Australian Open - November 17- 20

Purse - $1.25 million prize money

The footy season is a distant memory, the Melbourne Cup has been run and won and now the sporting spotlight turns to the Australian Open.

The fight for the Stonehaven Cup is first cab off the rank this season, with this year’s circuit also featuring the World Cup Of Golf and the Australian PGA.

The Course

After two consecutive Opens at The Australian in Sydney, the tournament returns to Royal Sydney Golf Club this year.

The Open was last played at the course in 2013, with Rory McIlroy beating Adam Scott on the 72nd hole in an epic finish. A two-shot swing on the final hole meant McIlroy ruined Scott's hopes of winning the final leg of the triple crown, after he had claimed the Masters and PGA in previous weeks. To view the scorecard -  Click here

The Format

72 holes of Strokeplay. The tournament also serves as a qualification event for the 2017 British Open. The top three finishers not already exempt for the major will earn a start at Royal Birkdale. 

Who’s teeing it up?

Adam Scott, the Australian Open champion in 2009, will again be the headline act and is poised to go head-to-head with Jordan Spieth this year.

Spieth will be hoping to repeat his 2014 heroics, when his final day blitz of 63 was one of the finest rounds ever witnessed in Australia.

Matt Jones will be back to defend the title he won 12 months ago when he held off a fast-finishing Scott, Spieth and Rod Pampling, who shot a scorching final round of 60.

Aaron Baddeley, the winner in 1998 and 1999, makes a welcome return after last playing the Open in 2013. Badds is usually engaged in the US at this time of year to earn some early season cash to shore up his card. But his two-year exemption after winning the Barbasol Championship in July has freed him up for a return.

Cottesloe Golf Club’s US Amateur champion Curtis Luck and Royal Fremantle's US Junior Amateur champion Min Woo Lee will tee it up along with previous Open winners Geoff Ogilvy, Robert Allenby, Greg Chalmers and John Senden.

Meanwhile, Jamie Sadlowski will have a sizeable gallery following him when he tees off in the Open, which is unusual for a player ranked 1877th in the world.The Canadian is a two-time winner of the World Long Drive Championship and has been working hard on other aspects of his game to transition into the tour professional ranks.

Sadlowski's longest recorded drive is a smoking 405m and with his length, he should be able to drive several par 4s and play some very short irons into the par 5s at Royal Sydney.

Group's to watch

The marquee groups have been announced for Thursday at Royal Sydney Golf Club

Click Players to view their profiles 

Hole 10 AM (AEDT time)

7.00 - Robert Allenby / Peter Lonard / Connor Syme am

7.10 - Jordan Spieth / Geoff Ogilvy / Curtis Luck am

7.20 - Richard Green / Mathew Goggin / Greg Chalmers

Hole 1 PM (AEDT time)

12.00 - Rod Pampling / Cameron Smith / Brett Coletta am

12.10 - Adam Scott / Aaron Baddeley / Jhonattan Vegas

12.20 - John Senden / Peter Senior / Stephen Allan

Course Information

Greens: Creeping Bentgrass and Poa – cut at 2.6 mm – Current speed 11.3

Tees: Santa Ana Couch – cut at 7 mm

Fairways: Wintergreen – cut at 9 mm

Rough: Mix of couch varieties - cut at 55 mm

Course Superintendent – Mr. Steve Marsden

For all the latest Australian Open Scores - Click here

Interesting facts

* Gary Player (1974), Jack Nicklaus (1968), Bruce Devlin (1960) and Norman Von Nida (1952) all won the Australian Open when it was played at Lake Karrinyup.

* Royal Sydney was one of the earliest golf clubs founded in Australia, in 1897 Queen Victoria granted the club its Royal 'Prefix'. 

Join the conversation #Ausopengolf