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Joaquin Niemann wasn’t in a good mood after he bogeyed his first hole of the third round of the 2024 ISPS HANDA Australian Open.
But his outlook had changed completely 17 holes later when he holed a lengthy par putt to sign off on an 8-under-par 64 at Kingston Heath that has kept his title defence well and truly alive.
After being eight back from overnight leader Lucas Herbert, the Chilean will start the final round just two shots adrift of joint leaders Herbert and Ryggs Johnston.
He says it would be “super nice” to put his name on the Stonehaven Cup for a second time to follow on from his playoff victory at The Australian last year.
“I knew I need to play well because I was way behind,” Niemann said.
“I think in the morning it was a little bit tougher so I took advantage of that. We’re back in it.”
The only bogey of Niemann’s round came at his opener, the par-4 10th. He then collected seven birdies to go with an eagle at the par-5 first.
“I got pretty pissed about that first bogey of the day. At the start of the day, you don’t really want to start with a bogey, especially if you want to move up on the leaderboard.
“Fortunately I made a great putt on 11 and that got me back into it.”
Among the other big movers were West Australian Curtis Luck who shot a 65 to claim to a share of eighth and Switzerland’s Joel Girrbach, who was out in the first group of the morning and carded a 65 of his own. They are both at 11-under, three back.
Lucas Herbert has kept his foot on the pedal to extend his lead at the halfway mark of the ISPS HANDA Australian Open at Kingston Heath but remains very wary of the challenge coming from his Ripper GC captain Cam Smith.
Thanks to a 6-under-par 66 which followed his first day 63 at Victoria Golf Club, Herbert sits at 14-under with a four-shot lead over American Ryggs Johnston (65-68)
A healthy group of six players are tied third at 9-under, headlined by last week’s BMW Australian PGA Champion Elvis Smylie, who produced one of the shots of the day from a fairway bunker to just a few feet to grab a final birdie on 18 to close out an 8-under round of 64.
Tied with Smylie are a string of internationals, with Americans Harry Higgs (68) and Jordan Gumberg (69) continuing their love of the Sandbelt, while DP World Tour players Oliver Lindell (69), Lukas Nemecz (66) and Matthew Southgate (68) are all well placed to try chase down Herbert.
Cam Smith is T16 at 6-under after a 72 today where he shot 5-under on the front nine before slipping up with three bogeys and a double-bogey on his back nine.
Playing in the afternoon sunshine at Kingston Heath today though, the attention was largely on three men – Herbert, Smith, and Smylie, as the wind whipped through Melbourne’s bayside region.
Not wanting to relinquish his overnight lead, Herbert got about scoring fast and early. Eagle, birdie, birdie had the NSW Open champion reach 12-under for the championship before some of the afternoon groups had even started to walk to the first tee.
The scoring slowed from the fourth though, and 12-under is where he would remain as he made the turn.
“I thought it was funny. I played pretty good yesterday, just didn’t really putt that well and then felt like I putted really well today, scrambled really well and the rest of the game was sort of off,” Herbert said.
“So it was kind of funny. It was like two days of polar opposites to have good scores.”
In the group ahead Herbert, two men were making a charge in Smith and Smylie.
Like Smith, Smylie turned in 5-under, but unlike the 2022 Open champion, he was able to keep the foot on the pedal to get himself back in the Open after a modest 1-under 70 at Victoria on day one.
“It felt like the whole group did a really good job at feeding off each other, momentum wise,” said Smylie.
“We holed a lot of putts on the front nine and the course was playing quite scoreable, so I felt like we did a really good job at capitalising on some of those.”
A Herbert bogey on 10, his first of the week, looked as if he may be heading down the Smith route, however the Bendigo boy shook it off quickly with a string of three birdies 13 through 15.
The pin on The Heath’s famous 15th was treacherously tucked in the front funnel, but as Herbert’s tee shot danced around the pin and he tapped in for birdie, it was clear he is a class above this week so far.
“Some tricky tee shots on that back nine and just to stay really positive with the swings I was making, I’m really proud of those last three or four holes there,” Herbert said.
“16 tee shot, not an easy one. The 18 tee shot not an easy one under the circumstances and I thought I handed them really, really well.”
