Masters champion and career grand slam winner Rory McIlroy’s commitment to play in the Australian Open in Melbourne has blown tournament officials away with “unprecedented” ticket sales coming in the first 24 hours.
Rory McIlroy has been locked in to make a competitive return Down Under to play in the Australian Open for two years in a mega coup for the country’s golf landscape.
A stunning eagle at the last catapulted Lucas Herbert above pre-tournament favourite Cameron Smith, with a sensational first round giving Herbert the clubhouse lead at the Australian Open.
Gale needed his first hole-in-one in competition since his very first as a 12-year-old over the closing stages and a gritty par at the last for a 12-under total and one-shot win over Matt Griffin.
The club has been so proactive in the gender equality space that many baseline requirements Golf Australia has set to become a signatory had already been completed, including board diversity.
The prizemoney was small, but the stage was huge as the Australian Open pulled off the historic first of running a men’s and women’s national championship simultaneously on the same courses. And the payoff for Adrian Meronk’s victory in men’s tournament will be far more valuable than the $306,000 he bagged for defeating local hero Adam Scott in an exciting finish on Melbourne’s famed Sandbelt.
Adam Scott has let slip a golden opportunity to win a second Australian Open crown, outplayed by big-hitting Polish golfer Adrian Meronk at Victoria GC.
With 33 layouts in Australia’s Top 100 Golf Courses, Victoria leaves other states in its wake when it comes to world-class fairways. But what makes the Garden State so great for golf, far beyond its famed Sandbelt region?