July 23rd, 2026 <\/p>\n
\n By Australian Golf Digest <\/p>\n
Cameron John\u2019s top-30 finish in his major championship debut has lit the fuse in fellow Challenger PGA Tour of Australasia winner Ben Eccles to play his way into next year\u2019s Open Championship at St Andrews.<\/p>\n
As Kiwi Ryan Fox spoke glowingly about the role the PGA Tour of Australasia played in his formative years as a professional while cradling the Claret Jug on Sunday evening, John\u2019s four days at Royal Birkdale were just as noteworthy for his peers back home.<\/p>\n
A three-time winner on his home circuit last season, John entered the final round on Sunday in a tie for 11th.<\/p>\n
Just four Australians \u2013 Joe Kirkwood Snr, Norman Von Nida, Peter Thomson and Ian Baker-Finch \u2013 have ever finished inside the top 10 in their debut appearance at The Open. While John was unable to add his name to that illustrious list, his tie for 28th emphasised the PGA Tour of Australasia as a proving ground.<\/p>\n
Having missed out at Final Qualifying during his three-year stint in Europe from 2017-2019, Eccles will use John\u2019s performance as motivation to do everything he can to tee it up at St Andrews for the 2027 Open Championship.<\/p>\n
\u201cThat\u2019s inspiring for all of us Aussie Tour players,\u201d Eccles said on this week\u2019s\u00a0Tee It Up\u00a0podcast.<\/p>\n
\u201cWe often talk about the level that we have down here, that it\u2019s really under-rated and we don\u2019t get as many opportunities as most.<\/p>\n
\u201cCam\u2019s a real testament to our Tour. I couldn\u2019t be happier for him. He\u2019s a good bloke. He\u2019s good to play with and his game stacks up against the best.<\/p>\n
\u201cThe Open is The Open. It\u2019s the pinnacle of our game and I want to play it.<\/p>\n
\u201cThe way Cam\u2019s played this week has inspired me to sort of look at the qualification process for next year.<\/p>\n
\u201cI want to be playing at St Andrews next year, for sure.\u201d<\/p>\n
Eccles\u2019 most recent win on the Challenger PGA Tour of Australasia came in Kalgoorlie at the 2023 CKB WA PGA Championship, a season in which he finished eighth on the Order of Merit.<\/p>\n
John\u2019s three-win season last season saw him finish second to Travis Smyth on the Order of Merit, Eccles impressed by the way in which his fellow Victorian handled the pressures of an Open Championship.<\/p>\n
\u201cI actually did say that the occasion might get to him because it\u2019s The Open Championship. In my eyes, it\u2019s the biggest, and I couldn\u2019t be happy that I\u2019m wrong,\u201d said Eccles.<\/p>\n
\u201cI\u2019m sure he feels a little bit disappointed that he didn\u2019t have a better Sunday, but he sort of didn\u2019t really have anything to lose.<\/p>\n
\u201cIt was going to be a win-win no matter what he did. And I think he\u2019s shown everyone, especially down here, just how good he actually is.\u201d<\/p>\n
Eccles will start his 2026\/2027 back in Kalgoorlie where he won three years ago with eyes ahead to the BMW Australian PGA Championship and Capital.com Australian Open.<\/p>\n
There are direct pathways to The Open Championship for the winner of the Capital.com Australian Open, the New Zealand Open and the Order of Merit, Eccles eager to make the most of either of those opportunities.<\/p>\n
\u201cPersonally, (The Open) would be the favourite one to win and I think it\u2019s probably the one that is easier to qualify for,\u201d he added.<\/p>\n
\u201cThere\u2019s opportunity to qualify. We have three chances here in Australia. Anyone can qualify.\u201d<\/p>\n
The 2026\/2027 Challenger PGA Tour of Australasia begins next month with the PNG Open at Royal Port Moresby Golf Club (August 27-30).<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"July 23rd, 2026 By Australian Golf Digest Cameron John\u2019s top-30 finish in his major championship debut has lit…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":818625,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[566],"tags":[64,63,181509,172572,181982,755,44,2503,85],"class_list":["post-818624","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-golf","tag-au","tag-australia","tag-ben-eccles","tag-cameron-john","tag-challenger-pga-tour-of-australasia","tag-golf","tag-news","tag-open-championship","tag-sports"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/818624","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=818624"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/818624\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/818625"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=818624"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=818624"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=818624"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}