Australians are starved for world-class golf. They have been starved for decades.
Golf has long called itself a global sport while concentrating its highest honors in a narrow corridor of the North Atlantic world. Australia — a nation that has produced major champions, nurtured legendary courses, and sustained a century of golfing culture — has never hosted a major championship. As the sport's governance realigns under new international influence, a quiet argument is gaining force: the Australian Open, long informally regarded as a fifth major by the game's own giants, deserves to be recognized as one.
- Professional golf's claim to global relevance rings hollow when three of four majors sit on American soil and Australia — the 13th largest economy on earth — has been left off the calendar for decades.
- LIV Golf's Adelaide event exposed the tension, drawing record crowds and proving that Australians have been starved for world-class competition while the PGA Tour looked elsewhere.
- The case for The Players Championship as a fifth major, floated by Brandel Chamblee, is being challenged by a stronger rival — one with Melbourne's sand-belt courses, a Stonehaven Cup with Nicklaus's and Palmer's names on it, and Jordan Spieth calling his 2014 win there the best of his career.
- Under the new PIF-aligned governance structure, professional golf has both the motive and the mechanism to act — scheduling the Australian Open in the long November-to-Masters gap would serve history, commerce, and the sport's global ambitions at once.
When Brandel Chamblee argued for elevating The Players Championship to major status, he framed it as a weapon against LIV Golf's talent raids. The reasoning had surface logic — The Players draws elite fields and has a stable Florida home. But a more deserving candidate has been waiting, largely ignored, on the other side of the world.
Australia's claim is not sentimental. Cameron Smith won The Open at St. Andrews. Minjee Lee captured the U.S. Women's Open. Greg Norman, Adam Scott, Jason Day, and Karrie Webb all carried the country's name into golf's highest conversations. Jack Nicklaus, Arnold Palmer, and Tom Watson each won the Stonehaven Cup. Nicklaus himself called the Australian Open a 'fifth major' as recently as 2016. The Melbourne sand belt alone contains five courses ranked among Golf Digest's top 100 globally, including Royal Melbourne — designed by Augusta National's own architect, Alister MacKenzie.
And yet the PGA Tour walked away. Since the early 1990s, Australia has watched the tour plant flags in South Korea, Japan, China, and Scotland while one of the world's wealthiest nations went unserved. LIV Golf noticed the gap. Its Adelaide event became the circuit's most celebrated stop, drawing enormous crowds and confirming what Australian broadcaster Luke Elvy had long argued: the appetite was always there.
There was a time the Australian Open commanded genuine prestige. Kerry Packer's patronage in the 1970s and 1980s made it a de facto major. Tiger Woods came in 2011 and told Elvy he wanted his name on the Stonehaven Cup. Spieth won in 2014 and called it the best victory of his life — before going on to win The Masters, the U.S. Open, and The Open Championship.
The professional game now operates under governance shaped by the Saudi Public Investment Fund. If that structure is serious about growing golf globally, the path is clear: grant the Australian Open major status, slot it into the 258-day void between The Open and The Masters, and let a country that has earned the honor finally receive it.
Brandel Chamblee made a case last month for elevating The Players Championship to major status, arguing that doing so would give the PGA Tour more competitive teeth against LIV Golf's poaching of talent. His reasoning had merit—The Players draws one of golf's strongest annual fields and has been contested at the same Florida venue for decades. But there is a stronger candidate sitting largely ignored on the other side of the world: the Australian Open.
Golf is a global sport, yet the United States already hosts three of the four major championships. The fourth rotates among Britain, Ireland, and occasionally other nations. No major has ever been held in Australia, despite the country's century-long golfing tradition and a roster of world-class champions. Cameron Smith won the Open Championship at St. Andrews last year. Minjee Lee captured the U.S. Women's Open in 2022. Before them came Greg Norman, Adam Scott, Jason Day, and Karrie Webb—all recognizable names to serious golf fans. The lineage runs deeper still: Jack Nicklaus, Arnold Palmer, and Tom Watson all won the Stonehaven Cup, the trophy awarded to the Australian Open champion.
Australia's golfing infrastructure is equally formidable. The sand-belt region surrounding Melbourne contains five courses ranked among Golf Digest's top 100 in the world. Royal Melbourne was designed by Alister MacKenzie, the same architect who created Augusta National. Kingston Heath, Metropolitan, Victoria, and Peninsula Kingswood all sit within reach of one of the world's great cities and possess the pedigree to host elite competition. Sydney offers similar depth, with courses like The Australian Golf Club positioned near Bondi Beach and others scattered throughout the metropolitan area.
