Herbert chasing British Open start at Millbrook Resort
John Salvado |
The tantilising lure of a start in the 2026 British Open is high up on the list of reasons why LIV Golf star Lucas Herbert made sure to include the New Zealand Open on his playing schedule.
What’s perhaps more surprising is more of the LIV crew didn’t do the same, especially as the NZ Open fits nicely between the hugely successful Adelaide event in early February and a three-week swing starting next week in Hong Kong.
From a self-interested point of view, Herbert isn’t complaining he and local favourite Ben Campbell are the only LIV regulars teeing it up this week at Millbrook Resort.
Even with official world golf rankings points on offer for the first time this year to the top 10 finishers in all LIV events, getting a start in the majors for the likes of Herbert – now ranked 197 – remains tough.
“With an Open spot (on offer to the NZ Open winner), I’m trying not to sell it to too many people,” Herbert said tongue in cheek on Tuesday.
“We kind of like that to be a little easier.”
Herbert is well aware that one of the attractions of LIV – especially for the American players not enamoured of the globe-trotting lifestyle – was a less onerous playing schedule.
“For Ben and I, we’re probably a bit more used to it,” said the Ripper GC star, who has only teed it up in two of the last eight majors.
“We’ve always had to travel our whole lives, but for these guys they’ve been pretty spoiled with playing in the US and being close to home quite a bit.
“It can be a bit of a scary thing.
“I’d love to see a lot more guys come down here; there should be more guys coming to play this event.
“But the scheduling does make it a little tricky.”
For Herbert, the scheduling is perfect.
Before the season-opening events in Saudi Arabia and Adelaide, he had only played three tournaments in five months.
Fellow Australian Ryan Peake shot 23 under to win last year’s NZ Open in a tournament where the top 15 finished 16 under or better.
Herbert was tied for 21st at 15 under after slipping off the pace in the second round.
The rough has been deliberately left longer this time around after a wet summer on NZ’s South Island.
“I don’t know that I’m the biggest fan of that generally, to make a golf course play differently for a tournament,” said the 30-year-old Herbert, who has won three times on the DP World Tour and once on the PGA Tour.
“But the trade-off for that is that we should see worse scoring than the last couple of years.
“As a golfer, once you start getting into the mid 20s under-par, is it the greatest test of golf to find a winner of a national Open?
“I think maybe you could test golfers a bit harder.”
AAP