By Michael Davis
IT is an absolute conundrum as to why Melbourne golf galleries will miss out on hosting the Australian Open again after the relative success of the mixed and all-abilities event at Kingston Heath and Victoria last year.
At last, Melbourne had prised the tournament away from Sydney where it seemed to have been staged for an eternity. And by and large the city responded with strong, appreciative crowds on each of the four days.
Now, quite amazingly, the event is going back to Sydney, insiders at Golf Australia saying they had no alternative but to honour the last year of a mutli-year agreement set in stone with the NSW government to host the country’s national open.
Regardless of the nuances of the deal, staging the tournament back in the Harbour City feels like a snub for Victoria.
To me, biased or otherwise, Melbourne has always been the home of golf in Australia; not just because it has by a fair margin the best golf courses but also because galleries seem to understand the game better.
Having said that, I would much prefer the Australian Open to be rotated around the country with every state given the chance to host the championship. But I feel this is an absolute pipe dream.
So, we just have to grin and bear it. The ISPS HANDA Australian Open is returning to Sydney with The Australian and The Lakes golf clubs set to host the tournament from November 30 to December 3.
Again, it will feature the continuation of the joint tournament format that will allow fans to see some of the best men and women golfers playing for different titles on the same course at the same time.
In addition to the Men’s Australian Open and the Women’s Australian Open titles, the event will celebrate further inclusiveness through the Australian All-Abilities Championship.
The men’s Open returns to The Australian for the first time since 2019, while the women’s Open homecoming to Sydney is 16 years in the making, with Royal Sydney Golf Club hosting the last event in the NSW capital when Karrie Webb was victorious.
The Australian Golf Club will be the host venue across the four days with nearby The Lakes Golf Club selected as co-host for the first two days of play.
The Australian is a Jack Nicklaus signature design and is well versed with the national men’s Open having hosted 21 times, including recent years in 2014, 2015, 2017 and 2019. Equally, The Lakes is a seven-time host of the men’s Australian Open, including 1964, 1980, 1992, 2010, 2011, 2012 and 2018.
The dual ISPS HANDA Australian Opens will carry a minimum of $3.4 million prizemoney. The men’s event will be co-sanctioned by the ISPS HANDA PGA Tour of Australasia and DP World Tour – although we’re not sure how that will work following the détente with LIV Golf – hopefully ensuring Australian golf is on the world stage for two consecutive weeks of the summer. The Fortinet Australian PGA Championship will be staged at Royal Queensland the week before the Australian Open.
The WPGA Tour of Australasia will again sanction the women’s event with the Patricia Bridges Bowl going to the winner, while the men will play for the Stonehaven Cup.
This year’s Australian Open will also feature the fourth edition of the Australian All-Abilities Championship (AAAC), which assembles the top World Ranking for Golfers with Disability (WR4GD) players supported by global partners EDGA and G4D Tour. Golf Australia’s chief executive officer James Sutherland was understandably spruiking the party line at the official announcement of the Open’s return to Sydney.
“We’re incredibly excited to return to Sydney for this national event, and thankful to our partner, the NSW Government, for their long-standing support for the sport and the ISPS Handa Australian Open,” said Sutherland.
“With fantastic golfing facilities and a city that features some of Australia’s most well-known icons and tourist destinations, we will enthusiastically welcome golf fans and event goers to this unique event in Sydney.
“After such positive feedback last year, we’re pleased to be able to bring the tournament to Sydney and know that the mixed format of men’s, women’s and all-abilities in one tournament will be appreciated by fans from far and wide.
“Last year the world-first national open format pushed boundaries and broke new ground for golf – the event will be further enhanced this year and will again talk to our commitment to growing golf as a sport for all.”
DP World Tour chief tournament business officer Ben Cowen said: “We are delighted to see the ISPS HANDA Australian Open return to Sydney in an exciting format which gives fans the chance to witness some of the best men, women and all-abilities golfers tee it up on iconic Australian golf courses.”
Good luck to them, but I reckon Melbourne can feel a little duped not to be given a second consecutive crack at staging the event.
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