Cink and Smylie to compete at Australian PGA Championship
The Open Championship winner Stewart Cink and PGA TOUR victor Smylie Kaufman will take part in the world-class field at next month’s 2019 Australian PGA Championship on the Gold Coast.
The American duo will join compatriot Cameron Champ, back-to-back Australian PGA champion Cameron Smith and former world no.1 Adam Scott at RACV Royal Pines Resort at the 19-22 December tournament.
Cink, 46, and Kaufman, 27, will both aim to continue the Presidents Cup rivalry in hope of taking the Joe Kirkwood trophy – Australia’s oldest pro golf trophy – home to the US.
Gavin Kirkman, CEO of the PGA of Australia, the owner and operator of the ISPS HANDA PGA Tour of Australasia, said the 2019 season finale promises to wrap up one of the strongest summers of golf in Australian history.
“We’re incredibly excited Stewart Cink and Smylie Kaufman will compete at the Australian PGA Championship, which will conclude one of the strongest months of golf on our shores,” Mr Kirkman said.
“Sports fans will be engrossed in our sport with an incredibly strong Emirates Australian Open field followed by the world’s best competing at the Presidents Cup. Golf will be the sport of the season following what’s set to be an incredible period for our great game in Australia.
“Cink, a Major winner, and Kaufman, a never-say-die competitor, will add to the fun of the Australian PGA Championship.”
Cink, who was once fifth in the world, won The Open Championship in 2009 and was the PGA TOUR’s Rookie of the Year in 1997.
He recently tied for ninth at the PGA TOUR’s Houston Open.
Kaufman won the 2015 Shriners Hospitals for Children Open and will be searching for a breakthrough victory at the Gold Coast.
Cameron Smith is hoping to create history by becoming the first person in more than 100 years to win three consecutive Australian PGA Championship titles.
ABOUT THE AUSTRALIAN PGA CHAMPIONSHIP
The Australian PGA Championship is a week-long festival of golf, with plenty of action-packed, family-friendly activities to entertain fans beyond the ropes.
The Australian PGA Championship week also includes the Greg Norman Medal, the highest individual honour for our men and women professional golfers.
General admission to the Australian PGA Championship is $25. Children (aged 16 and under) get in free with a paying adult.
The 2019 Australian PGA Championship will be played at RACV Royal Pines Resort on the Gold Coast. The tournament will tee off on Thursday 19th December with the champion set to be crowned on Sunday 22nd December.
The tournament is co-sanctioned by the ISPS HANDA PGA Tour of Australasia and European Tour.
The Australian PGA Championship is supported by the Queensland Government through Tourism and Events Queensland and features on the It’s Live! in Queensland events calendar, worth $880m to the state’s economy in 2020.
For more information, head to championship.pga.org.au.
