The Shank Show - Issue #21

Niemann and Buhai win the Oz Open amidst broadcast debacle

December 05, 2023

Joaco claims the Stonehaven Cup at The Australian Golf Club

In this Issue

  1. 🏆 Niemann and Buhai win the Oz Open

  2. đź“ş Broadcast debacle must lead to rethink

  3. 🍴Quick Bites

    • Blockie makes the cut

    • Mean Dean wins again

    • Scheffler in dominant form again

    • Fitzy rats on Morikawa

    • Rahm LIV rumours continue

  4.  đź“… Schedule for the Week

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🏆 Niemann and Buhai win the Oz Open

The Australian Open concluded on Sunday in dramatic scenes at the Australian Golf Club in Sydney with Joaquin Niemann winning the men's title and Ash Buhai taking out the women's championship. The final round produced many riveting moments in front of massive Sydney crowds hoping to see a brother-sister triumph for Min Woo and Minjee Lee. But it wasn't to be as both Niemann and Buhai prevailed.

In the men's, Woosy held the 54-hole lead, but it was Aussie favourite Adam Scott who made the first real charge in the final round. Scotty took the outright lead at -14, and only having three holes to play, he looked likely to post a competitive score as clubhouse leader. However, within the blink of an eye, his lead evaporated as he yanked his tee shot on the 70th hole hard left and out of bounds, resulting in him taking triple bogey and finishing out of contention. Enter Joaquin Niemann, who finished with a back nine 32 to post 14 under - setting the mark for the chasing pack to run down as they played their final holes 14 through 18.

Min Woo was desperate to back up his win at the Australian PGA championship last week. His desire to win in front of the huge Sydney galleries was clear, and the crowds were reminiscent of a major championship. In fact, the scenes around 18-green were very similar to the final hole at Riviera Golf Club where fans are gathered in their thousands on the hill surrounding the final green. Despite this, Woosy was unable to repeat his heroics from last week, needing to chip in for eagle on 18 to force a playoff, but coming up short. That then left Japan's Rikuya Hoshino as the final player who could upset the party for Niemann. Hoshino followed up his strong showing last week at RQ and made a clutch birdie on 17 to join Niemann in the lead. He had a birdie putt on 18 to win the championship outright but left it short, thereby joining Niemann for a playoff.

Niemann prevailed on the second playoff hole, making eagle after hitting his second shot to 6-feet. He probably should have closed it out on the first playoff hole, but missed a similar length eagle putt only to square the hole with Hoshino who made a clutch sand save for birdie from the green side bunker. The win guarantees Niemann a spot in next year's Open Championship at Royal Troon, and he is now projected to finish the year ranked 59th on the OWGR. This is slightly outside the top 50 mark, which would earn him a spot in The Masters at Augusta in April. He will have to earn some more ranking points before the March cutoff date if he wants to play The Masters, probably through some Asian Tour events that don’t clash with his LIV schedule.

For Ash Buhai, the win saw her take out back-to-back Australian Open titles and become the first successful defending champion since Karrie Webb in 2007/08. But she didn't have it all her own way as things got tight in the final stages. Minjee Lee posted the best final round of 69 but was unable to rein in Buhai and finished 1 behind. Jiyai Shin sas in contention earlier in the round but had a back nine collapse which ended her chances. The other notable international player, Jenny Shin, had a yo-yoing tournament, and looked really good in patches, but lacked consistency when it mattered.

đź“ş Broadcast debacle must lead to rethink

Despite the Australian Open being full of drama and great highlights, not much can be said for the quality of the broadcast on Foxtel, Kayo and Channel 9. In fact, the coverage was nothing short of a debacle. Here are just a few of the things that we noticed during the broadcast over the weekend:

  • Inexperienced camera operators that couldn't find or keep track of the ball, leaving viewers often unaware of where the ball had gone/finished.

  • The first 20 minutes of coverage showed no live footage of the leading groups, but instead recapped a bunch of footage from earlier in the day, often involving players that were irrelevant and not in contention.

  • The coverage started 15 minutes after the leaders teed off. Then it showed 20 minutes of guff before going to live coverage. Why the broadcast didn’t commence 15 minutes before the leaders teed off is beyond us.

  • There was no streaming option for golf fans to watch the morning groups, despite many of those groups having marquee players in them.

  • Player interviews were shown at critical times during the final closing holes of the men's event, which meant much of the coverage was delayed and not live as it was being played.

  • The commentators often were not up to speed on what play had occurred and it was clear they were playing catch up as they tried to call the feed they were getting. This was not necessarily their fault (probably more the lead producer), but it certainly looked and sounded amateurish.

The production team, which we understand to be APAC Productions, was clearly chaotic and out of its depth. APAC and its camera operatives lacked the experience and expertise to pull off such a complex and complicated event. There was simply too much going on, and this coverage debacle must surely lead the organisers, Golf Australia, to rethink the combined men’s/women’s format. Time will tell though, and we certainly don’t have a lot of faith in the leadership at Golf Australia.

🍴 Quick Bites

Here are some golf quick bites for you to snack on:

  • Blockie makes the cut - Golf Australia's social media draw card, Michael Block, surprisingly made the cut at the Australian Open, finishing 5 under the card (equal with Australian Mark Leishman and only two behind Cam Smith). We didn't see that coming, so kudos to Blockie.

  • Mean Dean wins again - Dean Burmester has gone back to back in South Africa, winning the South African Open fresh off the back of his win at the Joburg Open last week. It was a bumper weekend for LIV Golf with Burmy and Niemann winning National Opens - clearly LIV players have no issue in playing more than 54 holes.

  • Scheffler in dominant form again - Scottie won Tiger’s Bahamas event, The Hero World Challenge, by 3 shots over Sepp Straka and Justin Thomas. Jason Day, who played in this event instead of going to Sydney for the Australian Open, finished 11th in the 20-man field, but still banked some free money and OWGR points from the no-cut event. Will Zalatoris made a return after missing most of the year due to a back injury - it was a wild ride for him shooting 81-68-79-71 to finish DFL.

  • Fitzy rats on Morikawa - Collin Morikawa was handed a 2 shot penalty after his caddie was deemed to have breached the rules regarding green reading. Matt Fitzpatrick is said to have dobbed in Morikawa and his caddy following the incident.

  • Rahm LIV rumours continue - Speculation of an imminent move by Rahmbo to LIV Golf continues to circulate amongst the golfing world. This would be a monumental decision by the Spaniard, but there are reportedly 600 million reasons enticing him to make the leap. The fact that no denial has been issued by him or his team would suggest that, at the very least, he has been engaging in discussions with Norman and the disruptor league. An announcement is expected any day now.

đź“… Schedule for the Week

Your golfing schedule for the week, and how to watch is below:

  • PGAT: Grant Thornton Invitational - TiburĂłn Golf Club (Florida), $4m purse, Saturday 9/12 to Monday 11/12 - Coverage on Foxtel & Kayo, starts 4am Saturday.

  • LIV Golf: Promotion Event - Abu Dhabi Golf Club (UAE). $1.5m purse, Friday 8/12 to Sunday 10/12 - Coverage on 7+ and LIV Golf’s Youtube Channel, starts 6.30pm Friday.

  • DPWT: The Alfred Dunhill Championship - Leopard Creek CC, Malelane (South Africa), €1.5m purse, Thursday 7/12 to Sunday 10/12 - Coverage on Foxtel & Kayo, starts 8pm Thursday.

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