13 Australasians face Open Championship starter
Eleven Australians and two New Zealanders will face the Open Championship’s official starter, David Lancaster, on Thursday, chasing an 11th Open Championship title for this region.
Peter Thomson (5), Greg Norman (2) and Kel Nagle, Ian Baker Finch and Sir Bob Charles are those from Australasia to who have held aloft the Claret Jug aloft to date.
In world ranking order, Cameron Smith, Adam Scott, Ryan Fox (NZ) Lucas Herbert, Marc Leishman, Min Woo Lee, Brad Kennedy, Jason Scrivener, Anthony Quayle, Jed Morgan, Dimi Papadatos, Ben Campbell (NZ) and Matthew Griffin will play the 150th Open Championship and, irrespective of how they perform, they will look back in the fullness of time as being one of the lucky ones to have made up the field of 156 on this historic occasion.
With world ranking ranging from number 6 (Cameron Smith) to number 742 (Matthew Griffin) highlighting the broad nature of the qualifying criteria, the Open Championship brings together an eclectic mix of golfers via a range of means from throughout the world and the lineup of Australasians highlights that diversity.
Cameron Smith will play his fifth Open Championship, his best finish to date was when 20th at the 2019 version won by Shane Lowry in Northern Ireland. Last year he was 33rd but if has been just one poor round in each of his last two appearances which have cost him a significantly higher finish as was the case last week and if he can improve that aspect he stands a chance.
I thought Smith was good last week when finishing strongly at the Scottish Open to share 10th place which came after a couple of indifferent performances in the US. Smith appears on track to be the leading Australian and perhaps a contender for the title.
Amazingly, Adam Scott plays his 22nd Open Championship and has a best of runner-up in 2012. He struggled early in his career in this event but in more recent times he has begun to play the event closer to his overall standing in the game.
Scott gave the Scottish Open a miss last week preferring to prepare by easing his way into the major. His last start 14th at the US Open was encouraging enough and he did finish a meritorious 10th at St Andrews in 2015.
Ryan Fox has elevated his standing in the game considerably in 2022 and arrives at St Andrews as the third highest ranked Australasian in world men’s golf. He recent efforts at the Irish Open and in Germany and even last week when he recovered from a slow start to make the cut and then finish 47th at the Scottish Open suggests that his game is not too far from where it needs to be for him to better or equal his previous best in a major when 16th at the 2019 Open Championship.
Fox will have fond memories of his Open debut at St Andrews in 2015 as although he finished only 49th, it was an encouraging effort and a week later he won an event on the Challenge Tour which got him his European Tour card and the rest as they say is history.
Lucas Herbert will play his third Open Championship and although he has made only one cut and finished 51st then, he is a much more accomplished and credentialed player now with wins on both the European and USPGA Tours and as such commands some respect.
Herbert’s form has been a bit of a roller coaster in recent weeks but at his best he can do well this week. The question is whether he can produce it.
This will be Marc Leishman’s 11th Open Championship, his highlight being on this very layout when runner-up after a playoff to Zach Johnson in 2015. The event has been a bit of a roller coaster for Leishman however four missed cuts in those ten starts top go with three top 6 finishes.
Leishman’s most recent form is a concern, three missed cuts in his last four starts leaving a cloud over his chances of a repeat of the 2015 effort.
Min Woo Lee is another to be struggling with form at present, having missed four of his last six cuts after an impressive debut 14th at the Masters. In his two important lead-up events he missed the cut including when defending his title last week at the Scottish Open and finished well back in Ireland.
This will be only Lee’s second Open Championship having missed the cut last year.
Brad Kennedy, at the age of 47, gets to play his 4th Open Championship but he is yet to make a cut in any. The Gold Coast golfer earned his right to play via the Japan Tour’s Mizuno Open and has been playing well in Japan in recent starts with four consecutive top tens including a runner-up finish at his last event.
Kennedy has, in fact, recorded a total of eight top tens in 2022 in both Australia and Japan but of course this is very much a different level again.
Jason Scrivener just keeps getting better each and every season in professional golf. He impressed with a final round of 65 at the Scottish Open to finish 16th and two starts earlier he finished 3rd in a DP World Tour event in Sweden.
The South African born but now West Australian will tee it up for the second time in an Open Championship having missed the cut on debut last year.
Anthony Quayle plays his first Open Championship having gained a start via the Mizuno Open in Japan. The Gold Coast based golfer is again playing well in Japan this season having recorded three top 6 finishes in eight starts there this season along with a win at the Queensland PGA Championship earlier in the year. This, though, is a whole new level and despite the fact that he is an extremely talented young golfer he faces a big task.
Jed Morgan is another to be playing the Open Championship for the first occasion, his win in the PGA Tour of Australasia’s Order of Merit paving his way to St Andrews. The former Australian Amateur and current Australian PGA Champion is clearly a significant although he has struggled since that win in Brisbane in January and, although an emerging talent, this will test him out.
Dimi Papadatos is at St Andrews courtesy of a win at the Vic Open earlier this year, gaining one of the Open Championship spots on offer at that event. He continued to play well in ongoing events in Australia but over recent months in events on the European Challenge Tour, the form has dropped away.
Papadatos has one previous Open Championship appearance for a missed cut at Royal Portrush.
New Zealand’s Ben Campbell managed to secure his place in the field as a result of a runner-up finish at the Vic Open earlier in the year and gets to play his first Open Championship and his very first major. Campbell has played only sparingly in 2022 and so not a lot can be expected of the talented young golfer this week.
Matt Griffin is another to have struggled in 2022 although like Campbell he played his way into what will be his second Open Championship by finishing 3rd at the Vic Open. Griffin missed the cut in his only other start at the Open Championship in 2017 and his current form suggests that things would need to improve sharply for that record to be improved.
It is hard to go past Cameron Smith as Australasia’s only genuine chance of contending for the title and joining Peter Thomson and Kel Nagle as Open Championship winners from this region at St Andrews but the likes of Adam Scott and Ryan Fox might yet give some cheek during the course of the week.
Cameron Smith during his press conference this week – photo R&A and Getty
