ISPS Handa Australian Open 2024 Preview, Picks & Analysis

Joaquin Niemann will defend his Australian Open title this week at Kingston Heath Golf Club in Melbourne. The men's event is played in a unique format alongside the women's Australian Open at the same time on the same venue, with the likes of Hannah Green, Ashleigh Buhai, Minjee Lee and Danielle Kang competing too.

While most LIV golfers are at home with their feet up, Niemann continues his quest for valuable world ranking points as he tries to climb into the top 50 and secure his place in the majors for 2025. Twelve months ago the Chilean claimed his first DP World Tour after an eagle at the second playoff hole to beat Japan's Rikuya Hoshino.

Niemann, who joined LIV Golf in 2022, lipped out with a four-foot eagle putt on the first re-run at the 18th, but made no mistake on the second playoff hole, draining a longer eagle effort to add a first DP World Tour tournament win to the two he had won on the PGA Tour. The Australian Open is co-sanctioned by the PGA Tour of Australasia and the DP World Tour.

"It means a lot," Niemann said. "The season wasn't the best for me. I wanted to play more golf. It was huge to come up here and play good golf and get a result." Many of his LIV colleagues continue to complain about not being awarded ranking points, most notably Talor Gooch, but Niemann has decided to bite the bullet and is prepared to play wherever and whenever he can, and for that he is to be commended.

Unsurprisingly, there is a strong Australian presence, with the likes of Cameron Smith, Cam Davis, Lucas Herbert, Marc Leishman, new Australian PGA champion Elvis Smylie and Min Woo Lee all looking to win their home national open. 

I am a big fan of Lee.

He turned professional at the start of 2019 and played a number of events on the DP World Tour, enjoying early success, by finishing fourth in the Saudi International and tied fifth at the ISPS World Super 6 in Perth. These were, however, his only top-10 finishes of the season and he finished 117th in the Order of Merit. In October he was tied for sixth at the Genesis Championship on the Korean Tour. At the end of the year he was third in the NSW Open and tied third at The Australian PGA Championship. 

His breakthrough came in February 2020 when he won the ISPS Handa Vic Open, co-sanctioned by the DP World Tour and PGA Tour of Australasia.  

In July 2021, Lee defeated Thomas Detry and Matthew Fitzpatrick in a playoff to lead the Scottish Open, which got him into the following week’s Open Championship.

In May 2023, Lee earned special temporary membership on the PGA Tour and in October he won the Macao Open on the Asian Tour, shooting a tournament record of 254 (30-under-par) and won by two shots. A month later, Lee won the Australian PGA Championship.

(Image Credit: Kevin Diss Photography)

Herbert is a player who has not kicked on in the way I expected him to. A successful amateur, he turned professional in 2016 and was runner-up in that year’s Queensland Open. A year later, he was second at the South Wales Open and also played well at The Australian Open and Australian PGA.

In 2018, Herbert finished 47th in the Race to Dubai. He was runner-up in the Portugal Masters and had three third-place finishes, including the British Masters.

He was seventh at the Dubai Desert Classic in 2019 to reach 73rd in the world rankings, but he only had one other top-10 finish and finished 107th in the European Tour Order of Merit.

In January 2020, Herbert won his first DP World Tour event, the Dubai Desert Classic, beating Christiaan Bezuidenhout in a playoff, lifting him back into the world top-100. In March 2020, he was runner-up in the New Zealand Open.

In July 2021 he won the Irish Open and narrowly missed out on the Scottish Open, entering the top 50 in the world rankings for the first time.

In August 2021, Herbert earned a place in the Korn Ferry Tour Finals and gained his PGA Tour card for the 2021-22 season. In October 2021, he won his first PGA Tour event at the Butterfield Bermuda Championship. 

And in April 2023, he won the ISPS Handa Championship.

In January 2024 he joined LIV Golf and although he has enjoyed some team success, his individual form has largely deserted him. He would love to put that right this week.

Many leading Europeans are also making the trip Down Under, including Victor Perez, Jordan Smith, Rafa Cabrera Bello, Richie Ramsay and Marco Penge in the field.

I will be fascinated to follow the process of Penge in the coming season. He is one of the biggest hitters on the planet and many pundits expected big things from him in 2024. In the end, he barely kept his card but, having done so, he will now have to decide whether to adopt a different approach to the game. He needs to learn that you simply cannot overpower golf courses - you need to find fairways to give yourself a chance of scoring well and getting into contention.

Tournament Winners:

It was won in 2015 and 2019 by Matt Jones, in 2016 by Jordan Spieth, in 2017 by Cameron Davis, in 2018 by Abraham Ancer, in 2022 by Adrian Meronk and last year by Joaquin Niemann. There was no tournament in 2020 and 2021.

The Course:

Kingston Heath is a par 72 that measures 7,259 yards. Built on the sand belt on the outskirts of Melbourne, this is a brute of a golf course with lots of bunkers, punishing rough and trees to be avoided. Missing the fairways here is NOT an option.

How to Watch:

Thursday, November 28, Friday, November 29, Sky Sports Golf, 1am, Saturday, November 30, Sky Sports Golf, 3am; Sunday, December 1, Sky Sports Golf, 2am.

Prize Money:

The total prize fund is around $A1.7m, with the winner collecting $A270,000 and 3,000 Race to Dubai points up for grabs.

To Win:

Min Woo Lee. Class act

Each Way:

Joaquin Niemann. Chasing more ranking points

Each Way:

Cam Davis. Underrated Aussie

Five to Follow:

Min Woo Lee. Exciting talent

Joaquin Niemann. Fiery character

Cam Davis. Smooth swinger

Victor Perez. Elegant Frenchman

Cameron Smith. Loves playing on home soil

Five Outsiders to Watch:

Peter Lonard. Popular Aussie veteran

Curtis Luck. Was a world-class amateur

Todd Clements. Has plenty of game

John Parry. Coming off a fine year on the Challenge Tour

John Senden. Still hits the ball a long way