Australian PGA Championship leaves Coolum

The Australian PGA Championship says goodbye to Coolum, and the dinosaurs.

The PGA of Australia have officially announced that the Australian PGA Championship will no longer be held at Palmer Coolum Resort on the Sunshine Coast. The Chief Executive Officer of the PGA, Brian Thorburn released a statement confirming the imminent move.

“For various reasons, including a lack of flexibility of dates for the tournament and signage matters, none of those offers have been acceptable to the PGA and, in the interest of our Members and stakeholders, late last year we decided to look at alternative venues outside the Sunshine Coast to host the event. The PGA has today formally advised Palmer Coolum Resort of its decision that the Championship will not be returning to Coolum in 2013.”

“The PGA has received strong interest and impressive offers and submissions from several venues and regions throughout Queensland and although negotiations are ongoing, we remain confident of announcing a new host venue shortly.”

The decision was obviously a difficult one. Coolum resort was much loved as a venue for the PGA Championship by all that attended for its laid-back setting which often saw players and fans having dinner alongside each other after each day of play. But it is clear from the statement that dealings with the Palmer Coolum resort, and specifically Clive Palmer, were unmanageable.
Royal Pines Resort on the Gold Coast looks set to become the new home of the Australian PGA Championship but several other courses on the Gold Coast are also believed to be making a bid for the tournament.
There has been no comment from Clive Palmer about the Australian PGA leaving his newly acquired golf resort after he put in a bold, last ditch attempt to secure the tournament at Coolum. 
Palmer is known for his unpredictable actions such as his desire to build a replica of the Titanic, the well-publicised dinosaurs he is having placed across the Coolum resort and locking out Australian PGA members in the days leading up to last year’s event.

Let’s hope Palmer doesn’t do anything to sabotage event at the new location.

3 thoughts on “Australian PGA Championship leaves Coolum

  • The men will eat royal pines alive

    Reply
    • yeah, it will be bomb and gouge at Royal Pines

      Reply

Leave a Reply

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *