Golf Vic Vol 60 No 2 2019

those tournaments are on the PGA Tour of Australasia schedule and due to be played in October this year. But is it feasible that either or both become mixed-gender events in 2020? It’s a possibility, yes. And we need to not just focus on existing state championships to use this format – we can also talk about creating a new tournament that features both men and women. Lunn: I can see a time when those two state titles, the WA Open and Queensland Open, might be interested in adopting a similar format. The women have not contested either of those championships for 20 years or more, so it would be great if they could be resurrected and have the women play alongside the men. There are contracts in place at the women’s NSW Open and Australian Ladies Classic at Bonville – the current deal has three years to run – so they will remain as women-only events for the time being. What changes would you like to introduce to the Vic Open format next year? Should more women’s tees be used, for example? Lunn: That was the one thing that did bother me from 13th Beach. When you’re being shown on a world stage, I don’t think you want the men’s and women’s scores to be so different after 72 holes because people assume that women’s golf is somehow inferior. And that’s clearly not the case; if a girl has a five-iron into a green and a guy has the same club, the result won’t be much different. But the women were often playing from the same tees as men – or just a few metres in front of them – so while the men were able to reach many of the par fives in two and a couple of the par fours with their driver, the women couldn’t do that. They’re not strong enough. The girls who spoke to me said they just wanted the same opportunity to showcase their skills – and that means having roughly the same iron into the green as the men. They just want a level playing field. Kirkman: By all means, we should look at this issue next year. We’ve got to get the set-up right. The LPGA came in as a new partner this year and that meant Golf Australia had four different tours it had to look after. So, in a sense, it was an experimental year where we were breaking new ground with so many aspects of the tournament – and that included the placement of tees, the TV towers, and so on. But I’m a big fan of low scoring, so I think the courses need to be set up in such a way that encourages birdies. We’ll get it right next year. Should the women’s and men’s Australian Opens move to tie in with each other – and how might that work? Kirkman: The men’s Open will be played in Sydney in 2019, 2021 and 2023, and Melbourne in 2020 and 2022, where it will be hosted by Kingston Heath and Victoria. So I doubt anything will happen in this space over the next five years. At this stage, the focus would be on the state titles first before we look to do anything at the Australian Open and the Australian PGA Championship. I’m certainly not ruling it out; I’m just saying a lot more work needs to be done to satisfy every party. Lunn: Golf Australia obviously runs the Women’s Australian Open and they currently have a deal in place for the next five years, so I can’t see anything happening there in the short term. But in 10 or 20 years’ time, sure why not? It’d be fantastic to see the women’s and men’s Australian Opens played alongside each other. Now that would be some achievement. Do you envisage more European co-sanctioned tournaments? Lunn: We love working with the Ladies European Tour and now have four co-sanctioned events in Australia, but we have a very small window of opportunity to work in. Our little block of tournaments, when all our best players are around, lasts from late January till early March then the tour heads off to South Africa. Kirkman: We know we’ve got the best courses in the world but it takes more than that to get the best players out here. There are other issues to deal with, such as the tour’s broadcast rights deal and things like appearance fees – or the ‘player procurement’ budget – for the men. We’ve got three co-sanctioned tournaments with Europe at the moment and we’re currently having talks about the Perth Super 6 and whether that deal will be extended. The secret is being able to host two strong tournaments back-to-back – then we’ve got a chance at attracting the best European players. Will the ALPG and the PGA Tour of Australasia collaborate on more events such as Blitz Golf? Lunn: Blitz Golf was a great success and hopefully we can introduce more of these types of events in coming years. I spoke to many pros on the day at Curlewis and the feedback was very positive. I think the spectators enjoyed it, too. There were food trucks there, it was fast, it was fun, there was a day of entertainment and you got the results quickly. So I think it’s a concept that could really take off. Kirkman: Again, this is something we’d like to continue with and build on – it’s just a matter of timing. ALPG has 60 or 70 members playing the professional tours; the PGA has 300. So we’ve just got to get our timing right so that the best women, the Hannah Greens and so on, are available to line up alongside the best men – and that will be some time in the first three months of the year. Blitz Golf is an innovative idea with great potential. 18 Golf Victoria