Australian Open showcases two of Australia’s finest golfing masterpieces
Elvis Smylie – destined to be a regular now in pre-event press conferences
The Australian Open gets underway on Thursday at two of Australia’s finest layouts, the Kingston Heath and Victoria Golf Clubs in Melbourne’s sandbelt, accommodating the field of 156 men, 84 women and 12 in the All Abilities category.
The concept introduced two years ago where the three categories are played at the same venue in the same week has met with mixed reception, some suggesting there should be separate events for the men and the women.
The event carries combined prizemoney of $A3.4 million, although it should be noted that the men’s purse is now only the third highest on the PGA Tour of Australasia after the Australian PGA Championship and the New Zealand Open to be played in February / March.
The purses for both the men and the women are A$1.7 million, both winners to receive A$306,000 of that amount.
The men’s field is essentially the same which competed in last week’s BMW Australian PGA Championship with the notable addition of the defending champion Chile’s Joaquin Niemann and one or two others including the new PGA Tour member, Karl Vilips of Australia.
Last week’s PGA Champion Elvis Smylie is joined by Cam Smith, Cam Davis, Min Woo Lee, Marc Leishman and Lucas Herbert, ensuring a first win by an Australian since 2019 is definitely on the cards.
For Smylie his life is rapidly changing following his sensation victory at Royal Queensland three days ago.
“There’s definitely plans that have changed since last week for sure. So, at this stage I’m going to be playing in the Nedbank Challenge in South Africa next week, so that’ll be really exciting and it’s a good situation to be in with so many opportunities that I have now. Really looking forward to taking up membership on the European Tour and playing over there full time.”
Smylie outlined his movements since his win.
“A quick turnaround obviously to Sunday night. I drove back down to the Gold Coast with my parents, had a nice dinner with them and then repacked the luggage and got down on a flight yesterday at 7.30. So it’s been quick and no alcohol for me, I’ve been quite on my best behaviour. There’ll be a time to celebrate, but, for now, I’m really looking forward to doing my best here at Australian Open.”
The event is jointly sanctioned by the DP World Tour offering the possibility of access to the world’s second-richest tour for a winner who is currently without status to play there.
Hannah Green leads the women’s field in terms of world ranking, following yet another fine season on the LPGA Tour, during which she recorded three victories.
Minjee Lee is the next highest-ranked female in the field but she has recorded a very ordinary season by her standards and it may be that defending champion, Ashleigh Bulai and former winner and prolific winner of titles internationally, Jiyai Shin, along with Green, are the winning prospects.
Two years ago the respective Australian Open Championships were played over the same two courses although this time it will be the Kingston Heath Golf Club which will play host compared to the Victoria Golf Club in 2022.
The opening two rounds will be flip-flopped between the two venues before the 36 holes over the weekend will be contested over the outstanding Kingston Heath.
