation to 15-year old amateur Ben Eccles, a member at The Sands Torquay who recently shot a new course record.

“It was only 6 weeks ago that Ben knocked it around The Sands Torquay in a new course record score of 63,” said Dean Newell, General Manager at The Sands Torquay.

“I am sure that it will give Darrell Brown our Teaching Professional at The Sands Torquay great pride to see one of his star pupils out there competing against some of the best Australian professionals.”

Already attracting substantial backing from both the local and Australian golfing community, the Surf Coast Knockout will be played at The Sands Torquay from January 20-23, 2011.

In a world first, the first three rounds of the Surf Coast Knockout will be contested under stroke play conditions, while the winner will ultimately be decided on Sunday by a reduced match play format.

The PGA’s broadcast partner Network 10 will broadcast the Surf Coast Classic on Sunday 23rd January live from 12.00pm – 5.00pm on Network 10, and from 12.00pm – 7.00pm on OneHD.