McKibbin, Purcell and Power seek fast start to new season Down Under
Tom McKibbin. Credit: INPHO/Ben Brady
Tom McKibbin, Conor Purcell and Mark Power will be looking to get the 2024 season off to a flying start in the Fortinet Australian PGA Championship tonight.
Less than four days after the conclusion of the 2023 DP World Tour season, the new campaign tees off with opposite-field events in Australia and South Africa.
McKibbin, who won the Porsche European Open in his rookie season, will be looking for his second tour win at Royal Queensland Golf Club.
He has happy memories of the Brisbane venue having reached the final of the 2020 Australian Amateur Championship there and he's hoping for two good weeks as he plans to round off a successful year at next week's ISPS HANDA Australian Open in Sydney.
"I'm really looking forward to next year sort of starting off fresh next week in Australia and seeing where I can take it," McKibbin said after finishing tied 32nd in the DP World Tour Championship in Dubai on Sunday and 44th in the final Race to Dubai rankings.
"I played a few amateur events down there in 2020. So it's actually one of the golf courses that we're playing next week. So yeah, looking forward to it."
He's joined in the field by Purcell and Power, who failed to get through the Final Stage of Q-School in Spain earlier this month.
Power has received invitations for the two Australian events, while Purcell gets into both thanks to his 29th-place finish in the Challenge Tour's Road to Mallorca Rankings.
The Dubliner (26) also has fond memories of Australia, having won the Australian Amateur Championship in Melbourne in January 2019.
The Irish trio face stiff competition this week from the likes of Cameron Smith, Adam Scott, Min Woo Lee, Adrian Meronk and Robert MacIntyre.
Meronk won the Australian Open last year and added further wins at the DS Automobiles Italian Open and Estrella Damm N.A. Andalucía Masters, finishing a career-high fourth on the Race to Dubai Rankings to secure his PGA Tour card.
"It's great to be back in Australia," Meronk said. "Obviously, I have great memories from last year. I always love coming to Australia.
"To be honest, I'm a little bit tired after a long season, but I made my commitments to come back, so I'm happy to be here and play two weeks.
"Obviously, next week I will be defending my trophy from last year, so very excited, very special about that and also I checked my stats on the app and tomorrow's going to be my 100th tournament in my career, so it's going to be another special moment for me."
As well as getting the 2024 Race to Dubai underway, the Fortinet Australian PGA Championship is the first event of The Opening Swing, the first of five new 'Global Swings' of the season.
The Opening Swing incorporates the first six events on the DP World Tour's Global Schedule, concluding with the AfrAsia Bank Mauritius Open.
Each of the five swings will have individual Swing Rankings, and each champion of the Rankings will earn US$200,000 from an overall US$1,000,000 bonus pool.
The leading member from The Opening Swing, not otherwise exempt, will qualify for the Hero Dubai Desert Classic, the first Rolex Series event of the season.
There are no Irishmen in the field in the Joburg Open, which begins tomorrow at Houghton Golf Club with three spots up for grabs in The 152nd Open at Royal Troon.
However, McKibbin, Purcell and Power will have a chance to battle for three places at Royal Troon at the ISPS HANDA Australian Open at The Lakes and The Australian next week.
The Arnold Palmer Invitational presented by Mastercard, the Memorial Tournament presented by Workday, the RBC Canadian Open and the John Deere Classic will offer golfers on the PGA TOUR opportunities to qualify.
On the DP World Tour, places will be awarded at the KLM Open, Italian Open and Genesis Scottish Open, which is co-sanctioned with the PGA TOUR.
Three events in Asia will also be added to the Open Qualifying Series after the Asian Tour, Japan Golf Tour and KPGA Korean Tour have announced their schedules for 2024.
Final Qualifying events will be held at Burnham and Berrow, Dundonald Links, Royal Cinque Ports and West Lancashire on 2 July with a minimum of 16 places available. This will follow 14 Regional Qualifying events on 24 June with the action again scheduled for County Louth.
