Australian Masters

The Australian Masters was an annual golf tournament on the PGA Tour of Australasia held in Victoria, Australia from 1979 to 2015.

Australian Masters

Tournament information
Location	Melbourne, Australia
Established	1979
Course(s)	Huntingdale Golf Club
Par	71
Length	7,682 yards (7,024 m)
Organized by	IMG
Tour(s)	PGA Tour of Australasia European Tour
Format	Stroke play
Prize fund	A$750,000
Month played	November
Final year	2015
Tournament record score
Aggregate	268 Bradley Hughes (1998)
To par	−24 as above
Final champion
Peter Senior
Location map
Huntingdale GC Location in Australia Show map of Australia Huntingdale GC Location in Victoria Show map of Victoria

History

The tournament is the brainchild of schoolteacher David Inglis. The Australian Masters was intended to be, in the words of Inglis, "an unashamed copy" of the Masters Tournament, the famous tournament in the United States. The event would be played at the same course every year and a ceremonial jacket would placed on the champion. In this case, the course would be Huntingdale Golf Club.^[1]

Inglis had no experience running a golf tournament and recruited Ian Stanley, a leading Australian touring professional, to give him advice. Stanley was able to secure commitments from top golfers like Graham Marsh, Lee Trevino, Bob Shearer, and Greg Norman. Prize money was originally supposed to be $50,000 but, due to an inability to find enough sponsors, a decision was made to reduce the purse to $30,000. Multiple players threatened to withdraw and a decision was made to cancel the tournament. However, at the last minute David Haines, a member at Huntingdale, was able to secure an additional $10,000 and the tournament could go on. New Zealand golfer Barry Vivian won the event by one over Shearer. The tournament lost $50,000 but managed to be profitable thereafter.^[1]

In 1989 the International Management Group took control of the management of the tournament.^[2]

Though the Australian Masters usually was part of the PGA Tour of Australasia's calendar, the event was not on the Order of Merit in 1992. The PGA Tour of Australasia requested that the field expand from 100 players to a full-field of 120 players. International Management Group (IMG), which ran the event, rejected the request. Frank Williams, an employee of IMG, justified the decision by stating, "The sponsors expect the Masters to be different from other Australian tournaments and it was sold to them as a limited-field special event."^[2]

The tournament was co-sanctioned by the European Tour from 2006 to 2009, with a significant 20% increase in the prize fund. Because the tournament is played late in the calendar year, in November or December, it formed part of the following year's European Tour schedule from 2006 through 2008. With the European Tour's decision to realign its schedule with the calendar year for 2010, the 2009 event was the first to be part of the current calendar year's tour schedule. The co-sanctioning with the European Tour was dropped after the 2009 event.

On 18 March 2009 the Victorian State Government announced a major coup, confirming that then World Number 1 Tiger Woods would play in the 2009 event at its new venue, Kingston Heath.^[3] The announcement caused a minor public backlash due to 50% of Woods' A$3 million appearance fee being paid by taxpayer funds. Woods' appearance was tipped to generate close to A$20 million for the Victorian economy via tourism and other related areas.^[4]

The event is owned by IMG.^[5] The event was not played in 2016 and its future is reported to be in doubt.^[6]

The tournament's iconic broadcast theme music used during the 1980s and 1990s was "Send Them Victorious" by Graham De Wilde, with tournament's tagline "The Tradition Continues" in use for the duration of its existence. Greg Norman won the Masters a record six times. The final event featured 56-year-old Peter Senior as the champion. It was his third win in this event and became the first player to win the Australian Open, the Australian PGA Championship and the Australian Masters all in his fifties. Future major winner who was an amateur at the time Bryson DeChambeau finished tied in second place.^[7]

Venues

Until 2008, the Australian Masters was always held at the Huntingdale Golf Club in South Oakleigh. From 2009, a rotation system was introduced and the event was staged at different courses in the Melbourne area.^[8]

The following venues have been used since the founding of the Australian Masters in 1979.

