Can Ko go one better at NSW Open?
BY Bruce Young | ALPG Tour | 2012 Women's NSW Open | Preview | 24 Jan 2012
The ALPG Tour moves north from last week’s event in Canberra to the Oatlands Golf Club in Sydney’s west for this week’s Bing Lee Samsung Women’s New South Wales Open.
The event was first played at this venue in 2006 and has developed into one of the more popular tournaments on the ALPG’s summer schedule. It not only offers a great opportunity for many of those preparing for the flagship events of Australian women’s golf, the Australian Ladies Masters and the Australian Open to get their games in shape but it is now a much sought after title in its own right.
Winners in the years since its inaugural staging have been Joanne Mills, Laura Davies, Sarah Oh (twice) and Caroline Hedwall, the latter of whom won last year after a tight battle with New Zealand amateur Lydia Ko.
All previous winners with the exception of Hedwall are in this week’s field while 14 year old Ko brilliantly won the Australian Amateur Championship in Melbourne last Sunday and this week gets the chance to go one better than her runner-up finish last year.
In Hedwall’s absence, England’s Melissa Reid is the highest world ranked player in the field after what was a standout year for her in 2011 during which she won the Dutch and the Spanish Opens.
The 24 year old posted another eight top 10 results and finished second on the Henderson Money List with just over Euro 285,000.
Other leading lights in the field include Laura Davies, Gwladys Nocera and recent Women’s Victorian Open winner Joanna Klatten.
Leading Australians teeing it up on the challenging layout include Frances Bondad and Kristie Smith who both won on the Ladies European Tour in 2011, last week’s winner in Canberra, Karen Lunn, and LPGA Tour players Katherine Hull, Lindsey Wright, Sarah Kemp, Sarah Jane Smith and two time winner, Sarah Oh.
Leading Australian amateurs, Brenna Elliott, Whitney Hillier, Minjee Lee, Su Hyun Oh, Jessica Speechley, Tilly Poulsen and Ashley Ona also get their opportunity to star against a quality field of professionals.
The 54 hole event carries prizemoney of $125,000 and begins on Friday.
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