The Australian Golf Club assistant superintendent Marlon Johnston and The Lakes Golf Club assistant Michael Ervin continue their 2023 ISPS Handa Australian Open course updates as the tournament countdown continues...

TOURNAMENT BUILD BEGINS AT THE AUSTRALIAN

The bump in has begun! As we close in on tournament week, infrastructure has started to take shape across the property. Two teams of 15-20 staff have arrived on site, with one team building the larger hospitality marquees and the other building all spectator viewing structures and television towers.

Our focus for the bump in has been to manage the footprint of the two teams installing the infrastructure. The Southern driving range will host the fan village, with access from the main food and beverage area in arms reach of the practice green. The players’ lounge has been extended from the members’ café and built over the swimming pool (pictured).

Other significant structures going up in the next week will be the main entrance ticket booths, the tournament volunteer headquarters, the media centre that will be built on top of the tennis courts and the main corporate hospitality tent alongside the 18th green (pictured below). Click on the main image above to download The Australian GC tournament site map.

The excitement of the event has been elevated this week with the announcement of more Australian players returning for their national championship along with a number of internationals. Marc Leishman confirmed he will be a starter, joining a star-studded list of fellow Aussies that includes his LIV Golf counterpart Cam Smith, Cam Davis, Adam Scott, Min Woo Lee and Lucas Herbert. Last week, defending ISPS HANDA Australian Open champion Adrian Meronk, of Poland, also confirmed he will be returning. He is joined by Kiwi Daniel Hillier, who triumphed at the British Masters this year, and American duo Patrick Rodgers and Nick Hardy who will be playing in the event for the first time. Rogers has five top 10 finishes on the US PGA Tour this year, while Hardy won the Zurich Classic of New Orleans teams event in April with Davis Riley.

Gabi Ruffels and Sarah Kemp also confirmed they will be lining up in the women’s Open field, joining the likes of Hannah Green, Minjee Lee and Stephanie Kyriacou.

Marlon Johnston, assistant superintendent, The Australian GC

 

FERTILISER, TOPDRESSING FOCUS FOR LAKES CREW

The last of our course renovations have been completed this past week, bringing to an end what has been a hectic period for The Lakes crew. Just as they did last week, the crew stepped up to work some long days to make sure we got everything finished. With golf now being restricted to members only in the lead-up to the tournament, combined with a few days of miserable weather, it meant golf numbers were lower which enabled the crew to complete a number of important jobs uninterrupted.

The focus this week has been on getting fertiliser and amendments out onto the fairways, surrounds and tees. Getting it out was okay, but with The Lakes being such a large property the watering-in was the most time-consuming part. This took most of the week to do as we navigated around what golfers we did have as well as the weather. Tees and surrounds also received a topdress, as did any weaker or high traffic areas in the fairways. In addition to this, the fairways were again spiral cut in the opposite direction to last week.

Pictured right: Reconstruction works underway on the A4 bentgrass nursery; Pictured below (from left): Fertilising the 11th fairway and watering in, topdressing the 16th green surround

Another project that got underway this week was the rebuilding of our A4 bentgrass nursery green (pictured below). A third of the green was left untouched just in case we need any established bentgrass in the lead-up to the tournament. An excavator was brought in so we could dig out the rest of the green that had been used for various projects throughout the course. Once the waste was removed, a 90/10 soil was brought in to bring the levels back up. Once that was complete, amendments were added and rotary hoed through the soil, then smoothed back out again. New bentgrass seed will be soaked over the weekend and put out next week.

Michael Ervin, assistant superintendent, The Lakes GC