Inside one of Brisbane’s most famous drinking holes, Cameron Smith stood beer in hand, surrounded by his family and friends, watching a replay of his Australian PGA win earlier in the day.
When the final putt flashed up on the screen again, they all cheered and raised their hands in the air and hoisted Smith on their shoulders in the middle of the pub. It was rock star behaviour for the rock star of Australian golf.
Smith won the event last year - like most thought he should. He’d just returned home from his victory in The Open and signed a LIV Golf contract for the type of money which will not only look after him, but his future kids, his kids’ kids, and many generations of mulleted magicians to come.
That event came reasonably early in Greg Norman and LIV Golf’s push to change the sport like never before.
The Great White Shark’s LIV Golf bait has only brought home a harsh reality for Australian golf: it’s seldom been harder to catch a huge fish for the country’s two major events, the Australian PGA and Australian Open.
Only this week, Rory McIlroy, speaking on his resignation from the PGA Tour policy board after 18 months as the Luke Skywalker of world golf, voiced an opinion everyone can get around.
“Some of the national opens, [we need to] try to revitalise some of those that have some great history in our game and a lot of tradition, like the Australian Open,” McIlroy said.
Adam Scott, Cameron Smith, Greg Norman and Rory McIlroy.Credit: Getty
“I look at the Australian Open trophy, and I see the names on that and to me, that’s what being a professional golfer and being competitive is all about.”
Of course, McIlroy won’t be within the same hemisphere when the event starts in Sydney next week. He’s readying for the launch of his new simulated made-for-television weeknight league with Tiger Woods.
But it was only a decade ago the Northern Irishman came to Australia to win our national championship. He broke out of a slump which was derailing his career. The same goes for Jordan Spieth, who emerged as a majors-winning machine after sunning himself in Sydney.
But money talks. And there’s so much of it in men’s professional golf right now the world’s best are demanding huge appearance fees just to tee it up.
Poland’s Adrian Meronk celebrates winning last year’s Australian Open.Credit: Getty
According to sources not authorised to speak publicly about negotiations, one good European player had an initial asking price of $500,000 to play in Australia over the next fortnight. Just to appear. It’s money the local game struggles to muster, priced out of an inflated market and fighting for relevance at world golf’s top table, distorted by the Saudi cash pit and a reactionary PGA Tour.
The folly of it all is LIV Golf’s worst player, Sihwan Kim, earned more than half-a-million dollars in just three LIV events to start the year. He shot 23-over, 19-over and 13-over … in 54-hole events.
This week, Smith will again headline the Australian PGA. It’s the best field the event has had for years. There are 10 players inside the world’s top 100. The local contingent of Adam Scott, Min Woo Lee, Cameron Davis, Lucas Herbert and Marc Leishman are all home. Ryder Cup hero Robert MacIntyre and defending Australian Open champion Adrian Meronk have also entered.
But the days of bringing a McIlroy, Spieth, Jon Rahm or Justin Thomas down have long gone with the financial reality of Australia’s place in the world.
It’s not just money. It’s a tough time to get Americans to travel due to Thanksgiving, but for those pressing the case, the potential of a new entity from the mooted merger of the PGA Tour and Saudi Arabia’s Public Investment Fund, which runs LIV Golf, brings hope.
“Jack [Nicklaus] and Arnie [Palmer] used to do it years ago in the halcyon days before it got too commercial,” PGA of Australia chief executive Gavin Kirkman says. “They’d say, ‘we’re going to Australia to help the tour down there’. Down would come all these great players.
“Everyone thinks we need more prize money and global commercial partners. If the tours and new entities coming through could support us by getting players down here, we can commercialise it then. We’ve got partners down here, but they’re asking, ‘who’s playing?’ The stronger the field the stronger the commercial investment.”
The most interesting attendees at Royal Queensland this week are Greg Norman’s LIV Golf duo Joaquin Niemann and Mito Pereira, superb Chilean players who need to earn world rankings points because of LIV’s blackout. They have to be in the top 50 at the end of the year to qualify for the 2024 majors.
Maybe one day they’ll be back as part of a unified sport for a truly global Australian Open, possibly with PGA Tour backing.
“It’s not going to be overnight,” Kirkman says. “We want to be on that rota or a regular tour stop. We’re looking more promising now than ever. In our meetings earlier this year, they [PGA Tour and DP World Tour] know what we’re looking for as part of the south-east Asian strategy and swing. We’re more than happy they’re talking about our events.”
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