Just when it was expected to shine, Australian golf is plodding through its worst start on the US PGA Tour in a decade.
Not since 2002 have Australia’s golfers gone halfway through the regular season without posting a win.
Should the woes continue, it could be the first time in 25 years the country has gone winless for an entire season.
Since the US tour started providing proficient statistics in 1983 when David Graham won the Houston Open, Australians have won a total of 79 tournaments including six major championships.
Only 1985 and 1987 proved winless, while every season since 1989 except 1996 and 2002 (just one win) has yielded at least two victories.
The high point was 2006 when Australians won eight events highlighted by Geoff Ogilvy’s US Open triumph.
The tour has now completed 19 of its 37 regular season events and Australians haven’t really even threatened on a Sunday, apart from Robert Allenby’s eight-hole sudden-death play-off loss in a second-tier event in Mexico.
Given the hype around Adam Scott and Jason Day following impressive 2011 seasons and the great form of players like Greg Chalmers and John Senden coming out of the Australian summer, the results have been deflating.
But major champion-turned-commentator Ian Baker-Finch believes the Australian contingent will rebound.
“We are sort of hanging on for someone to do something great and it hasn’t quite been done yet, which seems a little crazy but you never know when things can turn around,” Baker-Finch said.
“It’s like the stock market – it could come back any moment. When things are slim pickings on the market, sometimes that’s the time to buy.
“It’s just one of those things. This group is by no means less talented than others we’ve had before and there are tournaments coming up with strong Aussie history so I’m sure it will turn around soon.”
Baker-Finch pointed to the upcoming month with The Players Championship, Byron Nelson, Colonial and Memorial tournaments all having a rich Australian history.
But Baker-Finch is thinking even bigger, believing the remaining three majors of the year should suit the Aussies.
The US Open will be held at The Olympic Club in San Francisco, the British Open at Royal Lytham and St Annes in England and the PGA Championship at Kiawah Island in South Carolina.
“Olympic Club is a really tough golf course that should suit a guy like Geoff Ogilvy who has won a US Open before on one of the world’s toughest course in Winged Foot, and Adam Scott also plays well on tough courses,” Baker-Finch said.
“Lytham and St Annes is a place Australians have done well at in the past and Kiawah Island is a place Aussies should do well at with the coastal atmosphere and windy, firm conditions.
“And if we win a major, then it will be a great year.”
