Women’s Golf Australia Autumn 2023

GRACE Kim, Cassie Porter and Kirsten Rudgeley have quite a few things in common – they’re young, highly skilled athletes, fully focused and by all accounts, on track to golf superstardom. Hence, we put them on our annual cover to showcase the next generation of talent coming through the ranks. That pool of female golfing talent coming out of Australia is seriously impressive! Want a prime-time example? If so, I’d recommend tuning into the upcoming Athena tournament to see not only their elite golfing abilities but also their winning personalities. This crew is at the forefront of modern changes to the game. It feels (because it is) that women’s golf is on the precipice of leaving old-school attitudes to a bygone era and embracing new-school ideals. Think, different event formats,…

2023 has tee-offed with tournaments in full swing. Aus Open, Vic Open, Athena and HSBC Women’s Classic just to name a few. I’m so excited to see such support for women’s sport and in particular women’s golf. Most of these now televised. I can’t express how attending these events or watching can inspire and improve on your own game. I have just returned from the HSBC Women’s Classic in Singapore and those women played in torrential rain with suspended play multiple times under conditions we would not leave the house. They played golf to win! You could clearly see their strategy to suit the conditions – drives were long and low. The greens were hard to read and the drainage at Sentosa golf course was phenomenal, but to see the…

IANTHA YU – FASHION EDITOR Iantha Yu is a freelance journalist with over ten years of experience in the publishing industry. Previously, she was the Acting Beauty Director of Marie Claire Australia. Iantha has also written for Broadsheet, The Iconic, Women’s Health, BEAUTYcrew and Virgin Australia Voyeur. AVEREE DOVSEK – JOURNALIST Golf media creator and personality. Always on the lookout for the newest trends in golf fashion and style. Passionate about golf fitness and long drive. Host of the ‘WHY YOU SUCK AT GOLF!’ podcast. Credited with working with leading golf publications and media outlets, including the Golf Channel, CBS Sports, Sirius XM, Golfweek USA Today and Skratch by PGA Tour. CATHERINE STRICKLAND – CONTRIBUTOR Catherine is a regular contributor to golf media in Western Australia. An experienced writer and…

Smith’s drought-breaker at TPS Murray River SARAH Jane Smith broke a long drought and added her name to the handful of women to have beaten the men in Webex Players Series events with a brilliant closeout performance at Cobram Barooga in the TPS Murray River tournament. The Victorian-born, Florida-based 15-year professional played magnificent golf under pressure on the final day, shooting a 6-under 65 to win by five shots. It is her first win as a professional since 2008 in New York on the secondary American tour, back in a time when she played as Sarah Jane Kenyon, before her marriage to Duane Smith and the arrival of their three-year-old son, Theo, who watched her eclipse of the field over the weekend. “I think you appreciate it anyway, but after…

GOLF is the new ‘it’ word and it has a new player. Australian Golf ’s National Strategy, released in December 2021, specifically calls out women and girls as the greatest opportunity to grow the game, with one in three across the country being swept up in the golf tidal wave that began during Covid. These women and girls have either started their journey via minigolf, a driving range or indoor simulator, or have indicated they want to begin. Subsequently, the golf industry and new parties outside this usual bubble have reacted with a myriad of initiatives to capture this rapidly growing market. The Athena, a made for television golf event showcasing the rising stars of the Australian and New Zealand women’s golf circuit, is one such initiative. Founder, Matt Burgess…

BACK in 1972, a South Australian businessman and keen golfer by the name of Alan Gillott was at home in his lounge room reading a golf magazine, when he saw an article which featured an American female teaching professional, Jeanette Rector. It was in that moment Alan thought to himself, “why can’t we have women professional golfers here in Australia?” This provoked Alan to do some research into women’s professional golf, and with the seed firmly planted and the financial backing from South Australian entrepreneur Hugh Bonython, Alan headed off to the US on a fact-finding mission and to experience women’s professional golf firsthand. He met with female teaching professionals from across the country, and followed the LPGA tour to several tournaments, marvelling at the skill and flair of the…