By Brett Robinson

Just a little over a month after seeing his course laid to waste by a tropical cyclone, Southport Golf Club superintendent Stuart Moore couldn’t have been prouder of his team’s effort to get their course up for the recent Gold Coast Open. The tournament, first played at Southport in 1959 and now in its 66th year, was contested across two rounds on 5 and 6 April, nearly a month to the day after ex-tropical cyclone Alfred slammed into southeast Queensland.

Southport was among a number of courses across the Gold Coast region to cop the full brunt of the cyclone’s wrath, with a large number of trees down and extensive surface flooding (see photos right). As reported in the 17 March edition of The Cut a week after the cyclone hit, Moore said he hadn’t witnessed a weather system of that magnitude in his 30 years with the club. From Thursday 6 March to the morning of Monday 10 March, Southport recorded 625mm which caused widespread flooding of the course along with significant tree damage as a result of gale force winds. In addition to around 40 trees being uprooted, the club also suffered infrastructure damage to boundary fences and cart shed roofs.

Following a monumental effort by Moore’s crew and member volunteers to reinstate the course, Southport was back in play for the members by 18 March, which left just over two weeks to then dial the playing surfaces in for the tournament’s return. 

“It’s fair to say that preparations for the Gold Coast Open were unlike any other we’ve had in the past,” states Moore. “Combined with the ongoing clean up from Alfred and prioritising getting our members back out on course, the Open preparations certainly added to a few sleepless nights for me. Suffice to say the grounds team put in an incredible effort to ensure the tournament went off without a hitch.

“The usual grooming of our surfaces, particularly greens, continued, however, some other areas around the course had a few out of the ordinary obstacles. We still have a lot of work to do in our deep rough areas with piles of tree stumps and mulch which were made safe and marked as no play zones for the tournament. The additional 230mm of rain which continued to fall after the cyclone passed also didn’t assist at all. The installation of cart paths throughout the course many years ago really paid dividends in returning the course to the members as a priority while the clean-up continued safely.

“It was really important for the club to host the Open this year, especially considering what we have been through this past month. The turf surfaces weren’t quite where I would have liked them, but it was just great to see the event being held and a bit of normality returning. The heartening thing was seeing so many players from northern NSW to the Sunshine Coast representing this year and supporting the event.”

The Gold Coast Open is a staple of Southport’s annual tournament calendar and for a long time was played as a 36-hole single-day ‘Angus Buchanan’ event. In more recent times the tournament has been split across two days (Saturday and Sunday) with 18 holes played each day. This year it was Coolangatta & Tweed Heads Golf Club youngster Sam Adams who added his name to the honours list, triumphing after a dramatic two-hole playoff. The 2024 Coolangatta club champion posted rounds of 66 and 70 to finish in a tie at 6-under, before nailing a sizeable birdie putt on the second playoff hole in fading light to claim the 2025 title.

In what would be another fillip for Moore and his crew, a few days after the Open had finished 2024 Australian PGA Championship winner and newly-minted DP World Tour player Elvis Smylie returned to the club. Last month, Smylie was crowned the Challenger PGA Tour of Australasia’s Order of Merit champion for the first time, becoming just the fourth lefthander to win the title after Richard Green (2004), Nick O’Hern (2006) and Greg Chalmers (2011, 2014).

Holder of the Southport course record – a sublime 59 which he posted a few years ago – Smylie would play a round alongside club ambassador and former dual rugby international Mat Rogers. In what would be a perfect confidence boost ahead of teeing it up at this week’s DP World Tour’s Volvo China Open in Shanghai, Smylie would sink a birdie putt from the back of Southport’s 18th green to equal his own course record.

“It was great to see Elvis back at the club,” says Moore. “His parents – Peter and Liz – have been great supporters of the club over the years and Peter is a former Board member. Elvis is such a nice guy and I remember him being here as a young kid and the respect he had for the course. It was great for him to be able to play the course again, check in on the clean-up progress after the cyclone and play what was an incredible round of 59. It was a real lift for the crew.”

Photos (from top down): Southport GC was back to its best for the recent Gold Coast Open; some of the damage sustained during TC Alfred; Southport superintendent Stuart Moore (centre) with club ambassador Mat Rogers (left) and current Challenger PGA Tour of Australasia Order of Merit champion Elvis Smylie (right) after the latter's course record-equalling 59 last Tuesday