Amongst leading Australian players, a typical response to such earnest intentions [as Golf Australia chief James Sutherland declared in part one of “Making the Australian Open great again], is a rolling of their eyes. Like it or not, Golf Australia is not an organisation which currently owns much in the way of credibility, at least as far as the nation’s professional community is concerned.

The most extreme example of that mistrust is, of course, the distant relationship which exists between Golf Australia and Golf New South Wales. In a recent interview with another magazine, NSW chairman Michael Medway was scathing in his assessment of the national body and made particular mention of the Australian Open.

“I’ve got concerns about the financial stability of Golf Australia,” Medway told Golf Digest. “You’ve got an Australian Open now that’s $3.4m [in prize money] that’s locked away for the next two years. Most likely there was a black Sharpie to go through the Open this year if they didn’t get government money.

“From the outside looking in, the search for government funding seems to be left very late in the piece. If they have to run an Australian Open in two years’ time out of their own coin, that’s $5m-$6m to run an event. That’s their cash gone.”

Another thing that keeps coming up is the outwardly strange fact that the Australian Open has not been played on the nation’s best lay-out, the Royal Melbourne composite, since 1991.

“Royal Melbourne two out of every three years makes sense,” says a high-profile player. “That’s our strength. The U.S Open doesn’t go to every state in America; it goes to the best courses. That’s what they do. The USGA understands that, most of the time, the championship should be on the best courses.

“It isn’t always the case that course quality factors into the decision-making process of most players,” he continues. “But in this case it does. If you can’t buy the golfers with money, you have to go with what value you have. Royal Melbourne and Kingston Heath are both appearance money. The best players in the world will all come at a discount to play Royal Melbourne. They just will.

“But all we ever hear from Golf Australia is excuses. ‘We can’t get the players. They are too expensive. The sponsors aren’t there. The world has changed. We just can’t do it.’ We haven’t had an Australian Open at Royal Melbourne since 1991. What the f*** has Golf Australia been doing?

“Tiger says it’s the best course in the world and we never go there. I mean really. You could write a book with nothing but great quotes on Royal Melbourne.”

It is a prevailing view. For many, this absence from Royal Melbourne is an unforgivable sin. In 1984, golfing legend Tom Watson played (and won) there, having made the trip largely to play the legendary course.

“It’s hard for me to know what the right thing to do is,” says Adam Scott. “Do we have to go and actually make the calls [to sponsors]? If that is what is required, Golf Australia needs to come and ask us to do stuff like that. I don’t think anyone is going to do that off their own bat. But I know just about everyone is unhappy. The professional game in Australia has been left behind a bit.

“So it’s all about expectations. We need to set some parameters at the start, before we pile on and beat everyone up. But there is a strong sentiment amongst players young and old around the world that the Australian Open is a great event. It has a great history and much prestige.”

Wise words. But it is here that Golf Australia comes under more widespread criticism.

“They say the Australian Open doesn’t work any more,” says another high-profile Australian player, who asked to remain anonymous. “Have they really tried? What are they doing? What a disservice Golf Australia has done to the game. All through Tiger’s career they have never had an Australian Open at Royal Melbourne. We saw him there at Presidents Cups. Which was amazing. Hold two out of every three at Royal Melbourne and the Australian Open would be the most important event in the world outside of the U.S and Britain. By a mile. Guys wouldn’t care about playing for $15m in Abu Dhabi. They would be going to Royal Melbourne.

“So, at best, Golf Australia isn’t trying hard enough,” he continues. “They don’t understand their own value. The Australian Open has natural appearance money. There is one other tournament that gets played every year on an Alister Mackenzie course – the Masters. And that one goes okay. That tournament is based on its golf course. It is the best tournament in the world by a mile, one that is propped up by how much everyone loves Augusta. It’s all about the course.”

Hannah Green was a star turn at The Lakes in the 2023 Australian Open. PHOTO: Getty Images

On that front, Hannah Green is amongst many to concur.

“There are so many things going for us,” she says. “The courses. The weather. The players. I do wonder why that can’t be sold to a big-time sponsor. Aussie golf is also in its best state for some time. We have more girls on tour and are stronger than we have ever been. It’s such a shame that someone thinking it’s too expensive means it can’t work.”

The counter argument, inevitably, tends to revolve around those economics, which, in turn, only underlines the inherent conflict that exists between cold-blooded businessmen and those with a red-blooded passion for golf.

“I heard the traditionalists asking why the Australian Open was never played on the Sandbelt,” says tennis legend Paul McNamee, who served as Australian Open (golf) tournament director from 2006 to 2008. “I understood their thinking. But I had to grow the event. I needed another city to embrace it.

“The Australian Open used to have a rota, like the [British] Open. There are strengths and weaknesses to that. The Open moves and does extremely well. Then you have the Masters. It never moves and does just as well. There is no one formula.

“My feeling was that we should stay in one place for a while. We had to develop the infrastructure.

“Still, in an ideal world, the Australian Open would be a truly global event played on the Sandbelt in Melbourne,” he continues. “That’s your best tournament. The Sandbelt is a brand known all over the world. A major event there makes sense to everyone. In the end, you have to go with your greatest assets.

“You don’t think Xander Schauffele doesn’t want to play RM when Tiger is telling him it’s the best course in the world? They would all come for almost nothing. If they want to focus on just getting better every year, eventually they will have to come. You only need a few to begin with.”

