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Matt Cleary
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Thanks, Champion: superstar thrills us to the end
He couldn't come back from seven shots down, he couldn't surge up the leaderboard, and he couldn't make off with his second Stonehaven Cup. But the great Rory McIlroy gave fans plenty in his final hit-out at Royal Melbourne and the fans gave him plenty back.
7 Dec 2025
Cleary: McIlroy shoots 68 as the golf gods go crazy
Rory McIlroy has battled heat, wind, rain, clutching ti-tree and children squealing like banshees for his autograph. Yet nothing in his long career could have prepared him for what the golf gods threw at him in round three of the Australian Open at Royal Melbourne.
6 Dec 2025
Hoffman: Royal Melbourne not enough to entice PGA Tour stars
With Rory McIlroy locked in for two years and lauding the Australian Open and our Sandbelt gems, will it entice his fellow PGA Tour stars to contest our national crown? To paraphrase and Australianise one PGA Tour veteran, yeah-nah.
5 Dec 2025
Periscopes up! A morning with the masses and the marquee group
Matt Cleary was out early among the teeming masses at Royal Melbourne, straining on tippy-toes to see the great one, Rory McIlroy, take on the course he rated top 10 in the world but not the best course in Melbourne. And despite McIlroy's card looking like an 18-marker's in a par-comp, the appreciative galleries took Cleary back to simpler times...
4 Dec 2025
Cleary: The Master cometh, but the Aussie to beat him is...
It is a fraught pursuit, golf tipping; the fields are the size of six Melbourne Cups, “exposed form” is fractious, and conditions can be diametrically different for morning and afternoon players. This hasn't stopped Deputy Editor Matt Cleary from ponying up (and no doubt mocking to death) his tip to beat the Master, Rory McIlroy, in this 2025 Australian Open.
3 Dec 2025
Cleary: The Aussie is back and it never went away
Australia's great tournament is back on Australia's great golf course, and they'll be hanging from the trees for a look, writes Matt Cleary.
2 Dec 2025
Special K: Kazuma's battle with golf's big bombers
For perhaps 63 of 72 holes of the PGA Championship this week, Kazuma Kobori, the shortest-hitter on the DP World Tour, was a genuine contender. He faded out with a four-over 75 yet he remains a fascinating man to watch play golf, as Matt Cleary did at Royal Queensland on championship Sunday.
30 Nov 2025
Course Review: Murrumbidgee Country Club
Matt Cleary reviews a Canberra bush beauty, Murrumbidgee Country Club, nourished by a famous river and nestled among snow-capped Brindabellas.
30 Nov 2025
Min Woo Lee inspires awe in Chef Army with thrilling 67
He left a couple out there on his way to four-under 67 but much of Min Woo Lee's play was thrilling indeed, inspiring something close to awe among the beery, cheery followers in this man's Chef Army.
29 Nov 2025
Kazuma Kobori a surprised leader at halfway mark of PGA Championship
Kiwi Kazuma Kobori leads the Australian PGA Championship after finishing with four straight birdies and shooting 8-under 63 in round two of the tournament at Royal Queensland.
28 Nov 2025
Cleary: Ryan Fox's golf swing a work of brutalist art
Ryan Fox's golf swing is a brutal work of art, according to our man Matt Cleary, and for most of Friday he was one off the lead. While a late stutter saw him drop to five-under and five behind leader and fellow Kiwi, Kazuma Kobori, at the halfway mark of the Australian PGA Championship at Royal Queensland, Fox remains one to watch.
28 Nov 2025
Revealed: why actor Michael Peña buys Golf Australia magazine in airports
Deputy Editor Matt Cleary strolled the back nine of Royal Queensland with actor Michael Peña, who is in Brisbane to shoot an action movie with Chris Hemsworth and compete in the Pro-Am of the Australian PGA Championship. On the way around, the Chicago native revealed a very good golf game, a garden variety golf addiction, and that whenever he's in an Australian airport, he is compelled to purchase the latest issue of Golf Australia magazine.
28 Nov 2025
Cleary: Class permanent for Cool Hand Cam
Our man Matt Cleary followed Cameron Smith for 18 holes in round one of the PGA Championship on Thursday, and observed that while the man's mid-iron play isn't (yet) laser-guided, his short game garnered him six up-and-downs, two sand saves, four birdies, and a score of two-under 69 in the wind at Royal Queensland.
27 Nov 2025
The Nomad: Connor McKinney coming in hot to RQ
Connor McKinney was born in Scotland, raised in Australia, and has an accent that hints at both countries, and even a couple others. Regardless, after thriving over three brutal stages of Q-School, we can and will claim him as "our" latest DP World Tour card carrier.
26 Nov 2025
Barnbougle Dreamin': They built it, they came, they're still coming
Tasmania, as you may have noticed, is the land of “build it and they will come”. And on the back of the ethos, almost while we weren’t looking, Tasmania could have, in the next few years, potentially, subjectively, in the way of these things, five of Australia’s top-10 golf courses. Tasmania has it going on.
13 Nov 2025
Yorke Peninsula Revelation: Copper Club at The Dunes Port Hughes
For eastern and western staters, the charming coastal townships of Wallaroo and Port Hughes, two hours north of Adelaide on the Yorke Peninsula, can be a revelation. Fine food, beaches, fishing, history - and a nine-hole golf course designed by a legend.
12 Nov 2025
Golf, Riesling and Ceviche Dreams
Food, wine and golf combine in South Australia’s Clare Valley, where ceviche with a twist, crisp Riesling and rolling fairways offer a feast for the senses. Join us on a delicious journey through pubs, vineyards and fairways.
12 Nov 2025
Cleary: Reigning champion brushes Australia, nation passes beer nuts
Reigning champion Ryggs Johnston won't be defending the 2025 Australian Open, opting instead to play in South Africa. Yet this is not the worst thing, according to Matt Cleary, who says the national title loses nothing in terms of entertainment, interest, prestige, pulling power, news value, fun, charisma, and most if not all other markers.
10 Nov 2025
"I closed my fingers on his windpipe. He was turning blue when the police turned up"
With the summer of golf upon us and Brisbane set to host the state and national PGA Championships, we recall Norman Von Nida's defeat of a seven-time major champion at Royal Queensland in 1932. Six years later, Matt Cleary's great uncle beat The Von.
24 Oct 2025
Golf, NRL and Las Vegas Equals Good Times In The Badlands
Attending the NRL’s Las Vegas annual season-opening showcase is wild enough, but the real fun begins when fans swap jerseys for golf clubs. From Wolf Creek’s cartoon-esque chaos to Cascata’s desert elegance, Nevada’s golf delivers big hits, bold curves and unforgettable thrills.
22 Oct 2025
19 Holes With... Clint Rice
In a professional golf career that's spanned 22 years, Clint Rice followed in the footsteps of Mat Goggin, shared a dressing room with Greg Norman, and road-tested Barnbougle when it was a donger and a dream. Today he's known by a whole other strata of society as an “intruder” on a TV show about getting married without having met one's wife. All of which makes him good fodder for our "19 Holes With" treatment, and fine company for golf and a bottle of pinot noir, according to Deputy Editor, Matt Cleary.
15 Oct 2025
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