After a six-event qualifying series around the state, all roads lead to Swan Hill, with one of the Challenger PGA Tour of Australasia's biggest prize purses on offer this week as the Ford NSW Open heads to Murray Downs Golf & Country Club.

Last played in March 2023, after not featuring last season on Tour due to a change in scheduling, David Micheluzzi was the most recent winner of the Kel Nagle Cup, triumphing on his way to securing that season's Order of Merit.

With an increased prize fund of $800,000, the return of the NSW Open has seen significant player interest, with star Aussies Cameron Smith and Lucas Herbert making the trip out to the Murray River region, as well as 2006 US Open champion Geoff Ogilvy.

Among the other headliners in the field are all four winners from Challenger PGA Tour of Australasia this year, Phoenix Campbell, Jack Buchanan, Elvis Smylie and Will Bruyeres.

Kicking off a huge three-week stretch, the NSW Open provides a sensational prelude for the BMW Australian PGA Championship and the ISPS HANDA Australian Open.

DEFENDING CHAMPION: David Micheluzzi (Victoria)

PRIZEMONEY: $800,000

LIVE SCORES: www.pga.org.au

TV COVERAGE: The NSW Open will be broadcast live on 7plus and 7two.

*All times AEDT.

Round 2: Friday, 12pm (7plus)

Round 3: Saturday, 12pm (7plus)

Final Round: Sunday, 12pm (7plus and 7two)

THE COURSE

Consistently ranked inside the best 100 courses in the country, Murray Downs is a favourite among the abundance of layouts dotted along the famous Murray River that sits on the border of New South Wales and Victoria.

Once a sprawling sheep station, design duo Geoff and Ted Parslow took to transforming the former farmland in 1991 and produced a magnificent par-71 course stretching to 6,276 metres, which was updated by the brothers in 2009.

Featuring Wintergreen couch fairways, and large Penncross bentgrass greens, the immaculate conditioning at Murray Downs is often a talking point, along with the red sand that fills the large and significant bunkering.

Several forced carries are also synonymous with Murray Downs, none more so than the long par-3 fifth, which, off the tips, can be stretched out to over 200 metres.

Players are afforded plenty of width off the tee, and huge landing areas on the large greens, but with that openness also comes wind, and the abundance of water and sand come into play.

With hot weather predicted in Swan Hill this week, the Murray Downs greens will be rolling fast, just how the Parslow brothers intended the course to be played

HEADLINERS

Cameron Smith — 2022 Open Champion, captain of the 2024 season winning Ripper GC team on the LIV Golf League

Lucas Herbert — PGA TOUR and DP World Tour winner, member of the 2024 season winning Ripper GC team on the LIV Golf League

Geoff Ogilvy — 2006 US Open champion, 2008 BMW Australian PGA champion and 2010 ISPS HANDA Australian Open champion

Phoenix Campbell — 2023 and 2024 Qld PGA champion

Jack Buchanan — Winner of the 2024 CKB WA PGA presented by TX Civil & Logistics and Webex Players Series South Australia

Elvis Smylie — 2024 Bowra & O’Dea Nexus Advisernet WA Open champion

Jak Carter — Two-time runner-up this season and fourth on the Order of Merit

Curtis Luck — 2016 WA Open champion, and Korn Ferry Tour player