Two weeks ago it was Herbert chasing Smith to claim the NSW Open at Murray Downs, and while he will start Saturday’s round 8-shots clear of the 2022 Open champion, Herbert is not counting him out. After all, he did it to Rory at St Andrews.
“I’m expecting him to make a run,” Herbert said. “I can’t shoot 72-72 this weekend and expect to win this golf tournament.
“There’s a lot of work still to be done, and I’m expecting these guys behind me to make a charge.”
With low scoring aplenty on day one of the ISPS HANDA Australian Open across both Kingston Heath and The Victorian golf clubs, it was Lucas Herbert who stood tall above the rest.
A blemish free 8-under 63 early today at Victoria was good enough to secure a one-shot day one lead over Japanese amateur Rintaro Nakano and American Ryggs Johnston, who were both at Kingston Heath for round one.
There are four players tied fourth at 6-under, all of whom played at Victoria on day one. The 2022 Open champion Cameron Smith and last season’s Challenger PGA Tour of Australasia Order of Merit winner Kazuma Kobori are joined by Finland’s Oliver Lindell and American Jordan Gumberg, who had the low afternoon round.
Despite grabbing the lead, Herbert, a Victorian who played much of his teenage golf on the Sandbelt, still felt like he could have got more out of his day.
“I felt like there was a lot of shots left out there, I feel like that with every round of golf, to be fair,” Herbert said with a smile.
“I didn’t really think I holed that many putts, just hit it quite nicely. Got it into the right spots.
“Probably got a couple of lucky breaks here and there where shots that maybe weren’t the best didn’t get punished the way they could have.
“Look, if that’s the worst round of the week, I’d be pretty happy.”
Starting on Victoria’s 10th hole, in the shadow of the Peter Thomson statue, Herbert opened his account with three pars but was quickly able to take advantage of his length with birdies at 13, and the famous short par-4 15th.
Back-to-back birdies at the 17th and 18th, both par-5s, had the NSW Open champion turn in 4-under, keeping up with Smith ahead of him who was making birdies for fun around the turn.
Herbert kept the foot on the pedal on his second nine, making yet another birdie on the short first, before the scoring finally paused.
Not for long though, with a further birdie at six, before a stunning eagle at the par-5 ninth put an exclamation mark on a near-perfect opening day.
“Slightly pulled my tee shot there, just down the left. Kind of got a little lucky it didn’t bounce and get into that thicker stuff,” Herbert said of his finishing hole.
“To put it up there pretty close and then to roll it in for the eagle, just put a nice finish on the end of that round.”
Having held him off at Murray Downs two weeks ago, Herbert knows that Smith will be the one to watch out for in the chasing pack.
“He will be the guy to beat this week I’d imagine,” Herbert said. “He’s been in some great form, he’s obviously finished, I think third, second, second in the last three events.
“I’ll be shocked if he’s not pushing me pretty hard on the weekend or I’m pushing him pretty hard on the weekend to win the Stonehaven Cup.”
Smith is keen to get one back on his Ripper GC teammate after the NSW Open, but says it’s going to be no easy feat, and isn’t counting out another Victorian either.
“I know he (Herbert) is playing really good golf and there’s a ton of other guys as well,” said Smith
“Leish is playing really good. His caddie Matty was saying how good he’s hitting it, so it’s going to be a good weekend.”
Leishman started with a 3-under 68 at Victoria. Meanwhile American Harry Higgs is well in touch after a 5-under 66, with the PGA TOUR player happy to find the consistency that was lacking in Brisbane.
A surprise bolter on day one is the 21-year-old Japanese amateur Nakano, who won the 2023 Japanese Amateur Championship and has played one US PGA TOUR event.
He was at -8 before bogeying the par-4 final hole at Kingston Heath.
Last week’s BMW Australian PGA champion Elvis Smylie opened his Open account with a 1-under 70, after fighting back from being 3-over early.
With a first-round of 65 in the bank, and facing soft conditions on the Sandbelt, Cameron Smith has his sights on accumulating a 20-under-par total at the ISPS HANDA Australian Open.
