Massive lifts in TV ratings and crowds for the Australian Open

Massive crowd increases and a huge TV ratings surge have made the Australian Open a golf tournament in demand.

Huge crowds watched Joaquin Niemann win the Australian Open. Picture: Matt King/Getty Images

The decision over the location for the 2024 Australian Open looms as one of the most important in recent history to seize on huge TV ratings and attendance spikes recorded for last weekend’s event in Sydney.

A move to Melbourne for the dual-gender event remains likely after the end of an eight-year agreement with the NSW government and Golf Australia officials are in negotiations to secure the next venue.

Figures released on Thursday revealed a massive 187 per cent increase on free-to-air TV ratings for last Sunday’s final round of the Australian Open, won by Chilean LIV star Joaquin Niemann.

The final day’s played delivered an average audience of 438,000 viewers as veteran Aussie star Adam Scott made a last-round charge and emerging superstar Min Woo Lee fell agonisingly short of back-to-back wins after taking out the Australian PGA in Brisbane the week before, with another 100,000 watching on Foxtel.

Crowds for the Australian Open, played across The Lakes and The Australian in Sydney, were also up 12 per cent on the previous year when the inaugural dual-gender Open, with the men’s and women’s events played across the same courses at the same time, were held at Kingston Heath and Victoria Golf Club in Melbourne.

More than 110,000 fans attended both the Open and PGA, which will remain at Royal Queensland in 2024, with a Sunday spike of 27 per cent on the 2023 event.

Man of the people, @Minwoo27Lee ✍️🇦🇺#AusOpenGolfpic.twitter.com/q3jREDMhKr

— Australian Open (@AusOpenGolf) December 3, 2023

Despite the bulging crowds, a return to Victoria looks likely for the Australian Open, with calls for the event to be held at a venue that boasts 36 holes and can better accommodate the two events.

Both Royal Melbourne and Peninsula-Kingswood have that capacity.

Golf Australia chief executive James Sutherland called the numbers “exceptional” and said the increasing quality of the fields, with the men’s events co-sanctioned with the DP World Tour, was crucial to ongoing success.

He said there were “serious conversations” being had around the next venue and it was “no secret” bids by government could determine where it lands.

“We’re in conversations with others and we’re very conscious it’s an Australian Open, and we want to share it around the country,” he said.

“I think we’re also conscious NSW, in particular, has been a great supporter, and Victoria more recently. We know there’s a lot of interest in other parts as well.”

Most players expect the Open to move to Victoria for more than one year to take the event to some of Australia’s best courses in the Melbourne sandbelt.