The story
The tour is recognised as being founded in 1973 when the PGA of Australia instituted an Order of Merit. Despite always including at least one tournament in New Zealand, the tour was known as the PGA Tour of Australia until it adopted its current name in 1991 following the inclusion of three events in Asia.
Most of the leading players on the tour are Australian, with a smaller domestic contingent from New Zealand, but players from many other countries all over the world also participate. The very best Australasian players devote most of their time to the PGA Tour or the European Tour, typically returning home for events after the European and North American seasons end in mid-November, if they choose to play tournaments at home. Therefore, the Australasian Tour is a feeder for the larger tours with its Order of Merit offering a pathway to global tours. Some of the leading events are co-sanctioned by the DP World Tour to encourage higher ranked players to enter and to attract more sponsorship. Players with a background on the tour who have reached the world top 20 since the turn of the Millennium include Jason Day, Steve Elkington, Geoff Ogilvy and Adam Scott. The leading tournaments on the tour include the Australian Open, the Australian PGA Championship and the New Zealand Open.
In November 2005 it was reported by the BBC that the tour was going through difficult times, with the schedule for the 2005/06 summer season reduced to six events, three of them co-sponsored by other tours. The Heineken Classic, which was the richest event in Australasia in 2005, was cancelled in 2006 due to the withdrawal of the sponsor. One factor in the tour's problems is the rise of the nearby Asian Tour. Tour chairman Wayne Grady, and player Mark Hensby both accused Australia's biggest golf icon Greg Norman, who is a US resident, of not doing enough to support the tour. Norman dismissed their comments.
To earn a PGA Tour of Australasia card, one must place in the top 26 of the tour's qualifying schools. To retain a Tour card, a golfer must finish in the top 50 of the Order of Merit. Golfers ranked 51st–70th are given conditional status and those ranked 71st to 100th are given entry to the final stage of Q School.
Five-year exemptions are given to Order of Merit winners each season and three-year exemptions should a player win either of the following major events - Australian PGA Championship, Australian Open and New Zealand Open. Entry to The Open Championship is given to the Order of Merit winner.
The top player on the Order of Merit at the end of the season earns status to play on the European Tour for the following season.
From Wikipedia’s article on PGA Tour of Australasia, shared under CC BY-SA 4.0.3