[PHOTO: Gary Lisbon]
In the brief but blossoming history of the Webex Players Series, Rosebud is becoming a ‘traditional’ venue.
This week’s Webex Players Series Victoria hosted by Geoff Ogilvy is the fourth to be played in consecutive years at Rosebud Country Club on the beautiful Mornington Peninsula.
Some of the major highs of the series – which pits men and women against each other on the same course for the same single prize – have come at Rosebud, including the withering final-day victory last year by South Korea’s Min A Yoon.
Yoon, a sometime LPGA Tour player and Epson Tour regular, shot a final-round 63 for 24-under par overall to deny hometown hero James Marchesani by a shot. She became the second woman – behind Hannah Green – to win a Players Series event.
Marchesani had been the story of the week, having taken the 54-hole lead playing at the club which spawned him before he went to the United States on a college scholarship and later turned professional.
Hundreds of locals and golf club members followed his every move, but the fairytale could not be written.
Perhaps that will be saved for 2024, when the Challenger PGA Tour of Australasia member tees it up on the Composite course at Rosebud trying to achieve the dream of winning at home in front of family and friends.
Yoon, 21, is back to defend her title among 72 women in an event that is co-sanctioned by the Challenger PGA Tour of Australasia and the WPGA Australasia Tour.
Sarah Jane Smith, the former LPGA Tour star and another woman to have tasted Webex Players Series success (at Cobram Barooga last summer) is another in the field, along with New Zealander Momoka Kobori, who finished runner-up in Cobram last weekend, as well as former LPGA Tour player Su Oh.
Most of the domestic men’s tour’s winners of recent times are in the field including Kazuma Kobori, last week’s Webex Players Series Murray winner, and Heritage Classic winner Matt Griffin.
West Australian Jarryd Felton gets a start and will play his first tournament since his marriage to LPGA Tour star and major champion Hannah Green in Perth last week.
Veterans Marcus Fraser and Mat Goggin also are looking to turn back the clock.
Some of Australia’s best amateurs are playing at Rosebud, including the Masters-bound Jasper Stubbs, Australian Amateur champion Quinn Croker and runners-up from Yarra Yarra last week, Phoenix Campbell and Amelia Harris.
The event is supported by the Ogilvy Foundation, which has at its core the desire to bring golfers of all age ranges and genders together for the enhancement of the game.
In keeping with that, the weekend will see some of the country’s best young amateurs hold their own competition and mix with the seasoned pros in the Webex Junior Players Series. Nine All Abilities golfers will join the field in their own 36-hole competition over the weekend as well.
At the conclusion of play on Saturday night, the third round of the popular Australian Long Drive Championship will take place at the course.
The Challenger PGA Tour of Australia’s Order of Merit race continues to rumble with the eligible players (having competed in four or more tournaments) headed by David Micheluzzi, Ben Eccles and Jak Carter with Kazuma Kobori now looming in fourth. The latter three are all playing this week.
The Webex Players Series Victoria has a prize pool of $250,000.
FORMER CHAMPIONS
2021: Brad Kennedy
2022: Todd Sinnott
2023: Min A Yoon
PLAYERS TO WATCH
Matthew Griffin, 2024 Heritage Classic winner
Momoka Kobori, 2023 Women’s NSW Open winner
Kazuma Kobori, 2024 Webex Players Series Murray winner
Min A Yoon, defending champion
Kerry Mountcastle, 2023 Gippsland Super 6 winner
Amelia Harris, Australian Amateur runner-up
Quinn Croker, Australian Amateur champion
Daniel Gale, 2023 Sandbelt Invitational winner
HOW TO WATCH
Watch the final two rounds of the Webex Players Series Victoria live on Kayo and Fox Sports:
Round 3: Saturday 4pm-7pm, AEDT
Round 4: Sunday 2pm-7pm, AEDT
