Following David Puig’s win in the Australian PGA Championship at Royal Queensland, we head to Melbourne’s revered sandbelt and the incomparable Royal Melbourne for the time-honoured Australian Open, an event won by the likes of Sarazen and Player, Palmer and Nicklaus, Watson and Norman, McIlroy and Spieth and so many more.
Key Stats/Skill Set Required
- Driving Accuracy
- Strokes Gained: Off The Tee
- Strokes Gained: Approach
- Bogey Avoidance
- Strokes Gained: Around The Green
- Scrambling
- Par 4 Scoring
Royal Melbourne is Australia’s greatest course and regularly rated among the greatest golf courses on earth. It will host the Australian Open for the first time since 1991. A classic Alistair McKenzie design, accuracy from the tee is important but the key to success is hitting smart irons to finish below holes on the undulating greens and if missing, having a creative and classy short game.
Key Correlation Courses/Tournaments
- Augusta National
- Kingston Heath
No player outside of hot favourite Rory McIlroy profiles better than Danish bomber Rasmus Neergaard-Petersen. He ranks 6th in Strokes Gained: Off The Tee, 12th in Par 4 Scoring, 17th in Bogey Avoidance and 18th in Strokes Gained: Approach. He finished 12th in the US Open this year and has Top 25 finishes in nine of his last 14 tournaments.
Kiwi Ryan Fox had his first hitout in two months at Royal Queensland last week and showed plenty of his class with an opening round 67. Shaking the rust off we can expect a more complete performance. He won twice on the PGA Tour this year. He ranks 10th on the DP World Tour in Scrambling, 10th in Strokes Gained: Around The Green and 11th in Strokes Gained: Approach, a perfect profile for here.
Cameron Smith has had a dire season without a single win on LIV and just five Top 10s but happy to have something on his class at such a big price. Of particular interest is his form at Augusta National, another McKenzie design, with five Top 10 finishes in The Masters. He ranks 5th on LIV in Scrambling. Looks a big show if he can keep it in the fairway.
Rising star Wenyi Ding is in red-hot form and looks set to challenge again. Ding has finished Top 6 in three straight events including an outright second in the Australian PGA Championship last week. He ranks 14th on the DP World Tour in Scrambling. Finished 5th in this event last year.
Swiss veteran Joel Girrbach has been playing some very good golf of late with two Top 10s in his last nine tournaments. It is notable that they were both on courses that required sharp short games and prize accuracy over length. He ranks 5th in Driving Accuracy while he finished 11th at Kingston Heath last year.