Seven Australians will tee it up at LA Country Club with the dream to add the coveted US Open title to their trophy cabinet. David Graham was the first man from Down Under to hoist US Open silverware when he won at Merion in 1981. He was followed by Geoff Ogilvy, who was our last winner at Winged Foot in 2006. History tells us an Aussie victory at the US Open is unlikely—after all we’ve only scored two titles since the event’s inception in 1895. But, we all know Australians like to beat the odds. Here’s a quick look at our hopefuls.
Cameron Smith reached world No. 2 after collecting The Open Championship at St Andrews in 2022. Before that historic victory in July, The Mullett bagged the Sentry Tournament of Champions in January and THE PLAYERS Championship in March. Soon after Smith hoisted the Claret Jug he joined LIV Golf Tour, where he added LIV Chicago in September to his list of 2022 titles. He hasn’t reaped success this season…yet! However, his form indicates he is close. Last month, Smith was runner up at LIV Tulsa and finished T9 at the PGA Championship. The Queenslander’s best finish at the US Open was T4 in 2015.
Jason Day is enjoying another successful season on the PGA Tour. The 35-year-old Queenslander returned to the winner’s circle at the AT&T Byron Nelson in May. It was his first win on the PGA Tour in five years. Day has made 18 starts this season with seven top 10s. He did miss the cut at the two events he contested after his comeback victory. However, the former world No. 1 is all class. And, he does own a major title (2015 PGA Championship). Day has twice recorded a runner up finish at the US Open in 2011 and 2013.
Adam Scott is looking to earn his first ‘W’ since the Genesis Invitational in 2020. And, with the significant rise in 20-somethings dominating the game, the 42-year-old is at an age that suggests winning will be difficult. However, tour veterans the ilk of Scott have outplayed their younger rivals to prevail on the game’s biggest stages. They include: Ernie Els (aged 42), 2012 The Open Championship; Darren Clarke (aged 42), 2011 The Open Championship; Payne Stewart (aged 42), 1999 US Open; Ben Crenshaw (aged 43), 1995 The Masters…just to name some! Scott is in search of his 15th PGA Tour title and like Day, he is a major winner having donned The Green Jacket at Augusta in 2013. Scott heads to California with good form producing three top 10s from his last four starts.
Cam Davis is an immense talent in the game of golf…as he showed us when winning the 2017 Australian Open aged just 22! The gun from Sydney broke through for his maiden victory on the PGA Tour at the Rocket Mortgage Classic in 2021. The now 28-year-old is making his debut at the US Open as he looks to cement himself well inside the world top 50 (currently ranked 53). His 2022/23 season has been up and down having made nine cuts from 18 starts. However, Davis has faired very well in big events this year. He finished T4 at the PGA Championship last month after firing a sizzling 65 on Sunday. And, he enjoyed a T6 result at THE PLAYERS in March.
Min Woo Lee ranked 65 in the world, enjoys entertaining a responsive gallery. The US Open in Los Angeles is a great stage for the Western Australian to showcase his enormous game. He’s only 24, but Lee owns two DP World Tour titles, the 2020 Victorian Open and the 2021 Scottish Open. This year, the talented rising star finished T2 at the Abu Dhabi HSBC Championship in January and T6 at THE PLAYERS Championship. Lee produced a T18 result last month at the PGA Championship. His best finish at the US Open is T27 last year.
Lucas Herbert is building a sound career scoring four titles across the globe with wins on both the PGA and DP World tours. The 27-year-old Victorian claimed his breakthrough PGA Tour win at the Butterfield Bermuda Championship in 2021. He boasts three DP World Tour titles after winning the ISPS Handa Championship in April. The world No. 55 is making this fourth start at the US Open with two missed cuts and a T31 (2020) resulting from previous efforts. With much of the attention on marquee players, Herbert is very capable of sneaking under the radar and adding a major to his resume.
Karl Vilips joins the elite of the game at LA Country Club for his major championship debut. In fact, the 21-year-old amateur is making his maiden start on any of the main men’s tours across the world. Vilips, from Perth, gained entry this week after finishing T1 at the US Open Final Qualifying event staged at Woodmont Country Club with rounds of 68 and 70. In 2018, Vilips was the No. 1 ranked player in the American Junior Golf Association and he won the gold medal for Australia at the Youth Olympics. Vilips attends Stanford University with alumni that include Tiger Woods and Tom Watson.
