3 minute read

The St Andrews Old Course, golf's spiritual home, will be the venue for the sport's ninth and final major championship of the year, with seven Aussies playing.

Australia's golf aces get their ninth and last crack of the year to capture a major championship when the Women's British Open gets under way on Thursday.

Fittingly, Hannah Green, Minjee Lee and company's final opportunity for 2024 will come at St Andrews, the spiritual home of golf, where Cameron Smith entered sporting folklore as Australia's 16th and most recent major winner two years ago.

"It's a very special place obviously, just coming down the 18th hole with all the beautiful scenes of the hotel and everything. It's been very cool to play," Green said after a practice round on Tuesday.

For all their stellar efforts, Australia's men's and women's stars have fallen short in their sport's biggest and most prestigious tournaments thus far this year.

Lee frittered away a three-stroke final-round lead when a second US Open crown beckoned.

Smith couldn't buy a putt all week in finishing tied for sixth at the Masters, while Green - one of only three multiple winners on the LPGA Tour in 2024 - is teeing up for the first time since finishing fourth and agonisingly out of the medals at the Paris Olympics.

The world No.5 is eager to atone, but knows St Andrews is a vastly different proposition than the Olympic layout.

"Yeah, I mean Le Golf National is such a different course regardless because we're playing links golf," Green said.

"But I feel like I can imagine the shots with the wind that we have to play with, so that's helpful, and being a bit more creative with ball flights and actually hitting a pitching wedge instead of maybe a lob wedge.

"Things like that, so I feel comfortable in that sense, but it really depends on how the draw is and what wind direction we get.

"So hopefully it's in my favour, but I'm super excited."

Two-time major winner Lee could be forgiven for what might have been this year.

In addition to her dramatic collapse at the US Open, the one-time world No.2 also faded uncharacteristically last Sunday to tie for 12th at the Scottish Open, having enjoyed a share of the halfway lead.

Still, women's golf's sweetest ball striker can be heartened by her latest links form and buoyed by three top-five finishes from her past four British Open starts. 

Lee's putting down the stretch may again be key as the 28-year-old and fellow WA star Green spearhead a seven-strong Australian challenge featuring three-time Open champion Karrie Webb playing on a past winner's exemption.

The three major winners will be the first Australians out in Thursday's opening round, teeing off early hoping for the best of conditions. 

Rounding out the Australian contingent are Grace Kim, Steph Kyriacou, LPGA Tour rookie of the year leader Gabriela Ruffels and fellow rising star Hira Naveed. 

AUSTRALIAN TEE TIMES FOR THE WOMEN'S BRITISH OPEN FIRST ROUND (ALL TIMES AEST):

THURSDAY

4.11pm: Hannah Green, Brooke M Henderson (CAN), Amy Yang (KOR)
4.33pm: Karrie Webb, Stacy Lewis (USA), Catriona Matthew (SCO)
4.44pm: Minjee Lee, Lexi Thompson (USA), Gemma Dryburgh (SCO)
5.06pm: Grace Kim, Kokona Sakurai (JPN), Shannon Tan (SIN)
5.39pm: Gabriela Ruffels, Esther Henseleit (GER), Xiyu Lin (CHN)
6.01pm: Hira Naveed, Nanna Koerstz Madsen (DEN), Amy Taylor (ENG)
9.15pm: Steph Kyriacou, Akie Iawi (JPN), Andrea Lee (USA)