Days after an inspired Nicolai Hojgaard claimed the DP World Tour Championship title, the 2024 schedule begins with two events – the Fortinet Australian PGA Championship and Joburg Open in South Africa.
The former takes place at Royal Queensland Golf Club and is co-sanctioned by the PGA Tour of Australasia, with 3,000 Race to Dubai points available as the challenge to reach next year’s season closer at Dubai’s Earth Course begins.
Last year, a purse of AUD $2m was available (approximately £1.05m or $1.31m), as Cameron Smith delighted the home fans to claim a winner’s cheque of AUS $340,000, and the LIV Golf player is back in his homeland for the chance to compete for an identical sum this year.
That will be the first prize money awarded of a record $148.5m for the 2024 season. The season will be separated into three phases, beginning with The Global Swings phase. That is in five sections, starting with the Opening Swing, which features six tournaments in Australia and Africa.
As well as the prize money for individual tournaments, there’s a $200,000 bonus to the winner of each of the five swings, while there’s another $1m to be shared between the 10 leading players at the conclusion of the phase.
For now, players will be focused on the task at hand, namely getting their hands on a trophy and the AUD $340,000 prize money payout. The runner-up will earn AUD $220,000.
Below is the prize money payout for the Fortinet Australian PGA Championship.
Fortinet Australian PGA Championship Prize Money Payout
Who Are The Star Names In The Fortinet Australian PGA Championship?
The player to beat is Cameron Smith. The 2022 Open champion moved to a career-high World No.2 following that win at St Andrews and would have likely enjoyed a spell at the summit by now if not for his move to LIV Golf.
The Australian has had a successful season on the circuit, with two wins to finish runner-up in the individual standings behind Talor Gooch. In 2022, he claimed a hat-trick of Fortinet Australian PGA Championship titles with a three-shot win over Jason Scrivener. Can he make it four here?
Smith’s LIV Golf Ripper GC teammates Jediah Morgan and Marc Leishman also play while another high-profile Australian in the field is World No.44 Cameron Davis.
Another local hero participating is Adam Scott, who has had a stint as World No.1 and has won the event twice. He is looking for his first win since the 2020 Genesis Invitational.
Other big names include Adrian Meronk, Robert MacIntyre, Min Woo Lee and Ryo Hisatsune, who were among 10 DP World Tour players to earn a PGA Tour card for their efforts in the previous season.
Alex Fitzpatrick, who finished T17 at the 2023 Open, two-time DP World Tour winner Eddie Pepperell, Rafa Cabrera Bello, who has four wins on the Tour, and LIV Golf players Mito Pereira and Joaquin Niemann also appear.
Who Won The 2022 Fortinet Australian PGA Championship?
Cameron Smith eased to a three-shot win over Jason Scrivener at the 2022 event. That was his third victory in the tournament after previous wins in 2017 and 2018. The LIV Golf player, who won twice on the circuit in 2023, is tipped to make that four wins here.
Where Is The Fortinet Australian PGA Championship Being Held?
The tournament is being held at Royal Queensland Golf Club. As well as hosting the Fortinet Australian PGA Championship for the fourth time in 2023, it has also been the venue for the Australian Open three times.
