Mat Goggin (Photo: Getty)
Mat Goggin (Photo: Getty)

In the history of the Web.com Tour, 29 Australians have won 53 events since the inception of the Tour in 1990.

Beginning in 2018, the Aussies on Tour—and there are 21 this year—will have a new tournament to play as they try to add to that list.

The Web.com Tour announced a new tournament, the Savannah Golf Championship, will debut on the 2018 Web.com Tour schedule. Deer Creek Golf Course at The Landings Club in Savannah, will host the event the week of March 26 – April 1, 2018, with 156 players competing for a $550,000 purse. A five-year deal is in place through 2022. Savannah is 402 kilometers south of Atlanta and about 225 kilometers north of Jacksonville, Fla.

“We are excited to bring the Web.com Tour to Savannah because we believe in this market,” said Web.com Tour President Dan Glod. “This is a vibrant city that has a strong passion and history with the game of golf, and we look forward to working with the community and local businesses to grow this tournament on and off the course.”

The Landings Club, located just 20 minutes from historic downtown Savannah, boasts six golf courses, all six courses designated as Audubon Cooperative Sanctuaries by Audubon International.

Deer Creek, which will host the Savannah Golf Championship, was originally built by Tom Fazio in 1991, with the famed architect returning in 2009 to modernize the course via an expansive restoration.

The course plays in and out of dense forests with several holes abutting the scenic marsh wetlands, which are an offshoot from the nearby Skidaway River.

The greater Savannah / Hilton Head Island, S.C., area is no stranger to PGA TOUR golf, with the RBC Heritage presented by Boeing celebrating 50 years at Harbour Town Golf Links in 2018. From 2003 to 2013, the PGA TOUR Champions held the popular Liberty Mutual Legends of Golf at the nearby Club at Savannah Harbor.

“Savannah has a rich history with the game of golf, and we are excited to welcome the Web.com Tour and the Savannah Golf Championship as the newest addition to our annual calendar of premier sporting events,” said Savannah Chamber of Commerce CEO Bill Hubbard. “The residents and local businesses in the area have demonstrated a passion for PGA TOUR golf, and I know they will be engaged with this event from the start as we grow an exciting new chapter in the city’s golf annals.”

The tournament will be operated by the Web.com Tour staff with Tim Iley serving as Executive Director from PGA TOUR headquarters and Drew Van Meeteren leading the tournament from Savannah. Iley previously served as tournament director of the Liberty Mutual Legends of Golf.

Australia has provided more international Web.com Tour winners than any other country.

Stuart Appleby became the first Australian to win on the Web.com Tour when he captured the

1995 Monterrey Open in Mexico, winning in a seven-hole sudden-death playoff with Rafael Alarcon. Appleby, the winner of nine PGA Tour titles between 1997 and 2010, went on to win his second Web.com Tour event later in 1995, the Sonoma County Open.

Gavin Coles, of Bathurst, New South Wales, and Mathew Goggin of Hobart, Tasmania, have won more Web.com Tour tournaments than any other Aussies—five. Two of Coles’ wins came at the 2002 Jacob’s Creek Open and the 2004 New Zealand PGA Championship when those two tournaments were part of the Web.com Tour schedule. Goggin has a span of 16 years between his first win (1999 Lehigh Valley Open) and his last win (the 2015 Panama Claro Championship).

With 50 available PGA Tour cards for the following season (since 2013), the Web.com Tour is The Path to the PGA Tour. Twenty-five Tour cards are reserved for the leading money winners at the end of the 22-event Regular Season. Another 25 are up for grabs at the four-event Web.com Tour Finals that follow the Regular Season in September.

The Finals paved the path for immediate PGA Tour success over the last two seasons for Web.com Tour graduates, with Australian Rod Pampling (Shriners Hospitals for Children Open), Cody Gribble (Sanderson Farms Championship) and Mackenzie Hughes (The RSM Classic) winning three of the opening seven events in the 2016-17 season.

 

All-Time Australian Web.com Tour Winners

 

Player Total Wins
Gavin Coles 5
Mathew Goggin 5
Nick Flanagan 4
Michael Sim 4
Paul Gow 3
Mark Hensby 3
Stuart Appleby 2
Steven Bowditch 2
Greg Chalmers 2
Jarrod Lyle 2
Peter O’Malley 2
Ewan Porter 2
Andrew Buckle 1
Jason Day 1
Kim Felton 1
Scott Gardiner 1
Bradley Hughes 1
Brendan Jones 1
Bronson La’Cassie 1
David McKenzie 1
James Nitties 1
Anthony Painter 1
Rod Pampling 1
Cameron Percy 1
Alistair Presnell 1
Aron Price 1
Paul Sheehan 1
Andre Stolz 1
Euan Walters 1

Story courtesy of the PGA TOUR

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