By Paul Prendergast.
Photo: WPGA Tour of Australasia.
The WPGA Tour of Australasia will resume for one of its most interesting ‘standalone’ tournaments this week when The Athena returns to our screens from Melbourne’s Sandy Golf Links from 26-27 February.
The two-day tournament is back for a second year after unveiling a unique format – consisting of a day of golf skills challenges before match play decides the victor on day two – at Coolangatta Tweed Heads Golf Club in 2021.
Twelve players will again take part but only LPGA Tour-bound Karis Davidson, Sarah Wilson and Victorians Julienne Soo and Stephanie Bunque (pictured) are returning from last year. Amateur stars Kelsey Bennett and Kirsten Rudgeley are among the new faces in this year’s line-up as is rookie professional, Grace Kim, who just last week finished in a tie for fourth in the TPS Murray River behind Hannah Green.
Last year, South Australian Kristalle Blum took home the chocolates over a group that also included dual Ladies European Tour winner and another bound-for-the-LPGA in Stephanie Kyriacou.
The tangible benefits to flow Blum’s way following her maiden professional victory included a clothing deal and $30,000 in prize money, but it’s the intangibles that might have more lasting impact moving forward. The confidence gained from winning an event against an equally hungry group of your peers, performing on the national stage, via Foxsports and Kayo’s daily coverage, and doing so in front of Hall of Famer turned on-course commentator, Karrie Webb, are career fillips that money can’t buy.
The fortunate 12 who have earned their place in this year’s field will be tackling the array of challenges and tasks over a vastly different golf course from the Cool-Tweed affair last year. The public access Sandy Golf Links, right across the road from the Royal Melbourne Golf Club and maintained by RM’s ground crew to exacting standards, has earned raved reviews following its renovation by the Ogilvy Cocking Mead (OCM Golf) design firm.
Players will have true Sandbelt course and, possibly, weather conditions to contend with over the two-day event, conditions that the bulk of the field will have had recent experience with via WPGA and joint-PGA of Australia events staged in Victoria over the past month.
Will the shift to Sandy therefore, favour a local or can another interstater or someone named Song from across the ditch come from the clouds to steal the trophy? Based on world rankings alone, Queensland’s Karis Davidson would be the favourite in normal circumstances but The Athena is far from ‘normal’ with skills challenges and matchplay sprints that leave little time to recover from even minor stumbles.
A new golf course for most viewers, a unique format and getting to know a bit more about the games and personalities of these prodigious young talents will be a combination to ensure fascinating viewing once more at The Athena.
Tournament format:
Saturday (Golf Challenge Day) – players have one shot each at nine different challenges with points awarded to decide the eight who will progress to day two. The challenges are designed to test the players’ accuracy, power, scrambling and putting.
Sunday – the top-eight face-off in seeded matches over three holes with a ‘Putt Off’ to decide any ties.
The field:
Cassie Porter (QLD)
Grace Kim (NSW)
Grace Lennon (VIC)
Hanee Song (NZ)
Jade Shellback (VIC)
Julienne Soo (VIC)
Karis Davidson (QLD)
Kelsey Bennett (NSW) (a)
Kirsten Rudgeley (WA) (a)
Molly McLean (VIC) (a)
Sarah Wilson (QLD) (a)
Stephanie Bunque (VIC)
