Australia is among the biggest countries in the world in terms of land area and population so if we say that a certain sport is one of its most searched and most participated sports in their country, you can bet that millions of people are either fans or enthusiasts of that sport. The sport I am talking about is golf. It is the fifth most searched sport online & the second most participated sport in the country.
Golf is so popular in Australia that it has its own national sporting body, aptly named Golf Australia and it runs golf in the country. The main golf tour for men in Australia is the PG Tour Australasia, which was founded in 1973. This tour is considered first tier because it is among the International Federation of PGA Tours’ five charter members. Three out of twelve events in this tour last 2007 were solely sanctioned by PGA Tour Australasia and the same group’s development tour is known as Von Nida Tour. However, if you are talking about the country’s premier golf tournament, it is known as the Australian Open and this is the one ran by Golf Australia. His is also the oldest golf tournament having begun at 1904. Other golf tournaments include the following: the Australian Masters (started in 1979) & Australian PGA Championship (started in 1905).
Women’s golf is not so far behind. Aussie women held the ALPGTour since 1972. In 2009, the International Federation of PGA Tours started to include all women’s major tours and the ALPG Tour was among those included. Other tours included the Ladies Masters (started in 1990) & the Women’s Australian Open (started in 1974). These tours are co-sanctioned by Ladies European Tour & US LPGA Tour. The country’s top golfers do not only succeed in Australia but also worldwide. They have joined and succeeded in more lucrative tours such as the US PGA Tour or the European Tour. Among Australia’s notable golfers are the following: Keel Nagle, Greg Norman (who was ranked 1st for 331 weeks), Geoff Ogilvy, Adam Scott, Jan Stephenson, Peter Thomson, Norman Von Nida and Karrie Webb. Most of these golfers have been inducted into the Golf Hall of Fame.
Bothwell Golf Club in Bothwell, Tasmania is believed to be Australia’s oldest golf course as well as the Southern Hemisphere’s oldest golf course. It was created in 1882.Sydney’s Australian Golf Club is technically Australia’s oldest golf club but they were unused for almost a decade between 1888 to 1895. If we base it on continuous usage, the title would belong to Royal Melbourne Gold Cub which was founded in 1891.
Although not among the most watched sport, golf still remains to be popular in Australia. It is a sport that any people can relate to and find quite lucrative. This is because Australians consider this a leisure sport, something that is fun, healthy and relaxing. In fact, because of golf’s popularity, there are already about 1500 gold courses spread all throughout the country.