Two-time PGA Tour winner John Senden and reigning Challenger PGA Tour of Australasia Order of Merit winner David Micheluzzi are among the big names confirmed for this week’s Queensland PGA Championship in Brisbane.
The championship will be contested at Nudgee Golf Club’s Kurrai course for the third straight year where Senden will put his class and experience up against the bright young crop of Aussie golfers coming through.
Four of this season’s five winners to date are entered as they look to solidify their lofty positions on the Order of Merit, while Micheluzzi will be making his first start on home soil since his three-win season last year that catapulted the Victorian onto the world stage.
Now playing predominantly on the PGA Tour Champions – where his best finish this year was a tie for 15th at the Constellation Furyk and Friends earlier this month – Senden is in his fourth decade of tournament golf.
He was runner-up in a playoff to Lucas Parsons at the 1997 Queensland PGA at Gold Coast Country Club and is sure to be a fan favourite this week at Nudgee.
“With his record both in Australia and internationally, there is no question John Senden is one of the greatest golfers Queensland has ever produced,” said state manager for the PGA of Australia, Broc Greenhalgh.
“As a two-time winner on the PGA Tour and the Australian Open champion in 2006, John boasts a career resume that most players would gladly take. Perhaps the only thing left for John to achieve would be a win in his home city, and I wouldn’t put it past him this week at Nudgee.”
After turning professional in 1992, Senden’s first international win came at the 1995 Indonesia PGA Championship. He won twice on the Challenge Tour in Europe in 1998 and graduated to the PGA Tour in 2002. His first PGA Tour win came at the 2006 John Deere Classic but had to wait eight years for his second, the 2014 Valspar Championship.
With a 2024 DP World Tour card already in his back pocket thanks to his Order of Merit win last season, Micheluzzi makes his return with two major appearances, two PGA Tour starts and a tie for 14th in his most recent start at the Alfred Dunhill Links Championship.
“David really highlighted last season the opportunities on offer to players should they perform well on the Challenger PGA Tour of Australasia,” Greenhalgh added.
“The likes of Lachlan Barker, Ben Eccles, Austin Bautista and Daniel Gale all arrive at Nudgee prominent on the Order of Merit and knowing that every week is crucial in the pursuit of points. Aaron Wilkin won a thrilling playoff at last year’s championship and I think we can expect something similar this Sunday given the quality of players in the field.”
New Zealand’s Michael Hendry will make an inspirational return to the PGA Tour of Australasia given his leukaemia battle this year, Dimi Papadatos is back after locking up his Korn Ferry Tour card for next year and Queensland amateurs Billy Dowling, Lincoln Morgan and Quinn Croker will have a chance to impress in professional company.
