MELBOURNE, 18 December 2003 — Organizers of this week’s Australian Open are hoping good golf in trying conditions at the formidable Moonah Links course will help erase the memory of last year’s controversial 54-hole event.
Former winners Stuart Appleby and Aaron Baddeley say the players will struggle to break par in the hot summer winds, choking rough and 77 bunkers on the new 6,829-meter, par-72 course at Rye, a 90-minute drive south of Melbourne.
“The biggest problem is the course is entirely new to the players. If the wind changes, it (the winner) is going to be the guy who guesses best,” Australia’s world No. 14 Appleby told reporters yesterday.
“I don’t think anyone will get under par,” added Appleby, the 2001 Australian Open champion and the highest ranked player in this week’s field. The Australian Golf Union (AGU) abandoned the opening round of last year’s event and started again the following day because of the rock-hard greens at Melbourne’s Victoria Golf Club.
Former US PGA winner Rich Beem labeled Australia the laughing stock of world golf. Beem eventually finished one stroke behind winner Steve Allan.
Players complained during the first round they were unable to keep the ball on the third green after hitting it past the pin and watching it roll back off the front.
