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Ash Barty's Wimbledon victory has proved a real boost for Australia's golfers at the British Open as they try to follow her inspirational sporting lead.
Ash Barty's Wimbledon triumph has buoyed Australia's top golfers as they seek to follow up with a British Open golf championship triumph.
It was 41 years since an Australian woman had won the Wimbledon singles before Barty's magnificent triumph on Centre Court on Saturday against Czech Karolina Pliskova in the final ended the drought.
Now 11 Aussie golfers have descended on Royal St George's in a bid to end another long wait - the 28-year gap since Greg Norman became the nation's last Open champion on the same English links course in Kent.
Asked whether they could draw inspiration from the Queenslander's victory, Adam Scott, the man who's come nearest to breaking the drought with his second-place finish in 2012, was in no doubt.
"Yes, I'm a tennis fan, and like everybody in Australia, I'm a huge fan of Ash. She's brilliant," said Scott.
"She's having a great year, too. To win Wimbledon, it's like winning The Open or the Masters, isn't it, for a golfer? It feels like that.
"So it is incredibly significant. She played great, and it would be fun to keep that Aussie theme going and kind of take Wimbledon away from the UK - and The Open trophy. That would be great!"
Cameron Smith, currently Australia's No.1 player, watched highlights of Barty's final when over in the US.
"But I did already know the result because my sister's a big Ash Barty fan, so she was quick to ring me up in the morning and say, 'how good was that!?' Pretty inspirational. Hopefully it's a good omen for all of us here at the Open," Smith told AAP.
Barty herself will doubtless be following her compatriots' progress closely as a big golf fan, having attended the 2019 Presidents Cup in Melbourne, and such a good player herself that many believe she could make it as a professional if she ever concentrated her energies on the sport.
Last year, the multi-talented sportswoman won the Brookwater Golf Club championship near Brisbane when taking her pandemic-enforced sabbatical from the WTA tour.
Barty, whose father Robert once represented Australia as an amateur, even impressed Tiger Woods, who watched her hit a wedge before that 2019 Presidents Cup and swooned: "She's got a great swing, are you kidding me?"
