The annual national Golf Australia v Australian Defence Forces match will be contested at Flinders Golf Club from 22-23 March.

It will be the first time the event has been held at Flinders Golf Club, 90 minutes south east of Melbourne. Perched high on the cliff tops, views across Western Port to Phillip Island and the rugged Bass Strait coastline provide a stunning panorama while on course or in the clubhouse.

The match is played in a Ryder/Presidents Cup-style format and is a valuable way to encourage and promote golf amongst members of the defence forces.

The event is also an important way GA can acknowledge and give back to our defence force personnel through a friendly competitive experience and is an opportunity for GA team members to gain a greater understanding and insight into the challenges faced by our ADF personnel.

New to the event in 2021, GA events and operations general manager Therese Magdulski said this year sees a gender neutral format for the first time to showcase that golf has no gender barriers.

“Men and women can be paired together, and men can play women in any of the matches,” Magdulski said.

“This change further promotes GA’s advocacy of a sport that has no gender boundaries,” she said.

There are sure to be some returning faces in the GA team and some new faces, with the selection criteria as follows:

i. The leading local male player from each state’s/territory’s 2020 Senior Amateur Championship (the 2019 ACT Senior Amateur will be used given the 2020 event was not played); ii. A leading female senior golfer; iii. The leading one (1) male player from any 2020 state Mid Amateur Championship played (Qld, SA, NSW, Vic); the player selected will be that whose total score was the best in relation to par; iv. The leading one (1) female player from any 2020 state Mid Amateur Championship played (Qld, SA, NSW, Vic); the player selected will be that whose total score was the best in relation to par. v. The GA selection is Queensland’s Mike Peeck who will once again be the playing team manager/captain.

This is a slight change on the traditional criteria due to the cancelation of the 2020 GA Senior Order and Merit and the 2020 Australian Mid-Amateur Championships as a result of COVID-19.

In addition, given there have been no Australian teams selected in 2020 due to COVID-19, players who have traditionally be ineligible due to this representation, are eligible for these positions in 2021.

The national ADF match is played immediately after a similar match comprising a Victorian GA team, which has been played at Sorrento Golf Club since 1991.