The Australian Open ‘is back’… and a seismic shift means it could only get better from here

As the dust settles on a record-breaking Australian Open, the golf world feels like it could be just the beginning of an exciting new chapter in the tournament’s storied history.

Last week at Royal Melbourne was an undeniable success.

A record 112,698 spectators lined the fairways and surrounded the greens and tees to catch a glimpse of career grand slam winner Rory McIlroy as well as Australian stars Cameron Smith, Adam Scott and Min Woo Lee.

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It was one of the few weeks in Melbourne for the year where you could say the words ‘Australian Open’ and people did not instantly assume you were talking about the tennis.

It was also as if Australian golf had been thrust back to its halcyon days when fans turned out in their droves for a ‘Great White Shark’ sighting, or to watch legends like Jack Nicklaus, Gary Player and Seve Ballesteros in the flesh.

Greg Norman was at Royal Melbourne on Sunday, hoping to cheer on a Cameron Smith victory, but despite the result, the Australian golfing icon would no doubt have been pleased with what he had seen.

Just as everyone else was.

International team captain for next year’s Presidents Cup Geoff Ogilvy grew up around the corner from Royal Melbourne and seeing kids scale trees to get a great vantage point of their heroes in action reminded him of jumping the fence in his youth.

“I grew up coming to Australian Opens here in the 1980s in the heyday of Greg Norman when it was a bit like this and it was pretty big when Tiger came,” Ogilvy said.

“I haven’t seen it like this for 10 to 15 years, outside of the Presidents Cup, but it feels like the Australian Open is back.”

It certainly does and the recipe for success was a simple one.

“What we witnessed last week was a hint at what the Australian Open could be – one of the greatest championships in the world,” former professional turned commentator and golf course architect Mike Clayton wrote for golf.com.au.

“A visiting American friend who lives in Edinburgh and who goes most years to The Open in Britain thought it felt, ‘Not quite at the level of a major championship but almost, and better than almost all of the rest of professional golf.’

“There were three key elements to its success.

“The golf course is a superstar both as a venue and as an architectural masterpiece.

“Rory McIlroy, even though he didn’t win or even contend, is a superstar, arguably the only one in the present-day game. Without him, it’s not the same.

“The third element were the galleries. Ultimately, a great event must feel like one and the size and enthusiasm of the crowd is of incalculable importance. On both counts, the public added so much to the week and ultimately, they are the ones who decide the future. If they turn up and transform the feel of the tournament, sponsors will do likewise.”

It has not only been key figures of Australian golf spruiking the success of our national open.

Drone footage of the bumper crowds coupled with impressive highlights, like Rory McIlroy’s ridiculous second shot from the sandy wasteland at the par 5 17th late in his second round when he was straddling the cut line, on social media captured the imagination of golf enthusiasts around the world.

Americans staying up late seemed far more infatuated with the happenings of Royal Melbourne than the Hero World Challenge in the Bahamas – the Tiger Woods hosted PGA Tour event with a field of only 20 players including the likes of world No.1 Scottie Scheffler.

There was a similar sentiment among Europeans despite South Africa’s Nedbank Challenge, which like the Australian Open is a DP World Tour event, being played in a more friendly time zone for their consumption.

Like Clayton said, the reasons for the spike in intrigue were clear.

“Real players competing on real golf courses for real stakes. That’s all it takes,” CBS Sports’ Patrick McDonald said.

“During a time in which professional golf decision makers are pulling hair out of their heads trying to whip together the best product imaginable — while also aiming to appease partners, squeeze every last dollar out of the venture and “grow the game” — the Australian Open proved just how simple it can be to put on an entertaining golf event.”

With Rasmus Neergaard-Petersen adding his name to the Stonehaven Cup after overcoming Smith by a shot in an astonishing finish where the Dane made a miraculous up-and-down to save par, while the local hope three-putted for bogey, everyone’s minds understandably began to cast forward.

McIlroy is already committed for next year at Kingston Heath.

Tournament organisers are hoping several other big names will join after seeing the photos and videos from last week.

Golf Australia chief executive James Sutherland is confident that will be the case.

