The optics of jointly held championships are sound, yet the logistics say otherwise – and the course setup issue is at the forefront. Women and men play the game differently, even at the elite level. The level of green speed and firmness that will adequately test the best male golfers, especially on Sandbelt courses where those attributes mean everything, doesn’t match with the optimal setup for the leading female golfers. The compromise is to present a softer golf course as it supposedly works for both fields.

Smith’s comments this afternoon also came moments before both Minjee Lee and Hannah Green opined that a February tournament date – as was the case for the women’s championship up until 2020 – remains their preference for staging our Open. They had to fly to Melbourne from the LPGA Tour’s season finale in Florida, which finished less than two-and-a-half days ago, and prepare to play two golf courses. To make matters worse, storms halted all practice and pro-am play at 1:50 this afternoon, truncating every player’s preparation.

“I definitely think the beginning of the year works better, personally, in my schedule,” Lee said today. “I think all the Aussies on the LPGA who come back to play in Australia, it definitely works better in our schedule because we have our offseason and then we start in Asia. So, start in Australia and then we go to Asia which just works better, travel-wise. And I think it’s just nice to come in fresh [rather] than having it at the end of the year where it’s the end of the LPGA season and then you have one more event to finish the year off.”

“It was really ideal for all of us Australians to be able to start our season in February,” Green added. “Most of us would have a preseason in January in Australia and then be fortunate enough to play the Victorian Open and Australian Open back-to-back. I think that if you want the best players in the world to come down to Australia, that’s when it needs to be.”

Several more male players have been vocal, whether subtly or overtly. Adam Scott, who is skipping this Australian ‘Summer of Golf’ for the first time in memory, was one to voice his considered opinion in 2022, while Scott Hend was less diplomatic – vocally boycotting the championship that year once the joint-field format was announced.

Smith, then the reigning Open champion, made the 36-hole cut but missed the controversial 54-hole cut, which was brought in to reduce player numbers on Sunday (remembering that as many as three playoffs were possible, although none eventuated). The players hated the 54-hole cut, which was quickly removed from the 2023 Open format.