Latest news with #RoyalMelbourne
News.com.au
2 days ago
- Sport
- News.com.au
Adam Scott ‘excited' to return home for Australian summer of golf
The chance to play an Australian Open at Royal Melbourne for the first time in his decorated career was too good to refuse for Adam Scott, who will return home to play in three events later this year after staying away in 2024. The 2013 Masters champion has committed to playing in not only the Open (December 4-7) but also the Australian PGA Championship (November 27-30, Royal Queensland) and the Cathedral Invitational (December 9-10, Cathedral Golf Club and Lodge). 'I feel like I've done my best my whole career to support the events in Australia, and I felt like missing one (year) would be OK, but I'm very excited to come back again and play this year,' Scott sad on Wednesday. 'I'm excited to come home to play at my home club Royal Queensland at the PGA again, and then, of course, it's very exciting to see the Australian Open move to Royal Melbourne this year for the first time in my career. 'I'm glad I'm going to get that opportunity at long last, and finishing out with Cathedral, which is a really fun way to end the year in a far more relaxed environment.' Royal Melbourne will host the Australian Open for the first time since 1991, with the field also including world No.2 Rory McIlroy, who this year secured a career Grand Slam with his win at the Masters. 'No doubt it made big headlines (overseas) that Rory was coming down to play at Australia,' Scott said. 'That pushed Royal Melbourne out there even more, and there are a fair few guys who played the Presidents Cup in 2019 at Royal Melbourne, and it's certainly gotten a lot of attention from the players right through the ranks, from the top guys on down. 'Royal Melbourne has an incredible history and reputation that a lot of guys would like to experience. 'It's got this reputation, and rightly so, of being our greatest golf course. With the announcement of Rory coming down to play, it refreshed everyone's mind how good it is. 'There has definitely been 100 times more interest in the Australian Open and the events in Australia this year.' Scott, 45, said he would plan his schedule between now and November to ensure he was feeling physically and mentally fresh in his bids to win a second Australian Open and a third Australian PGA title. 'I've learned my lesson a little bit the last couple years that I'm at the point where I can't continue pushing myself,' he said. 'It just doesn't work like it used to, so I'm going to try, to not take it easy, but plan my time a little better because I certainly want to come down and perform and give myself a shot at these great trophies at home.' Scott said this year had been frustrating for him, believing his 'good golf' had not been rewarded with wins. He was in the final group in the fourth round of June's US Open at Oakmont Country Club, only to shoot a 79 to finish in a tie for 12th. Scott then missed the cut earlier this month at The Open Championship at Royal Portrush. 'The Open was disappointing. I just played poorly on Friday (in the second round). I got out of sorts in the wind and couldn't figure it out,' he said. 'There are a lot of things I can think I'd do different. At the US Open it was disappointing to leave without a result and that's kind of been how my year's been – all my good golf has ended up not really getting the results I wanted. 'To be in the mix with nine to go at the US Open, and to be in the mix with nine to go at the PGA Championship, still gives me enough confidence that I'm doing enough of the right things. I just have to iron out a couple of the kinks to get over the line.' Meanwhile, Scott wasn't expecting LIV and America's PGA Tour to merge anytime soon as golf remains divided. 'There have really been no developments since earlier this year, so I would say, don't hold your breath,' said Scott, a player director on the PGA Tour policy board. 'The guys who have stayed at the PGA Tour have made a choice to play PGA Tour-style golf, and most of them probably would have had the opportunity to play LIV-style golf, so they've made their choices, and there's a divide, obviously.'
