LUCAS Herbert will make his Australian Open debut alongside two of Australian golf’s biggest names.
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Herbert has been drawn to play in the same group as Stuart Appleby and John Senden for the first two rounds at The Australian Golf Club.
The trio will tee-off at 7.15am in Thursday’s first round, one group after world number one Rory McIlroy, Geoff Ogilvy and Matt Jones.
Appleby was originally drawn to play in McIlroy’s group, but the nine-time US PGA tour winner is under an injury cloud and tournament organisers swapped him with Jones.
Herbert’s whirlwind week continued on Tuesday when he fronted the national media at The Australian to talk about his stunning performance to qualify for the Open.
The 18-year-old was driven by his parents from Melbourne to Sydney on Sunday night so that he could take his place in an Open qualifying event.
Despite the lack of sleep, Herbert shot a five-under par 67, including a birdie on the 18th hole, to earn his place in the Open field.
“It’s been such a rollercoaster where I went from being so disappointed to now being over the moon to get to play such a great event,’’ he said on Tuesday.
After playing well to tie for 11th at the Australian Masters, Herbert expects to play well again this week.
“Winning’s there, you want to do it,’’ he said. “But I’m also wary that your world No. 1, Rory McIlroy, is here, Adam Scott’s here, there’s two pretty big hurdles to jump over right there. But I couldn’t ask for a better spot for my game to be in, and I think that I’m ready.’’
Kris Mueck also has a morning tee-time for Thursday’s opening round.
Mueck, who played well to finish in a tie for 25th at the Masters, will tee-off at 8.45am alongside Thailand’s Chirat Jirasuwen and Korea’s Yi-keun Chang.
Andrew Martin starts his Open campaign on Thursday afternoon at 1.45pm with fellow Australian Adam Blyth and China’s Minghao Wang.