Australian Open heads back to Sydney in 2023
The Men’s and Women’s trophies – image Australian Golf Media
The Australian Open returns to Sydney in December, the 2022 introduction of a multi-layer event continuing with the staging of the Men’s Australian Open, the Women’s Australian Open and the All Abilities Australian Open to be played from November 30th – December at the Australian Golf Club with the Lakes Golf Club playing a co-host role over the opening two days.
With the concept of all three championships being staged at the one venue over the same dates introduced last year at the Victoria and Kingston Heath Golf Clubs in Melbourne, the three tiered event had its teething problems but no doubt as a result of that initial experiment Golf Australia has ironed out such issues including the re-introduction of just one cut for the men.
In 2023 several leading players missed the final day due to a second cut being made on the Saturday night including Cameron Smith who had been the catalyst for the significant crowds which had turned up t0 attend the event.
After a review of last year’s tournaments in Melbourne, and following consultation with both the men’s and women’s tour bodies and playing groups, the 2023 edition will have some format changes.
The men’s field will consist of 156 players, with 84 in the women’s field. Only one cut will be made, after 36 holes, reducing the field to the top 60 professionals plus ties in the men’s Open, and a pro-rata top 32 professionals plus ties in the women’s Open.
All professionals who make the cut will receive prizemoney, with both the male and female professionals earning the equivalent figure per finishing position.
In another change to the tournament schedule, the finale of the 54-hole Australian All Abilities Championship will start a day earlier with the final round and the champion player to be showcased on Saturday afternoon.
It will be the first time the Australian Open has been played at the Australian Golf Club since 2019 when Matt Jones won the second of two Australian Opens he has won at the Australian Golf Club, defeating Louis Oosthuizen by just one shot.
The men’s event will be jointly sanctioned by the PGA Tour of Australasia and the DP World Tour.
The Australian Golf Club – image Bruce Young
