Cricket
Racing
Rugby
League
Motorsport
Football
Golf
Combat Sports
Basketball
Tennis
Other Sports
Sport Nation
Why having McIlroy is an 'absolutely huge' moment for Australian golf
Ciarán Mooney • May 16th, 2025 4:30 pm
Golf Australia CEO James Sutherland admits it is "absolutely huge" to have Masters champion Rory McIlroy playing at the Australian Open over the next two years.
It was confirmed earlier in the week that the world No.2 will play in Melbourne in 2025 and 2026 which is a major coup for the sport down under.
Sutherland was over the moon that McIlroy has committed.
"It's absolutely huge. It's got bigger with him winning the career Grand Slam and winning the Masters," Sutherland said on SEN's Whateley.
Sutherland admitted there was a "nervous moment" after the Masters win as they pondered if McIlroy would actually commit.
"We wondered whether things might change but fortunately for us, they were true to their word," he added.
"They were genuinely committed to wanting to come down to play in the (Melbourne) Sandbelt. Rory has always dreamed of playing competition golf here and now he is (again).
"We always monitor what golfers might say about their availability to play in other events and their desire to come and play in Australia and (Rory) being pretty consistent (around comments of his desire to play in Australia).
"Over the last couple of years, we noticed his comments about Australia, the prestige of the Australian Open and his desire to play at the Sandbelt."
Sutherland explained how the opportunity to play at Royal Melbourne got the deal over the line.
The Australian Open hasn't been played at Royal Melbourne since 1991.
"Once we made the commitment to play at Royal Melbourne and Kingston Heath, the conversation got really serious," Sutherland added.
"It immediately has a buzz around it now that Rory is playing. The attractiveness of playing at Royal Melbourne - most people on the tour probably haven’t played at a tournament at Royal Melbourne."
Whateley described the event as "the perfect combination".
"Rory McIlroy’s presence at Royal Melbourne for the Australian Open, it almost is the perfect combination. No, it is the perfect combination," he said.
He explained why McIlroy is a massive addition as the media coverage in Australia around his Masters win was unmatched.
"To put a bit of context around that, Cam Smith won the Open Championship in 2022. The media coverage and level of interest and engagement is two times what it was for Rory as what it was for Cam," Sutherland added.
Sutherland expects to see Australians turn out for their national trophy as they usually do. He expects the prospect of playing at Royal Melbourne and spots at the Open Championship to be a great combination that entices more international talent to the Sandbelt.
"Internationals from all over the world will be here and I'm sure they will be attracted to that prospect," he continued.
"There's three spots in the Open Championship, we are part of the Open qualifying series so players down the rankings or the LIV system has left them lower in the rankings and not playing majors, there's that enticement there as well."
Sutherland expressed his desire to return the Australian Open to the status it held "in decades gone by".
Listen to Sutherland below:
