An Oh so welcome return to glory
Su Oh has been to a dark place that most professional golfers know, but she has worked through it, and the Australian celebrated by seizing the lead in the ISPS HANDA Australian Open with a 66 at Kingston Heath today.
Oh, the 28-year-old Melburnian, wrote a remarkable comeback story with her 7-under today, a score to par matched only by South Korean amateur Hyojin Yang (65 at Victoria).
Her best friend Hannah Green shrugged off jetlag and lack of practice with an opening 67 late in the day at Kingston Heath to put herself in contention in what amounts to one of the more resilient and impressive performances of the week. She is just a shot from the lead at 6-under despite having flown in from America on Wednesday and had no practice.
Rookie professional Justice Bosio is at 5-under after a bogey-free 68 at Kingston Heath to be outright fourth.
Another Australian, Stephanie Kyriacou is among a group who are next at 4-under after a 68 at Victoria, while of the favourites, Korean Jiyai Shin (-3) is in the mix already. A tired Minjee Lee, who also only arrived on Wednesday, struggled to a 74.
A 2016 Olympian and longtime LPGA Tour player, Oh lost her playing rights in 2022 and has spent the past two years on the secondary Epson Tour in America trying to recapture her game. It has been a slow burn; she earned just $US7,414 in 2024 and finished 131st on the tour rankings and admits she “played crap”.
But she was outstanding today in the pristine morning conditions.
She credits the Midas touch of new coach Ritchie Smith, mentor to the Lee siblings, Hannah Green and new star Elvis Smylie, for the reversal of fortunes.
“I've worked really hard last few months with Ritchie and I felt like I was hitting the ball much better, so I knew it was there, but I'm very happy and proud I just did it,” said Oh. “Yeah, I think I had to dig deep and believe in what I've been practising and I'm really happy it paid off today.”
Kingston Heath and Victoria could not have been more accessible with a windless morning and greens muted by the storms of Wednesday afternoon. Oh got to 4-under at the turn and by the time she reached the 18th, she was 6-under, capping her day with a beautiful 8-iron shot to the pin cut hard right, and rolled in the putt.
The journey has been complicated. A contemporary of Minjee Lee’s (they won a world amateur championship in 2014 together, and Oh actually beat Lee a few times), she made her Australian Open debut in 2009 at Metropolitan aged just 12, and won the Australian Ladies Masters in 2015.
But she has made several changes of coach and ultimately dropped off the LPGA Tour with no wins. “Good thing I like playing golf,” she said. “I think I wouldn't keep playing if I didn't like it. It was pretty tough, but I think I'm back on the right track with a better team around me, so I definitely feel more comfortable.”
Ritchie Smith’s influence is already evident. “Yeah, I can actually somewhat hit it somewhere where I'm looking at it and yeah, he's very supportive and he knows this thing or two, obviously with the players that he already has. Yeah, I think it's been good to kind of rebuild and I've known Ritchie for a long time, so I think that level of comfort has been there.”
She also had Mike Clayton on the bag; they are both Metropolitan members and play a lot of golf together. “I'm very comfortable with him there,” said Oh. “And I was like, ‘look, I haven't been playing well, so if I hit a bad shot, don't get, don't say anything to me’.”
Her best friend Green was impressed. “I’m super-happy for her, she’s obviously had a tough couple of years so a win for her or just a great result would really help her going into next season.”
Green’s own heroics are not to be underestimated. On Monday morning Australian time she was completing her final round of the LPGA tour championship in Florida. When she finally arrived in Melbourne, a storm closed the golf courses and she missed out on her only chance to look at the venues.
Who needs preparation, then? “Towards the last couple of holes, I felt like I didn’t know where I was, and it was hard to remember what the course was like because I didn’t get to see it,” she said. “But it was obviously a really good round, I think probably because I had no real expectation. It felt a bit easier and a bit more fluid.”