European tour and PGA Tour of Australasia
ISPS HANDA AUSTRALIAN OPEN
Site: Melbourne, Australia.
Courses: Kingston Heath (Yardage: 7,259. Par: 72.) and Victoria GC (Yardage: 6,887. Par: 71.)
Prize money: A$1.7 million. Winner’s share: A$283,333.
Television: Wednesday-Thursday, 8 p.m. to 1 a.m. (Golf Channel); Friday, 10 p.m. to 3 a.m. (Golf Channel); Saturday, 9 p.m. to 2 a.m. (Golf Channel).
Defending champion: Joaquin Niemann and Ashleigh Buhai.
Race to Dubai leader: Elvis Smylie.
Last week: Elvis Smylie won the Australian PGA Championship.
Notes: For the second straight year, the Australian Open and Women’s Australian Open will compete at the same time on the same courses for the same level of prize money. … Australian siblings Minjee Lee from the LPGA and Min Woo Lee will be competing in their respective fields. … Tiger Woods won the 2009 Australian Masters at Kingston Heath, one of the more famous courses on the Melbourne sandbelt. … Kingston Heath will host the Presidents Cup in 2028. … Geoff Ogilvy is in the field. He grew up at Victoria Golf Club. … Cameron Smith is playing for the fourth straight week, including two PGA Tour of Australasia events that were not co-sanctioned with the European tour. … Joaquin Niemann of LIV Golf won last year and it was key for him receiving an invitation to the Masters. … Wenyi Ding, who gave up his spot in the Masters from winning the Asia-Pacific Amateur, is playing as a European tour rookie.
Next week: Nedbank Golf Challenge.
Online: https://www.europeantour.com/dpworld-tour/ and https://pga.org.au/
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Asian Tour
INTERNATIONAL SERIES QATAR
Site: Doha, Qatar.
Course: Doha GC. Yardage: 7,437. Par: 72.
Prize money: $2.5 million. Winner’s share: $450,000.
Television: Wednesday-Thursday, 4-8 a.m. (Golf Channel); Friday-Saturday, 3:30-7:30 a.m. (Golf Channel).
Previous money winner: Andy Ogletree.
Money leader: John Catlin.
Last week: Patrick Reed won the Hong Kong Open.
Notes: This is the ninth out of 10 events in the International Series on the Asian Tour schedule. The final event is the Saudi International. … The winner of the points list gets a spot in the LIV Golf League next year. … The 120-man field features 20 players who played in LIV Golf this year. … John Catlin leads the International Series points list ahead of Canadian Richard Lee and Peter Uihlein. … Andy Ogletree won last year. He is not returning to defend his title. He has won three International Series events since they began in 2022. … LIV Golf financially supports the Asian Tour, leading to a boost in prize money. … The field includes Anthony Kim in his second tournament with a cut. He missed the cut in Macau earlier this year. … Other LIV players in the field during Thanksgiving week include Patrick Reed and Brendan Steele. … Qatar used to be part of the European tour schedule.
Next week: PIF Saudi International.
Online: https://asiantour.com/
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PGA Tour
Last week: Maverick McNealy won the RSM Classic.
Next week: Hero World Challenge.
FedEx Cup champion: Scottie Scheffler.
Online: https://www.pgatour.com/
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LPGA Tour
Last week: Jeeno Thitikul won the CME Group Tour Championship.
Next tournament: Grant Thornton Invitational on Dec. 13-15.
Race to CME Globe winner: Jeeno Thitikul.
Online: https://www.lpga.com/
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Other tours
Japan Golf Tour: Golf Nippon Series JT Cup, Tokyo Yomiui CC, Tokyo. Defending champion: Taiga Semikawa. Online: https://www.jgto.org/en/
Ladies European Tour: Andalucia Costa Del Sol Open de Espana, Real Club Guadalhorce, Malaga, Spain. Defending champion: Aditi Ashok. Television: Thursday-Saturday, 8 -11 a.m. (Golf Channel); Sunday, 7-10 a.m. (Golf Channel). Online: https://ladieseuropeantour.com/
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