Ranking Australia’s best links players at the Open Championship this century.
Ranking Australian golfers who have played in the Open Championship is a complex task. Links golf, and The Open in general, is about accepting what Mother Nature has to offer on any given day, or week. It’s about attacking a golf course when the weather is calm and when the shot calls for it. And, above all, it’s about using one’s imagination on every shot.
The best example we have among Australian pros since the beginning of the millennium is undoubtedly Cameron Smith’s putt around the Road Hole bunker on the 71st hole of his Open Championship win at St Andrews. Smith could have chipped his ball over the dreaded pot, but instead chose to use the contours of the fairway around it to navigate a putt as close to the hole as he could, which he accepted was 15 feet. Smith nestled it up to 10 feet with daring nerve and incredible touch, drained the subsequent putt for par and eventually won the 150th Open by one shot. It was poetry in motion.
So it seems ridiculous to think there’d be an answer other than “Cameron Smith” when asking the question: who has been the best Australian links golfer since 2000? The Queenslander is the only golfer to have won the claret jug in that span. But if we consult the boffins at ShotLink, the PGA Tour’s data arm, the numbers suggest otherwise. The best is, in fact, Adam Scott, who has played in every Open Championship held since he came through regional and final qualifying for the 2000 Open at St Andrews. If it weren’t for the cancelled 2020 Open, this year would be Scott’s 25th straight start.
To give us a big enough sample size, we used the criteria of a minimum of eight Open Championships played, or a victory (otherwise Smith would have been ruled out and that would have been foolish). From there, we analysed the number of wins (obviously, only Smith), seconds, thirds, top-10s, scoring average, rounds in the 60s, career low round, average 72-hole score relative to par and best Open result.
Scott, who will play in his 24th consecutive Open at Royal Troon this month, topped all the categories except one: winning. Still, he remains our best links player this century. There were some surprises, in addition to the fact Smith was not the definitive best. Geoff Ogilvy’s record was surprisingly poor considering he won a US Open and was one of the top players during Tiger Woods’ prime. He made the cut only five times in 12 Opens, and his best result was a T-5 at the 2005 Open at St Andrews.
Let’s look at all the candidates:
1. Adam Scott
Scott had an incredible run where he held at least a share of the back-nine lead on Sunday in three of four Opens from 2012 to 2015. In 2012, he infamously held a four-shot lead with four holes to play and made a quartet of bogeys to hand the claret jug to Ernie Els. A year later, he was tied for the lead on the homeward nine when Phil Mickelson came from the clouds to win his first Open Championship, and two years later he made three bogeys and a finishing-hole double-bogey after sharing the lead with eight to play. But Scott’s longevity is evident in his numbers. He has made the cut in 78 per cent of the Opens he has played in, while his cumulative score is still under par despite playing in some horrific weather editions like 2002 at Muirfield, 2015 at St Andrews – which was pushed to a Monday finish – and Royal Portrush in 2019, to name just a few. He has carded 20 rounds in the 60s and finished second in 2012.
Opens played: 23 (18 cuts made)
Rounds: 82
2nd: 1
3rd: 1
Top-10s: 5
Average: 71.29
Rounds in the 60s: 20
Low round: 64
Average total to par: –0.7
Best Open finish: 2nd (2012)
2. Cameron Smith
No surprises here, with Australia’s only winner of the Open Championship this century. Smith’s final-round 64 was the equal-lowest final round by a winner and his closing nine of 30 was an outright record. Smith has a smaller sample size than his peers, and his record outside the 150th Open is not crash hot – he doesn’t have a top 10 outside the victory. Hence why we’re ranking him second despite owning a claret jug.
Opens played: 6 (5 cuts made)
Rounds: 22
2nd: 0
3rd: 0
Top-10s: 1
Average: 70.77
Rounds in the 60s: 8
Low round: 64
Average total to par: –2.4
Best Open finish: Win (2022)
3. Marc Leishman
Who could forget Leishman, only months after nearly losing wife Audrey to toxic shock syndrome, making a playoff with Zach Johnson and Louis Oosthuizen at St Andrews in 2015? It was The Open that got away from Leishman, but his results have been consistent in the links major. He’s fired an impressive 11 rounds in the 60s and has an average total to par better than Smith.
