The Open is the most prestigious annual event on the Victorian golfing calendar, sanctioned by the ISPS Handa PGA Tour of Australasia, Australian Professional Ladies Golf, Ladies Professional Golf Association and the European Tour.

The tournament is renowned as a world-leading sporting event for gender equality, breaking new ground with men and women playing on the same course at the same time for the same prizemoney.

This year 288 players are vying for $3 million in prizemoney and valuable ranking points. Previous champions to lift the trophy include Kel Nagle, Minjee Lee, Greg Norman and Melissa Reid.

For the first time, the Victorian Inclusive Championship for Golfers with a Disability has been played  as part of the tournament, with Australia’s highest ranked All Abilities player Cameron Pollard taking out the trophy on Tuesday, 4 February.

This is the eighth year the Victorian Open has been supported by the Victorian Government’s Significant Sporting Events Program.

The Open is part of Visit Victoria’s ‘A Golfing Great’ campaign which showcases the Bellarine Peninsula to golfing fans across the world and promotes Victoria as a world class golf tourism destination.

The Victorian Government’s investment in golf helped to secure the prestigious Presidents Cup to Melbourne in December, bringing the world’s best players and thousands of tourists, and injecting millions of dollars into the state’s economy and stimulating jobs.

Work is also beginning on the new Home of Golf at Sandringham which will help nurture our next generation of champions.

For the first time it will co-locate golf administration with training, education and high-performance facilities.

There are more than 300,000 golf players in Victoria playing at 417 clubs, with the industry supporting more than 7000 jobs.

Entry is free to all Victorian Golf Club members and all CFA volunteers, emergency workers and their families, children under 18, and those with a Seniors Card.

Tickets are available at Vic Open