Pioneer ... big names may follow Tiger to Melbourne. Source: AFP The US PGA Tour is considering making Melbourne an annual stop in its billion-dollar circuit.
After record crowds at last year's JBWere Masters at Kingston Heath, the peak American golf body wants to add Melbourne's world-famous sandbelt courses to its roster, greatly enhancing the chances of players such as Tiger Woods, Phil Mickelson and Lee Westwood making regular visits.
IMG heavyweight and Tiger Woods' personal manager Mark Steinberg said Australia deserved consideration.
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"I think it (expansion) is on their radar," Steinberg said.
"If the US PGA Tour is going to expand their plans to play more events in Asia and Australasia, and if Australia is in their sights - and those are two big ifs - the JBWere Masters would be the logical place to look."
The PGA Tour, like many sporting bodies in North America, has been hit by the withdrawal or reduction of sponsorship during the global financial crisis.
A push into Asia is high on the agenda as the Tour seeks its share of the world's fastest growing economies and golfing markets.
The Tour has shown its hand by including a late-season Asian tournament this year, and it's believed the next expansion will include Australia, giving it a month-long presence in the region, possibly as early as 2012.
In the past two years Masters owner IMG has teamed with corporate partners and the Victorian government to recruit world top-20 talent in a bid to position the tournament, which makes its first visit to Victoria Golf Club this week, as Australia's flagship event.
While it will wrestle with the Australian Open and PGA Championship for that mantle, Woods' rave reviews and a positive reaction from a global TV audience have the Masters in the box seat.
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