Women's Australian Open

Women's Australian Open
Tournament information
Location Australia, varies
Melbourne, Victoria
in 2024
Established1974, 50 years ago
Course(s)Kingston Heath Golf Club
Victoria Golf Club
Tour(s)WPGA Tour of Australasia
FormatStroke play - 72 holes
Prize fundA$1,700,000
Month playedNovember/December
Tournament record score
Aggregate270 Karrie Webb (2000)
To par−22 Karrie Webb (2000)
Current champion
South Africa Ashleigh Buhai
Location map
Victoria GC is located in Australia
Victoria GC
Victoria GC
Location in Australia
Victoria GC is located in Victoria
Victoria GC
Victoria GC
Location in Victoria

The Women's Australian Open is a women's professional golf tournament played in Australia, operated by Golf Australia and the WPGA Tour of Australasia, long co-sanctioned by the Ladies European Tour (LET). Beginning with the 2012 event, it is also co-sanctioned by the U.S.-based LPGA Tour. In 2008, it was the second-richest women's golf tournament on the ALPG Tour, with a prize fund of A$500,000, and was raised to A$600,000 in 2010. With the co-sanctioning by the LPGA, the total purse was nearly doubled, and was also fixed in U.S. dollars. The purse was US$1.1 million in 2012, and increased again to its current level of US$1.2 million for 2013. Since 2011, the tournament's name has been the ISPS Handa Women's Australian Open.

The Australian Ladies Open was founded in 1974 as a 54-hole event, but folded after 1978. It was resurrected in 1994 as the Women's Australian Open, this time as a 72-hole event. Annika Sörenstam won that year, which was her first professional win. It was also Karrie Webb's professional debut, and she would later win the event five times. Starting in 2000, the Ladies European Tour began co-sanctioning the tournament.[1] Following the 2004 event, sponsorship difficulties caused the tournament to stop once again, but after a two-year hiatus the tournament returned in 2007.[2] The Women's Australian Open usually moves between various courses around Australia, except from 1995 through 2002 when it was held at the Yarra Yarra Golf Club in Melbourne. The 2008 event was held at Kingston Heath Golf Club.[3]

For several years after its return in 1994, the Women's Australian Open was played early in the ALPG schedule, usually in November. Starting in 2000, it was changed to be played at the end of the schedule in February near the ANZ Ladies Masters, to allow both tournaments to be part of the Ladies European Tour. Since the Women's Australian Open was played from 12 to 15 November 1998 during the 1998/1999 ALPG season, it was therefore not played during the 1999 calendar year.[1][4]

The 2012 tournament was played at the Composite Course at Royal Melbourne, the championship course comprising 12 holes from the West course and six from the East course. The Composite Course is considered one of the top courses in the world, and was used for the Presidents Cup competitions in 1998 and 2011. Through 2011, a women's professional competition had never been held on it; the 2012 Women's Australian Open was the first.[5] The event was won by Jessica Korda after an historic six-player playoff, only the second in ALPG history.[6] Korda holed a 25-foot (8 m) birdie putt on the second playoff hole to claim her first LPGA Tour victory.[7][8]

In 2013, the tournament moved to Royal Canberra Golf Club, and in 2014 to the Victoria Golf Club near Melbourne. In 2016 the event moved to Adelaide and was played there until 2020.[9] In 2021, it was not played due to the COVID-19 pandemic.

In 2022, the tournament was played at Victoria Golf Club and Kingston Heath Golf Club. In a world-first for golf, the ISPS Handa Australian Open brought together the national men's and women's Open events, along with the All Abilities Championship. The men's Open and the women's Open had equal prize money of A$1,700,000 as the Open returned to Melbourne for the first time in several years.[10] In 2022, the event fell during the LPGA's off-season and during the tour's final stage of qualifying school and therefore co-sanctioning the event with the LPGA was not possible.[11]

  1. ^ a b "Brief History of the Women's Australian Open".
  2. ^ Stone, Peter (31 May 2006). "Bridges built for women's Open". The Age Company. Retrieved 9 June 2007.
  3. ^ "Women's Australian Open for Melbourne". AAP. 1 June 2007. Retrieved 9 June 2007.
  4. ^ "Past Tournament Detail". Retrieved 9 June 2007.
  5. ^ "2012 Women's Australian Open - tournament preview". LPGA. Retrieved 8 February 2012.
  6. ^ "Korda claims title". Golf Australia. 12 February 2012. Retrieved 12 February 2013.
  7. ^ "Final results: 2012 Australian Open" (PDF). Golf Australia. Retrieved 4 February 2012.
  8. ^ "Jessica Korda wins Women's Australian Open". USA Today. Associated Press. 12 February 2012. Retrieved 12 February 2013.
  9. ^ "Open date, venues locked in Adelaide - Golf Australia". www.golf.org.au. Archived from the original on 12 June 2018.
  10. ^ "Top women commit to ISPS Handa Australian Open". Golf Australia. 26 October 2022.
  11. ^ Nichols, Beth Ann (28 November 2022). "Women's field reduced to 108 players at historic Australian Open, while men's field grows to 156". Golfweek. Retrieved 4 December 2022.