Golf’s great disruptor will hold events in Australia next year, but Perth has been overlooked.
It has been 48 years since the Australian Open golf tournament was held in Perth.
On that occasion, South Africa’s Gary Player emerged victorious as the Lake Karrinyup Country Club played host to the oldest and most prestigious of tournaments on the Australasian Golf Tour for the fourth time.
And while the city has since hosted a series of other worthwhile tournaments, including the Heineken Classic, the Johnnie Walker Classic and the ISPS Handa Perth International, it’s about time Perth’s golf lovers had the chance to see the world’s best in action again.
Sadly, however, it doesn’t appear the state government has the desire to bring golf’s big disruptor, LIV Golf, to Western Australia.
For those not across the details of the seismic changes happening in the golf world – likened to the changes brought to cricket by Kerry Packer’s World Series Cricket more than 40 years ago – it’s worthwhile recapping the events of the past few years.
While the seeds of change were sown in 2019 with the announcement that a new Premier Golf League would be formed, it was the launch in 2021 of LIV Golf that really set the cat amongst the pigeons.
Led by Australian golf legend Greg Norman, LIV Golf is backed by the Saudi Arabian sovereign wealth fund and is operating in direct competition with the PGA Tour.
And it’s found many of the world’s best players open to making the switch, given the money on offer.
This year’s eight-tournament series, featuring 48 of the world’s top players, offers prize money of $255 million.
There is also extra cash on offer for those who perform well across the series.
And, of course, there’s a signing bonus.
Australia’s Cam Smith reportedly pocketed $140 million just for joining the LIV Golf tour.
Norman is on the record as having stated that LIV Golf tournaments would be held in Australia.
In fact, it’s believed three tournaments are being planned for Australia in 2023.
But there has been absolutely no discussion about Perth.
Sydney was reportedly chosen for one, until Royal Sydney Golf Club refused Norman’s team access to the prestigious eastern suburbs venue during a recent planning trip to Australia.
Norman is said to have ruled the harbour city out in the wake of that incident.
Instead, it’s said he is now eyeing the Sanctuary Cove course on the Gold Coast and a course in Adelaide.
Seriously, Adelaide?
While it hurts when Perth misses out on world-class sporting events to the bigger cities of Sydney and Melbourne, or the heavily populated stretch of south-east Queensland that includes Brisbane and the Gold Coast, it’s much worse when we’re overlooked for Adelaide or Hobart.
What’s obviously required for WA to get its golf fix, and the tourism exposure that comes with such a tournament, is for the state government to get involved.
Sure, you might argue that government money could be better spent elsewhere.
But the WA government is the richest in Australia at the moment, reporting 10-figure surpluses while the other states battle with debt incurred dealing with COVID.
South Australia, which booked a $1.7 billion operating loss in FY22, is lobbying hard for a LIV tournament.
SA Premier Peter Malinauskas has reportedly met with Norman and pitched Grange Golf Club – the course at which Norman secured his first professional victory in 1976 – for one of the LIV tournaments.
Why shouldn’t Perth host the other one?
Now, there is one legitimate reason why WA may not want to tie itself to LIV Golf, and that’s because of its connection to the Saudis.
The Gulf state has come under scrutiny in recent years for a raft of human rights issues, including the way it treats women and the murder of journalist Jamal Khashoggi in 2018.
If the WA government decided that was the hill on which it wanted to die, metaphorically speaking, then that’s fair enough.
But, purely based on the sport and the international exposure it will bring, surely a LIV Golf tournament in Perth would be worth chasing?