THE disproportionate number of times Western Australia has staged the Australian Open and Australian PGA Championship is a glaring irregularity within the history of the sport here.
Four Opens – none since 1974 – and just a pair of PGAs – the last in 1960 – represents a woeful east-coast bias about which many West Australians rightfully grumble. The WA Open and WA PGA are still mainstays
on the local calendar but when it comes to top-tier, internationally renowned tournaments, the state has experienced both feast and famine.
Starved of national championships as it may be, the west has prospered when it comes to hosting other top-flight tournaments, doing so at arguably a higher percentage than the other states. The Vines Classic, which began in 1990 and morphed into the Heineken Classic after three years, began one of the more successful runs of a non-Open/PGA/Masters tournament in recent decades – a turbulent time for tournament sponsorship and survival. Incidentally, when Victoria poached the Heineken in 2002, it lasted only four further showings before folding after Craig Parry’s playoff victory over Nick O’Hern at Royal Melbourne in 2005.
In the meantime, Perth has played host to four editions of the nomadic Johnnie Walker Classic, which roamed Australasia between 1990 and 2009. Powerhouse South African duo Retief Goosen and Ernie Els obliterated the Lake Karrinyup layout in winning by 10 strokes in 2002 and eight strokes in 2003, respectively.
The WA capital hosted two more Johnnie Walker Classics last decade, both at The Vines Golf & Country Club where the Vines and Heineken Classics proved so popular. American Kevin Stadler eagled the final hole to win in 2006 and a still-amateur Danny Lee edged past three European Tour professionals three years later, in what turned out to be the tournament’s last stand anywhere.
Next came the curious and short-lived Lexus Cup, which was staged only four times (2005 to 2008) but brought elite women’s golf to The Vines in December 2007. A tremendous concept in theory (the Lexus Cup pit an Asian side against an International team in a Solheim Cup-style format that allowed broader representation than the actual Solheim Cup), the Asian team won 15-9 in Perth before the event died a silent death after one more staging
a year later.
The Perth International began life in 2012 and last year switched name and format to become the ISPS HANDA World Super 6 Perth, the latest incarnation of tournament golf in the west. With a tried and tested venue and a revolutionary mode of competition, the event at Lake Karrinyup is Perth’s best chance yet to retain its foothold within the national consciousness of tournament golf.
Tournament golf in Western Australia
• Australian PGA: Two stagings, in 1949 at Royal Perth Golf Club (Kel Nagle) and 1960 at Royal Fremantle Golf Club (John Sullivan).
• Australian Open: Four stagings, all at Lake Karrinyup Country Club (1952: Norman von Nida; 1960: Bruce Devlin (amateur); 1968: Jack Nicklaus; 1974: Gary Player).
• The Vines/Heineken Classic: Held at The Vines Golf & Country Club from 1990 to 2001 before it moved to Royal Melbourne for its final four years.
• Johnnie Walker Classics: Two at Lake Karrinyup (2002: Retief Goosen; 2003: Ernie Els) and two at The Vines (2006: Kevin Stadler; 2009: Danny Lee (amateur).
• Lexus Cup: One staging, in 2007, when Asia won the Solheim Cup-style teams event at The Vines, 15-9.
• Perth International/ISPS HANDA World Super 6 Perth: Began in 2012 but skipped 2015 before becoming the ISPS HANDA World Super 6 Perth from 2017. All editions played at Lake Karrinyup.
