- Australian Masters
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Australian Masters Tournament information Location 
Melbourne, AustraliaEstablished 1979 Course(s) 2010 - Victoria Golf Club, rotates annually Par 72 Length 6,278 m (6,866 yards) Tour(s) PGA Tour of Australasia
European Tour (2006-09)Format Stroke play Prize fund A$1,500,000 Month played November Tournament record score Aggregate 268 Bradley Hughes (1998) To par -24 (as above) Current champion Stuart ApplebyThe Australian Masters, currently known as the JBWere Masters for sponsorship reasons, is an annual golf tournament on the PGA Tour of Australasia. The tournament was founded in 1979, and was co-sanctioned by the European Tour for the first time in 2006, 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.
Until 2008, the Australian Masters was always held at the Huntingdale Golf Club in South Oakleigh, Victoria, Australia, but from 2009, a rotation system will be introduced and the event will be staged at different courses in the Melbourne area.[1]
Home golfers have dominated the event, with former world number one Greg Norman unsurprisingly having the most success, winning the Gold Jacket on six occasions. Overseas players to have taken the title include European Ryder Cup stars, Bernhard Langer and Colin Montgomerie.
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.[2] 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.[3]
The 2010 event was held at Victoria Golf Club on the 11–14 November.
Winners
As a sole-sanctioned event
Year Winner Score Course JBWere Masters 2010 Stuart Appleby274 (-10) Victoria Golf Club As a European Tour co-sanctioned event
Year Winner Score Course JBWere Masters 2009 (2009) 
Tiger Woods 274 (-14) Kingston Heath GC Sportsbet Australian Masters 2008 (2009) Rod Pampling 276 (-12)PO Huntingdale GC MasterCard Masters 2007 (2008) Aaron Baddeley 275 (-13)PO Huntingdale GC 2006 (2007) 
Justin Rose 276 (-12) Huntingdale GC Years in brackets show the European Tour season the event fell into.
Prior to European Tour co-sanctioning
Year Winner Score MasterCard Masters 2005 Robert Allenby 271 (-17)PO 2004 Richard Green 271 (-17)PO 2003 Robert Allenby 277 (-11)PO 2002 Peter Lonard 279 (-9)PO Ericsson Masters 2001 
Colin Montgomerie 278 (-10) 2000 
Michael Campbell 282 (-10) 1999 Craig Spence 276 (-16) 1998 Bradley Hughes 268 (-24) 1997 Peter Lonard 276 (-16) 1996 Craig Parry 279 (-13) Australian Masters 1995 Peter Senior 280 1994 Craig Parry 282 1993 Bradley Hughes 281 1992 Craig Parry 283 1991 Peter Senior 278 1990 Greg Norman 273 1989 Greg Norman 280 1988 Ian Baker-Finch 278 1987 Greg Norman 273 1986 Mark O'Meara 284 1985 
Bernhard Langer 281 1984 Greg Norman 285 1983 Greg Norman 285 1982 Graham Marsh 289 1981 Greg Norman 289 1980 Gene Littler 288 1979 Barry Vivian 289 References
- ^ "Huntingdale's hold on Australian Masters at an end". The Australian. 23 October 2008. http://www.theaustralian.news.com.au/story/0,25197,24540305-5010360,00.html. Retrieved 28 October 2008.
- ^ Linden, Julian (19 March 2009). "Woods to play in Australia for first time in over a decade". Reuters. http://uk.reuters.com/article/sportsNews/idUKTRE52I1G120090319. Retrieved 19 March 2009.
- ^ "Tiger Woods comes to Melbourne, costing taxpayers $1.5m". Herald Sun. 19 March 2009. http://www.news.com.au/heraldsun/sport/nrl/story/0,27074,25207924-11088,00.html. Retrieved 19 March 2009.[dead link]
External links
PGA Tour of Australasia events Tournaments in playing order
Subaru Victorian Open · Cellarbrations Victorian PGA Championship · Johnnie Walker Classic (A,E) · Moonah Classic (N) · New Zealand PGA Championship (N) · Michael Hill New Zealand Open (N) · John Hughes Geely WA Open Championship · Cellarbrations Queensland PGA Championship · JBWere Masters (E) · Cellarbrations New South Wales PGA Championship · New South Wales Open · Australian Open · Australian PGA Championship(A) - co-sanctioned by the Asian Tour. (E) - co-sanctioned by the European Tour. (N) - co-sanctioned by the Nationwide Tour.Categories:- PGA Tour of Australasia events
- Former European Tour events
- Golf tournaments in Australia
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