Best bets
1.5pts each-way Angel Ayora @ 33/1
1.5pt each-way Rasmus Neergaard-Petersen @ 22/1
1.5pt each-way Min Woo Lee @ 8/1
1pt each-way John Parry @ 33/1
0.5pt each-way Elvis Smylie @ 33/1
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Once upon a time the Australian Open meant something. Jack Nicklaus and Rory McIlroy called it “the fifth Major”. The greats of the game won there over and over again – Gary Player seven times, Nicklaus six, Greg Norman five. Arnold Palmer and Tom Watson had it on their CVs. Aussie legends Peter Thompson and Norman Von Nida were multiple champions.
Yet this week no sign of two modern-day Aussie giants, 2009 winner Adam Scott and Jason Day. At Kingston Heath 2021 Open champion Cameron Smith is the lone Major winner on view. But because he’s joined LIV where his performances don’t count for ranking points, Smith has slumped to No. 100 in the world and at 44 years of age Scott is their top-ranked golfer at 20th. Shades of the past. To put it bluntly, Australian golf is in a right old “two and eight”. Min Woo Lee was supposed to have broken through at world level by now but hasn’t shaken up the American scene like we expected – he may still do so but the victory of 22-year-old Elvis Smylie in last week’s Aussie PGA Championship has at least put a smile to their faces if not a pair of ‘Blue Suede Shoes’ on their feet.
The son of one-time tennis doubles star Liz Smylie, clearly a Presley fan, he coolly sank putt after putt to rectify some wayward drives and kept Smithy at bay. It was ‘Heartbreak Hotel’ for favourite backers and a ‘Love Me Tender’ performance by the 66/1 shot from Perth.
He’s only 33/1 now to repeat it on one of Melbourne’s famed sandbelt courses which has staged seven Australian Opens, the last one two years ago when Adrian Meronk recovered from an opening 73 in a flurry of birdies (20) and eagles (2) to win by five from Scott and Lee, dashing hopes of a home win. He too is disappointingly absent from a limp line-up where LIV stars Joaquin Niemann and Cammie Smith dominate the market.
Three rounds are being played at Kingston Heath (7259 yards par 72 with only three par fives and three par threes) with the less demanding Victoria (6887 yards par 71) sharing duties for two days. Smith missed the cut in 2022 as did young Smylie but as he was only 20 at the time, we’ll excuse him.
Chilean ace Niemann is the defending champion having won on two Sydney courses last year following a playoff with Japan’s Rikuya Hoshino (another absentee). He showed up with a winning chance for three days the last time we saw him in Dubai but faded to T7 behind McIlroy. This of course is a simpler assignment but for a guy whose winning form with LIV all came early in the year, Fitzdares’ 9/2 can be resisted while agreeing he was the breakaway league’s standout player on the score of consistency. Australians had it between them in Queensland last week with Smylie winning from Smith, Marc Leishman, Anthony Quayle, David Michelozzi and Cam Davis but I’m looking for two young Europeans who finished on the tail of that sextet to be inspired by Smylie’s breakthrough and stun the locals.
Step forward, Angel Ayora from Spain and Rasmus Neergaard-Petersen from Denmark, T6 and T8 in Brisbane on Sunday. Put them in your notebook as I’m sure they will be making money for you in 2025. Ayora is only just 20 and posted his first Challenge Tour victory in Poland in September. Then he finished runner-up to Kris Reitan (also competing this week) in the big tour finale in Majorca.
Neergaard-Petersen was inches away in third but had already clinched the No. 1 spot on the Challenge Tour and earned battleground promotion to the main tour by racking up three victories at the lower level, then settled into being with the big boys so quickly it was obvious he belongs there. A T4 at the Dunhill Links in Scotland was an eye-opener but top 20s in France and Korea also made an impression. Being five years younger, Ayora has the greater scope to get to the top but at the moment there’s little between them. Watch this space!
In with an each-way shout is Harrogate journeyman John Parry who shared eighth place with the Dane at the weekend and also shares the feat of being a triple Challenge Tour winner this year. It is 14 years since the 38-year-old landed his lone main-tour success, the Vivendi Cup in Paris, but he’s as capable of springing as big an upset as Smylie did.
Min Woo Lee was a letdown in 15th at the weekend but probably wasn’t done any favours by the tournament being reduced to 54 holes by rain. His best stuff came on Sunday. He was third at Kingston Heath when Meronk won and can be expected to make a better fist of it this week if the weather allows him to play his usual free-wheeling game.
Leishman, third on Sunday, Michelozzi (4th), Davis (6th), Lucas Herbert, Jordan Smith and Victor Perez are others who could be calling themselves Australian Open champion at the end of the week. It should be a great title to have … but somehow it isn’t.
Day one may be problematical after midweek storms and the forecast for the weekend isn’t too bright either. With play due to start, weather permitting, at 7pm Wednesday our time, get those bets on early!
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