An Aussie hasn’t won the Women’s Australian Open since the the legendary Karrie Webb did so in 2014. Webb made her professional debut at the event and won it five times.
This week, as the championship moves to Adelaide for the first time since 2020, the country’s top players are trying to change that. This week marks the first time that two reigning major champions from Australia are in the field, with Minjee Lee winning the KPMG Women’s PGA last summer in Texas and Grace Kim claiming the Amundi Evian Championship in a playoff over top-ranked Jeeno Thitikul.
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Meanwhile Hannah Green won the recent HSBC Women’s World Championship in Singapore.
“I think it’s probably the week that we put the most pressure on ourselves because it is something that we want so badly,” said Green.
Karrie Webb of Australia poses with the winner’s trophy after the final round of the LPGA Women’s Australian Open at the Victoria Golf club in Melbourne on February 16, 2014. Photo by JOE CASTRO / AFP via Getty Images
Kim won the Australian Women’s Amateur at Kooyonga Golf Club in 2021 and made her debut in the Aussie Open on the same course in 2018.
“Kooyonga is always I think at the top of the list in Australia for me,” said Kim.
The men’s and women’s events have been played concurrently in recent years but were separated after several high-profile players complained that combining the events diminished both.
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Lee, who said she enjoyed playing in the same field as her brother, PGA Tour star Min Woo Lee, came to Kooyonga in January for a preview and believes it will present a good test.
“I really would like to get my name on that trophy,” said Lee.
Major champions Hannah Green, Minjee Lee and Grace Kim pose with the Patricia Bridges Bowl in Adelaide.
The event, co-sanctioned by the LET, was part of the LPGA schedule for several years. Past winners include former world No. 1s Inbee Park, Nelly Korda and Jin Young Ko. Lydia Ko won it as a co-sanctioned LET event, as did two-time Aussie Open winner Jiyai Shin.
Park won the last edition co-sanctioned by the LPGA in 2020 at Royal Adelaide.
Webb told Fox Sports Australia that she hopes the event can begin to attract more top LPGA stars to make the trip.
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“I think we can make it attractive for certain players to come down for sure, we might not get that LPGA sanctioning again but we can make those events big enough and attractive enough that they want to come down and play,” Webb said.
“You don’t need 20 (LPGA players), if you get the right two or three of them (in addition to the Aussies), that draws the attention of the world media to that event.
“For the longest time that’s what they’ve done with men’s golf, that’s what they did last year at the Australian Open, there wasn’t a lot of big names there, but Rory (McIlroy) was there, so the world golf media followed it because Rory played, you just need the right players to commit to playing.”
This article originally appeared on Golfweek: Australian LPGA stars look to end drought at home Open in Adelaide
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