In our ongoing series with Golf Australia chief executive James Sutherland and PGA of Australia chief executive Gavin Kirkman, our readers get clarity on golf’s most pertinent issues
Why don’t we put the money we are paying Rory McIlroy into the total prize fund for the Australian Open rather than giving it to one player? We would attract a broader range of quality players. – Kim Piavanini, via Facebook
Attracting the best possible players for the Australian Open is huge priority for us and our event partners. In recent years the men’s Open has not been able to attract a high-profile marquee player outside the Australian ranks.
For the 2025 and 2026 Australian Opens, we are delighted to have secured Rory’s commitment to play. Quite frankly, the impact on ticket and hospitality sales, and heightened commercial interest through sponsors and broadcasters, has been off the charts, and far beyond our best expectations.
Ultimately, our ambition for the Australian Open is to elevate its standing, not just as a golf tournament, but as a major sporting event across our region. In order to do that, we need to make judgements on the best allocation of resources. Building prizemoney is part of this strategy. In 2025, the men’s Australian Open will increase prizemoney to a minimum of $2 million, up from $1.7 million last year, with our ambition to continue to increase this pool over the coming years.
In understanding these ‘on-balance’ decisions, it is important not to overlook the impact that a marquee player like Rory can have on the Australian Open field. As the current world No.2, his participation in the event and its impact on world ranking points allocated to our national championship, has a flow-on effect to the DP World Tour and other players who have a choice to make between participating in South Africa, Asia or Australia at this time of year.
We’ve seen a significant increase in player enquiries – we’re expecting a strong DP World Tour cohort and expect entries from more LIV players than ever before.
The recent announcement by Augusta National in offering a Masters invitation to our 2025 champion suggests that we are on the right track in elevating the status of our event. Of course, the R&A will again offer three places into the 2026 Open Championship at Royal Birkdale as part of the Open Qualifying Series.
We will always work towards having the best field possible for our national Opens, and this a key step towards our stated mission to elevate the events. Hopefully, in time, we will see more world-class players in the field, and this is complemented by a prize pool that continues to grow year on year. – James Sutherland
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What are the chances of getting most of the LIV Golf players competing in the upcoming Australian Open and Australian PGA Championship? – Steve Thomas, via Facebook
The goal of our Challenger PGA Tour of Australasia team, working in concert with Golf Australia on the Australian Open, is to deliver a great field for our two major events, as well as opportunities for our next generation of Australian players. This work extends to player field eligibility and availability to travel as key areas, as well as sanctioning of events, prizemoney, OWGR points, and host venues and destinations.
Every year we welcome players from overseas from all global tours, be they PGA Tour, LIV Golf, or co-sanctioning partner DP World Tour players, and they add so much to events, but we must always ensure there are spots for our local talent, whether they currently play overseas or at home.
This year you will see a number of LIV Golf players across the two weeks, both from Australia and internationals, and we will continue to engage with players who are interested in playing our events and will add something to fields, which can only be so many players each week! – Gavin Kirkman
