Royal Liverpool and the Australasians
The Open Championship trophy with the Royal Liverpool clubhouse beyond – image Getty Images R&A
I have been blessed to have caddied at six Open Championship venues but unfortunately Royal Liverpool is not one of them.
St Andrews, Carnoustie, Royal Lytham & St Annes, Turnberry, Royal Troon, and Royal St Georges have all provided me a wonderful insight at close quarters into the subtleties and demands of high-end links golf but during my times caddying in Britain and Europe, Royal Liverpool was in a period where it had lost favour with the R&A due to the increasing logistical demands of the ever growing Open Championship.
There had been a gap of 39 year between the victory of Robert Di Vicenzo in 1967 and when it returned to the rota in 2006 in time to bear witness to yet another Tiger Woods clinical display.
In one of the more spectacular Tiger Woods major championship victories, when using a driver on only one occasion throughout the week, he won his third and final Open Championship by two over Chris DiMarco.
In 2014, Rory McIlroy won his only Open Championship to date with a two-shot victory over Sergio Garcia and Rickie Fowler and it is perhaps no surprise that in most people’s eyes McIlroy will start favourite again this week.
The favourites appear to be McIlroy, Scottie Scheffler, Jon Rahm, Cameron Smith and Tommy Fleetwood but Australasia will field an eclectic mix of twelve golfers, Smith being the standout in terms of genuine chances to defend the title he won twelve months ago at St Andrews.
Smith has played well in both LIV Golf and other events when he has had the chance to do so in 2023 and enters the week off the back of a win at a LIV Golf event in London two weeks ago.
Smith has shown that a LIV Golf schedule has not affected his capacity to perform well in major golf with a 4th place finish at the recent US Open and a 9th place at the PGA Championship.
Smith will play his 6th Open Championship but his magnificent win last year was the first top ten and only his second top twenty in that period.
For Jason Day this will be his 11th Open Championship but his record in the event has been ordinary for one of his standing in the game. A 4th place finish, just one shot out of the playoff at St Andrews in 2015, is his best with only one other top twenty to his name.
Day missed the cut in each of his last two Open Championship appearances but his game generally had deteriorated during that period although since his last effort at Royal St Georges in 2021 there has been significant improvement including his win in Dallas a couple of months ago.
Day is still a work in progress, however, given his three missed cuts in four starts since his win and it is hard to see him featuring in the thick of things this week.
Adam Scott will play his 23rd consecutive Open Championship and on both occasions he has played Royal Liverpool has finished inside the top ten including when 5th in 2014 during a period where he recorded four top tens in successive years following his runner-up finish at Royal Lytham & St Annes in 2012.
Scott missed the cut last week in Scotland but his game overall for much of 2023 has been solid with several top tens in recent weeks. A very good week would be no real surprise.
New Zealand’s Ryan Fox has a proven liking for links golf, his record at events such as the Irish and Scottish Opens giving claim to that statement.
Fox has focused much of his attention on the US this season but he played well when 12th last week at the Scottish Open and has a genuine chance to again be the leading Australasian this week.
For Fox, this will be his 7th start at the Open Championship and although he has a best of only 16th in 2019 and no other top thirty finishes, there is reason to believe he could better his previous best this week.
Min Woo Lee is showing an increasing capacity to play well in the big events, his 5th place finish at the US Open and 6th place at the Players Championship bearing testament to that.
In two previous Open Championships, Lee has a best of 21st at last year’s event at St Andrews but as a still only 24-year-old he is learning his craft quickly and an even better showing this week is not beyond him, especially considering one of his two wins as a professional was over a links layout in Scotland two years ago.
Lucas Herbert has had three starts at the Open Championship for a best of 15th at St Andrews last year. Like most of his peers he is focusing in the US these days but does boast good performances on links layouts including his win at the Irish Open in 2012 and a 4th place finish at the Scottish Open that same year.
Herbert’s recent form has been patchy, a win in Japan several weeks ago followed by several missed cuts. At his best he could potentially challenge to be the leading Australian this week, but it is hard to pick when that might be at times.
The other Australasians in the field include New Zealand’s recent British Masters winner, Daniel Hillier, who just keeps getting better but who missed the cut in his only appearance in this event two years ago.
Hillier was also 3rd at an event in Germany a month ago and although he finished 60th last week in Scotland he was well enough placed through 36 holes there so he brings form and confidence to Royal Liverpool.
Other Australians who have played their way into the field include Travis Smyth and Haydn Barron via International Final Qualifying, Harrison Crowe via his win at the Asia Pacific Amateur last year and Conner McKinney as a result of successfully negotiating his way through Final Qualifying.
Special mention here of New Zealand’s Mike Hendry not being able to take advantage of a spot he secured in the Championship due to a battle with illness.
It is hard, though, to go past Cam Smith as the leading Australian and a potential winner.
Can Cam Smith successfully defend? – photo Getty Images R&A