So what is the way ahead? How can the Australian Opens progress amidst what seems to be a hostile environment in so many ways?

Jordan Spieth at the 2017 Australian Open at The Australian. PHOTO: Getty Images

One thing that needs to change is the typically negative narrative that has surrounded just about every Australian Open over the last 25 years. At early-week press conferences, the debate has typically been dominated by which players were absent rather than focused on who was actually in the field. In place of that, many see that a “build it and they will come” attitude needs to prevail.

If Golf Australia is looking for a model to follow, one exists almost under their noses in the shape of the Sandbelt Invitational. Run and organised by former U.S Open champion Geoff Ogilvy and “tournament director,” Mike Clayton, the soon-to-be four-year-old event is an example of how money need not necessarily be everything.

Played on genuinely superior courses, the tournament – open to professionals and amateurs, men and women – already boasts a recent Australian Open champion, Cam Davis, on its roll-call of champions.

There seems no reason – given a long-term goal – that such a principle could be applied to the Australian Open. Let’s say you only play for $1m. But if you do everything really well and play on a great course, next year you compete for $1.2m. Then $1.4m. If Golf Australia had done that for the last 30 years and stuck to the best two or three courses in Australia, the championship would not be where it is now. It would be an amazing tournament. But the mistakes have been made. Which is why drastic measures are called for.

While Sutherland, who has been in his post since October 1st 2020, can hardly be held responsible for many of the mistakes of the past, rightly or wrongly he is seen as part of the on-going problem rather than someone with big ideas for the future. Sadly, the verdict on his job performance – and lack of experience in golf – provokes many negative off-the-record comments. The research for this story is littered with negative adjectives provoked by mention of the 59-year old’s name. “Smug” is most common.

“To be fair to Sutherland, the decline of the Aussie Open has been happening for a really long time,” says another player who again asked for anonymity. “He became captain of the Titanic after it hit the iceberg. He hasn’t done a great job with the lifeboats, but this was a sinking ship before he arrived.

“Maybe the only way it is going to work is if an impressive group of people get together, fix the Australian Open, then go to Golf Australia and tell Sutherland this is how it is going to be. We’ll tell everyone that you did it, but we’re doing it. Because you clearly can’t.’ The harsh truth is that they think they can, but they just can’t.”

Extreme as that sort of “coup” might sound, it would quickly rebuild the players’ trust that the Australian Open is a great tournament. And do the same for the public. A brief summary of the feedback from players:

Rebuild a relationship with corporate Australia, which has clearly decided not to sponsor the event. Golf Australia’s argument is reactive. They say no one wants to sponsor it because they all want to sponsor something else. But that’s because they haven’t been given anything good to sponsor. So it is “build it and they will come” as opposed to “wait until they come to build it”. Right now, the focus is totally upside down. If it all takes 20 years to get right, so be it.

“If you control the things you can control – like the venue and the field – there would be support from a lot of players,” insists Scott. “I don’t think it is that big of an ask to get us to play for nothing other than expenses. Especially if, after a couple of years, we are saying what a great event it is. Word of mouth is a wonderful thing.

“Look at last year at The Lakes. It was the first event in Sydney out of Covid and the crowds were phenomenal. People are loving golf in Australia right now. There is a lot of support. So we have things going for us. It is time to have some objective analysis. Let’s chip away for the next 10 years.”

Karrie Webb (left) is one of many leading Australian golfers with advice for Golf Australia chief executive, James Sutherland. PHOTO: Getty Images

More immediately, there is always hope that, when and if the world of professional golf finally sorts itself out, the Australian Open could be part of a brave new worldwide circuit on which all of the game’s best players will be competing.

“From our perspective, we want to position ourselves favourably should some sort of tour evolve from what the professional game is going through right now,” says Sutherland. “Our aim is to become an elevated event on a big tour. Then bigger players will come. We want to keep moving up. It might look as if we are committed to this format, but it is a practical reality. And women playing golf is really important to us. We want the game to be a sport for all. Golf club membership is 18 percent female and we want that to be higher. Companies like female empowerment in their work force and their clientele.

“Which is not to say we want fewer men playing the game,” he continues. “The Australian Open is just part of our package. How is it an asset in that overall package? Our purpose statement is to get more Australians hitting more golf balls. If we can make the product better, corporate interest will rise. But where the Australian Open is three years from now is out of our hands, to an extent. If you are a small tour, you are beholden to the schedules on the bigger tours, as well as the players’ schedules. If we were on a bigger tour, then you’d have to think Australia would get a part of the calendar year.”

But let’s end on a positive note.

“Look after the players,” says one long-time Australian Open competitor. “Not with money. Make it nice and they will come back. Make it hard and they won’t. So no bullshit on the front gate. You get a car park. The food is nice. The balls on the range are top-notch. You don’t get stuck in an autograph area for four hours. No cocktail parties. Make it enjoyable for them. They will tell the press, who will write what they hear. Then they will go away and tell everyone else.

“It’s not rocket science,” he continues. “We tell everyone how shit our local golfers are. And how good the foreign golfers are. We need to stop doing that. America does the opposite. The fact is, no one in the crowd can tell the difference. The average punter thinks the 400th golfer in the world is amazing. Because he is. So get a new model and keep repeating. In time, say 10 years, the Australian Open could easily be one of the biggest tournaments in the world.”

On that at least, everyone is agreed.