The Age
21-07-2025
- Sport
- The Age
Rory is getting millions to play in Australia. This is why it's worth it
Portrush, Northern Ireland: The boss of golf's European Tour has likened Rory McIlroy's upcoming visit to play the Australian Open to when Tiger Woods flew Down Under to play in Australia's marquee events more than a decade ago. Woods won the Australian Masters in 2009 at Kingston Heath – where his scorecard remains mounted on the clubhouse wall – then returned a year later but was unable to hunt down Stuart Appleby at Victoria Golf Club. McIlroy, now 36, has not played at the Open since 2014 when he was unable to defend the title he'd won in 2013 by outlasting Adam Scott. Eleven years on, he returns as a five-time major winner, and is being paid upwards of $3 million by the Victorian government, according to two industry sources who wouldn't comment publicly because of the confidential nature of the contract. McIlroy finished the British Open at Portrush on Sunday tied for seventh, incredibly his 33rd top-10 finish at a major. European Tour and Ryder Cup CEO Guy Kinnings – a long-time player manager – will be present when McIlroy tees off at Royal Melbourne's globally renowned composite course in the first week of December. 'I remember being there when Tiger came down … and Rory; we've been incredibly lucky. I've lived through an era when we had the biggest athlete on the planet in Tiger, and he transformed the game completely for everyone. I always go, 'everyone should go and shake him by the hand'. He changed the game completely. 'What Rory has done … and can do, for international golf is massive ... he has that same sort of appeal. People get very excited about Rory also. The great thing about Rory is he's his own man, and he's shown that he's going where he wants to go.' Australian superstars Cameron Smith, Adam Scott, Marc Leishman, Lucas Herbert and Elvis Smylie are all expected to play the Open alongside McIlroy, with announcements expected in the near future.
Sydney Morning Herald
21-07-2025
- Sport
- Sydney Morning Herald
Rory is getting millions to play in Australia. This is why it's worth it
Portrush, Northern Ireland: The boss of golf's European Tour has likened Rory McIlroy's upcoming visit to play the Australian Open to when Tiger Woods flew Down Under to play in Australia's marquee events more than a decade ago. Woods won the Australian Masters in 2009 at Kingston Heath – where his scorecard remains mounted on the clubhouse wall – then returned a year later but was unable to hunt down Stuart Appleby at Victoria Golf Club. McIlroy, now 36, has not played at the Open since 2014 when he was unable to defend the title he'd won in 2013 by outlasting Adam Scott. Eleven years on, he returns as a five-time major winner, and is being paid upwards of $3 million by the Victorian government, according to two industry sources who wouldn't comment publicly because of the confidential nature of the contract. McIlroy finished the British Open at Portrush on Sunday tied for seventh, incredibly his 33rd top-10 finish at a major. European Tour and Ryder Cup CEO Guy Kinnings – a long-time player manager – will be present when McIlroy tees off at Royal Melbourne's globally renowned composite course in the first week of December. 'I remember being there when Tiger came down … and Rory; we've been incredibly lucky. I've lived through an era when we had the biggest athlete on the planet in Tiger, and he transformed the game completely for everyone. I always go, 'everyone should go and shake him by the hand'. He changed the game completely. 'What Rory has done … and can do, for international golf is massive ... he has that same sort of appeal. People get very excited about Rory also. The great thing about Rory is he's his own man, and he's shown that he's going where he wants to go.' Australian superstars Cameron Smith, Adam Scott, Marc Leishman, Lucas Herbert and Elvis Smylie are all expected to play the Open alongside McIlroy, with announcements expected in the near future.
