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2-2; +11.42pts Lucas Herbert 1 point win @ 14/1 (General) 5th David Micheluzzi 1.5 points Each-way @ 22/1 (6 places, general) 54th Harrison Crowe @ 0.25 points Each-way @ 200/1 (6 places, general) 5th Harrison Crowe @ 1.5 points top-20 @ 17/2 (Betfred. 4/1 General acceptable) 5th
“The Australian Open, for example, should almost be the fifth major.” So said Rory McIlroy in an interview with Golf Digest and reported by The Australian. 'Almost' appears to be the significant word, with the world #2 last playing the event in 2014, a year after defeating Adam Scott at Royal Sydney. Still, the world moves on and whilst there is no doubt the event deserves world class status, I can cope with an entry list that has major winner Cam Smith and previous world top-20 Joaquin Niemann heading the charge. Kingston Heath hosts the event for just the ninth time in a long history, but there are plenty of clues in the list of the most recent winners. Adrian Meronk might have been a surprise in 2022 but carried plenty of form from the desert - dry, rolling conditions that require some nous. However, more significant were medalists Adam Scott and Min Woo Lee, neither of whom need introducing as up there with the best players under links. Further back, Aaron Baddeley successfully defended his 1999 win at Royal Sydney, that under amateur status and from Greg Norman and Nick O'Hern. His win at the turn of the century came from Robert Allenby, another two-time winner of his home Open, and Badders then went on to win the 2007 Australian Masters held at Huntingdale, in this part of Oz. It's a long way back but in 1995, Greg Norman won the fourth of his five Australian Open crowns here to seal the links deal, but we can also look towards that Australian Masters, an event that ran from 1979 and held across various tracks, all in Victoria. The roll-call of winners at the "unashamed copy of the Masters" reads top class, the vital elements being the two winners when held at Kingston Heath - Tiger Woods and Adam Scott. Want more? Okay, the Women's Australian Open has been held here on two occasions, winners being Karrie Webb and Ashleigh Buhai, who both beat Jiyai Shin - the three stars also winners of the Women's British Open. The significance of mentioning both sexes in the preview is, of course, that from 2022, organisers have moved to play both national opens at the same time, the economic benefits far outweighing any minior outcry. The first two days will see 230-odd players (max 156 men, 84 women) on both The Victoria and the Heath before the usual halfway cut and two rounds solely at the main host course. Many will look at how results of the Australian PGA affect them here, but it may be that alcohol intake is the best guide! The PGA used to take place after the year's feature, with the likes of Adam Scott missing the cut at the Open before winning here from Michael Hendry (49th a week before). In contrast Cam Smith finished 4th and 10th in 2017 and 2018 respectively, before going on to win the first and second of three PGA titles. Since Lockdown, the PGA has taken place a week before the big one, with 2022 champ Smith going on to be 47th round here and runners-up Hisatsune and Scrivener finishing 31st and 18th respectively. The legend of Queensland of course had a great excuse - he'd been celebrating for days on end and probably wasn't quite all there at tee-time Thursday! Things were different last year, with PGA winner Min Woo Lee going on to finish 3rd at and runner-up Hoshino filling the same position behind Joaquin Niemann at The Australian. Look at it backwards (or frontwards, depending on your view) and Niemann came into last year's event having finished 5th at the PGA, whilst 12 months beforehand, Meronk had finished 34th, Scott 28th and Min Woo 3rd just seven days prior. Be in-form, have a liking for desert golf, and some experience of sandbelt golf and away you go!
Selections The top of the market looks much like it did a week ago. A bit late, but there was an article published right at the start of the PGA that told of Lucas Herbert's excessive celebrations after winning the NSW Open, having come from off the pace to beat clear leader Cam Smith. It appears the 2022 Open Championship winner isn't the only Aussie that knows how to note a victory! That was painful to read after relying on him to land a blow in Queensland, but we are able to back him at the same price this week, something that can't be said of much of the top lot. Smith, Lee and Leishman all stand their ground while Jason Day bizarrely takes his leave, but it's the 28 year-old home player that again gets a place in the plan. Little can be added to last week's preview and although ultimately disappointing last week in finishing in 43rd, he lay in 17th at halfway before being fully aware that he needed to attack over the final 18 of the shortened event. Herbert showed up very well in a second round 5-under 66 and his stats are not as bad as they may have been, that final round skewing some good work leading to a ranking of 19th for greens-in-regulation and 14th for scrambling. The irons were not as crisp as they might have been but with the plausible excuse of over-celebrating a week before, the selection still ranked 19th for tee-to-green and top-6 for around-the-green. With a CV that screams desert/links golf, I'm prepared to give him another go in an event in which he has finishes of 7/10(here)/mc/6/20/23. 22-year-old Elvis Smylie fulfilled a thought held by many Australian journalists when winning last week's PGA. Like superstar Nelly Korda, Smylie seemed to find reserves when in the mix, as befits being the offspring of professional tennis players and he gave Cam Smith a lesson in control during the final round. Smith was gracious in defeat but it is a concern that he couldn't convert either that opportunity nor when clear during the NSW. It may well be that Smylie's good friend David Micheluzzi is inspired to find that little bit more and whilst it is no surprise to see him backed, I'm happy at anything 22/1 or better. Winner of the Victorian Amateur and more impressively the Australian Master of the Amateurs (previous winners Sahith Theegala, Aaron Wise and Day), the 28 year-old won his first pro event in 2022 before dominating the 2023 season with three victories and a runner-up to Michael Hendry at the Vic Open, held at the close-by Beach Golf Links. 22 events on the DPWT since mid-2023 have seen steady progress, with top-20s recorded twice at the Dunhill Links, Himmerland and Bahrain, top-10 finishes at Singapore, Italian Open and at the Danish Open at Lubker, and one runner-up to Ewen Ferguson in Munich. Recent form reads nicely, making five consecutive cuts before last weekend's 5th place in Queensland, where he once again put up a top-10 ranking for his short game - his fourth successive top-grade effort on the greens. 10th here in 2022, Micheluzzi is a far more experienced player now and looks one of the more obvious, if still rewarding, each-way plays. Kazuma Kobori was another youngster to play well last week, and I'm not certain that cutting him from 80/1 to 60/1 is enough to put me off. Sadly, that's just with one firm so he'll be left out to possible regret. Instead, let's go for a big one in the shape of Harrison Crowe, who rivals any of the youngsters for amateur form. The 23-year-old won back-to-back Victorian Amateur titles, the Australian Master of the Amateurs and the New South Wales Amateur Championship and, remaining an amateur, went on to win the New South Wales Open, an event that, by chance, was subsequently won by Michelozzi and, a fortnight ago, by Herbert. Those trophies almost rival his drunken shot from the pavement outside a pub at St. Andrews but, "It shows the character I am. If you're going to put something in front of me, I'm going to take on the challenge," he said. It may be slow progress but Crowe has turned a corner over the last three weeks. The first three rounds at the Queensland PGA saw him lie 10th at halfway and 17th into Sunday, and he was subsequently an always-present 7th at the NSW and 8th last week. We've already seen how the market can react to a series of good showings by the unexposed types - Rasmus Neergaard-Peterson is as low as 16/1 this week, having been 100/1 just weeks ago - and Crowe is worth getting with before he finds the class game he undoubtedly has.
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