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Royal Melbourne has enjoyed this honor three times.
Now, the famous neighbor will get his turn.
The PGA Tour announced Monday that the 2028 Presidents’ Cup will be played at the iconic Kingston Heath course, less than 20 miles south of Royal Melbourne, in golf-rich Australia’s Sandbelt.
Ranked 22 on GOLF Magazine’s list of the 100 Best Courses in the World, Kingston Heath is no stranger to major competition. It has hosted the Australian Open seven times, and has also hosted the Australian Open and the Australian Women’s Open. In 2016, he welcomed the Golf World Cup. Gary Player, Greg Norman, Tiger Woods, Carrie Webb and Adam Scott are among the notable champions who have won the course.
Matt Rapp, PGA Tour Vice President of Tournament Management, said in the statement, noting that the Presidents Cup will “enhance the history and future of this event in the great city of Melbourne.”
Built in 1925, Kingston Heath was designed by Des Soutar but also bears the imprint of Melbourne’s royal architect Alister MacKenzie, who reworked the heath as part of his efforts, a few years after the course first opened for play. Among its many strengths, Kingston Heath is a masterpiece of directing, revered for the art its designers have captured from a relatively flat and small site.
The PGA Tour had already lined up the Australian for the Presidents Cup in 2028 and 2040 but the venues had yet to be decided. This will be the fourth time that matches have been held at the Sandbelt, with Royal Melbourne having staged the other three matches.
Included in the official announcement was video Narrated by Adam Scott, who won the 2012 Australian Masters at Kingston Heath. Across the course images, Scott’s voice tones to Kingston Heath: “[it] It has stood the test of the world’s best, but for a global audience a proper introduction still needs to be made. Come 2028, all of that will change.”
First, though, there will be two more major trophies: in 2024, at Royal Montreal, and in 2026, in Medina.