The former Open champion has made no secret of his desire to win his national open and he made a strong start at The Victoria Golf Club today, ending two shots behind leader Lucas Herbert.
His second round will be at Kingston Heath on Friday afternoon where a huge crowd is expected to see how low Smith can go.
“I mean if it stays like this, it probably would be close to 20-under if there’s no wind, which is crazy,” Smith said when asked post-round what score might win this week.
“Usually around here if you get off to a nice start, anywhere in those kind of high singles to maybe 10 or 11 under is a really good score.
“Hopefully it firms up a little bit and it’s a bit of a tougher test.”
After a sluggish start, Smith was +1 through his first four holes but he rattled off six straight birdies either side of the turn to move up the leaderboard.
Back-to-back birdies on his last two holes, the eighth and ninth at Victoria, left the Ripper GC captain in a good mood.
“I didn’t do really much wrong today,” he said.
“It was a bit of a slow start, obviously being so early, getting up so early.
“I think just a bit draggy there at the start and then finally woke up, the coffee worked and I got on a good roll there through the turn.
“I didn’t do too much wrong from probably the second or third hole.”
Playing with Smith, new BMW Australian PGA champion Elvis Smylie slipped to +3 after seven holes before fighting back to post a 1-under 70.
Australian Golf is toasting a new partnership with Australian drinks specialist Liquorland ahead of the highly anticipated 2024 ISPS HANDA Australian Open in Melbourne.
As part of an expanded three-year partnership, Liquorland, which has more than 800 stores across Australia, will be a major partner of Golf Australia and its flagship tournament, the ISPS HANDA Australian Open.
A standout feature of this partnership will be the Liquorland Lounge, a premium activation within The 19th fan experience zone at Kingston Heath Golf Club on Melbourne’s famed Sandbelt during this year’s ISPS HANDA Australian Open from November 28 to December 1.
Positioned overlooking the iconic 10th tee and fairway, the Liquorland Lounge in The 19th will set a new benchmark for fan experiences offering a vibrant fusion of golf, premium beverages and a buzzing social atmosphere. Guests can enjoy the official beverages of the tournament – from award-winning wines by James Busby to the renowned Canard-Duchêne from France’s idyllic Champagne region.
With daily highlights including a Canard-Duchêne sabrage ceremony by Chef de Cave Laurent Fédou, and freshly shucked rock oysters sourced from Flinders Oysters on Phillip Island, finished with a Canard-Duchêne Champagne mignonette, visitors will be able to treat themselves in style whilst enjoying all The Open has to offer.
Australia’s drinks specialist will also be a partner of the PGA of Australia, Challenger PGA Tour of Australasia, BMW Australian PGA Championship at Royal Queensland and Australian WPGA Championship at Sanctuary Cove.
Michael McDonald, Chief Commercial Officer for PGA of Australia and Golf Australia said: “We are delighted to welcome Liquorland to Australian Golf’s family of partners as we continue to experience significant growth in both the professional and amateur sides of the game.
“We’re looking forward to collaborating with Liquorland to enhance our Summer of Golf, particularly with their upcoming Liquorland Lounge activation at the ISPS HANDA Australian Open.
“Their support will also assist with achieving our goals at both the PGA of Australia and Golf Australia where we are dedicated to enhancing the game.”
Coles Liquor Chief Executive Officer Michael Courtney said: “We’re proud to be a major partner of Australian Golf for the next three years. Golf is a sport that resonates with many for the social connection it brings to players and spectators alike. This partnership is a fantastic opportunity to marry our favourite drinks to an iconic celebration of sporting excellence as the temperature and tournament heat up.
“We look forward to welcoming visitors to our Liquorland Lounge at the ISPS HANDA Australian Open, where guests can raise a glass with the finest Champagne from Canard-Duchêne and the rich flavours of James Busby wines while enjoying the fine foods offered throughout the tournament.”
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About Liquorland
Liquorland is a liquor retailer that launched in Australia in 1971. Its more than 800 national stores offer customers great value wine, beer and spirits for every occasion.
Driven to make shopping more convenient and accessible, Liquorland offers 30-minute Click & Collect and 90-minute Express Delivery via liquorland.com.au.
