Family time for Leishmans at Victorian PGA Championship

In his 20-year professional golf career, Marc Leishman has experienced plenty of firsts and another one comes this week at the Victorian PGA Championship at Moonah Links.

For the first time, the Ripper GC star will team up with his 13-year-old son Harvey in the tournament’s pro-am format – the final event on the Challenger PGA Tour of Australasia schedule before a short break for Christmas and New Years.

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Adding to the family factor, Harvey’s grandad – and Marc’s father – Paul will be caddying for his son across the Open and Legends layouts which have been the Vic PGA’s home since 2021.

There’s been some interesting family banter amongst the Leishmans about how Paul missed out on playing this week, Marc saying he asked his dad if he was interested when they were in an Irish pub and not getting a positive response, with the elder Leishman claiming to have no recollection of that conversation.

“We’ve been really looking forward to this week. It’s going to be a new experience for us and a fun one as well,” Leishman, the 2008 Vic PGA champion, said.

“I’ve been hitting the ball well so hopefully that rolls over into this week.”

This will be Leishman's fourth Challenger Tour of Australasia event of the season, making him eligible for the end-of-season Order of Merit standings.

He is currently in seventh position after finishing tied for third at both the Bowra & O’Dea Nexus Advisernet WA Open and BMW Australian PGA Championship, and T18 at the Crown Australian Open.

A win this week would push him close to the top three.

“The Open was very frustrating,” Leishman said. “Probably one of the best ball-striking weeks I've had ever and just couldn't adjust to the speed of the greens. It’s probably the most putts I've had in a tournament for 10 years.

“It was so good to be back in Victoria and playing it on a course like Royal Melbourne. ... It just shows that if you put a big tournament on a great golf course, the crowds will come. I'm excited for the future of the tournament with this as the example of what can be done.”

Joining Leishman in the professional field this week as feature players are former Vic PGA winner and DP World Tour member David Micheluzzi, trying to make amends for missed cuts at both the PGA and Open, defending champion Cory Crawford and Queensland PGA winner Cam John.

This year’s amateur field boasts England cricket greats Sir Ian Botham and Allan Lamb, former Australian cricketer Damien Fleming, comedians Peter Helliar and Anthony ‘Lehmo’ Lehmann, former Group 1 winning jockey Simon Marshall, AFL legend Brendon Fevola and modern stars including Ryan Papenhuyzen, Montana Beruldson and Grace Egan.

All the pro-am teams play 36 holes on Thursday and Friday before a cut is made to the top 25 teams for Saturday and then a further cut to the top eight teams after the third round.

The final two rounds will be broadcast live on Foxtel through Fox Sports 503 and Kayo Sports with coverage starting at 3pm AEDT Saturday and 1pm AEDT Sunday.

MORE ABOUT VICTORIAN PGA CHAMPIONSHIP 

Moonah Links (Open Course) & Moonah Links (Legends Course)
Recent champion: Cory Crawford
Prizemoney: $250,000
TV times: 3pm-6pm Saturday; 1pm-6pm Sunday on Kayo Sports and Fox Sports 503

Players to watch
Marc Leishman, one individual win on LIV Golf, four team wins in regular season on LIV Golf, one LIV Golf Team Championship title, six-time PGA TOUR winner
David Micheluzzi, 2022/2023 Challenger PGA Tour of Australasia Order of Merit winner
Cameron John, Queensland PGA champion
Daniel Gale, two-time Challenger PGA Tour of Australasia winner

Recent winners
2015    Aaron Townsend (Huntingdale Golf Club)
2016    Ashley Hall (Huntingdale Golf Club)
2017    Damien Jordan (Huntingdale Golf Club)
2018    Aaron Pike (RACV Cape Schanck)
2019    Campbell Rawson (RACV Cape Schanck)
2020    Christopher Wood (Moonah Links Resort)
2021    Blake Windred (Moonah Links Resort)
2022    Andrew Martin (Moonah Links Open Course)
2023    David Micheluzzi (Moonah Links Open Course)
2024    Cory Crawford (Moonah Links Open Course)