Cam Smith, Minjee Lee eye maiden Australian Open crowns

They are both global golf superstars, major winners and former world No.2s, but that's not all Cameron Smith and Minjee Lee have in common.

Smith and Lee also share a burning desire to win a maiden Australian Open crown, a coveted national championship that has eluded the pair for a decade or more.

Both have gone awfully close.

After debuting as an exciting teenage amateur 13 years ago, Lee boasts five top-eight starts, including a near-miss runner-up showing last year in Sydney.

Smith pushed Jordan Spieth all the way to a playoff at Royal Sydney in 2016 and remains desperate to finally get his hands on the Stonehaven Cup.

"It would be unreal for me," the 31-year-old said.

"It's hard to describe what it would mean because I feel like it's the one I've wanted for so long.

"It's nice to have a major, particularly the British Open is one that I wanted to win.

"If I thought about tournaments that I wanted to win that I haven't, probably this one and the Masters are the top two.

"So hopefully I can knock them both off shortly. That would be the dream.

"It'd be unreal. It'd be hard to put into words and be hard to realise what it meant, I think, until you did it."

Already desperately keen to win a first Open, Lee also has the added drive to end a thus-far uncharacteristically winless year.

"I had one other year that I didn't win, but it's been a humbling year," said the two-time major champion and now world No.17.

"I've had a lot of downs, but here and there I've had some ups so it hasn't been all negative.

"Sometimes you kind of ride into that momentum and I'm always trying to get out that kind of negative headspace whenever I get into it.

"But it's tough when you are always on the road and you have a tournament to play and you don't have that much time off to refocus and regather if you have a swing issue or some sort of issue in your game.

"But I have great motivation to play well this week and especially being in Australia, playing in front of the home crowd, it's always lovely.

"And last year I was close but hopefully I get lot closer this year."

With the world-first dual-gender Australian Open back for a third straight year, golf fans have the luxury of being able to follow both Smith and Lee at the same time.

Smith tees off at 7am (AEDT) for this first round on Thursday alongside newly crowned Australian PGA champion Elvis Smylie and Frenchman Victor Perez.

Lee is off in the women's group immediately afterwards with compatriot Steph Kyriacou and South Korea's former world No.1 and 2013 Australian Open champion Jiyai Shin.

Neighbouring Kingston Heath Golf Club is co-hosting the Open as it did in 2022.

Minjee's brother Min Woo Lee, looking to better his third-place showing last year in Sydney, along with women's world No.5 and fellow West Australian Hannah Green and defending champions Ashleigh Buhai and Joaquin Niemann play their first rounds at Kingston Heath.

TEE TIMES FOR THE FEATURE GROUPS FOR THE AUSTRALIAN OPEN FIRST ROUND ON THURSDAY (AEDT):

Women

7.11am: Minjee Lee (AUS), Steph Kyriacou (AUS), Jiyai Shin (KOR) - Victoria GC

12.16pm: Hannah Green (AUS), Grace Kim (AUS), Ashleigh Buhai (RSA) - Kingston Heath GC

12.38pm: Jenny Shin (USA), Kelsey Bennett (AUS), Danielle Kang (USA) - KH

Men

7am: Cameron Smith (AUS), Elvis Smylie (AUS), Victor Perez (FRA) - Vic

7.22am: Marc Leishman (AUS), Lucas Herbert (AUS), Yannik Paul (GER) - Vic

7.44am: Cam Davis (AUS), Todd Clements (ENG), Harry Higgs (USA) - Vic

12.05pm: Min Woo Lee (AUS), Joaquin Niemann (CHI), Jordan Smith (ENG) - KH