The New South Wales Open is an annual

golf Golf is a club-and-ball sport in which players use various clubs to hit balls into a series of holes on a course in as few strokes as possible. Golf, unlike most ball games, cannot and does not use a standardized playing area, and coping wi ...

tournament held in

New South Wales ) , nickname = , image_map = New South Wales in Australia.svg , map_caption = Location of New South Wales in AustraliaCoordinates: , subdivision_type = Country , subdivision_name = Australia , established_title = Before federation , es ...

, Australia. The event was founded in 1931 as the

Close Championship, being restricted to residents of New South Wales, becoming the New South Wales Open Championship in 1958 when it was opened up to players from outside New South Wales.

Norman Von Nida Norman Guy Von Nida (14 February 1914 – 20 May 2007) was an Australian professional golfer. Von Nida was born in Strathfield and grew up in Brisbane. He turned professional in 1933, after attracting attention by winning the 1932 Queensland A ...

won the event six times, while

Jim Ferrier James Bennett Elliott Ferrier (24 February 1915 – 13 June 1986) was an Australian professional golfer from Manly, New South Wales. After compiling a fine record as an amateur golfer in Australia during the 1930s, he moved to the United States ...

and Frank Phillips won it five times with

Greg Norman Gregory John Norman AO (born 10 February 1955) is an Australian entrepreneur and retired professional golfer who spent 331 weeks as world number one in the 1980s and 1990s. He won 89 professional tournaments, including 20 PGA Tour tournament ...

winning it four times.

History

The event was founded in 1931 as the

Close Championship, being restricted to residents of New South Wales. The first event was held at Manly Golf Club and, after 72 holes played over two days, resulted in a tie between three professionals Charlie Gray, Tom Howard and Sam Richardson. Gray won the title after a 36-hole playoff scoring 147 to Howard's 148. Richardson took 80 in the first round and didn't complete the 36 holes. Richardson won in 1932 but the remainder of the 1930s were dominated by

who won five times and was runner-up twice between 1933 and 1939. Three times he won by 10 or more strokes.

won in 1939 and then again from 1946 to 1948, to repeat Ferrier record of four successive wins. In 1951 a New South Wales Jubilee Open was organised, the state's first open championship, to celebrate the 50th anniversary of the founding of the

Federation of Australia The Federation of Australia was the process by which the six separate British self-governing colonies of Queensland, New South Wales, Victoria, Tasmania, South Australia (which also governed what is now the Northern Territory), and Western A ...

. The tournament was won by

Dai Rees David James Rees, (31 March 1913 – 15 November 1983) was one of the Britain's leading golfers either side of the Second World War. The winner of many prestigious tournaments in Britain, Europe and farther afield, Rees is best remembered as ...

while

Kel Nagle Kelvin David George Nagle AM (21 December 1920 – 29 January 2015) was an Australian professional golfer best known for winning The Open Championship in 1960. He won at least one tournament each year from 1949 to 1975. Biography Nagle was bor ...

was runner-up and won the Close title. Von Nida won the Close championship again in 1953 and 1954, setting a record of six championship wins. The 1955 event clashed with the first Pelaco Tournament in Melbourne, an event which attracted all the leading New South Wales professionals. In 1958 the championship was opened up to players from outside New South Wales, becoming the New South Wales Open Championship.

Peter Thomson Peter Thomson may refer to: * Peter Thomson (golfer) (1929–2018), Australian golfer * Peter Thomson (diplomat) (born 1948), Fiji's Permanent Representative to the United Nations * Peter Thomson (footballer) (born 1977), English footballer * Peter ...

from

Victoria Victoria most commonly refers to: * Victoria (Australia), a state of the Commonwealth of Australia * Victoria, British Columbia, provincial capital of British Columbia, Canada * Victoria (mythology), Roman goddess of Victory * Victoria, Seychelle ...

won in 1961. Two amateur's won in the 1970s,

Owen Beldham Owen may refer to: Origin: The name Owen is of Irish and Welsh origin. Its meanings range from noble, youthful, and well-born. Gender: Owen is historically the masculine form of the name. Popular feminine variations include Eowyn and Owena. ...

in 1972 and

Tony Gresham Anthony Yale Gresham (born 4 December 1940) is an Australian amateur golfer. He won the 1977 Australian Amateur and represented Australia in seven successive Eisenhower Trophy events between 1968 and 1980. He also won two professional events, t ...

in 1975, while American

Ed Sneed Edgar Sneed Jr. (born August 6, 1944) is an American professional golfer, sportscaster and course design consultant, who played on the PGA Tour and the Champions Tour. Sneed was born in Roanoke, Virginia. He graduated from Ohio State University ...

won in 1973. The tournament continued to be a major event in the 1980s.

won three times in the decade and the 1989 event had prize money of A$300,000. The event then struggled for a number of years. The 1990 championship had prize money of A$50,000 and there was no event in 1991. In 1992 it had increased prize money of A$150,000 but there was again no event the following year. It returned in 1994 on the second-tier Foundation Tour with prize money of A$50,000 and was then not played again until 2002, when it returned with prize money of A$200,000. From 2003 to 2008 the event was part of the second-tier

Von Nida Tour The PGA Tour of Australasia, currently known for sponsorship reasons as the ISPS Handa PGA Tour of Australasia, is a professional golf tour for men, owned and operated by the PGA of Australia. Official events on the tour count for World Golf Ra ...

, while from 2009 to 2015 it was a Tier 2 event on the

PGA Tour of Australasia The PGA Tour of Australasia, currently known for sponsorship reasons as the ISPS Handa PGA Tour of Australasia, is a professional golf tour for men, owned and operated by the PGA of Australia. Official events on the tour count for World Golf Ra ...

schedule. In 2016 it became a Tier 1 event with prize money of A$400,000 compared to the A$110,000 in 2015.

Winners

Notes

References

External links

Official siteCoverage on PGA Tour of Australasia's official site
{{PGA Tour of Australasia Events PGA Tour of Australasia events Golf tournaments in Australia Golf in New South Wales Recurring sporting events established in 1931 1931 establishments in Australia