Australian Open: America's Ryggs Johnston Delivers A Stunner
Three-stroke wind in brutal conditions clinches a coveted national open title and a trip to Royal Portrush. Plus, Jiyai wins, off-course bombshell reports, and a word about Kingston Heath's bunkers.
While (hopefully) stuffing your face with food, playing golf, working Black Friday angles to land a coveted Nintendo Switch bundle, or all of the above, the weekend saw a pair of bombshell reports dropped with major ramifications for the greedfest called professional golf. But first, about those stunning Australian Open wins at somewhat soggy Kingston Heath.
Ryggs Johnson Wins The ISPS Handa Australian Open
Ryggs Johnston toiled this summer in PGA Tour Americas stuff like the Centreport Canada Rail Park Manitoba Open and the Elk Ridge Saskatchewan Open Presented by Lake Country Co-Op.
This fall he entered the first of three DP World Tour qualifying stages seeking a place to play in 2025. Johnston entered the fifth and last round of Q-School finals three strokes off the qualifying mark. But the 24-year-old from that golf haven of Libby, Montana, posted a final round 65 to earn his card on the European-based circuit. He immediately flew to its season-opening events in Australia as a player ranked two spots inside the world top 1000.
Two weeks later, Johnston experienced everything but snow flurries en route to a an unlikely Australian Open victory. By holding off several budding Australian talents and Sandbelt-experienced veterans, Johnston’s 18-under-par, three-stroke win over Curtis Luck makes him the first American to capture the coveted title since Jordan Spieth in 2016. The former Arizona State golfer also gets to see his name on the Stonehaven Cup alongside Sarazen, Palmer, Nicklaus and Watson.
Not bad for a kid named after a deranged Lethal Weapon detective. Yep.
Between the wacky weather changes, the persistence of talented pursuers, and the pain of enduring 18 holes with the psychotic-adjacent antics of Lucas Herbert (74, T5), Johnston earned the coveted title.
“It was definitely a little stressful,” Johnston said. “The weather was kind of up and down. It was really nice for 15 minutes and really bad for 15 minutes and I knew I was right in it and just had to come about towards the end.”
With his girlfriend’s dad on the bag and zero Sandbelt experience, Johnston opened his DP World Tour career with a T43 before arriving at glorious Kingston Heath by not getting in any practice rounds.
“I turned up pretty tired from all the travel and Q-School and everything,” he said. “Didn't get a practice round here with the weather. I didn't really have any expectations which probably helped me in the end.”
So much for local knowledge!
The victory sends Johnston to The Open at Royal Portrush next summer.
“It feels great,” Johnston said. “Just knowing that more playing opportunities and getting into bigger events. It hasn't quite sunk in yet, but it's an amazing feeling.”
With top 3 finishes, Johnston, runner-up Luck and Marc Leishman qualified for The Open at Royal Portrush via the Australian Open’s traditional spots in the Open Qualifying Series. Both Johnston and Luck will be making Open debuts. Luck is a previous Asia-Pacific Amateur and U.S. Amateur champion.
Leishman claimed the last qualifying place courtesy of his higher position in the Official World Golf Ranking (575th to start the week!). He tied for third with 2023 Asia Pacific Amateur champion Jasper Stubbs at 14-under-par 273. Stubbs started the Australian Open week ranked 1486th.
Leishman lost in a play-off to Zach Johnson at St Andrews in 2015 and also scored Open Top 6 performances in 2014 and 2017.
Also…
Simon Seungmin Lee posted a stunning second-round 67 en route to a dominant performance in the Australian All Abilities portion of the championship. Lee, diagnosed with a form of autism and developmental disability at age three, closed with a 2-over 74 to finish at 4-under for the week, 14-shots clear of England’s Kipp Popert. Lee captured the US Adaptive Open in 2022 and said after that his goal is to “make the cut in the regular Australian Open next time.”
Defending champion Joaquin Niemann posted 73-66-64-72 to finished T5 with last week’s winner Elvis Smylie (70-64-69-72) and recent Asia Pacific Amateur Champion Wenyi Ding (71-64-68-72).
