Casey, Els and Oosthuizen join Australian Open Field

The 2019 Australian Open has today announced a further strengthening of its field with the news that Ernie Els, Louis Oosthuizen and Paul Casey will tee it up at The Australian Golf Club beginning on December 5th.

It is perhaps a surprise that Els is participating given the commitments he has as Captain of the International Presidents Cup side in Melbourne the following week but his presence is a welcome addition as is that of Oosthuizen, who will be one of the key figures at the Presidents Cup, and Casey, who at this stage, is the leading world ranked player to sign on for the event.

Els has hardly been at his best in recent times, missing eight of his last nine cuts but he is one of the greats of world golf having won four major championship titles been runner-up in three others and won numerous other titles internationally.

Casey has had a great season in 2019, winning once on the US PGA Tour and finishing runner-up twice. At his most recent start Casey finished 3rd at the Tour Championship and has been one of the game’s more consistent players in 2019.

Oosthuizen was the Open Champion in 2010 when winning by seven shots at St Andrews and has been runner-up in majors on four other occasions.

The South African has not won to date in 2019 but he has been producing a lot of very solid finishes on the USPGA Tour and no doubt sees this as a great opportunity to acclimatise ahead of his important role in Melbourne and, maybe, become the first South African to win the title since Tim Clark’s win in 2008 and the second since Gary Player’s last win in 1974.

The news adds further to an event which will also include Australians Jason Day, Marc Leishman and Cameron Smith.