This week in Australia comes a reset. After three years of mixed-gender experiments, the Australian Open is a field only for men. Men and women playing together is great, but with it come some course-oriented issues (discussed ahead). These mixed events, like the Grant Thornton Invitational, which happens yearly, might not just be the way to go about things. And according to LIV Golf’s Lucas Herbert, it’s a change that’s long overdue

“I think the women deserve their own week,” Herbert tells Flushing It Golf. “I just don’t think it’s fair to test men’s and women’s games on the same course in the same week… I think it’s the way forward.”

The problem begins when championships modify courses to accommodate both men and women golfers. Royal Melbourne, like Kingston Heath and Victoria, is an architecturally expressive course. It can only reveal its full identity when the fairways are firm and the greens are fast. But as per Herbert, that identity gets compromised when two fields are hosted at once.

“…Sandbelt golf is always an attraction,” he said. “…Being men-only, they’re going to be able to set it up the way it should play. With the women’s event being on the same week as the last few years, it’s been tough.”

Typically, it is noted that men can tee off to a greater distance. While women generally have a more accurate shot. The difference requires the setups to accommodate different hole lengths, different rough penalties, and different pin positions. Something Herbert believes is impossible to achieve side by side on the same course. The same thought was echoed by Ian Baker-Finch, a former major winner and chairman of the PGA of Australia.

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“I think both events are diminished a little bit by holding them together; that’s just my personal opinion,” he said on the Talk Birdie to Me podcast.

The last few years, as he calls it, have been a “bit of a shell of themselves.” From 2022 to 2024, the Australian Open started a mixed-gender format. Men’s and women’s tournaments were held simultaneously on the same course. All of this was done to help Australian golf after the COVID-19 shutdown. In all honesty, Herbert doesn’t believe it’s “fair” to change the courses. The same has been noticed by other players, too.

Cameron Smith was quite blunt last year. Upon finding out that Kingston Heath has been softened, he straightaway called it “disappointing.” He criticized the setup and called it soft and slow, which he believed was completely inadequate for testing elite golfers. The officials’ reason was November’s heavy rain, which Smith thought was “bull—t.”

“To be honest…I think it’s been prepared like this for a reason, and it’s not how these golf courses are meant to be played,” he said, as reported by Australian Golf Digest. This week, at the Royal Queensland Golf Club, he missed the cut for the Australian PGA Championship. This course has also held several women’s golf events, such as the 2022 Australian WPGA Championship.

So now, when a course is going back to its original ways, Lucas Herbert thinks it’s not just going to be authentic but also commercially successful.

“…In the position that we’re at in the global game right now,” he shared, “going to a men’s-only event is going to be massive. I think it’s going to attract better names.”

The 2028 LA Olympics is also set to introduce a mixed-team event featuring one male and one female athlete from each country, competing for 36 holes. Then there’s the LPGA Tour’s Grant Thornton Invitational, where the PGA Tour pros pair up with female golfers.

A separate course for men and women golfers

This claim comes from the fact that mixed format has often seen fewer ratings and participations than individual events. If the tournaments are separated, the organizers might be able to schedule them as per the respective calendars. The Women’s Australian Open is set to be held in March at Kooyonga Golf Club in Adelaide. That will align better with the LPGA Tour calendar.

Lucas Herbert believes the women deserve their “own week.” If that happens, the tournament will get better golfers to compete and the courses will be better suited to their ability and caliber. Right now, these modifications haven’t been able to satisfy either men or women.

“It’s sad, because it would have been nice if the men’s and women’s in the same week worked, but it just didn’t,” Herbert concluded.

It should be noted that most of these observations by the Ripper GC player come from his own professional experience. Herbert is a six-time professional winner and plays regularly at championship-level courses. So, he understands the demands of the course setup.