FILE PHOTO: Paris 2024 Olympics - Golf - Men's Round 1 - Le Golf National, Guyancourt, France - August 01, 2024. Joaquin Niemann of Chile in action. REUTERS/Matthew Childs/File Photo
MELBOURNE (Reuters) - Joaquin Niemann and Ashleigh Buhai will defend their titles at the dual gender Australian Open in Melbourne from Thursday amid disappointment over the playing conditions and concerns over the scheduling of the women's event.
The sprawling event, which features separate men's and women's trophies, tees off at Kingston Heath and Victoria Golf Club on Melbourne's renowned Sandbelt after a bout of wet and wild weather.
Sandbelt courses are generally hard and fast, putting a premium on strategy and tactics, but players were adjusting to very different conditions at the pro-am event at Kingston Heath on Wednesday.
Former world number two Cameron Smith said the rain was no excuse for the soft conditions he encountered and blamed organisers.
"I think it's just been prepared like this for a reason and it's not how these golf courses are meant to be played," the Australian told reporters.
"It's going to be play more like an American golf course -- kind of target golf. You can land it at the pin and just kind of fire away, which is again, not the reason we like golf down here."
Governing body Golf Australia declined to comment.
Though offering equal prize money of A$1.7 million ($1.10 million) for the men and women, the mixed format has had its detractors since its first edition in 2022 following a dark two years for the local golf tour due to COVID-19.
Critics say the combined event diminishes both the men's and women's tournaments which had built their own history and identities over decades apart.
"I really believe both events would be better if they were standalone events," Australian PGA Chairman Ian Baker-Finch told a local golf podcast.
'LOT OF HISTORY'
Before COVID, the women's Australian Open was a fixture on the LPGA Tour with a February slot that attracted many of the world's best players.
However, it has not returned to the global circuit since the pandemic and its current scheduling -- coming days after the LPGA's season-ending CME Group Tour Championship in Florida -- has made it less of a drawcard.
The event is currently part of the WPGA Tour of Australasia schedule.
"I definitely think the beginning of the year works better in my schedule," Australia's twice major winner Minjee Lee said on Wednesday.
"It just works better travel-wise. And I think it's just nice to come here fresh than come here at the end of the year."
Organisers have hailed the mixed format as a success, though, pointing to strong crowds and TV audiences.
Local fans, who will converge on Kingston Heath alone for the final two days after the mid-tournament cut, may hope for home-grown winners given there have been none in the last two years.
Niemann became the first Chilean winner in 119 years of the men's Australian Open when he beat Japan's Rikuya Hoshino in a playoff to lift the Stonehaven Cup last year.
South African Buhai, a former Women's British Open winner, is double defending champion, having won in Sydney and in Melbourne in 2022.
The men's event is co-sanctioned by the DP World Tour and has drawn, and been won by, a parade of global stars including Jordan Spieth (2014, 2016) and Rory McIlroy (2013).
LIV golfer Niemann leads a modest field of international entrants this year and is well-versed in Sandbelt golf, having played the Presidents Cup at Royal Melbourne in 2019.
"It would be nice to have a good week here," he said.
"It's a tournament that has a lot of history, had a lot of big names on the trophy."
($1 = 1.5446 Australian dollars)
(Reporting by Ian Ransom in Melbourne; Editing by Peter Rutherford)
