If 2022 Champion Golfer of the Year Cameron Smith is looking for omens, Peter Thomson too won at St Andrews in 1955 before winning a third straight Open at Royal Liverpool Golf Club in Hoylake.

On Monday, Smith returned golf’s most glorious trophy to its custodians at the R&A and admitted to the sweet sorrow that overcame him when the pair were parted.

“I thought I was going to do all right, but I was actually holding back some tears,” Smith admitted.

“A bit of a moment, I guess, that crept up on me.

“I’ve been saying to all my mates, it’ll only be a week and we’ll be drinking out of it again.

“You never know, sometimes you can play your best golf at major championships and you can run fourth or fifth.

“Hopefully it’s another week like last year and I’m back with the trophy.”

Commonly called ‘Hoylake’ for the suburb within Liverpool in which it sits, Royal Liverpool spent almost four decades on the outer of the Open rota, returning in glorious fashion when Tiger Woods tamed a fiery and baked-out course in 2006.

It has been almost 10 years since Rory McIlroy was victorious at Hoylake in 2014, making Adam Scott and Jason Day the only two Australians in the field this week with previous Open experience at Royal Liverpool.

Five of the 10 Australians in the field – Travis Smyth, David Micheluzzi, Haydn Barron, Connor McKinney and amateur Harrison Crowe – are making their Open championship debuts. For Smyth, Barron and McKinney it is their first appearance in a major championship.

Rounding out the Australasian influence are Kiwi pair Ryan Fox and Daniel Hillier.

Fox arrives at Royal Liverpool on the back of a tie for 12th at the Genesis Scottish Open while Hillier earned his maiden DP World Tour victory just a few weeks ago at the Betfred British Masters, his win securing his place at The Open for a second time.

Live TV coverage

Wednesday
10pm-4am Live From The Open (Fox Sports 505/Kayo)

Thursday
3.30pm-5am Round 1 (Fox Sports 505/Kayo)

Friday
5am-7am Live From The Open (Fox Sports 505/Kayo)
3.30pm-5am Round 2 (Fox Sports 505/Kayo)

Saturday
5am-7am Live From The Open (Fox Sports 505/Kayo)
7pm – 5am Round 3 (Fox Sports 505/Kayo)

Sunday
5am-7am Live From The Open (Fox Sports 505/Kayo)
Final Round 6pm – 4am (Fox Sports 505/Kayo)

Monday
4am-6am Live From The Open (Fox Sports 505/Kayo)

Australasian Profiles

Cameron Smith
Age: 29
World ranking: 7
Best finish in 2023: Won LIV Golf London
Past Open appearances: 5
Best finish at The Open: Won in 2022 (St Andrews)
How he qualified: The Open Champions aged 60 or under on 23 July 2023

Jason Day
Age: 35
World ranking: 27
Best finish in 2023: Won AT&T Byron Nelson
Past Open appearances: 10
Best finish at The Open: T4 in 2015 (St Andrews)
How he qualified: The first 50 players on the OWGR for Week 21, 2023

Adam Scott
Age: 43
World ranking: 39
Best finish in 2023: T5 at Wells Fargo Championship
Past Open appearances: 22
Best finish at The Open: 2nd in 2012 (Royal Lytham & St Anne’s)
How he qualified: Top 30 players from the Final 2022 FedEx Cup Points List

Ryan Fox (NZ)
Age: 36
World ranking: 42
Best finish in 2023: T11 at Ras Al Khaimah Championship
Past Open appearances: 6
Best finish at The Open: T16 in 2019 (Royal Portrush)
How he qualified: First 30 in the Final Race to Dubai Rankings for 2022

Min Woo Lee
Age: 24
World ranking: 47
Best finish in 2023: T2 at Abu Dhabi HSBC Championship
Past Open appearances: 2
Best finish at The Open: T21 in 2022 (St Andrews)
How he qualified: Open Qualifying Series (3rd at Australian Open)

Lucas Herbert
Age: 27
World ranking: 56
Best finish in 2023: Won ISPS HANDA Championship
Past Open appearances: 3
Best finish at The Open: T15 in 2022 (St Andrews)
How he qualified: The first 50 players on the OWGR for Week 21, 2023

Daniel Hillier (NZ)
Age: 24
World ranking: 137
Best finish in 2023: Won Betfred British Masters
Past Open appearances: 1
Best finish at The Open: MC in 2021 (Royal St George’s)
How he qualified: Open Qualifying Series (Won British Masters)

Travis Smyth
Age: 28
World ranking: 310
Best finish in 2023: 3rd at World City Championship, Hong Kong
Past Open appearances: 0
Best finish at The Open: First appearance
How he qualified: Open Qualifying Series (3rd at World City Championship, Hong Kong)

David Micheluzzi
Age: 26
World ranking: 363
Best finish in 2023: Won Play Today NSW Open, TPS Sydney
Past Open appearances: 0
Best finish at The Open: First appearance
How he qualified: Won ISPS HANDA PGA Tour of Australasia Order of Merit

Harrison Crowe (a)
Age: 21
World amateur ranking: 35
Best finish in 2023: 2nd at NSW Amateur
Past Open appearances: 0
Best finish at The Open: First appearance
How he qualified: Won the 2022 Asia-Pacific Amateur

Haydn Barron
Age: 27
World ranking: 937
Best finish in 2023: T15 at Vic Open
Past Open appearances: 0
Best finish at The Open: First appearance
How he qualified: Open Qualifying Series (T4 at Australian Open)

Connor McKinney
Age: 21
World ranking: 1,140
Best finish in 2023: T5 at Kaskada Golf Challenge
Past Open appearances: 0
Best finish at The Open: First appearance
How he qualified: Final Qualifying at Dundonald Links

Australian winners of The Open

Peter Thomson (1954, 1955, 1956, 1958, 1965), Kel Nagle (1960), Greg Norman (1986, 1993), Ian Baker-Finch (1991), Cameron Smith (2022)

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