2013 Australian Open: Preview and predictions
The 2013 Australian Open arrives at Royal Sydney Golf Club this week to complete what has been a big month of Australian golf.
2013 Australian Open Live Scores
There are some great scenarios to ponder ahead of this week’s Australian Open at Royal Sydney.
Adam Scott is aiming to join Robert Allenby as the only player to achieve the ‘triple-crown’ by adding the Australian Open to his Australian Masters and Australian PGA Championship trophies.
After his victory at the World Cup of Golf, Jason Day will be confident of adding his name to the Stonehaven Cup, and Rory McIlroy has said he is not down here for just a holiday.
Here is what else you need to know about the 2013 Australian Open – including our own thoughts on who can win this week.
Course
Royal Sydney Golf Club has hosted the Australian Open on 13 previous occasions and this year’s event marks a return to the course for the first time since 2008, when South African Tim Clark beat Mathew Goggin at the first playoff hole. The course a tree-lined parklands style golf course and is considered one of the best in Sydney.
Check out Australian Open TV for a few great videos featuring Mike Clayton chatting about the Royal Sydney layout.
The field
We’ve got a great field this week featuring some nearly all the best Australian golfers.
Earlier this week we spoke of the great field arriving at Royal Sydney this week. In addition to the big-names of Adam Scott, Jason Day and Rory McIlroy, the field includes Geoff Ogilvy, Matthew Jones, Aaron Baddeley, Greg Chalmers, Stuart Appleby, Richard Green, John Senden, Robert Allenby and 2012 champion Peter Senior.
By our reckoning, the only big-name who isn’t here this week is Marc Leishman.
Tee times
Round 1 tee times for the Australian Open have been released with some marquee pairings that will see some big galleries on Thursday and Friday.
Adam Scott and Jason Day have been paired together in the opening rounds with Kevin Streelman completing the trio. You’ll need to be out early on Thursday to catch them, they tee off at 7:10am from the 10th hole.
Rory McIlroy is on the other side of the draw and is paired with Geoff Ogilvy and Matt Jones at 12:10pm on Thursday afternoon.
Favourites
Adam Scott is listed as the favourite ahead of the Australian Open with Rory McIlroy and Jason Day not far behind.
$3.75 Adam Scott
$7.00 Rory McIlroy
$8.00 Jason Day
Dark Horses
There are plenty of other golfers who can win this week. Given his form this year I think Geoff Ogilvy is priced a little low but he may surprise. Keep an eye on Matt Jones who has been superb during the last few months on the PGA Tour.
If you want really long odds, Jason Norris had a top-10 finish at the Australian PGA Championship and also floated around the top of the leaderboard for most of the Australian Masters. Andre Stolz won the South Pacific Championship in September and is always a chance of a good performance.
My predictions
Predicting the winner of a golf tournament is always a tough game, so you’re going to have to head to the Australian Open site for my predictions. There are predictions from other ‘golf experts’ there too.
Grab tickets of watch it on TV
Channel Seven are broadcasting all four days of the Australian Open, but if you want to go one better – grab yourself a ticket and get down to Royal Sydney. I’m predicting a playoff so it’s going to be worth being there!
Grab the free Official Australian Open app for iPhone and Android for up-to-date scores and news from Royal Sydney.
2008 Australian Open scores @ Royal Sydney
-9 Tim Clark (won in a playoff)
Mathew Goggin
-8 Robert Allenby
David Smail
Stephen Dartnall
-7 Geoff Ogilvy
Steven Conran
Chris Gaunt
Andre Stolz
-6 Richard Green
Past winners at Royal Sydney
2008: Tim Clark
2006: John Senden
1999: Aaron Baddeley (amateur)
1994: Robert Allenby
1988: Mark Calcavecchia
1969: Gary Player
1956: Bruce Crampton
1946: Ossie Pickworth
1934: Billy Bolger
1928: Fred Popplewell
1922: Charlie Campbell
1906, 1911: Carnegie Clark
