The months of discussions between Golf Australia, Victorian government and the McIlroy team that secured Rory for Aus Open
Securing Rory McIlroy for the next two Australian Opens was a massive win for Australian Golf. But how did we get there? And will the cost be worth it?
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When a frustrated Cameron Smith had finished his final round at last year’s Australian Open, he got in a car and drove his then pregnant wife, Shanel, to Melbourne Airport.
It had been a week in which Smith had been front and centre of most headlines: calling out the course set-up with men and women being forced to play the same venue at the one time, venting about pace of play warnings given to his group, then bombing out of contention as he chased a first Stonehaven Cup victory.
But as he drove across the city with his clubs barely back in the bag, he had a phone call with Golf Australia chief executive James Sutherland. This time, there were no cameras in his face or voice recorders under his nose. Smith loves the Australian Open and its courses – and wanted so much more for it.
The pair spoke about the frustrations that had been building for years within the playing cohort towards Australia’s national championship, to the point where many of the top men were reconsidering whether they would return for a dual format event again. Adam Scott had already taken the year off and criticised experimenting with the concept at a national open.
Almost within days of last year’s tournament, Sutherland knew they had to unbundle the controversial format designed to make the women’s event, losing up to $1 million per year, sustainable.
Now, Golf Australia needed to revitalise its flagship tournament, one which has been crippled commercially in recent years by losing two tournaments due to Covid, and its disadvantage at not being a sport like cricket or the major football codes which derive huge money from television deals.
Enter Rory McIlroy.
It’s hard to undersell how much his signature means to the Australian Open, which will be played at Royal Melbourne in December, and Kingston Heath next year. McIlroy commands a significant seven-figure appearance fee, but given his standing in the sport and fresh off an emotional Masters win which made him just the sixth man to complete the career grand slam, he will be worth every cent.
But just how did they hook him?
Conversations between Australian Open officials, led by former DP World Tour executive Antonia Beggs, who briefly worked underneath Sutherland at Cricket Australia, had been ongoing for months before Rory’s Masters-piece.
Beggs has known McIlroy and his team since he was a child prodigy. She worked on the Irish Open which gave the teenager a start while an amateur, has run tournaments hosted by McIlroy’s foundation and was even in the same team room as him when Jose Maria Olazabal told his European players “Seve is with you” before the last day “Miracle at Medinah” in the 2012 Ryder Cup.
On McIlroy’s first Irish Open appearance, Beggs joked: “It absolutely poured with rain and it was a disaster. Everybody missed the cut that was not meant to miss the cut. I’d been slogging it out for months to get it ready – and it was just awful. We had six course evacuations in one day.
“But one of the highlights was Rory and how he played. Everyone was like, ‘this kid is going to be unbelievably special’.”
When she was appointed head of the Australian Open in late 2023, one of the first things Beggs did was text McIlroy’s longtime manager, Sean O’Flaherty. They kept the dialogue going, and when McIlroy made a social trip to play New Zealand’s finest courses with PGA Tour winner Ryan Fox late last year, she messaged O’Flaherty again: “Does Rory want to pop into Royal Melbourne?” He didn’t, but the seed was sewn.
The positive conversations reached a critical point in the lead-up to Augusta National in April, albeit there was no deal signed. Sutherland met with O’Flaherty during the second round in which McIlroy surged into contention with a six-under 66.
Augusta National prohibits anyone from using phones on its property, sans the lavish mansion for working media. So, the course’s Big Oak Tree is a melting pot and meeting spot for the who’s who of world golf who can’t communicate via phone. Under the shade of the tree, Sutherland stressed to O’Flaherty the desire to have McIlroy play his first professional tournament on the Melbourne sandbelt.
“Win, lose or draw this week, he wants to go to Australia this year,” O’Flaherty told him.
But by the time McIlroy crumpled to the ground and wept on the 18th green after outlasting Justin Rose in a playoff to join golf’s most exclusive club, Sutherland was worried. He didn’t watch the final putt in person, instead tens of thousands of feet in the air while flying from Augusta to Dallas on the way back to Australia.
“It was a surreal experience as everyone on the plane had their iPad or phone and were watching it live,” Sutherland says. “And everyone was slightly differently synced. You would hear these emotions - groans and even claps and cheers – and you would think, ‘am I 10 seconds ahead or 10 seconds behind? Do I know what’s going on or not?’
“I think my immediate thought (when McIlroy won) was, ‘wow, imagine if we can get him’. Then you think this will change everything.”
Said Beggs: “Half of me is going this could be unbelievable, the other half is going we could lose him. I wanted him to win (the Masters) more than him not playing the Australian Open, if that makes sense. He deserves all of this and more.”
But to make the money work, Sutherland and Golf Australia needed help.
Jacinta Allan’s Victorian government has been under mounting public pressure to rectify the state’s budget, but their tourism arm had a clear message for Golf Australia: if you get Rory, this will be sent up the chain quickly.
Golf Australia had already given a commitment to Kingston Heath they would host the 2026 Australian Open if it was in Melbourne, and then they had to set about locking in Royal Melbourne this year.
For days after McIlroy won the Masters, Beggs and Sutherland didn’t hear a word from his camp. But then Beggs’ phone pinged with a message from O’Flaherty while she was on a Sunshine Coast course for a charity day.
“I wanted to tell everybody, but I knew I couldn’t say a word because it would get out,” she said. “Our prize fund is not extortionate and we don’t have loads of cash. But we have great courses and I guess these things start 20 years ago, to then be able to do the messages and then properly talk.”
The Australian Open had its biggest ever day of sales after McIlroy’s appearance was confirmed on Wednesday. Beggs has already visited Royal Melbourne again this week to see how they can fit as many people in as possible, the jolt the Australian Open desperately needs.
Will McIlroy bring the green jacket to Australia, ala Adam Scott in 2013?
Augusta National needs to give permission for any of its winners to wear the most famous piece of golf clothing in public. It’s not known yet whether they will green light the excess baggage for McIlroy.
But for now, the man himself will be more than enough.
Originally published as The months of discussions between Golf Australia, Victorian government and the McIlroy team that secured Rory for Aus Open
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