LIV star Abraham Ancer targets second Australian Open win at ‘favourite’ course
LIV Golf star Abraham Ancer has revealed his dream of capturing the Australian Open at Royal Melbourne after falling in love with the tournament following his 2018 success in Sydney.
Abraham Ancer’s love for the Australian Open and Royal Melbourne has him dreaming of lifting the Stonehaven Cup at one of his “favourite golf courses in the world”.
The LIV Golf star won the event in 2018 at The Lakes in Sydney by five shots, a victory the 34-year-old Mexican still cherishes.
“All the Aussies were phenomenal with me,” Ancer said.
“It felt like I was home, even though I was far away from home.”
And to win the Open at Royal Melbourne would be an even sweeter experience.
“I’ve played at Royal Melbourne before for the Presidents Cup (in 2019), and it’s one of my favourite golf courses in the world,” Ancer said.
“It’s going to be a great experience to be back there … I love playing in Australia.
“The crowds and the people are very knowledgeable about golf. Even though they like to party, they are very respectful at the same time.”
Ancer’s preparations for the Open, which starts on Thursday, included playing in the Australian PGA Championship at Royal Queensland, where he shot a final-round 69 on Sunday to finish the tournament at seven-under.
“It’s been an interesting week. It’s the first time that I’m here in Brisbane,” he said.
“The golf course I really like. There’s not a lot of stress off the tee, but definitely you have to be very accurate with your second shots.
“These greens can be very tough, and chipping around them can be very tough with the grain. I love this kind of golf.
“Everything feels really good.”
Ancer was expecting a “firmer and faster” Royal Melbourne.
“We had a lot of rain (in Brisbane) and the course was in fantastic shape for how much water we got,” he said.
“We can’t really complain about the conditions we got. It’s phenomenal.”
Despite being heavily linked with a move to Torque GC for the 2026 LIV season, Ancer is still wearing the gear of Fireballs GC, the team captain by Spanish great Sergio Garcia.
“There’s a lot of talk, but there’s definitely nothing official,” the former world No.11 said.
“As of right now I’m a Fireball, but we’ll see what the future holds. There are a lot of moving parts.”
Ancer hopes to be allowed to play for the International team in next year’s Presidents Cup, with LIV players having been ineligible for the previous two editions of the event due to it being run by the PGA Tour.
“That would be really cool. There are a lot of us in LIV that could have the chance to be on that team.” he said.
“We’d love to play in it, but we’ll see where the future of golf goes.”
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