Lucas Herbert throws his support behind bringing Rory McIlroy to play the Australian Open

Golf Australia is in the final stages of talks for Masters hero Rory McIlroy to bring the green jacket Down Under for this Australian Open.

Golf Australia is on the brink of sealing Rory McIlroy’s return to Australia, with Lucas Herbert insisting golf’s history maker could turbocharge the national championship after years of player unrest.

Herbert, who won an Asian Tour International Series event in Japan on the weekend with a store-bought putter he acquired after making a trip to visit his caddie’s pet dogs, has been the latest to lend his weight to the push for McIlroy to headline the Australian Open.

Golf Australia is in the final stages of talks for the Masters hero – who became just the sixth man to complete the career grand slam – to bring the green jacket Down Under for this year’s tournament.

The Victorian government’s tourism arm has thrown its support behind the audacious bid, which would likely have the tournament staged at Royal Melbourne.

McIlroy has been a major advocate for reviving the Australian Open and is an admirer of courses in the southern hemisphere, last year making a social trip to play some of New Zealand’s finest layouts with PGA Tour winner Ryan Fox.

Rory McIlroy is coming off a career-defining victory at the Masters. Picture: Getty

But his tournament appearance would be the biggest jolt in years for the Australian Open, which has been mired in controversy in recent years with the men’s and women’s events being run alongside each other in the same week.

The format has been scrapped this year.

Asked about McIlroy’s possible trip to Australia, Herbert said: “It will great if he comes. He’s talked about the Australian being the ‘fifth major’ a lot in the media. It’s a great time for him to take the jacket around the world a little bit.

“Selfishly, it might be one of the few times I get to test my game against his. Hopefully he does come out.

“LIV Adelaide has been such a success because it’s brought some of those world class players down where we’ve struggled to get them before. You don’t really get much more of a world class player than Rory.

“It would be a big thrill for the sport.”

Rory McIlroy hasn’t played the Australian Open in more than a decade. Picture: Getty

McIlroy hasn’t played the Australian Open in more than a decade.

Herbert continued his fine form this year in Japan – he’s currently fifth on the season-long LIV Golf standings – but hasn’t secured an invite to this week’s PGA Championship at Quail Hollow.

Fellow stars on the Saudi-backed roster below him on the standings such as Dustin Johnson, Tom McKibbin and David Puig were given invites.

Herbert said it was “somewhat frustrating” not to be pegging it up in the second major of the year, but admitted he wouldn’t be the player he was without his switch to LIV at the start of 2024.

His career surge has included a second professional win in Japan and world rankings rise to 167 – but it came after one of the most bizarre stories of the golfing year.

Herbert picked up a vintage Yes putter – a brand discontinued after being swallowed up by TaylorMade – the week prior while in Korea for a LIV event. He’d previously had a Yes putter, but an airline lost it while he travelled to the 2018 British Open.

Lucas Herbert has found some hot form after using a vintage putter. Picture: AFP

His caddie, Nick Pugh, resides in Korea and invited him to his home to meet his dogs before they walked for a barbecue dinner nearby. On the way, Herbert stopped at a golf shop and stumbled across a new Yes putter which was unused and wrapped in plastic.

“I’d heard stories about (the dogs) for about five years,” Herbert joked. “I wanted to meet them.

“I walked up to the register and put (the putter) there. He put the price up in Korean dollars. The exchange rate is so far off, I’ve got no idea how much I paid for it. It could have been $50, it could have been $500. I wasn’t really sure.

“(But) I started putting with it in the Pro-Am and it was very consistent with slightly off-centre strikes. From 20 to 30 feet, I was missing the hole by less than a cup. The misses were very, very close from that range. I thought, ‘this is interesting’. I might play this for the week and see how it goes.

“I got onto the course on Thursday and two or three holes in I was like, ‘holy s---, this thing is starting on line every time’. I was four-under after four and I said to Pughy, ‘if I can keep this ball somewhere on the golf course and in play to give myself some looks, we’re shooting 59. This thing doesn’t feel like it can miss’.

“Now we’re busy on the website trying to buy more of them and Pughy has sent his wife to the golf store around the corner to see if there’s any more.”