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European Tour: Getting Acquainted With Lucas Herbert

By Matt Coles

UNSPECIFIED, SAUDI ARABIA - JANUARY 29: Lucas Herbert of Australia in action during the pro-am event prior to Saudi International at Royal Greens Golf and Country Club on January 29, 2020 in King Abdullah Economic City, Saudi Arabia. (Photo by Ross Kinnaird/Getty Images)
UNSPECIFIED, SAUDI ARABIA - JANUARY 29: Lucas Herbert of Australia in action during the pro-am event prior to Saudi International at Royal Greens Golf and Country Club on January 29, 2020 in King Abdullah Economic City, Saudi Arabia. (Photo by Ross Kinnaird/Getty Images) /
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With the COVID-19 virus postponing all forms of professional golf for the foreseeable future, we are taking a look at some of this season’s stars of the European Tour, like Lucas Herbert.

This time, we take a look at the young career of Australia’s Lucas Herbert, who won at the Omega Dubai Desert Classic earlier this year.

Factfile – Lucas Herbert

Date of Birth: 05.12.1995

Nationality: Australian

Turned Pro: 2015

Highest WR: 64th (March 2020)

Best RTD: 48th (2018)

ET Wins: 1 (2020 Omega Dubai Desert Classic)

At the age of just 15, Herbert had already begun to win tournaments at an amateur level. He won the 2011 Tamar Valley Junior Cup, the Victorian Junior Amateur, before then winning the New South Wales Boy’s Amateur at the age of 16 a year later.

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In 2013, he finished runner-up at the Lexus of Blackburn Heritage Classic, a PGA Tour of Australasia event, despite being only 17 years of age. He then represented his country at the 2014 Eisenhower Trophy, the World Amateur Team Championship, with Australia finishing 4th. Herbert tied for the second-best individual score, ending up behind only Spanish star Jon Rahm.

After turning professional in late 2015, the Aussie played mostly on the PGA Tour of Australasia but was unable to grab any victories in his first couple of years as a pro, despite coming so close on a number of occasions.

He finished as runner-up at the 2016 Isuzu Queensland Open and the 2017 NSW Open Championship, whilst also making the top ten at the Emirates Australian Open and Australian PGA Championship.

At the start of 2018, Herbert moved to play on the European Tour, and in his first season, he finished the year inside the top 50 on the Race to Dubai. The Aussie ended the campaign in 47th spot on the season’s points list after a runners-up finish at the Portugal Masters, and three 3rd place finishes.

The third of those came at the Betfred British Masters, and it moved Herbert into the top 100 on the Official World Golf Rankings for the first time in his career. However, after only achieving two top-ten finishes in the entirety of 2019, he dropped outside the top 200 going into 2020.

One of those came at the Omega Dubai Desert Classic, the tournament he would go on to win twelve months later, as he claimed his maiden professional victory. The Australian beat South Africa’s Christiaan Bezuidenhout in a playoff, making the move back inside the top 100 on the OWGR.

Lucas Herbert: Dubai Desert Classic winner
DUBAI, UNITED ARAB EMIRATES – JANUARY 26: Lucas Herbert of Australia celebrates with the championship trophy after winning during Day Four of the Omega Dubai Desert Classic at Emirates Golf Club on January 26, 2020 in Dubai, United Arab Emirates. (Photo by Andrew Redington/Getty Images) /

Since the win, he has finished inside the top 15 twice more, with the T12 result at the ISPS Handa Vic Open, and a runners-up finish at the New Zealand Open presented by Sky Sport, a PGA Tour of Australasia and Asian Tour co-sanctioned event.

Those results have seen Herbert move up to 64th in the Official World Golf Rankings, his highest ever placing, and that is where his ranking has frozen following the outbreak of the COVID-19 virus.

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When golf gets underway once again, Herbert will aim to continue his good form, a run that sees him currently sit inside the top ten on the Race to Dubai leaderboard. He will also be aiming to become only the 12th Australian to win a major championship, after the likes of Peter Thomson, Greg Norman, Adam Scott and Jason Day, among many others.

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