Yet the PGA Tour has largely abandoned Australia. Since the early 1990s, the Australian Open has lost its prominence on the professional calendar. The tour has staged events in South Korea, Japan, China, Mexico, and Scotland in recent decades—all countries with significant economic heft. But Australia ranks as the 13th largest economy globally and boasts one of the highest GDPs per capita. The commercial opportunity exists. What has been missing is commitment.
LIV Golf filled that void. When the Saudi-backed tour held an event in Adelaide last April, tens of thousands of Australians turned out. The tournament at The Grange Club became, by many accounts, LIV's most successful event to date. Crowds were massive. The energy was palpable. It proved something that Australian broadcaster Luke Elvy articulated plainly: Australians are starved for world-class golf. They have been starved for decades. Cameron Smith, Adam Scott, and Marc Leishman have carried the torch domestically, but glimpses of the world's best—Tiger Woods, Rory McIlroy, Jordan Spieth—have been rare and fleeting.
There was a time when the Australian Open commanded respect. In the 1970s and 1980s, when businessman Kerry Packer bankrolled the field, the tournament was widely regarded as a fifth major. When Tiger Woods returned to Australia in 2011 for the Australian Open held the week before the President's Cup at Royal Melbourne, he told Elvy he wanted his name on the Stonehaven Cup. He finished third. The crowds were enormous. McIlroy won in 2013. Spieth won in 2014 and again in 2016, calling his first victory "the best win I have ever had." Spieth went on to win The Masters and the U.S. Open in 2015 and The Open in 2017. These were not peripheral tournaments. These were events that mattered.
Nicklaus himself referred to the Australian Open as a "fifth major" in a 2016 interview. The designation is not new. What is new is the opportunity to formalize it. The professional golf world now operates under a governance structure aligned with the Saudi Arabian Public Investment Fund. This new order should prioritize growing the game globally. One immediate way to do so is to grant major championship status to the Australian Open. Schedule it for November, December, or early February—whenever the calendar permits. Fill the 258-day gap between The Open Championship and The Masters with an event that draws the world's best to a country that has earned the right to host them. The infrastructure exists. The history exists. The hunger exists. What remains is the decision to act.
Notable Quotes
Australians are starved of seeing world-class players regularly. LIV brought the best field to Australia outside of those three Presidents Cups since the halcyon days of the 1970s and 1980s.— Luke Elvy, Australian broadcaster and journalist
With these conditions, the golf course is very difficult. It's definitely the best round I have ever played and the best win I have ever had.— Jordan Spieth, after winning the Australian Open in 2014
The Hearth Conversation Another angle on the story
Why does the Australian Open deserve this more than The Players Championship, which has been drawing elite fields for decades?
The Players is excellent, but it's another American major in a country that already has three. Golf is global. Australia has produced major champions, hosted legends, and has world-class courses—yet the PGA Tour abandoned it in the early 1990s. LIV Golf just proved there's massive demand there.
But The Players has institutional weight. It's been at the same venue forever. Doesn't that matter?
Institutional weight can be built elsewhere. The Australian Open had it once—in the 1970s and 1980s, it was considered a fifth major. Nicklaus, Palmer, Watson all won it. That history didn't disappear; it was just neglected.
What changed? Why did Australia fall away?
Money, mostly. The PGA Tour went to South Korea, Japan, China—bigger economies on paper. But Australia is the 13th largest economy globally with high GDP per capita. The commercial opportunity was always there. The tour just didn't prioritize it.
And LIV Golf's Adelaide event proved something?
It proved Australians are starved for world-class golf. Tens of thousands showed up. It became LIV's most successful tournament. That's not a fluke—that's pent-up demand.
What about the courses? Are they actually world-class?
Five courses in Melbourne's sand-belt region rank in Golf Digest's top 100 globally. Royal Melbourne was designed by Alister MacKenzie—the same architect who built Augusta National. Kingston Heath, Metropolitan, Victoria, Peninsula Kingswood. These aren't second-tier venues.
So this is really about giving Australia what it's owed?
It's about recognizing what's already there and formalizing it. The history, the players, the courses, the fans. Australia earned this decades ago. The question is whether golf's new leadership will finally see it.