By Australian Golf Media

New Presidents Cup star Cam Davis and growing LPGA Tour force Stephanie Kyriacou have joined the growing list of brilliant, young home-grown stars headed back to Australia for the summer of golf.

Davis, 27, an emerging superstar of the world game and soon to be a first-time Presidents Cup representative on the International team, has committed for both the marquee events of the summer – the Fortinet Australian PGA Championships at Royal Queensland in November and the ISPS HANDA Australian Open at Victoria Golf Club and Kingston Heath Golf Club in Melbourne the following week.

Kyriacou, 21, is putting her hand up for the Open in Melbourne as the tournament makes its return to the fixture after a two-year gap with a refreshed look as an event for men, women and All Abilities players. It will be her first time in an Australian Open after a highly successful transition from elite amateur to professional ranks and the world’s best women’s golf stage, the LPGA in the United States.

Sydneysider Davis joins the likes of Cameron Smith, Marc Leishman, Lucas Herbert and Min Woo Lee and Kiwi Ryan Fox in committing to the biggest summer of golf seen in this country for many years, featuring the Open’s long-awaited return, the resumption of the New Zealand Open after a Covid-enforced absence, and another chapter of the growing Fortinet Australian PGA Championship in Queensland with its vibrant, party atmosphere.

The DP World Tour is co-sanctioning both the PGA Championship and the Open in consecutive weeks as the start to the European season. Davis is already a four-year PGA Tour player, is ranked No. 66 in the world, and will be out to emulate his 2017 Australian Open victory at The Australian, when he reeled in a field including world No. 1 players American Jordan Spieth and Jason Day with a final-round 64. It will be the Monash Country Club product’s first reappearance in Australian tournament golf for several years.

“It’s just so good to be coming home to play again,” said Davis, who lives in the Seattle area with his wife, Jonika.

“Everyone knows it’s been tough through the pandemic not being able to move around, and now that it’s possible again I can’t wait to play these events in Brisbane and Melbourne.

“While I’m playing most of my golf in America I see it as important that I perform well in my home country and that’s exactly what I’m setting out to do.”

Davis this week graduated to the International team to play against the US in the Presidents Cup in North Carolina later this month, having won his first US Tour event, the Rocket Mortgage Classic, in July last year.

Kyriacou, who plays out of St Michael’s Golf Club in Sydney, has been one of the major success stories of Australian professional golf of the past few years.

Nearing the end of a highly successful amateur career during which she won state titles in Victoria and Queensland as well as representing New South Wales, she won the professional Bonville International tournament as an amateur, quickly took up the resultant playing rights on the Ladies European Tour, won rookie-of-the-year honours on the LET, and then played her way through qualifying school to reach the LPGA Tour.

Her debut season on the LPGA has also been impressive, with two top-10 finishes, easily holding her card for 2023.  

“I’m super excited to be playing my first Australian Open,” said Kyriacou today.

“Any time you get to tee it up on the Melbourne Sandbelt, you’ve got to love it, especially in a tournament like that. I’ve always enjoyed that style of golf since my days as an amateur coming to play in Melbourne, and we’re all really pumped up about the new format of the Open as well. It sounds like it’s going to be a big winner with the men and women playing together. Just can’t wait to get home and have a crack at it and it would be a dream come true to win my national Open.”

The Fortinet Australian PGA Championship from 24-27 November is proudly supported by the Queensland Government, through Tourism and Events Queensland and Brisbane City Council, through Brisbane Economic Development Agency. Tickets, Hospitality and VIP Experiences are on sale via Ticketek now.

The ISPS HANDA Australian Open from 1-4 December is proudly supported by the Victorian Government through Visit Victoria. Tickets, Hospitality and VIP Experiences are on sale via Ticketek now.