Some of the biggest names in Australian golf are lining up to challenge for the Kel Nagle Cup at next week’s NSW Open Golf Championship, to be held at Twin Creeks Golf and Country Club.
With Jake McLeod looking likely to defend his 2018 crown, the field is shaping up as a strong one.
Many of this country’s rising stars on the ISPS PGA Tour of Australasia will be playing, including New South Welshman Blake Windred, who will be making his home state debut as a touring professional golfer.
West Australian Min Woo Lee, who came within a whisker of securing his playing rights on the 2020 European Tour, will be back at the Luddenham venue alongside 2014 Australian Masters Champion Nick Cullen and fellow West Australian Jarryd Felton.
Recent Tour winners, including Albury/Wodonga’s Zach Murray, Queensland’s Daniel Nisbet, and Sydneysider Darren Beck, will be keen to add another title to their successful 2019 campaigns.
The field will also boast no less than three former Presidents Cup representatives. Peter Lonard, Mark Hensby and Nick O’Hern will be teeing off at the event.
2019 will be Hensby’s second appearance at Twin Creeks, while Lonard will be looking for a second NSW Open crown to help springboard his career on to the lucrative US Champions Tour next year.
O’Hern, a regular on the Australasian Tour, is back in the country after several years living in the United States.
The field also boasts an impressive line-up of amateur talent including the Australian Junior Champion, Elvis Smylie.
India’s Kartik Sharma, the current NSW Amateur Champion, will use the NSW Open as a warm-up for his appearance in the Junior Presidents Cup, while a host of the state’s rising stars including Harrison Crowe, James Conran, Lucas Higgins and Nathan Barbieri will also contend.
Around 200 golfers will vie for the final pre-qualifying positions at three courses around Sydney including Glenmore Heritage Valley in Mulgoa, with pre-qualifying being held this Monday.
The 2019 NSW Open Golf Championship will get underway next Thursday, November 28 and run until Sunday, December 1.
Nathan Taylor is the Weekender’s Deputy Editor and Senior Sports Writer. He also compiles the weekly Chatter on the Box TV column. Nathan is an award-winning journalist, who has worked at the Weekender for a decade.
