The joint co-sanctioned event between the PGATA and WPGATA, held across four days from Thursday to Sunday, February 1, will see both the men and women compete against each other on the same course for the same trophy and a chunk of the $250,000 prize purse.
The 2025 edition saw Blake Proverbs prevail in a three-hole playoff, and the defending champion is the highlight of the entry list in 2026, as he looks to secure back-to-back crowns on the Cobram Barooga Old Course.
2026 Vic Open winner Cameron John is leading the charge to prevent that from happening, having been in red hot form recently, while the likes of former NSW Open champions Harrison Crowe and Ben Eccles will no doubt be hovering around the top of the leaderboard too.
There will be stiff competition in the form of Wales’ Lydia Hall, however, who enters fresh off her triumph at the Vic Open women’s event, while Kathryn Norris, who finished tied second behind Hall at the Vic Open, and Abbie Teasdale, who finished tied second at the WebEx Players Series Perth event earlier this month, will also be aiming to get their hands on the silverware and join past champions of the event including 2019 Women’s PGA Championship winner Hannah Green, who took the Murray River crown in 2022.
Elite juniors and all abilities golfers will also feature across the four days, each contending for their own unique titles, with 2024 Vic Junior Open winner Sophie Mann taking out last year’s junior event, while Tom Ryan, ranked 24th on the WR4GD rankings, claimed the All Abilities title.
The tournament is the centrepiece of the wider Murray River Festival of Golf, which began on Tuesday with the Women’s Golf Clinic, a free event hosted by WPGA professionals competing in the WPS Murray River event, which provided a unique chance to learn through hands-on instruction and a Q&A session afterwards.
The Australian Indoor Nearest the Pin Championship showcased the precision and skill of PGA and WPGA professionals in an exclusive evening competition held in The Bunker at Sporties on Tuesday, too, while the Murray River Longest Drive Championship is set to bring some big-hitting excitement on Saturday, January 31.
Qualifiers will be held throughout the day in The Bunker, before the finalists will take to the course under lights on Saturday night to battle it out for the title on the iconic 6th Tee of the Old Course.