“We planned to do something and we’ve probably exceeded our best hopes and expectations. A lot of things fell into place,” Sutherland told Nine Media.

“But we had a proper swing at it and fortunately for us it came off, and landed really well. We have sent a message, not just to the Australian public about the Australian Open but … there’s been an amazing response internationally as well.”

The former Cricket Australia boss added: “I hope lots of other golfers feel the same … actually I know there are a number of golfers that were playing in different parts of the world in the last week that were looking and saying, ‘wow, I might’ve made a mistake’.”

There is a clear determination within the golf community to ensure the momentum gathered at Royal Melbourne is not lost.

No one would want this year’s event to be a flash in the pan, but the multi-year success of LIV Adelaide – which is locked in until 2031 – and the 2028 Presidents Cup being staged at Kingston Heath indicates that the golf buzz should be here to stay.

There may be some tweaking in order to maximise it, however.

The Australian Open has been a test dummy for tweaking in recent times as for three years it was played as a combined men’s, women’s and All Abilities event.

The success of the return to the traditional stand-alone format this year ensured that the mixed-gender idea will remain in the rear view mirror.

Location is also a matter that remains up in there as no host venue is locked in beyond 2026 at Kingston Heath.

There have been many calls for the tournament to stay exclusively on the famed courses for the Melbourne Sandbelt after it was played in Sydney every year from 2006 to 2019 – a move that former world No.1 doubles tennis player and sports administrator Paul McNamee said was an error during his time as tournament director.

Meanwhile, the timing of the tournament also remains a key point of discussion.

After his final round at Royal Melbourne, McIlroy addressed that the rumours that from 2027 the PGA Tour is looking at a shortened schedule.

The proposed changes would include roughly 20 events being played from February/March to August.

“Yeah, I think I understand what they’re [PGA Tour] doing,” McIlroy told reporters.

“They’re trying to get their domestic model right before focusing internationally, and they obviously don’t want to go up against football. NFL is king in the States, and it makes sense from an American point of view, but then I think it does let international and global golf shine for five months of the year.

“So if the [PGA] Tour are really thinking about playing from February through to August, that leaves September through to January for here [Australia] and Europe and wherever else in the world to really be the shining light of golf for that five months. So I think people could really get behind that. And you sort of have the American swing – with maybe the Scottish Open and The Open in the middle – but the rest of the big international stuff sort of in that September to January time frame, which I think works pretty well, especially for the Southern Hemisphere, for tournaments like this.”

As McIlroy said, such a move would free up a lot of time in the calendar for events outside of the US like the Australian Open.

Being played in the first week of December has always been problematic as drawcards are less likely to come down under at the end of a long season – especially American players as it is close to the Thanksgiving holiday.

Locally, while the tournament was a raging success, it still had to compete with the second Ashes cricket Test match between Australia and England in Brisbane for the spotlight.

These reasons are why it has often been suggested that the Australian Open could move to February to act as a season opener for players.

That would coincide with LIV Adelaide, but the DP World Tour schedule is already packed with events in the Middle East before playing in Kenya and South Africa at that time of year.

For now, Sutherland says the event is staying put.

At Kingston Heath next year it will again be played in the first week of December, immediately following the Australian PGA Championship, which is also DP World Tour co-sanctioned.

But Golf Australia are open to suggestions with Sutherland saying he will have a post-tournament debrief call with McIlroy to discuss scheduling and any other ideas the Masters champion has to boost the event.

“We definitely get his (McIlroy’s) feedback on that,” Sutherland said. “He can have conversations with people in higher office even more readily than we can. And hopefully his positive feedback will only strengthen our case.

“Scheduling is really challenging. There’s so much going on at the same time … we can decide to play whenever we want, but how it fits and works in with others is not something we have unilateral authority on. And in the scheme of world golf, we’re a smaller player. We don’t have the clout.

“One path is you can be beholden to the rest of the world, and try to squeeze in and around things.

“Or the other route is you make a stand. What’s really important to us is that we play in the window that works for Australia and Australian golf fans. And I think then we go and back our product. We back our golf courses and we back our national championship, and its heritage and history. It feels like we’ve made a noise around that.”