“ I ' ve never really experienced that before this week . I really enjoyed that and that team feeling is amazing . We obviously don ' t get that very often .”
The Australian PGA Championship benefitted by the growing maturity of the RACV Royal Pines layout which has now enjoyed 12 months of establishing itself since the full revamp .
The event started with the Greg Norman Medal dinner on the Tuesday night which went , predictably , to Jason Day who spoke via skype from his home in the US and in a three-way hook-up between he , Norman and the dinner , he spoke brilliantly about what the award meant to him .
While that was a special moment , the highlight of the night was undoubtedly the moving tribute paid to Peter Thomson who was made an immortal by the PGA of Australia . Thomson , who is struggling with health issues including Parkinsons Disease , took the stage along with his wife Mary who beautifully read a letter that Peter had written for the night . There was hardly a dry eye in the house as a room full of golf industry folk acknowledged the amazing role Peter Thomson has played in the game in this country .
“ Man , I just find no sporting person as a hero to me , because there ’ s no sporting person that was directly affecting my life . My hero would be my parents because they put the food on the table . That ’ s way more important than watching some guy hit a golf ball , some guy make a shot or anything and those are the things that I value .”
Not only was Varner III a winner but so too was the RACV Royal Pines layout which gained significantly greater acceptance than was the case 12 month ago .
The 2016 ISPS HANDA Australasian Tour Order of Merit winner was Victorian Matthew Griffin .
The next Tier One event on the Australasian Tour will be the ISPS HANDA New Zealand Open to be played in Queenstown in March .
The PGA Championship itself was won by last year ’ s runner-up Harold Varner III , who became just the second American and the first since Hale Irwin in 1978 to win the Australian PGA Championship .
Varner displayed his great character last year and was no different in 2016 after a year on the PGA Tour but he realises where his roots are . When asked who is sporting heroes are Varner III was quick to respond .
Peter Thomson was made an immortal by the PGA of Australia , pictured with his wife Mary
Jordan Spieth ’ s Australian Open record is hard to question
The Denmark duo enjoyed the team format at the World Cup of Golf
Q Golf
www . golfqueensland . org . au Summer 2016 21
Australian PGA Championship winner Harold Varner III