Venue	Location	First	Last	Times
Huntingdale Golf Club	Victoria	1979	2015	31
Kingston Heath Golf Club	Victoria	2009	2012	2
Victoria Golf Club	Victoria	2010	2011	2
Royal Melbourne Golf Club	Victoria	2013	2013	1
Metropolitan Golf Club	Victoria	2014	2014	1

Winners

Year	Tour(s)[a]	Winner	Score	To par	Margin of victory	Runner(s)-up	Venue	Ref.
Uniqlo Masters
2015	ANZ	Peter Senior (3)	276	−8	2 strokes	Bryson DeChambeau (a) Andrew Evans John Senden	Huntingdale
BetEasy Masters
2014	ANZ	Nick Cullen	279	−9	1 stroke	James Nitties Adam Scott Josh Younger	Metropolitan
Talisker Masters
2013	ANZ	Adam Scott (2)	270	−14	2 strokes	Matt Kuchar	Royal Melbourne
2012	ANZ	Adam Scott	271	−17	4 strokes	Ian Poulter	Kingston Heath
JBWere Masters
2011	ANZ	Ian Poulter	269	−15	3 strokes	Marcus Fraser	Victoria
2010	ANZ	Stuart Appleby	274	−10	1 stroke	Adam Bland	Victoria
2009	ANZ, EUR	Tiger Woods	274	−14	2 strokes	Greg Chalmers	Kingston Heath
Sportsbet Australian Masters
2008	ANZ, EUR	Rod Pampling	276	−12	Playoff	Marcus Fraser	Huntingdale
Mastercard Masters
2007	ANZ, EUR	Aaron Baddeley	275	−13	Playoff	Daniel Chopra	Huntingdale
2006	ANZ, EUR	Justin Rose	276	−12	2 strokes	Greg Chalmers Richard Green	Huntingdale
2005	ANZ	Robert Allenby (2)	271	−17	Playoff	Bubba Watson	Huntingdale
2004	ANZ	Richard Green	271	−17	Playoff	Greg Chalmers David McKenzie	Huntingdale
2003	ANZ	Robert Allenby	277	−11	Playoff	Jarrod Moseley Craig Parry Adam Scott	Huntingdale
2002	ANZ	Peter Lonard (2)	279	−9	Playoff	Gavin Coles Adam Scott	Huntingdale
Ericsson Masters
2001	ANZ	Colin Montgomerie	278	−10	1 stroke	Nathan Green	Huntingdale
2000	ANZ	Michael Campbell	282	−10	4 strokes	Brett Rumford	Huntingdale
1999	ANZ	Craig Spence	276	−16	1 stroke	Greg Norman	Huntingdale
1998	ANZ	Bradley Hughes (2)	268	−24	5 strokes	Mathew Goggin	Huntingdale
1997	ANZ	Peter Lonard	276	−16	Playoff	Peter O'Malley	Huntingdale
1996	ANZ	Craig Parry (3)	279	−13	2 strokes	Bradley Hughes	Huntingdale
Australian Masters
1995	ANZ	Peter Senior (2)	280	−12	1 stroke	Wayne Grady Lucas Parsons Tom Watson	Huntingdale
Microsoft Australian Masters
1994	ANZ	Craig Parry (2)	282	−10	3 strokes	Ernie Els	Huntingdale
1993	ANZ	Bradley Hughes	281	−11	Playoff	Peter Senior	Huntingdale
Pyramid Australian Masters
1992		Craig Parry	283	−9	3 strokes	Greg Norman	Huntingdale
1991	ANZ	Peter Senior	278	−14	1 stroke	Greg Norman	Huntingdale
Australian Masters
1990	ANZ	Greg Norman (6)	273	−19	2 strokes	Mike Clayton Nick Faldo John Morse	Huntingdale
1989	ANZ	Greg Norman (5)	280	−12	5 strokes	Russell Claydon (a)	Huntingdale	[9]
1988	ANZ	Ian Baker-Finch	283	−9	Playoff	Roger Mackay Craig Parry	Huntingdale	[10]
1987	ANZ	Greg Norman (4)	273	−19	9 strokes	Peter Senior	Huntingdale
1986	ANZ	Mark O'Meara	284	−8	1 stroke	David Graham	Huntingdale	[11]
1985	ANZ	Bernhard Langer	281	−11	3 strokes	Nick Faldo Greg Norman	Huntingdale
1984	ANZ	Greg Norman (3)	285	−7	3 strokes	David Graham Bernhard Langer	Huntingdale	[12]
1983	ANZ	Greg Norman (2)	285	−7	4 strokes	Bernhard Langer	Huntingdale	[13]
1982	ANZ	Graham Marsh	289	−3	1 stroke	Stewart Ginn	Huntingdale	[14]
1981	ANZ	Greg Norman	289	−3	7 strokes	Terry Gale Norio Suzuki	Huntingdale	[15]
1980	ANZ	Gene Littler	288	−4	Playoff	Rodger Davis	Huntingdale	[16]
1979	ANZ	Barry Vivian	289	−3	1 stroke	Bob Shearer	Huntingdale	[17]

Sources:^[18][19]

Notes

1. ANZ − PGA Tour of Australasia; EUR − European Tour.