BUNKER-TO-BUNKER

Now that the dust has settled on the Australian Open, how do we look back on the ‘Rory Show’ at Royal Melbourne. Was the marquee man worth the rumoured $2million appearance fee? What of the supporting cast and overall strength of the field? How did Royal Melbourne measure up? Were we happy with the TV coverage? What are the confidence levels when it comes to repeating this year’s success at Kingston Heath later in 2026? A month or so on, looking back and perhaps with an eye on the future… WHAT WERE OUR THOUGHTS ON THE 2025 AUSTRALIAN OPEN, AND WHERE TO NEXT?

 

BY LARRY CANNING

Rory McIlroy is one of those sports stars who you want to see up close. Not only for his ludicrous level of ball striking and gorgeous golf swing but just to see the guy in real life. I spent a lot of Australian Open week not only watching Rory but also observing the fans reactions when he stepped onto a tee or walked past them. People of all age groups were flat out fixated on the bloke! Over a 100,000 phones sending photos, to 10 times that in friends and family…. $2mill? Cheap as chips, I say.

As far as the rest of the field was concerned, I thought it was a pretty classy collection with a bunch of former champs and some last-minute surprises like Si Woo Kim who incidentally has “major winner” written all over him.   

Despite Rory’s comments on that old chestnut – The Heath is better than RM – and a concern about the condition of the fringe grass, the host course was at its brilliant and cunning best. And a hearty congratulations to Golf Australia for their sensible course setup.

Now my friends, where do we go from here? 

I’m not an Australian Golf Administrator but I’m hoping those who are, have a plan to not only reach the same heights in 2026 but take our treasured Open Championship to an entirely different platform. Some of the biggest voices in golf have recently sang the praises of the Aussie Open and now Rory has put a huge international spotlight on it, is there a pathway now available to force the PGA Tour to peek outside their insular business plan and no longer dismiss us as “irerelevant”? For the good of the international game?

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BY MICHAEL DAVIS

Oh, Rory, what on earth were you on about?

Royal Melbourne was not the best course in Melbourne.

Wash your mouth out with soap and water, dear boy.

You hadn’t put a foot wrong since you arrived here.

You kept your calm even though from the time you stepped off the plane government minders were determined to extract value for every cent of the $2 million it cost to get you here.

You gave an impeccable, polished performance on the Tuesday night at the official tournament dinner hosted by the sponsor at Crown. 

Then, in the shadows of the first tee at Royal Melbourne and within earshot of the members’ bar, you said RM was not the best course in Australia. How could you have uttered such golf heresy?

But then, an artful recovery as good as any of the superb shots you would play during the tournament, you told the adoring media throng hanging on you every word: RM was certainly among the world top-10 though.

RM members leant back in their comfortable chairs – relieved more than anything else.

Tournament organisers breathed a collective sigh of relief. One even suggested, Rory, you are such a professional you were trying to prematurely pump up this year’s Australian Open at Kingston Heath, where you will again be the star turn – for another $2 million. 

Tread lightly, Rory, you nearly blew it before you even hit off at RM.

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BY MICHAEL COURT

I’VE been asking myself this for weeks…. would Scottie Scheffler, the No 1 player in the world, have generated as much interest as Rory McIlroy did, if he played in the Australian Open?

We know the answer is ‘no’ because McIlroy is surely the most popular player in the world – in this country anyway.

You only had to look at the crowds, 10-deep, lining the fairways at Royal Melbourne to see how keen we are to witness this remarkable player show us his game.

Scheffler is a special player, but he just doesn’t possess the charisma of McIlroy.

And to watch one of only six players who have won the Grand Slam of all four majors, on a course we rate as good as anywhere in the world, Royal Melbourne, tells us Golf Australia must be doing something right.

Sure, McIlroy was paid to be here, and he’ll cop another million to be at Kingston Heath later this year when he plays in the next Aussie Open.

And to hear him say that he rated the Heath even better than Royal Melbourne can ensure the fans will be 12-deep again to see what all the fuss is about and decide for themselves which one is Australia’s greatest golf course.

The record crowds that LIV Golf have drawn to Adelaide tells me that golf in this country is in a great place.

Granted, Victorians will do anything or go anywhere to see one of the world’s best in action and South Australians have for too long been starved of seeing such superstars play the game as well.

Yet serious golf fans in Sydney are already planning to head to Adelaide or Kingston Heath so they can be part of the action.

I give Golf Australia extra credit points for trying different things.

Granted, it didn’t really work having the men’s and women’s Open run together at the same venue – but it was certainly worth the gamble.

Now the women’s game has enough terrific Australian players that it will be a hit next month as well when the best women players head for Kooyonga to watch the likes of major championship winners Minjee Lee, Grace Kim and Hannah Green, among others, in action.

The women didn’t need to take a back seat to the men, they’re better than that.

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BY PETER OWEN

While I waited at Melbourne Airport to fly home following the Australian Open, I received a text message from a good mate informing me of the passing of a mutual friend. I responded, telling him of my sorrow and suggesting we get together for a drink. “Can’t,” he texted back. “We’re down in Melbourne for the Aussie Open.”

Next day I discovered two other friends had made similar treks from Queensland for the event, while a young member of my own family, who lives in Melbourne but had little interest in golf, or so I thought, gleefully revealed he was going out to the course on the last two days.

Everybody, it seemed, was caught up in the magic of December’s Australian Open, compelled to actually be at Royal Melbourne and to catch a glimpse of Rory McIlroy, surely the most popular golfer on the planet.

And, though the man himself probably felt he under-performed over his four rounds, McIlroy’s presence made our national open one of the most successful sporting events of 2025 – and not just for the quality of his golf game.

I was standing beside the 16th green on the Sunday when a pedantic official started pushing people back from the ropes in readiness for McIlroy and his playing partners to eventually leave the green and walk to the 17th tee.

One of victims was a young boy, maybe five or six years of age, who lost his position and found himself pushed back behind a forest of adult legs. But McIlroy noticed and, as he walked from the green, he made his way to the boy, said a few words, tousled his hair, then went on his way.

The smile on that young fellow’s face will, I know, live long in the hearts and minds of his parents, and in the memory bank of the crowd who witnessed McIlroy’s spontaneous and gracious act of kindness.

$2 million to have him there? Cheap at twice the price, I reckon.

His presence, and the quality of the field did much to raise the profile of the event and remind the world of the genuine status of the Australian Open.

I know this year’s Aussie Open will be played at Kingston Heath, another great Melbourne golf course, but I would like to see it find a permanent home at Royal Melbourne, where the beauty and scope of the property is appropriate for our national championship. 

How and where we find the sponsorship funds to offer prize money similar to other top international events is for others to determine. But if we seriously want the Australian Open to be a world-class golf tournament the timing has never been better. Rory McIlroy has seen to that.