7 Things to Watch Out for at the 2024 Australian Open

The 2024 Australian Open tees off this week across Kingston Heath and Victoria Golf Clubs, showcasing Australia’s famed sandbelt courses. With the Men’s, Women’s, and All-Abilities championships running concurrently, there’s plenty for Australian golf fans to keep an eye on.

To start with you should be grabbing yourself a ticket and heading along. Wander the incredible golf courses up close to the world’s best golfers, and when you need a break, head the 19th Hole Fan Village – always a great vibe at our national Open.

If you can’t get to Melbourne, make sure you tune to watch on 9HD, 9GEM, Foxsports and Kayo – full Australian Open TV Times here.

But there are a few more specific things you should be across before it all tees off on Thursday. Let’s start with our picks for both the men’s and women’s Australian Open.

1. Cam Davis

Cam Smith, 2023 winner Joaquin Niemann and Min Woo Lee are the three stand-out favourites to win this week. But we think Cam Davis is the player to watch in the men’s field. He arrives at the Australian Open after an up-and-down finish to the year, including some missed cuts but also a promising T6 result at last week’s Australian PGA Championship in Queensland. His familiarity with the sandbelt, highlighted by his 2022 Sandbelt Invitational victory, makes him our pick.

2. Grace Kim

Grace Kim finished T7 at the 2023 Australian Open in Sydney at looked composed coming down the stretch. Finishing the LPGA season with a string of good finishes including four top-25 finishes in her last seven starts, we think she can rise to the big occasion on home soil this week.

3. The Sandbelt Golf Courses

It’s a great thing not just to have Australia’s biggest golf tournament back on our best golf courses, but have them on full display to a wider international audience. Rory McIlroy supposedly said he would play the Australian Open again if it was down on the sandbelt – he’s heading to NZ in December on a mates golf trip, not sure why he isn’t here this week!

But don’t take my word for it, we’ll leave that to perhaps the person who knows the most about Australia’s sandbelt golf courses – Mike Clayton:

“The real stars this week, however, are the two golf courses and they don’t cost anything aside from a fee to cover the inconvenience to setting the whole show up.

Indeed, if the courses put their hands up for an appearance fee, it’d be well north of a million dollars if the rate of two top 100 players in the world is the measure. (Kingston Heath is rated 22 in the world and Victoria 96.)”

4. Hot Dub Time Machine

If you happen to be at Kingston Heath on Saturday, the Hot Dub Time Machine is taking over the 19th hole in the Fan Village late afternoon!

5. Johan Kammerstad

Johan is a two-time winner of the all-abilities Australian Open which runs concurrently from Thursday to Saturday. We expect England’s Kipp Popert to claim a second #AusOpenGolf trophy this week he has won at these venues in 2022, but give a shout out to Johan Kammerstad if you’re around. One of the nicest blokes on and off the golf course – and my son still wears the cap he gave him after he claimed victory in Sydney in 2019. It did the trick getting him into golf.

6. The 15th Hole at Kingston Heath

While it’s obvious both golf courses are full of great, world-class golf holes, we wanted to make a special point about the par-3 15th hole at Kingston Heath. It’s one of the best par-3s in the world, and definitely the best uphill par 3 on the planet. Go watch the pros try and tame it.

7. Marquee Groups

The Australian Open tee times have been released and of course there are a bunch of marquee groups to keep an eye on. But our pick would be the 12:16 pm group at Kingston Heath that includes Grace Kim (our pick for the win), Greg Norman medal winner Hannah Green, and two-time Australian Open champion Ashleigh Buhai. Just ahead of them, Min Woo Lee, defending champion Joaquin Niemann, and Jordan Smith will tee off, with all three having strong chances to contend this week.