Three 2025 Open Championship spots up for grabs at the ISPS Handa Australian Open this week

The ISPS Handa Australian Open will be held this week from Thursday, November 28 to Sunday, December 1. One of the perks for golfers competing at the event is that it is also an Open Qualifying Series event.

The top three non-exempt players at the tournament will book their spots for the 2025 Open Championship. The Major will be held at Royal Portrush in mid-July of next year.

If the qualifying spots are tied, the player with a higher Official World Golf Ranking before the start of the tournament will be awarded the spot. However, there has been a change in this rule from past occasions. The qualifying spots will not be passed on to other players if a qualifier subsequently gains entry to the Open Championship through another exemption category.

Currently, only three players are exempt from qualifying for the ISPS Handa Australian Open: Joaquin Niemann, Cameron Smith, and Jordan Smith. Niemann and Jordan Smith are exempt due to their top-25 finishes in the Race to Dubai rankings, while Cameron Smith is exempt as the 2022 Open Championship winner.

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Cameron Smith looks for his first victory at the ISPS Handa Australian Open

Cameron Smith is looking to win his maiden ISPS Handa Australian Open title. He tied for 17th in the last year's tournament.

Talking about the Australian Open, he said:

"The one I've wanted for so long."

He further said (via Golf Australia):

"If I thought about tournaments that I haven't won, probably this one and the Masters are the top two. Hopefully I can knock them both off shortly. That would be the dream."

Smith is fresh off a runner-up finish at the Australian PGA Championship, where he fell short by two strokes to Elvis Smylie at Royal Queensland. When asked about the missing piece in his pursuit of victory, he said:

"Probably just not holing the putts that I needed to hole. I mean you have to putt good, no matter what tour you’re playing on to win golf tournaments. We all witnessed how good Elvis putted that last day, and it was awesome to watch."

"That’s what you need to win golf tournaments and that’s probably it to be honest. Everything’s been solid, it just hasn’t glued for four days in a row yet," he added.

Cameron Smith will tee off with Jak Carter and John Senden at 07:00 AM local time. As per Today's Golfer, Cameron Smith is one of the favorites to win the ISPS Handa Australian Open, boasting one of the best odds for the tournament. Let's take a look at the odds of various players competing at the event (via Today's Golfer):

• Joaquin Niemann 9/2
• Cameron Smith 13/2
• Min Woo Lee 17/2
• Marc Leishman 10/1
• Lucas Herbert 12/1
• Cam Davis 14/1
• Jordan Smith 16/1
• Rasmus Neergaard-Petersen 22/1
• Victor Perez 25/1
• Elvis Smylie 50/1