The US Open was the third successive major championship at which the Australians have been conspicuously absent from the leaderboard.

No Australian has posted a top-10 since a 53-year-old part-time player named Greg Norman finished equal third at last year's British Open, while Robert Allenby tied for seventh in the same tournament.

Golf, of course, is not a team game and each player has a different story, but most of the leading Australians have gone missing at the same time.

Only three of nine in the field even made the cut at Bethpage, with Michael Sim posting the best result, equal 18th in his major debut.

Adam Scott at least showed signs of life after his well-documented slump, finishing equal 36th, with Geoff Ogilvy equal 47th, three years after he won the Open on the other side of New York at Winged Foot.

With promising young players on the horizon, such as Sim, Marc Leishman and James Nitties, the future still seems bright for Australian golf.

As the sport becomes ever more global, it will be increasingly difficult for any small country to consistently produce major winners.

But Australia should be able to provide at least one top-10 finisher in almost every major.

Surely that's not asking for too much.

NEW YORK AAP