Real players competing on real golf courses for real stakes. That’s all it takes. During a time in which professional golf decision makers are pulling hair out of their heads trying to whip together the best product imaginable — while also aiming to appease partners, squeeze every last dollar out of the venture and “grow the game” — the Australian Open proved just how simple it can be to put on an entertaining golf event.
Amid a winter weekend in the Northern Hemisphere, three different golf tournaments were held across three different continents: Tiger Woods’ Hero World Challenge in the Bahamas, the DP World Tour’s Nedbank Challenge in South Africa and the Australian Open at Royal Melbourne.
“It’s incredible,” shared Rory McIlroy. “I said to Adam [Scott] walking up the first [hole that] it didn’t feel like a Friday afternoon round; it felt like we were going out in the final group on Sunday.
“That scene on the first tee was amazing. Then, walking up the last and everyone is still here. I’ve always said it, but that’s the potential [Australia] has to have these really, really big events. The other two events happening in other places of the world have nothing like the atmosphere this tournament has. It has so much potential, and it’s great to see so many people come out and support this tournament.”
While many of the biggest names in golf — Scottie Scheffler and Jordan Spieth, among them — teed it up in Woods’ 20-man event, McIlroy headlined a stout field in Melbourne, Australia, that included that country’s finest players like Scott, Cameron Smith and Min Woo Lee, in addition to young LIV Golf stars David Puig and Caleb Surratt and the odd PGA Tour member.
They were tasked with pulling off shots they do not face regularly. It forced them to factor in more than one variable on each attempt — run-offs, angles and wind, just to name a few. Royal Melbourne turned modern players — often compared to robots that input numbers and output golf shots — into, well, golfers … in the truest sense of the word.Â
The players and golf course were real, as were the stakes. Scott secured his 26th straight appearance in The Open Championship with his solo fifth-place finish, while South Africa’s Michael Hollick earned his championship debut as Si Woo Kim solidified his return to Royal Birkdale, the site of his first Open appearance.
Even those who found themselves on the last line of the tee sheet on Sunday, Rasmus Neergaard-Petersen and Smith, were playing for something. For Smith, it was a chance to win his home country’s open for the first time amid a year where he missed the cut in all four major championships and posted just one top-five finish on LIV Golf. For Neergaard-Petersen, it was a chance to claim his first DP World Tour title and punch his ticket into the Masters.
In the end, Neergaard-Petersen proved victorious. The young Dane, who earned dual membership on the PGA Tour this upcoming season due to his place in the Race to Dubai standings, summoned a short-game performance from the high heavens down the stretch to fend off Smith (and his home crowd), who needed three putts on the 72nd hole and ultimately fell one stroke shy.
“It’s hard. I’m really at a loss for words. It’s been a battle all day,” Neergaard-Petersen said. “Even from the outside, you can look calm, but it was a storm inside [for me] all day. But I managed to keep battling and to get it up and down to make that putt on the last. I don’t know what to say, to be honest.”
The 26-year-old will reap the rewards of entering the winner’s circle at the Australian Open, but he is not the only one. Golf fans were delighted watching him compete on a golf course as prominent as Royal Melbourne with players like McIlroy, Scott and Smith in the mix and major championship berths on the line.