Golf Australia announced a welcome increase in both spectator attendance and television ratings for the 2006 MFS Australian Open at The Royal Sydney Golf Club. The final total attendance, including children, for the four day event was 40,016. The new initiatives for children including the Autograph Zone and Kids Zone, proved very popular throughout the Championship. Ratings improved substantially and in 2006, (based on average audience figures across the 7 Network s telecast) 1,281,000 fans tuned in to watch the likes of John Senden, Geoff Ogilvy, Stuart Appleby, Gavin Coles, Adam Scott and Greg Norman battle it out. The telecast highlight was an outstanding peak audience of 825,000 viewers on Sunday. This represented a 61% increase on 2005 figures. In 2005, the viewing audience across the four days was 795,000. Golf Australia was particularly pleased with the rise of women watching the telecast and the 81% increase amongst the 25-54 year old demographic. The increases are positive indicators for the future profile of golf in Australia. Golf Australia would like to again congratulate John Senden on his wonderful win in what proved to be a highly contested event. His world ranking of 103 has significantly improved since the Australian Open, now sitting on 74, up 29 places. The top 10 players on the final leaderboard for the 2006 MFS Australian Open are: 1. 280 – John Senden 2. 281 Geoff Ogilvy 3. 282 Stuart Appleby 4. 282 Gavin Coles 5. 283 Adam Scott 6. 283 Nathan Green 7. 284 Steven Bowditch 8. 284 Brett Rumford 9. 285 Aaron Baddeley 10. 286 Richard Green
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