Australia’s finest layout, Royal Melbourne, will again headline a quartet of some of the Melbourne Sandbelt’s finest layouts, alongside Yarra Yarra, Kingston Heath and Peninsula-Kingswood, playing host to the second Sandbelt Invitational from December 19-22.
These are golf courses that are perennial fixtures on the bucket lists of golfers the world over and studied reverentially by students and aficionados of golf course architecture.
However, with the fairways running and greens firm, all it will take is a little wind and the conditions are sure to test every aspect of every player’s game but especially, the one played between the ears.
And that’s very much the point of the event – exposing younger players to the modus operandi of those with more experience in tournament conditions around golf courses of world class stature.
As Geoff Ogilvy has said: “This has been a dream of ours for some time and we hope it will grow into one of the most significant events in the country.”
The brainchild of former U.S. Open champion Ogilvy and former touring pro, turned course architect and now tournament director, Mike Clayton, the Sandbelt Invitational’s first staging caught the attention of the golf world when an eclectic mix of the young and the old, professional and amateur, were brought together to showcase and share their skills, experiences and stories.
DEFENDING CHAMPIONS: In the men’s of the inaugural tournament, it became a fairly simple cruise to victory for Brady Watt around one of his ‘home clubs’ at Peninsula Kingswood on the final day.
Having a logged a 66 the day prior at Yarra Yarra, the former No.1 men’s amateur golfer took 70 shots around the South Course to finish the tournament on 10-under and clear of Jed Morgan in second by six shots, with John Lyras another shot in arrears after a course record 64 at Yarra Yarra.
Things were closer on the women’s side, but Grace Kim was still a winner by four after going head-to-head with Su Oh on the final day.
Kim took 74 shots on the last day, but had enough of a cushion from her play earlier in the tournament to claim victory.
Jye Pickin also claimed a four shot win in the amateur men’s competition after a final round of 68 at PK, while Jeneath Wong recovered from a first round of 80 to win the women’s amateur section by eight from Belinda Ji.
Watt and Pickin are all back to defend their 2021 wins, while Kim has taken the week off to prepare for her debut season on the LPGA Tour and Wong was a late withdrawal after rolling an ankle in the lead up.
COURSES: Kingston Heath will be only a few weeks removed from hosting two rounds of the ISPS HANDA Australian Open which will guarantee the setup and conditioning will be at its optimum, not that it’s ever anything other than that.
Members of ‘The Heath’ teed up in the monthly medal the day after the course’s Australian Open commitments had concluded which points to the quality and playability of these golf courses that unlike others, require very little by way of alteration and augmentation to the setup to stage high profile championships.
Having personally played at Peninsula Kingswood North and Royal Melbourne West around the Aussie Open week, it’s a guarantee that any continuation of the prevailing warm weather that Melbourne has been experiencing will have each golf course playing at their ‘firm and fast’ best. Earlier seasonal rain and the warm weather have seen an explosion in growth of native roughs should players stray from the wide playing corridors that each course is generally renown for.
The fourth layout in the rotation again this year is the renovated Yarra Yarra, which was the somewhat surprise package in 2021.
Ranked No.17 in the country, the Alex Russel design has climbed back up in player’s estimations following a redesign by Tom Doak and Brian Slawnik of Renaissance Golf that was completed in 2020 and got its first big reveal at last year’s Sandbelt Invitational.
The bulk of the work to rejuvenate the layout to its ‘good bones’ from Russel’s design was to remove vegetation while making some slight course tweaks. And what a transformation.
That is the fairly simple mission statement of this event.
Add in the quality of the golf courses and the ability for fans to stroll along just metres from the players in action and you have in the finished product, something quite refreshing and unique in the game’s modern era.
The challenges of the past few years compromised the ability to bring people together last year yet despite it all, local Melbournians and high-profile Tour pros Su Oh and Lucas Herbert were only too pleased to sign up for the inaugural event held just prior to Christmas.
The 2021 event was considered a success and was very popular with the players, particularly those in the ‘up and comer’ ranks for whom the event had been devised to benefit the most.
Clayton commented: “It’s about mentoring our best young players by pairing them with many of our very best pros and giving them the chance to spend time with them once the rounds are over.”
“And importantly, the focus is not about money and how much people are getting paid. Among those to benefit from starts last year included women’s champion Grace Kim who went on to have a magnificent summer of golf (and has since earned an LPGA Tour card) and Jed Morgan, who after taking a break from the game having finished strongly in the Sandbelt Invitational, then won the Australian PGA Championship three weeks later.”
With many travel challenges removed, the 2022 field certainly features a more national mix of professionals, amateurs and juniors who will join a handful of players each host club is able to nominate from within their membership ranks.
Herbert was going to be back again after another full year plying his trade on both the PGA and DP World Tours but withdrew last week, while interstate entrants include Louis Dobbelaar, Jed Morgan, Dimi Papadatos, Blake Windred, Cassie Porter, Haydn Barron and amateur sensation, Jeffrey Guan.
West Australian Barron was a crowd pleaser in more ways than one at the recent Australian Open, where his prodigious hitting and ready interaction with galleries were capped off by with a chip-in eagle on the final hole to climb into joint fourth place and a spot in The Open Championship at Royal Liverpool next year.
Local ‘PK’ member David Micheluzzi will return to the Sandbelt Invitational this time as the reigning WA PGA Champion and in possession of second place in the PGA Tour of Australasia Order of Merit, as players break for five weeks ahead of the TPS Victoria Hosted by Geoff Ogilvy, which kicks off the second half of the season.
Micheluzzi has been a regular participant in the Ogilvy Foundation’s ‘The Game by Ogilvy’ series of matches held around suburban Melbourne, which could be viewed in concept and purpose as a mini versions of the Invitational itself.
Of course, the standout name to commit to a maiden Sandbelt Invitational appearance this year is former Australian Open champion and recent Presidents Cup debutant, Cameron Davis.
The PGA TOUR winner will return to Melbourne after a short break at home in Sydney following the Australian Open to soak up the informal vibe and a rare opportunity to play these iconic layouts in a relaxed setting.
Davis is a past Vic Amateur champion at the Victoria Golf Club – over Tom Power Horan no less, last week’s Gippsland Super 6 champion – but Sandbelt opportunities of this nature have been few and far between for a player of Davis’ age.
The Australian Open has only just broken a 20-year absence from the Melbourne Sandbelt this month and the now defunct Australian Masters was last staged in 2015. As for the Australian PGA, you have to look way back to when Bob Shearer won the title at Royal Melbourne East in 1983 for when the Joe Kirkwood Cup last crossed the state border.
While there’s no doubt Ogilvy as his Presidents Cup Assistant Captain has been in Davis’ ear about the Invitational throughout the year, his inclusion is a massive win for the tournament and an impressive commitment from the Seattle-based New South Welshman who could have been excused for wanting to maximise his time in Sydney after many years of separation from family and friends. That he’s chosen to spend this week at the Invitational is testament to his commitment to the cause and to the development of local talent.
Some others to keep an eye on this week, are New Zealand’s Momoka Kobori who lost in a play-off at the TPS Hunter Valley event earlier this year, while Canberra’s Matt Millar has recently won two Blitz Golf events and is clearly in some form.
At home on the Sandbelt are some local members, including Victoria Golf Club's prodigious hitter Steph Bunque and Ogilvy who seems determined to get back to playing more, and would love nothing more than to win his own event.
COURSE SCHEDULE:
Monday 19th – Kingston Heath
Tuesday 20th – Royal Melbourne
Wednesday 21st – Yarra Yarra
Thursday 22nd – Peninsula Kingswood
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