The New South Wales Open is an annual

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

tournament held in

New South Wales New South Wales (commonly abbreviated as NSW) is a States and territories of Australia, state on the Eastern states of Australia, east coast of :Australia. It borders Queensland to the north, Victoria (state), Victoria to the south, and South ...

, 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. Early life and amateur career Von Nida was born in Strathfield and grew up in Brisbane. He won the 1932 Queensland Amateur aged just 18. Profess ...

won the event six times, while

Jim Ferrier James Bennett Elliott Ferrier (24 February 1915 – 13 June 1986) was an Australian professional golfer. After compiling a fine record as an amateur golfer in Australia during the 1930s, he moved to the United States in 1940, turned professiona ...

and Frank Phillips won it five times with

Greg Norman Gregory John Norman (born 10 February 1955) is an Australian former professional golfer who spent 331 weeks as List of World Number One male golfers, world number one in the 1980s and 1990s. He won 88 professional tournaments, including 20 PGA ...

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 Manly Golf Club is a private members club in Manly, New South Wales, Australia. The Club facilities include a Peter Thomson & Ross Perrett designed golf course and heritage listed Clubhouse which plays host to a wide variety of events. The C ...

and, after 72 holes played over two days, resulted in a tie between three professionals

Charlie Gray Charles A. Gray (June 1864 – June 1, 1900) was an American baseball pitcher. He pitched five games in Major League Baseball, four of them as a starting pitcher. Early life Gray was born in 1864 in Indianapolis. The first record of his playing ...

, 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 Wester ...

. 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. Early life Nagle was ...

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 The Pelaco Tournament was a golf tournament held in Australia from 1955 to 1959. Peter Thomson won the event four of the five times it was contested. Total prize money for the 90-hole tournament was £2,500. The sponsor was Pelaco, an Australian ...

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 from

Victoria Victoria most commonly refers to: * Queen Victoria (1819–1901), Queen of the United Kingdom and Empress of India * Victoria (state), a state of Australia * Victoria, British Columbia, Canada, a provincial capital * Victoria, Seychelles, the capi ...

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

Owen Beldham Owen may refer to: People and fictional characters * Owen (name), including a list of people and fictional characters with the given name or surname Places United States * Owen, Missouri, a ghost town * Owen, Wisconsin * Owen County, Indiana ...

in 1972 and

Tony Gresham Anthony Yale Gresham, (4 December 1940 – 13 January 2025) was 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 prof ...

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. Biography Sneed was born in Roanoke, Virginia. He graduated from Ohio State ...

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 titled as the Challenger PGA Tour of Australasia for sponsorship reasons, is a professional golf tour for men, owned and operated by the PGA of Australia. Official events on the tour count for World Golf ...

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

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

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