Golf officials ponder divisive dual-gender Open format

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Golf officials ponder divisive dual-gender Open format

Golf Australia will consider using separate courses for future men’s and women’s *********** Open championships amid growing criticism of the world-first dual-gender format.

In operation for a third year, the men’s and women’s events are both being staged at co-hosting courses with the final two rounds this year played at Kingston Heath.

The first two rounds were split between Kingston Heath and the neighbouring Victoria club on the Melbourne sandbelt.

Superstar Cameron Smith lashed officials after Wednesday’s pro-am for their “bull****” set up of the courses, claiming the traditional “hard and fast” layouts had been reduced to “*********-style target golf”.

World No.6 Hannah Green even admitted the pins had been made easier for the men to cater for the women, while other compromises include a reduced women’s field with only 30 players and ties making the halfway cut.

Not to mention most of the game’s leading female stars, including world No.1 and former *********** Open champion Nelly Korda, boycotting the tournament because of its new scheduling three days after the LPGA’s Tour Championship in Florida instead of its old February time slot.

Green and dual major champion Minjee Lee both arrived for this week’s Open jet-lagged, only the day before the first round.

After opting to sit out the Open for only the second time in 20 years, the great Adam Scott told *********** Golf Digest magazine “there is a place for different formats, but your national Open is not the place for that”.

But James Sutherland on Sunday said no decision had been made about whether Golf Australia (GA), the PGA Tour of Australasia and the Women’s PGA would persist with the format in 2025.

“It’s no secret that some of our leading men’s players don’t like the format,” GA boss Sutherland said.

“They like the date and, on the flip side, some of our leading female players don’t like the date but like the format.

“So the simple answer to that is to separate the two events and play them at different times.

“It’s sort of like the obvious thing to do, isn’t it?

“But it’s not quite that easy.”

Sutherland said the concept was initially introduced partly as a way back for both events after the men’s and women’s *********** Open were both cancelled in 2020 and 2021 during the COVID-19 pandemic.

“So financially we were in a difficult position because the events weren’t stacking up,” he said.

“We lost co-sanctioning because we lost our slot in the calendar with the LPGA.

“At the same time, the men’s event had a promoter that basically owned the rights, paid us a cheque.

“We lost that then and we had to had to start again and we had to find a way to bring it all together. At the time the women’s open was losing close to seven figures.”

With broadcasters, the corporate sponsors and even WPGA chief Karen Lunn preferring the dual-gender format, GA must find sufficient money to stage two stand-alone events, if they choose that path.

Until then, all considerations are on the table for the governing bodies – including separating the men and women on two different courses – potentially Royal Melbourne’s east and west layouts – but still running the championships simultaneously.

“We don’t operate in a vacuum,” said Sutherland, adding that all player and fan feedback were considered.

“The 36-***** venue could suit this event as in its current format better than, than two courses.

“But I guess when you’re playing at courses like Kingston Heath and Victoria, there’s very, very few players complaining about that.”

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