Customers can also earn Flybuys points for every dollar they spend in-store and online.
Liquorland supports the responsible consumption of alcohol and is a founding member of DrinkWise (get the facts DrinkWise.org.au). Liquorland is owned by Coles Liquor along with other national liquor retailers First Choice Liquor Market and Vintage Cellars.
The R&A has confirmed that three spots in the 2025 Open Championship will be offered to the top three non-exempt players at the ISPS HANDA Australian Open this week.
This continues a relationship that has been in place for the past few years. Last year in Sydney, Joaquin Niemann, Adam Scott and Rikuya Hoshino all booked places in the Open field for 2024.
In the event of a tie for a qualifying place, the player with the higher ranking in the Official World Golf Ranking at the beginning of the week commencing 25 November will be awarded a place in the 153rd Open.
In a change to previous qualifying criteria, the place of a successful qualifier who later becomes exempt via another category will not pass to the next non-exempt golfer from that Open Qualifying Series event.
The R&A will publish the full schedule for the Open Qualifying Series and list of exemptions for the 153rd Open early in 2025.
Three players in the field are already exempt: defending champion Joaquin Niemann, 2022 Open champion Cameron Smith and Englishman Jordan Smith.
The Open is at Royal Portrush from 13-20 July next year.
A heart-to-heart with one of the most famous names in Australian golf is behind Anthony Quayle’s decision to return home to kick-start his international career.
Gold Coaster Quayle matched the low-round of the tournament to finish third at the BMW Australian PGA Championship at Royal Queensland, rolling in a putt he estimated to be 115 feet from four metres off the front of the 18th green to close out a round of 8-under 63.
His 11-under total held the clubhouse lead for three hours, eventual champion Elvis Smylie (14-under) and runner-up Cameron Smith (12-under) in the final group the only players to move past him by day’s end.
In his 16 most recent starts, Quayle had made just one cut and withdrawn twice, his career stagnating as he struggled with the solitude he experienced as one of very few Aussies playing the Japan Golf Tour this year.
Seeking a sounding board, Quayle turned to Adam Scott’s father, Phil, who advised using the Challenger PGA Tour of Australasia to find a pathway back to a major international tour.
“I skipped the last six events in Japan to come back and focus here instead,” said a jubilant Quayle after his Sunday flourish.
“I just wasn’t enjoying it. I wasn’t having fun. I didn’t feel like I was in an environment where I could be the best that I can be.
“I feel like if I can create an environment where I feel happy, I feel confident, I feel comfortable, I feel like I can really kick on and do some really great things.
“Phil Scott actually was pretty crucial in consulting me with a lot of this stuff. He was a massive advocate for me coming back here and playing this tour and committing to this over the next six months as a bit of a re-route in my career.
“Hopefully this is a nice step in the right direction.”
His third-place finish in a tournament co-sanctioned with the DP World Tour certainly sent his world ranking and position on the domestic Order of Merit in the right direction.
The 30-year-old will tee it up at this week’s ISPS HANDA Australian Open ranked 617 in the world (up 260 places) and seventh on the Order of Merit (up 119 spots).
It has suddenly put a DP World Tour card for a top-three Order of Merit finish within reach, and given the two-time PGA Tour of Australasia winner a much-needed injection of confidence.
“The only thing I’m really thinking about right now is just that I feel like my good stuff is good enough and I feel like I just need to be happy and comfortable and confident for that to happen,” added Quayle, who missed the cut at both the Queensland PGA and Ford NSW Open.
“This reaffirms that and it also shows me that I’m not that far away. I don’t feel like I’m a crazy person thinking, yeah, no, it’s not far away, even though the results suggested otherwise.
“It just gives me that trust that I’m doing the right things and it also really reaffirms that I’m the sort of person that loves being around people.
“I’m a social sort of person. I love chatting with people. I love being around people.
“Coming back here these last few weeks playing in Australia, I feel like I have so much support.
“I had so many of my friends come out yesterday and today. It just felt awesome, feeling like I had people around me rather than me just feeling like I’m alone out there.
“It was awesome.”