Opens played: 11 (6 cuts made)
Rounds: 34
2nd: 1
3rd: 0
Top-10s: 3
Average: 71.56
Rounds in the 60s: 11
Low round: 64
Average total to par: –2.6
Best Open finish: T-2 (2015)
4. Jason Day
Fourth might come as a surprise for some. For a dominant world No.1 in his prime, Day had a surprisingly poor record – aside from a T-4 in 2015 – at The Open until a T-2 at last year’s edition at Royal Liverpool. He shared second behind Brian Harman and in doing so locked up runner-up finishes in all four majors. A month before his breakthrough major win at the 2015 PGA Championship, Day left a putt short on the 18th that would have put him in that playoff with Leishman and co.
Opens played: 11 (9 cuts made)
Rounds: 40
2nd: 1
3rd: 0
Top-10s: 2
Average: 71.30
Rounds in the 60s: 8
Low round: 65
Average total to par: +0.3
Best Open finish: T-2 (2023)
5. Stuart Appleby
Appleby owns somewhat of an unwanted record at The Open: he was part of the only four-man playoff in its history. Only thing he is, he lost that playoff. Appleby was tied in regulation at the 2002 Open at Muirfield with Ernie Els, Thomas Levet and Steve Elkington. (Incidentally, Levet told your correspondent at the 2022 Open that the four should have been sent out together, and that being sent out in twosomes might have affected the result.) Regardless, Appleby was a fine links player with most of his cuts made, a runner-up and five rounds in the 60s.
Opens played: 13 (9 cuts made)
Rounds: 44
2nd: 1
3rd: 0
Top-10s: 1
Average: 72.64
Rounds in the 60s: 5
Low round: 65
Career to par: +3.3
Best Open finish: T-2 (2002)
6. Geoff Ogilvy
As mentioned earlier, Ogilvy’s record at The Open was disappointing considering he grew up on the Melbourne Sandbelt and knew how to play the ball on the ground. More importantly, he won a US Open at Winged Foot, eight PGA Tour titles and three WGCs in the Woods era. How did he not fare better at The Open? Seven missed cuts from 12 Opens and a best result of T-5 mixed to rank Ogilvy sixth in our books.
Opens played: 12 (5 cuts made)
Rounds: 34
2nd: 0
3rd: 0
Top-10s: 2
Average: 72.94
Rounds in the 60s: 8
Low round: 67
Average total to par: –1.6
Best Open finish: T-5 (2005)
7. Robert Allenby
A respectable record from Allenby, a four-time PGA Tour winner who never quite caught fire at The Open. His 14 rounds in the 60s and 13 from 17 cuts made were impressive, but a best finish of T-7 held him back here.
Opens played: 17 (13 cuts made)
Rounds: 60
2nd: 0
3rd: 0
Top-10s: 2
Average: 72.24
Rounds in the 60s: 14
Low round: 66
Average total to par: +3.5
Best Open finish: T-7 (2008)
8. Peter Lonard
A decent sheet from Lonard, with only one missed cut at The Open in eight starts and a scoring average of 72.43.
Opens played: 8 (7 cuts made)
Rounds: 30
2nd: 0
3rd: 0
Top-10s: 0
Average: 72.43
Rounds in the 60s: 6
Low round: 68
Average total to par: +4.2
Best Open finish: T-14 (2002)
9. John Senden
Consistency was the key for Senden, with the Queenslander making six of nine cuts and having a scoring average of 72.27.
Opens played: 9 (6 cuts made)
Rounds: 30
2nd: 0
3rd: 0
Top-10s: 0
Average: 72.27
Rounds in the 60s: 4
Low round: 65
Career to par: +1.1
Best Open finish: T-34 (2012)
T-10. Rod Pampling
Pampling’s record was only mildly better than Baddeley’s, with four cuts made from nine starts and only two rounds in the 60s.
Opens played: 9 (4 cuts made)
Rounds: 26
2nd: 0
3rd: 0
Top-10s: 0
Average: 73.54
Rounds in the 60s: 2
Low round: 68
Career to par: +2.7
Best Open finish: T-27 (2004, 2007)
T-10. Aaron Baddeley
A lacklustre record at The Open for such a wildly talented player, with only two made cuts. Oddly, Baddeley’s best round came on the final day of his most recent appearance, in 2017. He shot a closing 64 and hasn’t qualified again since.
Opens played: 8 (2 cuts made)
Rounds: 20
2nd: 0
3rd: 0
Top-10s: 0
Average: 73.2
Rounds in the 60s: 2
Low round: 64
Career to par: +5.5
Best Open finish: T-27 (2017)
Getty images: Augusta National, Icon Sportswire, Ross Kinnaird, Christian Petersen, Warren Little, Rob Tringali, Andrew Redington, Stuart Franklin
