Lucas Herbert, by nature, is not one to be short on competitive motivation, yet at this week’s ISPS Handa Australian Open, the Bendigo professional has numerous sources from which to draw inspiration.
Starting with matters on the golf course, Herbert is currently ranked 57th in the world, which puts him on the cusp of a guaranteed start at the 2023 Masters at Augusta National next April if he can return to the top 50 by December 31.
Away from the course, his mother Meredith was recently diagnosed with breast cancer, which is diverting Herbert’s attention as he and his father, Lyndon, help her take the necessary steps for treatment. Plus there’s his own ailment: the back injury that forced Herbert to withdraw – for the first time ever mid-tournament – from last week’s Fortinet Australian PGA Championship. Also lingering is the Presidents Cup snub he was dealt in September when he wasn’t selected for Trevor Immelman’s International side. Oh, and next Monday is his 27th birthday.
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All of which would make victory in his national championship on Sunday evening taste all the sweeter.
“I want to win the Australian Open,” Herbert said with full frankness today when asked what his driving force would be this week amid a sea of possible motivations. “I don’t want to sit on my couch and watch someone else win it.”
This week also represents Herbert’s last official start (he intends to play the Sandbelt Invitational the week before Christmas) of what has been a long and demanding 2022 campaign. So whatever happens this week will form the bulk of his memory as he sits down to Christmas lunch and reflects before soaking in the start of 2023.
“I don’t think guys are really turning up here for the purpose of world-ranking points,” said Herbert, whose best finish worldwide this year came with a share of fifth place at the Italian Open in September. “I’ve seen a few of the European tour boys out here this week already, and I could just imagine what they’re thinking of the golf courses because it’s an amazing place to play.”
But back to his motivations. Firstly to Meredith Herbert.
“She’s more stubborn than me, so I know that she’ll get through everything,” Lucas says. “Obviously me being out there on tour… we’ve had a lot of conversations about it the past couple of weeks and Mum more than anything wants me to go and play well and get my head on TV so that gives her something to watch.”
To his own health, and Herbert’s physical trainer and chiropractor have green-lighted his return to competitive play after last week’s scare. He felt pain in his back on the range while warming up ahead of his second round at Royal Queensland, but pushed on to play several holes before withdrawing.
“I saw my chiropractor that afternoon and he was very thankful to me that I did pull out because he said it was in a position that was very susceptible to doing a lot of damage,” Herbert said of his back. “So, yeah, it was the right decision to pull out despite the fact that I didn’t really want to and I don’t think anyone really wanted me to pull out.”
As for the chance to win the first Australian Open to be held in Melbourne for 20 years, Herbert views a national championship held in the nucleus of Australian golf much like when the British equivalent is held at the home of the Open Championship.
“It’s a little bit like the Open Championship and winning at St Andrews versus winning at other venues,” Herbert says. “Like, you’re not gonna say ‘no’ to winning at another venue, but it’s definitely a little more special on the Sandbelt, for me anyway, given I grew up basically around this area, and I played a ton of golf at both these golf courses.
“To win here would just be a lot more special than anywhere else where you don’t have that same connection. So it would be very cool to be holding that trophy at the end of the week.”
Like anyone present at Victoria and Kingston Heath this week knows, there is one player with a target on his back. Or, as Herbert summed up so perfectly himself by saying, “I think if you ask anyone standing around here – including the bloke cleaning that marquee over there – they will tell you that Cam Smith is the player to beat this week.”
Indeed, form and logic suggest that if you beat Smith, you raise the Stonehaven Cup.
“I don’t care whether he’s got a hangover or not, he’s probably the second best golfer in the world right now,” Herbert says. “I don’t know whether rankings are reflective of that, but he’s had the season that would prove that so he’s the guy I’ve got to beat, for sure. He’s proven that on multiple different venues, different styles of golf courses. So I don’t think it matters that we’re now down to Victoria and he’s got a hangover, he’s definitely the guy we’ve got to beat.”
