Golf Australia is the governing body

Sport governing body

A sport governing body is a sports organization that has a regulatory or sanctioning function. Sport governing bodies come in various forms, and have a variety of regulatory functions. Examples of this can include disciplinary action for rule infractions and deciding on rule changes in the sport...

 for the sport

Sport

A Sport is all forms of physical activity which, through casual or organised participation, aim to use, maintain or improve physical fitness and provide entertainment to participants. Sport may be competitive, where a winner or winners can be identified by objective means, and may require a degree...

 of golf

Golf

Golf is a precision club and ball sport, in which competing players use many types of clubs to hit balls into a series of holes on a golf course using the fewest number of strokes....

 in Australia

Australia

Australia , officially the Commonwealth of Australia, is a country in the Southern Hemisphere comprising the mainland of the Australian continent, the island of Tasmania, and numerous smaller islands in the Indian and Pacific Oceans. It is the world's sixth-largest country by total area...

, formed in 2006 after the Australian Golf Union (AGU) and Women's Golf Australia (WGA) agreed to merge. The decision, which was formally ratified at a meeting in Melbourne

Melbourne

Melbourne is the capital and most populous city in the state of Victoria, and the second most populous city in Australia. The Melbourne City Centre is the hub of the greater metropolitan area and the Census statistical division—of which "Melbourne" is the common name. As of June 2009, the greater...

 in August 2005, was made after the Australian Sports Commission

Australian Sports Commission

The Australian Sports Commission is the governing body responsible for distributing funds and providing strategic guidance for sporting activity in Australia. It is an agency of the Government of Australia within the portfolio of Health and Ageing...

 (ASC) threatened to withdraw its financial support unless the two bodies amalgamated. The ASC contributed approximately A$

Australian dollar

The Australian dollar is the currency of the Commonwealth of Australia, including Christmas Island, Cocos Islands, and Norfolk Island, as well as the independent Pacific Island states of Kiribati, Nauru and Tuvalu...

1 million annually to the Australian Institute of Sport

Australian Institute of Sport

The Australian Institute of Sport is a sports training institution in Australia with world class facilities and support services. The Institute's headquarters is situated in Canberra, the capital city of Australia. The 66.0 hectare site campus is in the northern suburb of Bruce, but some of the...

 for golf funding.

Colin Phillips, the AGU's executive director

Executive director

Executive director is a term sometimes applied to the chief executive officer or managing director of an organization, company, or corporation. It is widely used in North American non-profit organizations, though in recent decades many U.S. nonprofits have adopted the title "President/CEO"...

 since 1978, retired from his position in 2005, claiming that the way the decision to merge had been forced upon the sport by the federal government

Government of Australia

The Commonwealth of Australia is a federal constitutional monarchy under a parliamentary democracy. The Commonwealth of Australia was formed in 1901 as a result of an agreement among six self-governing British colonies, which became the six states...

, had been a factor in his decision.

Following the merger, IMG

IMG (business)

IMG, originally known as the International Management Group is a global sports and media business headquartered in New York City.-History:...

, the sports marketing

Sports marketing

Sport marketing is divided into three sectors. The first is the advertising of sport and sports associations such as the Olympics, Spanish Football league and the NFL. The second concerns the use of sporting events, sporting teams and individual athletes to promote various products. The third is...

 company which organizes the Australian Open golf

Australian Open (golf)

The Australian Open is one of the principal annual golf tournaments on the PGA Tour of Australasia, and also the OneAsia Tour since its formation in 2009. The event was first played in 1904 and takes place toward the end of each year...

 event, signed a three year deal which increased its ties to Golf Australia. Former tennis

Tennis

Tennis is a sport usually played between two players or between two teams of two players each . Each player uses a racket that is strung to strike a hollow rubber ball covered with felt over a net into the opponent's court. Tennis is an Olympic sport and is played at all levels of society at all...

 pro and new Open chairman Paul McNamee

Paul McNamee

Paul McNamee is a retired Australian tennis player and prominent sports administrator.-Tennis career:...

 also renegotiated a deal signed by the old AGU, whereby the tournament would be hosted at the Moonah Links course in Rye, Victoria

Rye, Victoria

Rye is a seaside resort town, approximately 83 km south of Melbourne, Victoria, Australia, on the Mornington Peninsula, Victoria, Australia. Its bay beach is popular with swimmers, fishermen, yachtsmen and kitesurfers. Its ocean beach is also popular with surfers...

three times in every five years. That decision had been heavily criticized by golf professionals who found issue with the course layout, low attendances and poor corporate interest, but the new organization was able to reduce its obligation to three tournaments before 2020.