Golf Vic Vol 60 No 2 2019

Photography: Justin Falconer use each other’s resources and work together on certain projects. This is great for Aussie golf. They will now jointly represent professional golfers and support the tournaments of each organisation, with the aim to create a pathway that will turn great golfers into elite professionals. Some of the keys to the collaboration will be: • Promote both PGA/ALPG brands • Increase and improve member offerings • Grow ALPG/PGA membership • Present jointly where possible in commercial opportunities • Increase playing opportunities for players • Focus on relationships with Tour players • Work with Golf Australia around golf development opportunities And there’s plenty happening on the amateur scene, too. In all my years of competing in or working within the Karrie Webb Series, I have to say this was the most competitive finish I’ve seen. Karrie, with Golf Australia, decided this year we should be more inclusive of our girls competing at college, so it was decided that one player would be selected primarily based off the yearly KW Series Order of Merit and the highest ranked player would be taken off the World Amateur Golf Rankings. It was so close coming into the final three events of the year, and it came down to Becky Kay, Doey Choi and Grace Kim fighting it out in the WA Stroke Play Championship for the top spot. Becky won the event in an amazing four-hole playoff and took top honours in the KW Series. Grace Kim finished top Aussie on the WAGR. This is Becky’s third time (the first time this has been done) and Grace’s second time winning the series – what an achievement! These girls receive funding to travel overseas to play events, but the biggest prize of all is to shadow Karrie at the KPMG Championship, to watch and learn from world class players – it really is priceless. I can’t wait to get the report from the girls after that week in July. The Queen Sirikit Cup was held on home soil at Glenelg in Adelaide. This event gathered the best three female amateurs from each country within the Asia-Pacific region over 54 holes, with two of three scores counting each day for a team total. The Australian team comprised Doey Choi (NSW), Steph Kyriacou (NSW) and Julienne Soo (VIC), all of whom had shown great form heading into the event. Korea had won 11 of the past 12 years, so we were out to stop this trend. Unfortunately, it wasn't to be – but the girls fought to the end to finish second, albeit 16 shots behind the Koreans. This was a good result for the Aussie girls and we took a lot from this. But the question lingers: we had a great week yet were beaten by 16 shots, so how can we bridge this gap? I know this is the question everyone in women's golf is trying to answer right now given the Korean dominance on multiple women's tours around the world. I have even asked the Korean Golf Association high performance team and they gladly said, “the answer is simple”. If every female in Australia only played golf, grew up playing golf, was encouraged to spend long hours practising and playing golf, then we would have thousands of great female golfers. Of course, there is more risk of players burning out after short careers, but there would be a much higher chance of finding the odd “golden nugget”, and when you find those players, they would dominate the game. But that is also one of the best things about living in Australia – there are so many opportunities to play different sports: netball, cricket, footy, soccer, tennis, and golf becomes just another sport to many of us. In Korea, golf is a culture, not just another sport. This leads nicely onto a hotly debated topic right now – that of equal rights. This is being discussed across all sports and work places, but in golf clubs in particular. Whether male or female, as a full paying member of a golf club, we want to be able to have equal playing rights, don’t we? YES! That’s why Golf Australia has worked alongside the Equal Rights Commission to come up with a document to help guide golf clubs around Australia. I have to say that many golf clubs already have open access to both genders, a huge leap forward in the past five years. The document basically states that under the 1984 Sex Discrimination Act it is illegal to discriminate against people on basis of gender and, in golf, clubs are exposing themselves to the threat of legal action if they do not provide equal access to all genders, for example equal membership categories and timesheet availability. I don’t know about you, but I just want to play golf! I want to play with men, women, boys, girls, sometimes in a competition and sometime just for a quick nine, but I want to play when I want to and when it suits with my family commitments, work commitments and my social activities, not when I'm “allowed to” because of restricted access. “LET’S HOPE A WOMEN’S MASTERS AT AUGUSTA NATIONAL ISN’T FAR AWAY – MAYBE I WOULD HAVE TO START PLAYING AGAIN!” Julienne Soo fulfilled every golfer’s dream walking the fairways of Augusta. Golf Victoria 13