Michael Hollick played his way into the 2026 Open Championship on Sunday when he made three birdies in his final five holes of the Crown Australian Open at Royal Melbourne Golf Club.
The 38-year-old Hollick, who stepped off the treadmill of touring on the Sunshine Tour about two-and-a-half years ago, carded the best round of the day in the final round, with his six-under-par 65 elevating him to 12-under-par and fourth in the DP World Tour event.
With the winner Rasmus Neergaard-Petersen of Denmark and runner-up Cam Smith of Australia already exempt into the 15th Open at Royal Birkdale, the next three eligible players punched their tickets to the final major of the year. Hollick was one, and the others were Si Woo Kim of Korea, who finished third on 13-under and Adam Scott, who finished on 11-under in fifth place.
It’s been a remarkable couple of years for Hollick, who has been playing perhaps the best golf of his life since his decision to play in fewer tournaments on the Sunshine Tour as he spent more time coaching at Mount Edgecombe, raising his family and being supportive of his wife’s career as a psychologist.
Hollick enjoyed a hugely successful amateur career. His greatest achievements include a victory over Branden Grace in the final of the 2005 SA Boys Under-19 and victory in the KZN Amateur in 2011. But arguably his most notable victory of all came in the 2011 World Club Championships, hosted by Nine Bridges Golf Club in South Korea.
These victories, coupled with solid finishes in the Junior World and British Amateur, ensured that Hollick had a wealth of amateur success and experience to call on by the time he turned pro in 2012. He began his professional career with an impressive eighth place finish in the Dimension Data Pro-Am, the first of his 14 top-10 finishes on Tour.
In 2015, Hollick got his breakthrough victory when he won the Sun Sibaya Challenge in his native KwaZulu Natal. His best result in 2024 was the second-place finish he obtained at the Stellar Artois Players Championship. He has a BBA degree which he obtained studying through UNISA in 2010.
He began the 2024-25 season with a victory in the FBC Zim Open and closed it off with another win at the season-ending DNi Tour Championship at Blair Atholl. He finished the season ranked seventh on the Order of Merit. It was also his highest-ever finish in a season.
Hollick earned his 2026 DP World Tour card with that finish. He qualified as the third and final player without an existing DP World Tour membership to earn a spot via the Sunshine Tour’s rankings. This opportunity arose because another player, Daniel van Tonder, secured his own DP World Tour card through a different pathway (the HotelPlanner Tour rankings), which allowed Hollick’s position of seventh on the Order of Merit to move up and secure his place.
“I absolutely had my eye on a spot in the Open,” said Hollick after his closing round on one of the world’s great courses which included seven birdies and just a single bogey. “After the third round, I was down in 15th place, and thought that if I could go low in the final round, I had a shot at one of the places.
“And it was a fantastic place to do it too. It was like a major championship out there, with 32,000 people a day watching. And the course was great. I didn’t like it much the first time I played it in a practice round, because it was raining and not all firm and fast like it is supposed to be. But during the tournament, the conditions were just wonderful and I can see why it is so highly rated.”
His own game has become pretty highly-rated too, as his decision to rely less on tournament golf as a way of making a living pays off in spades and has turned him into a player who must now take every opportunity that comes his way.
“As a touring professional in the past it was hard to pay the bills,” he said. “But now with the increases in prize funds on the Sunshine Tour it’s giving good players the opportunity to express themselves on the golf course and make a living out of it. I’m enjoying tournaments again and I hope I get many more good results.”
He’s had enough good results that he’s currently eighth on the Sunshine Tour Order of Merit, and he’s eighth on the 2026 Race to Dubai after two tournaments.
And with his next one back home in South Africa in the Alfred Dunhill Championship, at Royal Johannesburg this time, instead of its normal venue at Leopard Creek, who would bet against him getting another good result as he gets ready for a year which will include more tournament golf than he might have thought he had.
Best of all, one of those tournaments will be his first major championship.
