The co-hosts of the first ever joint format Australian Open in 2022, Kingston Heath and The Victoria golf clubs, are the hosts again to the ISPS HANDA Australian Open this week, but this time the roles are switched.

Play will be across both courses on Thursday and Friday, with Kingston Heath to decide the 2024 champions across the weekend.

Both 2023 titleholders in South Africa’s Ashleigh Buhai and Chile’s Joaquin Niemann are back, with Buhai vying for an incredible third Patricia Bridges Bowl in a row.

The Australian All Abilities Championship will again be held in conjunction with the men's and women's championships. Unfortunately 2023 champion Lachlan Wood has had to withdraw due to illness, meaning a new champion will be crowned this year.

Many of Australia's stars who play much of their golf internationally have returned to vie for their national title, keen to battle it out on two gems of the Melbourne Sandbelt.

2023 CHAMPIONS:

• Men: Joaquin Niemann
• Women: Ashleigh Buhai
• All Abilities: Lachlan Wood

PRIZEMONEY: $3,400,000 (M & W)

LIVE SCORES: https://www.golf.org.au/ausopen/

TV COVERAGE: All four rounds of the ISPS HANDA Australian Open is live on the 9Network and Fox Sports, available on Foxtel and Kayo.

*All times AEDT.

Round 1: Thursday, 12pm-5pm

Round 2: Friday, 12pm-5pm

Round 3: Saturday, 2pm-7pm

Final Round: Sunday, 1pm-6pm

THE COURSES

Having played joint hosts in 2022, the first playing of the joint format, Kingston Heath and The Victoria Golf Clubs are no strangers to hosting the ISPS HANDA Australian Open.

Designed in 1925 by Dan Soutar, Kingston Heath also enlisted the help of Dr Alister MacKenzie to consult on its bunkering a year later in 1926, the Heath's bunkering some of the best in world golf.

MacKenzie's influence also led to the 15th becoming a world-renowned par-3 that will be sure to provide drama and intrigue as the week intensifies.

Kingston Heath has employed OCM (Ogilvy, Cocking, Mead) as consulting architects for a number of years, and the focus has been to make sure the course remains as close to the vision of Soutar and MacKenzie as possible.

Measuring out to 6638 metres for the men, and 5937 metres for the women this week, Kingston Heath is not significantly long in modern terms but is the longer course of the two.

Without serious length and sitting on a relatively flat piece of land, the bunkering provides the Heath's primary defence, the course forcing golfers to plot their way around carefully.

Victoria was originally designed by Oscar Damman and Bill Meade in 1927, and like Kingston Heath, has been touched up by both MacKenzie and more recently Clayton.

With more elevation changes than The Heath, Victoria has some more dramatic holes, but the focus is often on the short  holes, the same as its co-host.

The first is always a talking point. At 230-metres for the men, it is a par-4 that is reachable for everyone, but a chance of an opening birdie or even eagle can quickly turn into a double or worse with the amount of trouble around the green.

The same can be said for the 15th, another reachable four, where the risk can often outweigh the reward. Closing with a short par-5, an eagle on the last at Victoria can often shake-up the leaderboard at the final hour.

HEADLINERS

Men:

Joaquin Niemann: Defending champion, PGA TOUR and LIV Golf winner

Cameron Smith: 2022 Open Champion, Captain of Ripper GC

Cam Davis: Two-time PGA TOUR winner; 2017 Australian Open champion

Elvis Smylie: 2024 BMW Australian PGA champion and 2024 WA Open winner

Marc Leishman: Six-time PGA TOUR winner, T3 at 2024 BMW Australian PGA Championship.

Lucas Herbert: 2024 NSW Open winner.

Women:

Ashleigh Buhai: Defending champion and multiple Australian Open winner

Hannah Green: 3-time LPGA Tour winner in 2024

Minjee Lee: 2-time major champion

Jiyai Shin: Former world No.1, 2-time major champion and former Australian Open winner

Steph Kyriacou: LPGA Tour player

Jenny Shin: LPGA Tour winner

Danielle Kang: Former world No.2

All Abilities:

Johan Kammerstad: Two-time AAAC winner

Kipp Popert: 2022 champion and world No.1

Simon Lee: US Adaptive Open winner

Ryanne Jackson: 2023 US Adaptive Open winner

Brendan Lawlor: 2023