ONE of the most successful, and important, initiatives in Australian golf in recent times has been the introduction of The R&A Women in Golf Charter. It’s part of Australian golf’s broader approach to have more Australians, particularly women and girls, playing more golf in all its forms, and for those golfers to have welcoming and engaging golf experiences. Launched in Australia in late 2021, the R&A Women in Golf Charter requires clubs and facilities who commit to the charter to provide an inclusive environment for all golfers. We can no longer turn a blind eye to the perception in A ..read more

SHE’S one of the icons of the women’s professional game in Australia. Yet these days Rachel Hetherington rarely picks up a golf club. And as the eight-time LPGA winner in the US is happy to admit … she’s probably living her life ‘in reverse’ these days. That’s because Hetherington, married to former Australian Test cricketer Greg Ritchie, is busy studying, working hard at a day-time job and giving golf not much more than a passing thought. And that thought usually revolves around her 11-year-old daughter Annie, who is only now falling in love with the game and can usually talk Mum into maybe c ..read more

The Athena champion Grace Lennon surrounded by her peers. APRIL brings the 2023 WPGA Tour season to a close as well as our inaugural Women and Girls Month delivered in collaboration with the PGA of Australia and Golf Australia.  The highlight of the season had to be The Athena.  Now in its third year, The Athena is like no other professional women’s golf tournament in the world. Everything about The Athena is new and different and fun, from the format to the competitors to the audience we’re targeting.  Played over two days, 12 of our best up-and-coming women golfers battle it o ..read more

By Michael Davis SYDNEY’S Stephanie Kyriacou admits she was overwhelmed on her first year on the LPGA Tour. “There’s lots of outside factors that affect your golf bit by bit,” she said before hitting off in the Webex Championship at Rosebud Country Club recently. “Then there’s all the big names and different courses and places you’ve never been to before. There were lots of new things I had to get used to. I expected there were going to be new things but I did not realise how much.  “I definitely learnt a lot – the courses I like, the places I like going to,” she said. “When to take my br ..read more

IT all started 50 years ago when South Australian businessman and keen golfer Alan Gillott had a light-bulb moment while reading a golf magazine article featuring American female teaching professional Jeanette Rector.  Right then, Alan thought to himself: “Why can’t we have women professional golfers in Australia?” This inspired Alan to do some research into women’s professional golf and with the seed firmly planted, and with the financial backing of South Australian entrepreneur Hugh Bonython, Alan headed to the US on a fact-finding mission and to experience women’s professional golf fir ..read more

WEST Australian star Minjee Lee cruised to a four-shot victory at last month’s US Women’s Open, taming the stunning Pine Needles course in North Carolina and taking home an astonishing US$1.8m (AUD$2.5m) prize cheque. Apart from claiming the largest ever prizemoney cheque ever handed out in the history of women’s golf, Minjee’s win was also incredibly significant for a number of reasons: • She joined Jan Stephenson and her mentor Karrie Webb in becoming just the third Australian woman in history to win the US Women’s Open; • She became the sixth Australian to win multiple major championships j ..read more

THE horrendous summer weather experienced on the east coast of Australia in early 2022 has of course been devastating for so many people.  There are so many families who have lost their houses and possessions. The scenes we witnessed from Lismore and Woodburn at the height of the two separate floods were just heartbreaking for all of us who witnessed the tragedy unfolding. While we need to keep a sense of perspective and understand that golf clubs are not to be included in the same vein as people houses and businesses, they are often the lifeblood and focal point of the community and, sad ..read more

AUSTRALIAN golf fans will have two new and one well-known face to cheer for on the world’s biggest women’s professional tour, the 2022 LPGA Tour. St Michael’s golfer Stephanie Kyriacou secured her 2022 LPGA Tour card alongside fellow Aussies Karis Davidson and tried-and-tested professional Sarah Jane Smith. Kyriacou played 21 tournaments in 13 different countries in 2021 and secured her future with the eight-round LPGA Q-Series marathon. In the space of just 21 months Kyriacou has gone from promising amateur to two-time Ladies European Tour winner, top-75 player in the world and card-carrying ..read more

By Michael Davis A COMPACT two-day event at the superbly-revamped Sandringham public course is returning to the WPGA Tour of Australasia next month. Known as The Athena –  so called after the Greek goddess of war strategy and wisdom – the two-day event will feature 10 emerging Australian and New Zealand golfers like Stephanie Kyriacou, Karis Davidson, Stephanie Bunque and last year’s winner, Kristalle Blum. The final two spots will be taken by the winners of a nation-wide competition. The Athena focuses on the emerging and future stars of women’s golf, with the players identified by the W ..read more

IT is a tag that has only been bestowed upon a handful of golfers throughout the history of our game – “the best golfer to have never won a major championship”. It is one that both Lee Westwood and Colin Montgomerie have learned to live with and one Phil Mickelson, thankfully, shed in 2004 after 13 years on tour.  It has been carried by Japanese stars Ayako Okamoto and Ai Miyazato, American Solheim Cup stalwart Rosie Jones and recently, perhaps somewhat unfairly, by Aussie star Minjee Lee – in some ways the casualty of her precocious talent and early successes on the LPGA Tour. It is a to ..read more