By
Fred Altvater on Wednesday, February 12
th 2014
The LPGA and the Ladies European (LET) Tours jointly co-sanction the ISPS Handa Women’s Australian Open. It will be held at the Victoria Golf Club in Victoria, Australia.
Last year Jiyai Shin, ranked No. 8 in the Rolex Rankings held off then, No. 1, Yani Tseng and No. 30 Lydia Ko, just a teenage amateur, to win the 2013 Women’s Australian Open.
How things have changed in just one year, Tseng has since fallen to No. 43 in the world, Ko is still a teenager, but is now a professional and ranked No. 4, while Shin is No. 16.
Tseng just won in Taiwan and finished T-10 in the Volvik RACV Ladies Masters last week. Ko won the Swinging Skirts Ladies Masters in Taiwan in December and was runner-up in the ISPS Handa New Zealand Women’s Open two weeks ago.
This is just the third year for this tournament. Jessica Korda won a six-way playoff for the win in 2012. She won the first LPGA Tour event of 2014 at the Pure Silk Bahamas LPGA Classic and was T-8 last week at the Australian Ladies Masters.
The ISPS Handa Australian Open will host a very strong field this year. Three of the top five women in the world rankings, Suzann Pettersen, Stacy Lewis and Lydia Ko will all be in the field.
Victoria Golf Club was founded in 1903 in Melbourne’s famous sand belt region. Five-time British Open champion, Peter Thomson is a member here.
Japan’s Chako Higuchi won the 1974 Women’s Australian Open here and American Donna Caponi Young won the last time it was held at Victoria Golf Club in 1976.
This year’s field also includes, Paula Creamer, Caroline Hedwall, Charley Hull, Moriya and Ariya Jutanugarn, Charley Hull and Lexi Thompson.
By winning the Volvik RACV Ladies Masters last week, Cheyenne Woods adds another high-profile name to the event and is playing solid golf right now.
Runner-up last week at the Volvik RACV Ladies Masters, 17-year-old amateur Minjee Lee will also be in the field this week.
The first round of the ISPS Handa Women’s Australian Open can be seen on the Golf Channel Wednesday, Feb. 12, 11:00 PM-2:00 AM ET. The second round will air Friday, Feb. 14, 12:00-2:30 PM ET.
The final two rounds will also be on Golf Channel Saturday, Feb. 15, 5:00-9:00 PM ET and Sunday, Feb. 16, 5:00-7:00 PM ET.