Australian Open Golf – Who Will Finish Top?

The Australian Open golf tees off on 4th December 2025 at the Royal Melbourne Golf Club. Once referred to as the “fifth major” by Jack Nicklaus and Rory McIlroy, the Australian open will see 156 players compete over four days for the Stonehaven Cup, at The Royal Melbourne Golf Club. In this article, we will give an overview of the tournament, its history and the players to watch. We will round off the article with advice on where you can watch the tournament and offer our Australian Open prediction.

The Australian Open is the focal point of the PGA Tour of Australasia. First played in 1904, it takes place during the Australian summer, at the end of the year. The tournament’s high status is reflected in its impact on the Official World Golf Rankings, as the winning player can earn at least 32 points from this competition, regardless of the strength of the rest of the playing field. The tournament takes place from Thursday 4th December to Sunday 7th December, following two practice days and the tournament pro-am during the first part of the week. Australia is reportedly paying Rory McIlroy $2million to participate in the tournament for the first time since 2014. World Number One Scottie Scheffler is notably absent, as he has chosen to focus on US tournaments.

Course Overview

The Royal Melbourne Golf Club has 36 holes and is located in Black Rock, Victoria, a suburb of Melbourne in Australia. It comprises two courses, the East Course and West Course. The West Course is ranked number 1 in Australia, and consistently ranks in the top five golf courses in the world. The Australian Open is played on the Club’s Composite Course, which is made up of the best holes from the East and West courses.

Who are the Australian Open players to watch out for?

With such a fantastic field of players to choose from, it could be difficult to decide who to bet on at the Australian Open. In this section, we pick out some of the key players to watch, that might be worth a punt.

Rory McIlroy

World Ranking: 2

Australian Open Record: 1 win (2013)

Nationality:  Northern Irish (Add Flag)

When making our Australian Open prediction, it would be foolish to consider anyone other than Rory McIlroy as the favourite. He is a five-time major champion and earlier this year, he became the first European player to achieve a modern career grand slam and only the sixth male player worldwide to do so. This year he has won both The Players Championship and the Masters Tournament, putting him in great form going into this tournament.

Min Woo Lee

World Ranking: 46

Australian Open Record: 3rd place (2023)

Nationality:  Australian (Add Flag)

Australian Min Woo Lee will be competing on home turf and hoping to better his third place finish at the Australian Open in 2023. Currently at number 46 in the World Rankings, he has had a positive 2025 thus far, winning the 2025 Texas Children’s Houston Open in March and taking home a cool $1.7 million.

Joaquin Niemann

World Ranking: 122

Australian Open Record: 1 win (2023)

Nationality:  Chilean (Add Flag)

2023 Australian Open winner Joaquin Niemann will be back this year and hoping to win again. He is yet to celebrate a win this year, but last experienced first place success at the Saudi International almost exactly one year ago. His form has been a little shaky in 2025, but he shouldn’t be discounted.

Ryggs Johnston

World Ranking: 382

Australian Open Record: 1 win (2024)

Nationality:  American (Add Flag)

World number American Ryggs Johnston surprised everyone when he won the Australian Open last year, so could he surprise everyone again this year by repeating the same feat? At 25 years of age, he only went pro in 2024, and while he hasn’t pulled another win out of the bag since, we couldn’t not include him here as one to watch.

Karl Vilips

World Ranking: 134

Australian Open Record: First time competing!

Nationality:  Australian (Add Flag)

If you’re looking for an Australian Open prediction with longer odds, then our pick would be none other than ‘Koala Karl’ Vilips. Despite having only gone pro last year, 24 year old Vilips has had a strong start to his professional career. He won the Utah Championship and was named the Korn Ferry Tour Rookie of the Year for the 2024 season. He graduated to the 2025 PGA Tour this year, winning the Puerto Rico Open by three strokes. In light of such an impressive start, we are pegging Karl Vilips as one to watch for this tournament.

Where to watch The Australian Open Golf

If you want to see if our Australian Open betting tips have come to fruition, then you can watch the tournament in various places worldwide. Primarily, the tournament will be shown live (and free-to-view) on Australia’s 9Network and 9Now. Some betting sites may also allow punters to watch a live stream via their In-Play betting platform, but you may need to deposit funds and/or place a bet on the event before you can watch.

Prediction for the Australian Open 2025

As previously mentioned, our favourite to win the 2025 Australian Open is Rory McIlroy, and he will no doubt want to add the $2,000,000 prize pot to his multi-million dollar appearance fee. Having said that, it would be remiss of us not to consider his competition, as it is far from weak! We will look forward to tuning in on 4th December to see if Rory McIlroy lives up to expectations at the Royal Melbourne Golf Club.