In his 20-year professional golf career, Marc Leishman has experienced plenty of firsts and another one comes today at the Vic PGA at Moonah Links.
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For the first time, Leishman will team up with his 13-year-old son Harvey in the tournament’s pro-am format – the final event on the Challenger PGA Tour of Australasia schedule before a short Christmas-New Year break.
Adding to the family factor, Harvey’s grandad – and Marc’s father – Paul will be caddieing for his son across the Open and Legends layouts which have been the Vic PGA’s home since 2021.
There’s been some interesting family banter among the Leishmans about how Paul missed out on playing this week, Marc saying he asked his dad if he was interested when they were in an Irish pub and not getting a positive response, with the elder Leishman claiming to have no recollection of that conversation.
“We’ve been really looking forward to this week. It’s going to be a new experience for us and a fun one as well,” said Leishman, the 2008 Vic PGA champion.
“I’ve been hitting the ball well so hopefully that rolls over into this week.”
This will be the Ripper GC squad member’s fourth Challenger Tour of Australasia event of the season, making him eligible for the end-of-season Order of Merit standings.
He is currently in seventh position after finishing equal third at both the Bowra & O’Dea Nexus Advisernet WA Open and BMW Australian PGA Championship, then T-18 at the Crown Australian Open.
A win this week would push him close to the top three.
“The Open was very frustrating,” Leishman said. “Probably one of the best ball-striking weeks I’ve had ever and just couldn’t adjust to the speed of the greens. It’s probably the most putts I’ve had in a tournament for 10 years.
“It was so good to be back in Victoria and playing it on a course like Royal Melbourne. It just shows that if you put a big tournament on a great golf course, the crowds will come. I’m excited for the future of the tournament with this as the example of what can be done.”
Joining Leishman in the professional field this week as feature players are former Vic PGA winner and DP World Tour member David Micheluzzi, trying to make amends for missed cuts at both the PGA and Open, defending champion Cory Crawford and Queensland PGA winner Cameron John.
This year’s amateur field boasts England cricket greats Sir Ian Botham and Allan Lamb, former Australian cricketer Damien Fleming, comedians Peter Helliar and Anthony ‘Lehmo’ Lehmann, former Group 1 winning jockey Simon Marshall, AFL legend Brendon Fevola and modern stars including Ryan Papenhuyzen, Montana Beruldson and Grace Egan.
All the pro-am teams play 36 holes on Thursday and Friday before a cut is made to the top 25 teams for Saturday and then a further cut to the top eight teams after the third round.
Victorian PGA Championship
Moonah Links (Open and Legends courses)
Defending champion: Cory Crawford
Prizemoney: $250,000
TV times: 3pm-6pm Saturday and 1pm-6pm Sunday on Kayo Sports and Fox Sports 503
Players to watch
Marc Leishman, six-time PGA Tour winner
David Micheluzzi, 2022-2023 Challenger PGA Tour of Australasia Order of Merit winner
Cameron John, Queensland PGA champion
Daniel Gale, two-time Challenger PGA Tour of Australasia winner
Recent winners
2015 Aaron Townsend (Huntingdale Golf Club)
2016 Ashley Hall (Huntingdale Golf Club)
2017 Damien Jordan (Huntingdale Golf Club)
2018 Aaron Pike (RACV Cape Schanck)
2019 Campbell Rawson (RACV Cape Schanck)
2020 Christopher Wood (Moonah Links)
2021 Blake Windred (Moonah Links)
2022 Andrew Martin (Moonah Links)
2023 David Micheluzzi (Moonah Links)
2024 Cory Crawford (Moonah Links)
