Major champ shares ‘controversial’ stance on mixed-gender event

It was the announcement that broke new ground in the world of golf. 

In 2022, Golf Australia revealed that both its men’s and women’s national Opens would be played simultaneously over the same golf courses with a shared prize pot split evenly between the two fields.

As well as the PGA Tour of Australasia, the men’s event would also be sanctioned by the European Tour for the first time, while the women’s event is run solely by the WPGA after being dropped by the LPGA following the pandemic.

The first editions of the new-look Australian Open, played over Kingston Heath and Victoria Golf Club on the stunning Melbourne Sandbelt, attracted the tournament’s biggest crowd in years, with Golf Australia chief executive James Sutherland saying it had a “resoundingly positive impact”.

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But going into the third year as a mixed event – where LIV golfer Joaquin Niemann will look to defend his title in the men’s draw and Ashleigh Buhai is gunning for a three-peat on the women’s side – there has been some pushback from notable figures.

The most prominent of which is Ian Baker-Finch.

The 1991 Open champion, who now serves as chairman for the PGA in his homeland, believes the experiment has “diminished” an event which was once described as “the fifth major” by Jack Nicklaus and Rory McIlroy and counts Nicklaus, Gary Player, Arnold Palmer, Tom Watson and Greg Norman among its former champions.

“I’ll be a little controversial here with you,” Baker-Finch said, speaking on the Talk Birdie To Me podcast. “I think it’s great that they’re doing it, I think the government’s right behind it. The best thing about it is that they’re coming to the Sandbelt, which has some of the best golf courses in the world, but I would rather see the men’s Open and the women’s Open.

“I think both events are diminished a little bit by holding them together, that’s just my personal opinion.”

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The 64-year-old’s concern is that the women’s Open has been most affected. Like the men’s Open, many legends of the game have put their name on the trophy, including Annika Sorenstam, Laura Davies, Yani Tseng, Lydia Ko, Nelly Korda and Inbee Park. In fact, you can count on one hand the number of times this century the tournament hasn’t been won by a major champion.

“I’d love to see all of the best players in the world on the women’s circuit come and play when they can in their schedule around February, March and hold the Australian Women’s Open with the best field in the world,” Baker-Finch continued.

“It’s hard to get all of the best women home when this week is the end of the LPGA Tour in America. They have to hightail it back after they’ve played, they get here Tuesday night, they’ve got to play two courses to get ready for next week, and God bless them for coming back because it’s hard work.

“That’s my personal opinion and I’m sure I’ll get a rap over the knuckles for saying so.”

Each field will play a round each at both courses for the first two days, while those who make the cut will play their weekends at Kingston Heath as they battle for the AU$289,000 first prize.

Alex Perry is the Associate Editor of bunkered. A journalist for more than 20 years, he has been a golf industry stalwart for the majority of his career and, in a five-year spell at ESPN, covered every sporting event you can think of. He completed his own Grand Slam at the 2023 Masters, having fallen in love with the sport at his hometown club of Okehampton and on the links of nearby Bude & North Cornwall.

Associate Editor