Twenty-two-year-old veterans aren’t a thing. Yet as more accomplished players stumbled around him, Elvis Smylie stayed the course to claim the 2024 BMW Australian PGA Championship at Royal Queensland.
It’s what we expected when he burst onto the professional scene as a 19-year-old more than three years ago and very nearly won first time out.
He’d finished second as an amateur the week prior.
It was what was predicted as his potential and elite sporting bloodlines flourished as a teenager under the guidance of Ian Triggs on the Gold Coast.
Yet professional sport is littered with talented teens who struggle to transition into stable playing careers.
Smylie is no different, having used up sponsor invitations to play a dozen events on the DP World Tour before ever having the status to be in the field on his own merit.
Before this week, the first event of the 2025 DP World Tour season, Smylie had played 12 DP World Tour events outside Australia across three seasons.
He cashed a cheque in just one.
Something had to change, and change quickly, so he didn’t suffer the same fate of so many who disappear into oblivion.
He handed the keys to West Australian coach Ritchie Smith and surrounded himself with a proven team that now includes Luke Mackey (strength and conditioning), Marty McInnes (physiotherapist) and Michael Lloyd (mental coach).
His body has also undergone a transformation, almost five kilograms added so that a powerful swing was grounded in stability.
It was evident at the WA PGA Championship in October that something had changed.
Smylie carried himself differently. The skinny kid with a silky swing had been supplanted by a young man who looked in control of his own destiny.
He led by three through 52 holes at Kalgoorlie before finishing one shot shy of the playoff.
A week later he demonstrated his exceptional ball-striking in ferocious winds to win a playoff against Jak Carter and claim the WA Open at Mandurah Country Club.
If that was a coming of age, Sunday’s showdown with Cameron Smith and Marc Leishman put the golf world on notice that he is ready to go toe-to-toe with any player on the planet.
Smylie had half a dozen opportunities to fade from the top of the leaderboard in front of thousands of Smith’s faithful fans on Sunday yet declined each and every one.
He sent a message to his idol, no less, with two birdies out of the blocks and entered the back nine of what had become a 54-hole sprint with a three-stroke lead.
Time and again he conjured recoveries that can only have exasperated Smith, a major champion and former world No.2 known to inflict short game wizardry of his own.
Smylie in no way disrespected his elders; he simply played as though he was now one of them.
Some of that stems from exposure to the highest levels of sport at a young age, mother Liz and father Peter both highly accomplished professional tennis players.
As Liz stood to the side watching her son stand over a four-foot putt to change his life with tears in her eyes, Elvis stayed resolute.
Just.
“It was close. I saw Mum crying before that last putt but I wanted to keep my bogey-free round going.”
The job wasn’t done until he stepped up and calmly completed the mission that he and his team devised and which has now secured a place on the DP World Tour for the next two years.
At 22 years of age, he suddenly looks the complete package, an exceptional athlete with a mentality well beyond his years.
“I knew that it wasn’t going to be smooth sailing,” Smylie said of his first three years as a professional.
“Everything that has happened in my career so far, it’s been a blessing in disguise.
“It was just my time. Everything that happened today happened for a reason.
“I’m a Christian and I believe in God and I knew that He was looking down on me today.
“Everything that happened today happened for a reason and it was my time today, definitely.”
You can rejoice at the Elvis Smylie victory at Royal Queensland in so many ways but putting leftys back on the map is certainly one of them.
Winning an Aussie “major” like the BMW Australian PGA Championship as a lefty is almost as rare as planting a flag on the moon.
How is it that Australia’s cricket team can field five left-handed batters in the Perth Test against India yet only today can we say the same number of left-handed golfers have won big Australian tournaments this century?
Once you tick off Greg Chalmers, Nick O’Hern, Nick Cullen, Richard Green and now Smylie, it’s bare.
That’s not downplaying the moments that Adam Bland and a few others have given us during tournaments, but right-handers have ruled.
In the past, equipment was a big issue. Pro shops didn’t even carry left-handed sets at times. Lefty clubs are now far more available.
The great David Graham was a lefty before his head professional at Riversdale Golf Club in Victoria convinced him to play right-handed as a young teen in the early 1960s. Two majors later, it was a very good move.
Smylie writes right-handed but he’s been a pure lefty since he first picked up cut-down golf sticks.
Just maybe, he’s part of a revolution. Matt McCarty was a new left-handed winner on the PGA TOUR only last month following Scotsman Robert MacIntyre wining the Canadian Open and Scottish Open earlier in the year.
Playing left-handed or right wasn’t the differentiating factor for Smylie at RQ. It was his composure, a calmness in hitting the right shots but also a calmness in picking the right one to hit at clutch moments.
He may be just 22 but he’s been tuning his mental game for years with help from the likes of Dr Michael Lloyd. He didn’t arrive on the first tee of the final round fearing a match-up against Cam Smith and Marc Leishman.
He relished it as the stage he’s always been working to be on.
Smylie opened birdie-birdie.
“I didn’t just want to show myself but the other guys I’m here to win the tournament. I wanted to put my foot through the door,” Smylie said.
We’ve all seen young players spooked on big stages when playing with the best.
Greg Norman was 21 when paired with the great Jack Nicklaus in the opening rounds of the 1976 Australian Open at The Australian Golf Club.
Norman shot an opening round 80.
The heat came on Smylie sure enough. Take the driveable par-4 12th, one of RQ’s great holes because it tempts you to go for a Harrison Crowe-style eagle or play more conservatively.
Smylie was in the swale to the left of the green and opted firstly for a 46-degree wedge to bump it over the rise and on.
The ball didn’t get up the rise and came back into the valley. His 3-wood bump-and-run went nearly seven metres by.
He nervelessly sunk the putt for par. He made shorter clutch putts on the 14th and 15th to save pars to hold Smith at bay.
The value of that save on the 12th was rammed home when Smith chipped in for birdie on the par-3 17th to delirious applause at the Dabble Party Hole.
Instead, of a one-stroke lead down the last, Smylie had the comfort of two.
“As soon as I holed that putt on the 12th, I thought, That could be pretty big,” Smylie explained with the Joe Kirkwood Cup in his hands.
Even on the last hole when he pulled his drive and was obstructed by a pine tree, he whipped a low iron shot into the greenside bunker.
He backed himself to make par… and did.
Leishman saluted the poise of Smylie’s bogey-free 4-under-par 67 on the final day.
“Elvis played great. It was a big day for him,” Leishman said.
“His wedge play was good, he putted great with those key putts (for par saves) on 12, 15 and elsewhere.
“He took his medicine when he had to. He just made the right decisions and hit the right shots which is what you have to do to win. Impressive.”
As Smylie hopes himself, this is just the start.
Photo: Dan Peled/PGA of Australia
When Cameron Smith awarded Elvis Smylie one of his coveted scholarships in 2019 it was to help the teenager along the way to achieving results like what happened at the BMW Australian PGA Championship on Sunday.
What the 2022 Open champion didn’t expect to happen so quickly was having a scholarship recipient pip him for a major Aussie title like his fellow Queenslander did at Royal Queensland Golf Club.
Smylie’s bogey-free 67 to Smith’s 69 under the pressure of the final round gave him a two-shot victory, his second on the Challenger PGA Tour of Australasia in the 2024-25 season and his first DP World Tour success, propelling his career to the next level.
It might be the first of many duels to come, providing another fascinating sub-plot for Australian golf.
“Helping Elvis out along the way is really cool,” Smith said.
“It’s a long way to come from being a junior golfer to a professional golfer and I think he just keeps making the right steps.
“You could really tell even when he was there that week (in the United States) that he was a hard worker so that’s a really good trait.
“He should enjoy this win, but also just keep working really hard because he’s still got a really long way to go.
“He had such a great round, he putted unbelievable, and yeah, it was awesome to watch.”
The other member of the final group, Victorian Marc Leishman, finished in a tie for third after a final round of 69, three shots back from the champion.
“Elvis played great. It was a big day for him,” Leishman said.
“His wedge play was good, he putted great with those key putts (for par saves) on 12, 15 and elsewhere.
“He took his medicine when he had to. He just made the right decisions and hit the right shots which is what you have to do to win. Impressive.”