News.com.au
24-06-2025
- Sport
- News.com.au
Minjee Lee Australia's highest-ranked golfer again after PGA Championship win
Minjee Lee is Australia's highest-ranked golfer again on the back of her PGA Championship win, jumping to world No.6 as it became clear she's unlikely to play a tournament in Australia in 2025. Negotiations for the next staging of the women's Australian Open are ongoing after officials abandoned the dual-gender format that has been played for the past three years, with both tournaments returning to stand-alone events. World No.2 Rory McIlroy is locked in for a return to the men's event being played at Royal Melbourne in December, but the women's tournament is set to be played early in 2026, a return to a timeslot more favourable to attract the world's best players. The last stand-alone women's Australian Open was co-sanctioned with the LPGA Tour, played in Adelaide in February 2020, and attracted an elite field including world No.1 Nelly Korda, who won the event in 2019. Lee reached a career-high ranking of No.2 in 2022, and had been a constant in the world's top 10 until midway through 2024 as she endured a 19-month winless drought. The 29-year-old went into the PGA Championship ranked 24, having dropped out of the world's top 20 for the first time since 2015. But her return to the winner's circle in Texas delivered the rankings bump, lifting her over great friend Hannah Green, who fell out of the top 10 to No.11 and lost her place as Australia's highest-ranked player, male or female. Jason Day, who finished fourth at the $30m Travellers Championship, is the only Australian male in the world's top 30, ranked 28. In the wake of her win, Lee revealed how hard her coach, Richie Smith, had to work to get her to make the drastic switch to the long putter, a move that put her back on a path towards the No.1 ranking. 'I think he mentioned it to me like twice and I was like mucking around with it, so I would say it was a good change,' she said. 'I think just for me, it was taking the hands out of the putter. Just using my hands too much. So I was like manipulating the putter to the break. For me it was just using more of my shoulders to hit the point where I thought it was going to break and not making it break. 'I feel like I had a lot of doubt the past few years … I guess with my long game but more with my putting. 'I think the more I heard media and other people saying things about my putting, I think it got to me more and more over time. 'I guess I just had a lot of thoughts and just I was overthinking probably about just the conventional way of putting … and using the broomstick has really been helping me.' Lee now has more majors than Greg Norman, who only won two, but is yet to reach the No.1 ranking the Great White Shark held for a mammoth 331 weeks. Adam Scott and Day have also been world No.1, but there has never been an Australian female No.1, not even seven-time major champ Karrie Webb, with the women's rankings only introduced in 2006. But Lee declared she had greater ambitions than getting to world No.1. 'I really wanted to be in the Hall of Fame. That's why I started golf. That's why I wanted to be on the LPGA Tour, to, you know, win a bunch of tournaments and try to get into it,' she said. 'I think I would really like to get there. We'll see how we go after this week.'
News.com.au
23-06-2025
- Business
- News.com.au
Rrecord prize pool for Australian PGA in Brisbane in November
Rory McIlroy will play for less prizemoney in his Australian Open return than those at the Australian PGA the week before, but both tournaments have had cash bumps across a huge summer of events with up to $7mn available. Just hours after Australian star Minjee Lee took out her third major championship, and collected $2.8m for winning the Women's PGA, Australian golf officials confirmed the record amount on offer for the home season, which will begin in August. The Australian PGA, won last year by Elvis Smylie and in 2023 by Lee's younger brother Min Woo, has been given the biggest prizemoney bump, up $500,000 to surpass the national Open for total prizemoney. The PGA prize pool is the biggest in the tournament's 121-year history. McIlroy, the world No.2, is set to earn more in appearance money after signing a two-year deal to play in the Australian Open, beginning with this year's event at Royal Melbourne, than should he win the Stonehaven Cup for a second time. With more than $160m in career earnings on the PGA Tour, however, money is not driving McIlroy, who spoke about his desire to explore new golfing horizons after his Masters triumph, and that includes returning to Australia for the first time since 2014. 'I've always loved the Australian Open,' he said last week. 'I've won there before. I played there as an amateur in the Australian Open, qualified for it, went through a qualifier in 2005, got through like a nine-man playoff to get in, so I've always had a huge affinity for that part of the world. The opening 10 events of the PGA Tour of Australasia were confirmed on Monday, beginning with the PNG Open at Royal Port Moresby Golf Club. The Australian PGA at Royal Queensland Golf Club, in the last week of November, and then the Australian Open at The Royal Melbourne Golf Club in the first week of December remain the flagship events. Both will be co-sanctioned with the DP World Tour and offer exemptions on top of prizemoney. 'The Challenger PGA Tour of Australasia season is all about 'the chase' and we're delighted our professionals will be chasing record prizemoney across the first half of the season,' PGA of Australia chief executive Gavin Kirkman said. 'They'll also be chasing titles, exemptions and opportunities to compete internationally. 'There is so much on the line for our players as they try to follow the pathway that has been created all the way to the PGA Tour 'We saw what was possible with Elvis Smylie winning twice on our Tour last year and going on to win the Order of Merit, earn his DP World Tour card and starts in two majors. 'Careers can be changed in just a few months.'
