While the golfing world in Australia remains divided about Golf Australia hosting the national Australian Open combining the men’s and women’s competitions at the same time, the Golf Australia management believes that will be the format.
While world number 954 Ryggs Johnston won the men’s title and former world number one Jiyai Shin won the women’s title playing on same course conditions within hours of each other’s rounds on Sunday, it meant that men and women winners emerged on the same day for the third time in row since 2022 in the tournament which has been played since 1904 in men’s and 1974 in women’s category.
With Golf Australia combining both the competitions together since 2022 due to economic viability, Golf Australia CEO James Sutherland, a former CEO of Cricket Australia, has termed the option of separating the two events as not a simple one.