Australian Golf Digest’s Evin Priest considered the future of multiple Australian Open’s playing at the same time and came away feeling like no is happy with the format. The format of men’s, women’s and All-Abilities titles on the line has made for sensational viewing and worked better from the television perspective this year thanks to more separation between the men’s and women’s finishes Sunday. Slow play, course setup gripes and maybe matching purses have left players cranky. Priest says there “aren’t any known deals in place with any state governments to host the 2025 edition” but given all the complaining, Golf Australia may be forced to break-up the events. It would be especially sad if the equal purses were the real cause. But given the stories below, also hardly shocking.
Cam Smith seemed cranky all week in turning on (future Ripper?) Elvis Smylie for his pace of play. “I don’t get put on the clock too often,” he said. “I feel like we do a pretty good job. There is a common denominator there that’s a little bit slower.” That would be Elvis. “We got on the clock there and it didn’t seem like we were playing that slow, and it felt like we were just rushing.
As feared, Golf Channel gave the overnight shift over to the algo’s or sleeping interns and inserted extra ad interruptions per hour in addition to the regular commercial load. It’s a very clever way of telling viewers, stop being such inconvenient knobs for demanding a respectable product and let’s just see if you’re stupid enough to sit through seven minutes of ads! One of many pathetic examples wasn’t even one of the two brilliant Progressive ad campaigns:
Jiyai Wins A Second Australian Open
Two of the planet’s pre-eminent links specialists—male or female—faced off in Sunday’s wild ride of an ISPS Handa Australian Open. Jiyai Shin, a two-time AIG Women’s Open winner and runner-up this year at St Andrews, held off defending champion Ashleigh Buhai, the 2022 Open winner at Muirfield.
Links masters tend to find Sandbelt golf to their liking. Even in a wet year like this one, Shin flashed her signature smile throughout no matter the outcome of a shot or how the weather turned. There aren’t many golfers more enjoyable to watch given the mix of constant joy and creative shotmaking. There also aren’t too many whose pair of victories are 11 years apart.
While the women’s edition of the Australian Open started out close, it morphed into into a runaway only to grow close at the very end thanks to Buhai hanging around with her own spirited play. But Shin probably put this one away early on at the fourth (when world No. 6 Hannah Green was very much in it before swelling to a 79, T4).
Shin holed out a nifty blast-and-run shot from the left side waste area for an eagle two. Here’s how Martin Blake described the shot in the account of record:
A punched chip-in for eagle from 102 metres out of sandy lie at the par-4 fourth hole was the dagger that smote Australia’s Green, who had begun in second place, just two shots from the lead, in the final group with the Korean and defending champion Ashleigh Buhai.
The 8-iron shot pitched 20 metres short of the green, scurried up the ridge and on to the putting surface, trickled down toward the flag and barrelled in, perfectly conceived and brilliantly executed. Cue the Jiyai fist pump and a high five with her caddie. It was the shot that won the tournament. “It’s like a gift for me,” she said later.
Shin eventually finished 17-under-par to finish two clear of Buhai.
The win is Shin’s 66th from play on six worldwide tours and makes her the all-time winningest Korean golfer, male or female.
DP World Tour/LIV Deal In The Works?
Bloomberg’s Gillian Tan, Giles Turner, and David Hellier filed a November 28th report suggesting “Saudi-backed LIV Golf is considering a potential tie-up with Europe’s DP World Tour that may result in a surprise end to enmity that’s plagued the sport.”
The report comes courtesy of “people with knowledge of the matter.” People who clearly wanted to liven up someone’s Thanksgiving.
The story claims talks with the “DP World Tour are separate from the ongoing investment discussions between the PGA Tour and the Saudi wealth fund, the people said, with both deals still possible.”
The timing of the report could mean someone wanted to push the PGA Tour and PIF to get going on a deal. Or, it could the first sign of a smart conclusion for all given the DP World Tour’s financials and the desire for PIF to sportwash globally and Europe far less influenced by 9/11 memories. There is also the apparent PGA Tour North America First philosophy driven by a television contract funded by U.S. networks uninterested in global events.
Unfortunately, a DP World Tour and LIV marriage could also leave half the Ryder Cup within the control of Saudi Arabia’s sovereign wealth fund and the occasionally batty Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman.
All parties declined comment on the merger possibility between the DP World Tour and LIV.
Monahan’s Comp (Somehow) Climbs In ‘23
