2008 PGA Tour of Australasia

The 2008 PGA Tour of Australasia was the 36th season on the PGA Tour of Australasia, the main professional golf tour in Australia and New Zealand since it was formed in 1973.

2008 PGA Tour of Australasia season

Duration	14 February 2008 (2008-02-14) – 14 December 2008 (2008-12-14)
Number of official events	6
Order of Merit	Mark Brown
← 2007 2009 →

Schedule

The following table lists official events during the 2008 season.^[1]

Date	Tournament	Location	Purse (A$)	Winner[a]	OWGR points	Other tours[b]	Notes
17 Feb	HSBC New Zealand PGA Championship	New Zealand	US$650,000	Darron Stiles (1)	12	NWT
24 Feb	Moonah Classic	Victoria	US$750,000	Ewan Porter (1)	16	NWT	New tournament
2 Mar	Johnnie Walker Classic	India	£1,250,000	Mark Brown (1)	38	ASA, EUR
30 Nov	Sportsbet Australian Masters	Victoria	1,500,000	Rod Pampling (2)	22	EUR
7 Dec	Cadbury Schweppes Australian PGA Championship	Queensland	1,500,000	Geoff Ogilvy (1)	26
14 Dec	Australian Open	New South Wales	1,500,000	Tim Clark (n/a)	32		Flagship event

Unofficial events

The following events were sanctioned by the PGA Tour of Australasia, but did not carry official money, nor were wins official.

Date	Tournament	Location	Purse (A$)	Winner	OWGR points	Other tours[b]	Notes
9 Nov	HSBC Champions	China	US$5,000,000	Sergio García	52	AFR,[c] ASA,[d] EUR	Limited-field event

Order of Merit

The Order of Merit was based on prize money won during the season, calculated in Australian dollars.^[2][3]

Position	Player	Prize money (A$)
1	Mark Brown	440,027
2	Rod Pampling	368,300
3	Geoff Ogilvy	316,500
4	Scott Strange	268,644
5	Greg Chalmers	204,039

Von Nida Tour

2008 Von Nida Tour season

Duration	31 January 2008 (2008-01-31) – 16 November 2008 (2008-11-16)
Number of official events	5[e]
Order of Merit	Michael Long
← 2007

The 2008 Von Nida Tour was the sixth and final season of the Von Nida Tour, the official development tour to the PGA Tour of Australasia between 2003 and 2008.

In October, it was announced that the Von Nida Tour events would be absorbed into the main tour from the start of 2009.^[4]

Schedule

The following table lists official events during the 2008 season.^[5]

Date	Tournament	Location	Purse (A$)	Winner[f]	Ref.
3 Feb	NAB Victorian PGA Championship	Victoria	110,000	Marc Leishman (4)	[6]
27 Apr	OG Roberts South Australian PGA Championship	South Australia	110,000	Heath Reed (1)	[7]
12 Oct	QLD PGA Championship	Queensland	–	Removed
19 Oct	Queensland Open	Queensland	–	Cancelled
26 Oct	WA Open	Western Australia	–	Removed
2 Nov	Oceanique WA PGA Championship	Western Australia	110,000	Michael Long (1)	[8]
9 Nov	Cellarbrations NSW PGA Championship	New South Wales	100,000	Tim Wood (2)	[9]
16 Nov	NSW Open	New South Wales	125,000	Aaron Townsend (1)	[10]

Order of Merit

The Order of Merit was based on prize money won during the season, calculated in Australian dollars.^[11][12] The top 10 players on the Order of Merit earned status to play on the 2009 PGA Tour of Australasia.^[13]

Position	Player	Prize money (A$)
1	Michael Long	27,651
2	Aaron Townsend	26,890
3	Tim Wood	24,972
4	Peter Senior	19,731
5	Heath Reed	17,550
6	Steven Jones	13,693
7	Tristan Lambert	13,688
8	Kurt Barnes	13,484
9	Peter Wilson	12,640
10	Ryan Hammond	10,102

Notes

1. The number in brackets after each winner's name is the number of PGA Tour of Australasia events they had won up to and including that tournament. This information is only shown for PGA Tour of Australasia members.
2. AFR − Sunshine Tour; ASA − Asian Tour; EUR − European Tour; NWT − Nationwide Tour.
3. Sunshine Tour unofficial event
4. Asian Tour unofficial event
5. A further three tournaments were scheduled but were either cancelled or otherwise removed from the schedule.
6. The number in brackets after each winner's name is the number of Von Nida Tour events they had won up to and including that tournament. It is rare for someone to accumulate many wins on the Von Nida Tour as success at this level usually leads to promotion to the PGA Tour of Australasia.