Australia’s two marquee golf tournaments have been run and won over the past fortnight — the Fortinet Australian PGA Championship from Royal Queensland, and the ISPS Handa Australian Open from the Australian Golf Club and The Lakes Golf Club.
Min Woo Lee took out the Australian PGA Championship by three strokes over Japan’s rising star Rikuya Hoshino, with Australia’s Marc Leishman, Chilean Joaquin Niemann, and a list of other fellow Aussies including Adam Scott finishing not far off the pace.
A week later, Niemann clinched the Australian Open in an exciting play-off over Hoshino, who leaves our shores with two runners-up placings. And in the Women’s competition, South African Ashleigh Buhai makes it back-to-back wins after a strong challenge from Minjee Lee.
But an emerging narrative surrounding Australian golf’s biggest couple of weeks is, not only our continual battle to find a place in the global game, or the names we are able to attract year-on-year, but the impact that golf’s well-publicised division is having on both of these challenges.
In the past, invitations, generous appearance fees, and the timeliness of other major events like the President’s Cup has seen the likes of Tiger Woods teeing up here.
But a mounting challenge for Australian golf is finding a unique identity for our showpiece events that will see the world’s best play here, while navigating a fractious landscape in the game.
The inability of the PGA Tour to find a way to co-exist with LIV Golf, and the existing relationship that Golf Australia has with the PGA Tour has meant that bringing the best possible players to our shores has come with a range of unneeded political caveats and roadblocks.
As it stands, LIV golfers have been banned from competing in PGA Tour events. That doesn’t include the Majors like the Masters and Open Championship, as these are not run by the PGA Tour.
Despite the PGA Tour having no official jurisdiction over our events, there is an existing relationship that seemingly renders Golf Australia unable to actively pursue and assist in bringing some of Golf’s biggest names to our shores, because they compete in LIV Golf. Further to this, they also seem unable to even promote and celebrate their presence when they do manage to get here.
Despite this, the talent on show this past few weeks was actually as good as it’s been for a while. Both events were co-sanctioned by the DP World Tour, and kicked off the new DP World Tour season. This alliance meant that a number of their lower ranked, but highly regarded players came to play.
In addition, Cam Smith returned to defend his Australian PGA Championship title, despite missing the cut. He would at least rectify this at the Open, finishing in a tie for 17th at seven under. Adam Scott performed well, and international big names like the aforementioned Niemann and Hoshino led from the front.
A notable absentee was Australia’s top-ranked Aussie, Jason Day, who chose to play in Tiger Woods’ unsanctioned Hero World Challenge, rather than supporting his home tournaments.
But what raised eyebrows was, in the midst of all this political upheaval, Golf Australia made the decision to bank-roll and heavily promote Michael Block’s trip down under, while the likes of Niemann, the eventual winner of the Open, found and funded his own way here, courtesy of a ‘special exemption’, to minimal fanfare.
Michael Block made headlines recently for being the highest finishing club pro at the 2023 PGA Championship in some time, placing 15th. He also happened to make the only hole in one for the tournament. Impressive, but hardly worthy of top billing.
It seemed a safer option to lure and promote a ‘viral sensation’, than some of the elite, but politically risky names also playing here. And history will show that Niemann won the Open and Block tied for 27th.
For further context, Niemann currently sits at 59 on the PGA World Rankings following his win, but he is a legitimate top-20 player. Were he on the PGA Tour, he would’ve been a massive drawcard for the tournament. Instead, his presence in Australia was barely mentioned, let alone promoted.
The fact that he got here despite all of this — and won — should indicate that Australia can be an enticing destination for the world’s best.
The ‘special exemptions’ for players like Niemann and Cam Smith are granted because of recent results. That is, because they have found success here within the last couple of years, they are given automatic entry.
Without that, would they have been able to play here at all? As golf’s great conflict rages on, bystanders like the Australasian Tour find themselves caught up in the crossfire, and the challenge of attracting and promoting the games’ best players becomes all-the-more burdensome.
Meanwhile, the LIV Golf tournament that took place in Adelaide in April not only drew huge crowds and TV audiences, but by all reports, and for many weeks that followed, numbers to local golf courses rarely seen before.
With LIV Golf appearing to be a force in the game for a while yet, and with a ceasefire with the PGA Tour looking unlikely any time soon, putting together a field of stars and celebrating their presence on Australian soil will be a difficult path to navigate. As Golf Australia continue to promote, ‘All Golf is Golf’, is it unreasonable to apply that thinking to Professional golf as well? Perhaps a friends-of-all approach will lead to stronger fields, more sponsors, and more excitement well into the future.
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