Women's Australian Open returns to South Australia in February 2026
A move back to February and returning to the Kooyonga Golf Club in Adelaide could be the catalyst for a bumper Women's Australian Open field in 2026, including three-time major champion Minjee Lee.
The date and location for the Open, returning to a stand-alone format after three years sharing courses with the men as part of a dual-gender experiment, were confirmed on Friday as Australian LPGA tour rookie Cassie Porter surged to the lead in the teams event in Michigan.
Kooyonga Golf Club will host the Open in the first of at least three years when the Open will be played in South Australia.
While the Open won't be co-sanctioned with the LPGA, as it was before a Covid break was followed by the move to play the men's and women's events together, it will be part of the Ladies European Tour schedule, ensuring a quality turnout.
The Australian women's Open had attracted the world's best players, including No.1 Nelly Korda, before the Covid break and the likes of Lee and fellow major champion Hannah Green had spoken about moving it back to February to get the world's best players here.
Golf Australia boss James Sutherland revealed late last year the women's Open had been running at a seven-figure loss as a stand-alone event, but the agreement with the South Australian government, which also did a long-term deal with LIV Golf, was the best way forward.
'Securing the state of South Australia as the host of this historic and highly regarded event for the next three years is a significant win for players and fans who will no doubt be treated to a terrific event,' Sutherland said.
'Kooyonga will provide the perfect stage to showcase the incredible talent set to feature in the field, including our top players who compete overseas on the game's biggest stage, the rising local talent from the WPGA Tour of Australasia and the international contingent from the Ladies European Tour.'
Lee and Green are Australia's highest-ranked golfers, male or female, and first-year player Porter is rapidly rising up the ranks, teaming up with Scotland's Gemma Dryburgh in foursomes to lead the LPGA's Dow Championship.
The pair dropped only one shot and finished with six straight pars for a four-under 66 to lead by a shot over six teams.
'We have a lot of team events as juniors in Australia, but I haven't played one in ages,' Porter said.
'It's nice to come out and have a great time out there. We were pretty relaxed on the first tee today.
'We had a great day, and I'm excited for more.'
Hashtags
Try Our AI Features
Explore what Daily8 AI can do for you:
Comments
No comments yet...
Related Articles
Perth Now
an hour ago
- Perth Now
Minjee Lee head-hunted for Australian Open appearance
Golf powerbrokers are hopeful humble superstar Minjee Lee will headline the field when the Australian Open returns to South Australian fairways in 2026. After ditching the contentious dual-gender format for next year's national championships, Golf Australia on Friday announced that Kooyonga Golf Club would host the Australian Open women's event in Adelaide from March 12-15. Co-sanctioned by the WPGA Tour of Australasia and Ladies European Tour, the Open is returning to the Festival State for the first time since 2020. No Australian has won the title since the great Karrie Webb claimed the trophy for a fifth time in 2014. WPGA Tour boss Karen Lunn says Lee, the newly crowned Women's PGA Championship winner, and Australia's other LPGA Tour stars such as Hannah Green, Grace Kim and Steph Kyriacou are on the organisers' hit list to lure to Adelaide. "We hope that we'll have all of our Australian stars at this event," Lunn said. "They're dying to get their hands on the Patricia Bridges Bowl, which our great Karrie Webb has won five times." Despite boasting four top-five finishes from 11 starts, the closest Lee has come to claiming her national championship was in 2023, when the now-triple major winner finished runner-up at The Australian Golf Club in Sydney. In tipping his hat to the 29-year-old for her latest triumph on Sunday in Texas, Golf Australia chief James Sutherland said Lee was obviously on the Adelaide tournament organisers' radar. "It's not every week that an Australian golfer wins a major championship," Sutherland said. "She may be the most under-rated champion athlete that we have in Australia. "She's certainly understated in her own way - a proud Australian, but someone that is a champion on the biggest stage. "She's one of only four Australians now - male or female - that have won more than two major events, and she's on the verge of her own career grand slam. "So congratulations Minjee, and we're certainly very hopeful, like the (SA) premier, that Minjee will be here in March next year." Lee's PGA Championship victory propelled her above Perth stablemate Green back to Australian No.1 and sixth in the world rankings. The 11th-ranked Green and Kim were the top finishers at last year's Australian Open at the co-hosting Kingston Heath and Victoria clubs in Melbourne, sharing fourth spot behind South Korean winner Jiyai Shin. The shift from early December back to its traditional March time-slot means there will be no women's Australian Open contested in 2025. But it is hoped the move away from a clash with Thanksgiving Day in the US will help lure the world's best players back to Australia and restore the Open's status as one of international golf's biggest tournaments.
News.com.au
2 hours ago
- News.com.au
Carlton great Brendan Fevola calls for mass changes at Princes Park
A club icon wants major change at Carlton. Hall of Fame forward Brendan Fevola has called for 'new people' at Princes Park after another horror loss on Thursday night. The Blues' faithful showed their angst after the 50-point loss to Port Adelaide, vandalising club headquarters in protest of another failed campaign. Fevola, much like the vandals, took aim at the board more so than under-siege coach Michael Voss. 'Something is wrong, something is going on, the board needs to go, I've been saying that for ages, the board is just there for themselves,' he said on his morning radio program, Fifi, Fev & Nick. 'Get new people in; get old Carlton people in. Blokes like Fraser Brown who would be amazing on the board. 'Everyone is saying, 'Sack Vossy, Vossy needs to go', and I'm like, 'No, I don't think that's the go'. 'It gets to a point where you go, 'I don't think the players are playing for you, mate'. If you're playing for a coach, you don't put up what you put up in that first half. 'They're putting up nothing, they didn't kick a goal for the whole first half. 'They don't look like they've got a system; but they do have a system, they train and they train hard. They're just not performing.' Carlton was second on the ladder by half a game at round 19 last year but have mustered just seven wins since. Fevola said the Blues' win return had not matched the strength of their list. 'They have the players; if Vossy and the assistants were coaching West Coast, you'd go … 'Well, they just don't have the cattle, they're rebuilding',' Fevola said. 'Carlton were premiership favourites at the start of the year (and) they're not even going to play finals, their season is over. 'I don't know what's wrong with Patrick Cripps, he looked sore last night. I would just put them all on ice and say you're done, get your body right for next year.' Fevola also took aim at out-of-contract big man Tom De Koning, who has been heavily linked to St Kilda on the AFL's most lucrative deal. Fevola said the Blues must demand an answer from De Koning and sideline him if he is not committed to staying. 'The problem is they have Tom De Koning, who is in our top three players. He's been offered $12m to go to St Kilda and Carlton can't match that,' he said. 'If he's going, don't play him; say to him that he needs to make a decision now and if he can't answer that, say you're in the twos – get some young kid to play in the ruck. 'This has been going on all year and it's what everyone talks about; if he doesn't want to stay, just be honest.'
ABC News
2 hours ago
- ABC News
NRL live updates: Manly host Wests Tigers, Canberra fight for top spot against Newcastle
Wests Tigers have been dealt a hammer blow after halfback Jarome Luai was ruled out of their game against Manly due to an infection. Luai is expected to be fit for State of Origin III but will not take the field at Brookvale, with Api Koroisau moving to halfback. Later, Canberra will travel to Newcastle and the stakes are high for Ricky Stuart's side given they can assume first place on the ladder with a win. Follow the live blog below, keep up to date with all the latest stats in our ScoreCentre, and tune in to our live radio coverage.
