EXPERT GOLF TIPS: AUSTRALIAN OPEN 2024
AUSTRALIAN OPEN HISTORY
The Australian Open dates back to 1904 when English amateur Michael Scott saluted by eight strokes and has since seen many magnificent winners including Australian greats Ivo Whitton, Norman Von Nida, Peter Thomson, Kel Nagle, Greg Norman, Steve Elkington, Greg Chalmers and Adam Scott lift the Stonehaven Cup. International icons Gene Sarazen, Gary Player, Arnold Palmer, Jack Nicklaus, Tom Watson, Rory McIlroy and Jordan Spieth have all been champions in an event once revered as being very close to a major.
FIELD ANALYSIS
After an extraordinary field turned up for the Australian PGA Championship we have another magnificent field for the Australian Open. Defending champion Joaquin Niemann and former Open Champion Cameron Smith head betting with fellow local stars, Min Woo Lee, Cam Davis, Marc Leishman, Lucas Herbert, David Micheluzzi and last weel’s Australian PGA Championship winner Elvis Smylie all playing. They will be joined a host of DP World Tour stars including Jordan Smith and Victor Perez.
COURSE ANALYSIS AND WEATHER
Kingston Heath is one of the world’s great courses, one that regularly ranks inside the Top 25 in the world and among Australia’s best alongside Royal Melbourne West. It is not an overly long course but Peter Senior, who won an Australian Open here in 1989, says driving is incredibly important. Scrambling and putting well on the challenging greens. Avoiding trouble and playing for par will be as critical as sinking birdie after birdie, particularly if the winds get up.
Weather: Thursday and Friday look ideal weather conditions with no rain and low winds. A storm looks likely on Saturday while the Sunday looks clear of rain but a chance of some wind.
Betting Strategy
BACK: Winner – Joaquin Niemann (at $7 or Better)
Defending champion Joaquin Niemann once again shapes as an outstanding bet to claim Australia’s national open, an event won by an international visitor in six of its last nine stagings. Niemann’s star has taken a little hit by defecting to LIV but he remains entrenched in Data Golf’s Top 20 players on the planet. Niemann ranks 2nd in Driving Distance on LIV, which will allow him to set up well at Kingston Heath, while he leads the Tour in Birdies. Ranking 8th in Putting and 14th in Scrambling, he looks very well suited.
BACK: Winner – Rasmus Neergaard-Petersen (at $15 or Better)
Rasmus Neergaard-Petersen looks a star on the rise. He won three times on the Challenge Tour this year and most notably finished fourth in the Alfred Dunhill Links, a tremendous guide with the correlation between links golf and the premium sandbelt courses well established. He has finished Top 10 in three of his last six starts.
