THE field for next month’s NSW Open at the Murray Downs Golf & Country Club is continuing to take shape, with LIV Golf star Lucas Herbert that latest big name to be added to an already impressive list of starters.
Herbert will join fellow LIV Golfer and his Ripper GC captain Cameron Smith for the event, along with former US Open and eight times PGA tour winner Geoff Ogilvy.
It will be a return home of sorts for the Bendigo born Herbert, having won the Murray Downs Junior Championship in his formative golf years, with the 28-year old also looking to add his first NSW Open title to a growing list of achievements.
Having already secured the signature of former world number 2 and British Open champion Smith, the addition of Herbert is seen as another major coup for the November 14 to 17 tournament.
Murray Downs Golf & Country Club CEO Greg Roberts is excited by the prospect of some of the world’s best golfers gracing the greens at one of the finest courses in the country.
“(Herbert’s signing) came about because of the nature of the LIV Tour that he and Cameron (Smith) play on and their schedule has been freed up, it’s a major coup for our club to have them both playing next month,” Roberts told The Guardian this week.
“He (Herbert) has a bit of history with Murray Downs, as a young fella he came up and played in our junior championship and won, we have a big trophy sitting in our clubhouse that already has his name on it.
“I heard him in an interview last week talking about the fact that he played at Murray Downs previously as a junior and had a bit of success here.
“With Cam Smith, Lucas Herbert and Geoff Ogilvy now all confirmed starters, the field is really starting to take shape.
“It’s blown our wildest dreams to be honest, we were already super excited about holding the third richest event as it was. Speaking with the CEO of Golf NSW, Stuart (Fraser) said this is the biggest thing that’s happened to them since Greg Norman played in the 1980’s.
“Everyone is super excited and we all can’t believe how big it is getting.
“Just imagine if we had Cameron Smith and Lucas Herbert coming down the last on Sunday afternoon fighting it out for the tournament – it would be mind blowing.”
With an $800,000 prize purse, it’s little wonder the third-richest golf tournament in the country has attracted a star-studded field, with the NSW Open preceding the Australian PGA Championships and Australian Open.
With ticket sales reaching unprecedented levels just one month out from the event, Roberts re-iterated that preparations were well underway for the event.
“We have about 3200 tickets already downloaded,” Roberts said.
“In our best estimate, if we had of got 1500 or 2000 people over the four days, that might have been a really good effort, but now we’re talking about getting 2500 or 3000 people a day.
“We could end up with over 10,000 people visiting the course over the four days, which will be huge.
“The whole community will benefit, every restaurant, pub, cafe, they’ll all be benefiting from this event.
“Swan Hill will be full and people will be looking for somewhere to stay and somewhere to eat and drink, it will be a huge benefit for everyone.
“As for the course, it’s in great shape, we have a few little things to tweak as we get closer but it’s coming together really well.
“It’s all the behind the scenes planning at the moment, our chef doesn’t know if he’s cooking for 1000 people or 5000 people at the moment.
“We met with all the team yesterday and planning is well underway, we’ll have food trucks and drink stations, additional toilets around the place, logistically it’s a huge event but it’s all coming together.
Tickets can be obtained by going to eventbrite.com.au, with Roberts imploring everyone to get behind and support what promises to be one of – if not the – biggest sporting event to hit our community.
“I think people are starting to grasp the concept of how big this event is going to be,” Roberts said.
“It’s the third largest and third richest golf event in Australia and to have it in Swan Hill’s backyard is unheard of.
“It’s the biggest thing for Golf NSW since Norman played almost 40 years ago and we would just love people to embrace it and get around it.”
