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When the open was played at the Heath for the first time in 1948, Ossie Pickworth and Jim Ferrier were the most likely contenders for the title. Pickworth finished his final round with a total of 289, then watched nervously as his long-time rival stepped onto the tee of the 18th hole. A birdie three would give Ferrier the title while a par four would force a play-off between the pair. Ferrier scored a miraculous par and for the first time ever, the final round of the Australian Open had finished with a tie. In the play-off that followed, Ossie Pickworth finished on top to secure his Australian Open hat-trick.
When the tournament returned to Kingston Heath in 1957, it was Frank Phillips who emerged victorious, although there was perhaps nobody more surprised than Phillips himself. He started the tournament with two excellent rounds but despite three birdies on the last three holes, he finished with a disappointing final round of 74. Convinced that his total of 287 would leave him behind the leaders he left for his hotel to prepare for his return to Sydney. Those leaders, however, were having difficult final rounds of their own. Gary Player ran up a disastrous seven at the 13th hole, Ossie Pickworth took six shots at the 17th and Peter Thomson, who had stunned the galleries with an eagle on the 14th and a near ace on the 15th, needed four putts on the 16th green. Phillips was asked to return to Kingston Heath - and to his astonishment, flew out of Melbourne as the newly crowned Australian Open champion, having defeated Player and Pickworth by one stroke and Thomson by two.
In the 1970 Australian Open, it wasn't so much the course itself but Mother Nature who provided the biggest challenge to the eventual champion. South African Gary Player, who had been a regular competitor in the Australian Open, resorted to covering his face with a handkerchief as Melbourne's spring weather caused an outbreak of hay fever. But the South African had won the tournament at Royal Sydney the previous year and was intent on repeating that fine performance. He closed out the tournament with a winning total of 280. It was the sixth of Player's seven Australian Open titles.
In 1983, it was Peter Fowler who was the surprise winner. |
Having missed the cut at a minor event in Warrnambool the previous week, it seemed highly unlikely that Fowler would be tough competition for the likes of US Open champion David Graham or in-form Australians Graham Marsh and Ian Baker-Finch. But the 24-year old player with unbelievable confidence - his third round score of 68 gave him a one-stroke lead going into the final day and when he birdied the second, third and fourth holes to increase his lead to four strokes, he was virtually unbeatable. Not even Baker-Finch's final round of 67 was enough - Fowler won the tournament by three strokes.
In 1989, Peter Senior's broomstick putter became the subject of some controversy when he became the Australian Open champion at Kingston Heath. What the critics failed to notice, however, was that it wasn't just his putter that was doing the work - Senior barely missed a fairway throughout the tournament and for the first two rounds, didn't score a single bogey. In an all-Australian finish, Senior finished with a winning total of 271, ahead of Peter Fowler and Brett Ogle. Norman failed to fire that year - a triple bogey eight at the par five 14th on the final day was only one of the disasters that beset him - but he recorded 278 when he won the title in 1995. Greg Norman stood on the edge of the 17th green at Kingston Heath and perused the putt confronting him. With a single stroke he could eliminate the challengers and secure the 1995 Australian Open title. He hunched over his putter and struck the ball, then watched as it completed its seven-metre journey. As the ball rammed the back of the cup, bounced slightly then disappeared into the hole, a familiar grin swept across the Great White Shark's face. Greg Norman had clenched the fourth of his five Australian Open titles and his first win on home soil in six years.
In 2000 Aaron Baddeley won his second successive Australian Open Championship outlasting Robert Allenby by two strokes. In 1999 Aaron won at Royal Sydney as an amateur and then turned professional and completed the double the following year. There is no doubt that Kingston Heath has provided the setting for some of the most dramatic Australian Open finishes.
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Extract from 2000 Australian Open Program compiled by Vivienne Christie |
