Back on the calendar and now as a standalone tournament, the return of the Australian WPGA Championship symbolises the acceleration in women’s golf.
Top-level women’s golf is making waves on Australian shores in a big way. This month’s Australian WPGA Championship will headline a standalone show. Despite the event lying dormant since its debut in 2022, organisers vow the tournament is back and here to stay.
From March 6-9, leading female pros will take over the Gold Coast’s Sanctuary Cove Golf & Country Club. The Australian WPGA Championship is bringing elite golf, a festival atmosphere and a full exhibit together in one place. It’s pitched to be a celebration of golf, for the entire family.
WPGA Tour Australasia has partnered with Golf Australia, Mulpha Events, Experience Gold Coast and Tourism Queensland to give the championship a home for the next three years in the Sunshine State. Now with the powerhouse backing of industry bodies, the event is set to launch Queensland to global audiences.
The Australian WPGA is the first of three co-sanctioned events with the Ladies European Tour (LET). It kicks off three straight weeks of tournaments, offering the largest prize purse of 12 events totalling a minimum of $3 million, including the innovative
event called The Athena.
“It will be showcasing the Gold Coast and Queensland to the world, to all the Ladies Europeans Tour broadcast partners, so that’s going to be fantastic,” says Karen Lunn, chief executive of the WPGA Tour of Australasia.
Fittingly the Karrie Webb Cup will be awarded for 2025 with the queen of Australian golf presenting the trophy. “Karrie will be there on the Sunday to present the trophy, and I’m sure that our Australian players would love to have their name on that trophy and have Karrie present it to them on the 18th green on the 9th of March,” Lunn said.
The reignition of the Australian WPGA Championship is a chance for the event to cement itself as a premier tournament after a debut in 2022 that saw Su Oh defeat fellow LPGA Tour player Grace Kim by four strokes at Royal Queensland Golf Club. Three years later, Oh’s name will be joined by a new winner. The field for that first edition was impacted by the tail-end of the peak of the COVID-19 pandemic, with all borders now well and truly open for business.
This year’s field is stacked to showcase a stellar line-up of Australian and international players. Many were locked in months ahead of the event.
“We’ve got some great young players,” Lunn says. “Kelsey Bennett, for instance, is confirmed, and Kirsten Rudgeley – two of our youngest stars on the LET.”
While offering the young guns an opportunity to shine, plenty of experience will also be there. LPGA Tour veteran Sarah Kemp will be making a comeback from a broken leg after a serious golf cart accident towards the end of last year. From the LET, 2024 Order of Merit winner and Rookie of the Year Chiara Tamburlini has already confirmed her place at Sanctuary Cove.
“At the moment, they’ve got 15 of the top 20 entered, so yeah, I think we can expect a really strong field,” Lunn said.
The depth of talent highlighted by the diversity of LET winners in recent years will shine at this tournament, with players coming from more than 27 different countries. It’s too early to pick frontrunners with players from all over meeting for what no doubt will be a showdown and an exhibition women’s golf going from strength to strength.
“In the world of women’s golf, the standard is so good now and you have so many players playing well week in, week out, so it’s not going to be easy to win this golf tournament,” Lunn added. “There’s going to be a lot of top-quality players there.”
Meanwhile, the string of co-sanctioned events is hoped to have struck the sweet spot in players schedules. “It’s a great window for us, because there’s not much else going on in the world of women’s golf at that time of year,” Lunn says. “We are realistic, we know that when we come to March and April, the players will head off to the other major tours. That’s our challenge, hopefully one day when we have enough players, we can keep on playing later in the year [and] we’ve got enough players to fill a field.”
A COSMOPOLITAN EVENT
While building a player base is still in progress, ‘Project Fan Base’ is in full swing. The new event is pitched to be fun for the whole family – shamelessly wanting to attract an anti-typical golf crowd.
A huge opportunity presents itself for the accompanying Gold Coast Festival of Golf to set itself apart and attract families. Featuring countless activations, including a Superyacht Chipping Challenge, food, beverage and entertainment zones, live music and street performers, plus a kids zone, the festival will show golf has something for everyone. The Friday night will even see a beach party at the InterContinental Sanctuary Cove Resort, where visitors can rub shoulders with the top players.
The golf exhibition at the festival will showcase the latest in golf technology, equipment and lifestyle. Top golf brands, retailers and innovators are coming together to test gear, clubs and apparel. As well as the latest high-tech training aids and gadgets, visitors can also see hands-on demonstrations and chat with product experts.
In line with celebrating inclusivity in sport, International Women’s Day falls on the third round of competition on Saturday, March 8, again with plenty of opportunity for visitors to get involved. An International Women’s Day Charity Luncheon will bring together influential women from the sports industry and beyond for an afternoon of inspiring discussions, networking and empowerment.
PALMS SUNDAY
As for the golf, the course itself has also had a refresh with extensive renovations made to the Palms course in recent years. Unlike in men’s tournaments, where placing the tees as far back as possible dominates discussion, organisers can be more creative with the layout and challenge the field. Tee placement will be between the traditional white and the blue tees, with some holes potentially using the men’s championship tee for a true test of golf.
LET tournament director Jamie Cantelo, alongside the championship’s director, Peter Welden from the PGA of Australia, conducted a walkthrough of the course with Lunn and PGA of Australia tournaments director Nick Dastey late last year.
“We’ve had a lot of eyes on the course and the thing with the Palms course, it’s very exposed to the wind and I think you’d always going to get some wind there,” Lunn said. “So when you’re setting the course up, you have to look at what the prevailing wind is for the time of year.”
In its first year, the tournament was played concurrently with the men’s championship. But now with co-sanctioned events, there’s a clear reason for the women needing their own schedule that fits in with the broader golf calendar.
While a dual-gender format is exciting and the Australian Open was hailed as a win for women’s golf to be on the same platform as the men’s event (before the recent announcement of a ‘separation’), this event will be tested on its own merits for its return. Clearly the championship is not trying to recreate a winning formula, rather a clean slate in 2025 will set a standard of its own.
Organisers are going big, backing that spectators and players will enjoy a new product that has something for everyone.