1st Tee
11:45pm: Omar Morales (a), Deon Germishuys, Jacob Solomon
11:56pm: Ryan Gerard, Yuto Katsuragawa, Michael Brennan (a)
12:07am: Hayden Buckley, Adam Svensson, Pablo Larrazabal
12:18am: Carson Young, Dylan Wu, Roger Sloan
12:29am: Ryo Ishikawa, Kevin Streelman, Matthieu Pavon
12:40am: Shane Lowry, Justin Thomas, Tommy Fleetwood
12:51am: Sungjae Im, K.H. Lee, J.T. Poston
1:02am: Gary Woodland, ADAM SCOTT, Corey Conners
1:13am: Collin Morikawa, Max Homa, Scottie Scheffler
1:24am: Denny McCarthy, Joel Dahmen, Adam Hadwin
1:35am: Matthew McClean (a), Seamus Power, Ryan Fox
1:46am: Mac Meissner, Barclay Brown (a), Gunn Charoenkul
1:57am: Alexander Yang (a), Jesse Schutte, Andy Svoboda
5:15am: Brent Grant, Vincent Norrman, Charley Hoffman
5:26am: Simon Forsström, Carlos Ortiz, Maxwell Moldovan (a)
5:37am: Eric Cole, Thriston Lawrence, Adam Schenk
5:48am: Luke List, Wilco Nienaber, Alejandro Del Rey
5:59am: Adrian Meronk, Harris English, Joaquin Niemann
6:10am: Alex Noren, Wyndham Clark, Austin Eckroat
6:21am: Kurt Kitayama, CAM DAVIS, Russell Henley
6:32am: CAMERON SMITH, Sam Bennett, Matt Fitzpatrick
6:43am: Billy Horschel, Chris Kirk, Brian Harman
6:54am: Brooks Koepka, Hideki Matsuyama, Rory McIlroy
7:05am: Sebastián Muñoz, Nick Taylor, Taylor Montgomery
7:16am: Olin Browne Jr., David Puig, KARL VILIPS (a)
7:27am: Corey Pereira, Isaac Simmons (a), J.J. Grey
10th Tee
11:45pm: Berry Henson, Ryutaro Nagano, Hank Lebioda
11:56pm: Michael Kim, Jordan Smith, Wenyi Ding (a)
12:07am: Scott Stallings, Preston Summerhays (a), LUCAS HERBERT
12:18am: Jens Dantorp, Patrick Rodgers, Ryan Armour
12:29am: Thomas Pieters, Aaron Wise, Gordon Sargent (a)
12:40am: Bryson DeChambeau, Francesco Molinari, Tyrrell Hatton
12:51am: Tom Hoge, Sergio Garcia, Sepp Straka
1:02am: Justin Rose, Rickie Fowler, JASON DAY
1:13am: Patrick Reed, Matt Kuchar, Si Woo Kim
1:24am: Xander Schauffele, Viktor Hovland, Jon Rahm
1:35am: Martin Kaymer, Stewart Cink, Michael Thorbjornsen (a)
1:46am: David Horsey, Brendan Valdez (a), Paul Barjon
1:57am: Jordan Gumberg, Kyle Mueller, Bastien Amat (a)
5:15am: Ross Fisher, Nico Echavarria, Paul Haley II
5:26am: Nick Dunlap (a), Nick Hardy, Sam Stevens
5:37am: Taylor Pendrith, Aldrich Potgieter (a), Romain Langasque
5:48am: Andrew Putnam, Victor Perez, Abraham Ancer
5:59am: Phil Mickelson, Padraig Harrington, Keegan Bradley
6:10am: Mito Pereira, Emiliano Grillo, Mateo Fernandez de Oliveira (a)
6:21am: Tom Kim, Sahith Theegala, Cameron Young
6:32am: Sam Burns, Dustin Johnson, Keith Mitchell
6:43am: Tony Finau, Jordan Spieth, Patrick Cantlay
6:54am: Davis Thompson, MIN WOO LEE, Justin Suh
7:05am: Taylor Moore, Mackenzie Hughes, Ben Carr (a)
7:16am: Patrick Cover, David Nyfjall (a), Frankie Capan III
7:27am: Austen Truslow, Christian Cavaliere (a), Alex Schaake
Image credit: David Cannon/Getty Images
