Australian golf legend Karrie Webb hopes the upcoming Australian Open and WPGA Championship will grow to become such a drawcard on the golfing calendar, it’ll even have the LPGA reassessing their schedule.

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For the first time since 2020, the women will play in a standalone Women’s Australian Open at Kooyonga Golf Club in Adelaide. They’ll then back up the following week at the WPGA Championship at Sanctuary Cove Golf and Country Club. A fortnight of golf, which will see the best Ladies European Tour and home grown Aussie golfers in action, including our major winners Minjee Lee, Grace Kim and Hannah Green.

“They’re some of the world’s best and they’re also our best Aussies. If you really think about it, they’re our best Australian golfers, male or female at the moment,” Karrie Webb told foxsports.com.au.

“They’re the ones that are winning majors year in and year out. I think it’s great they’re coming back and hopefully in those two weeks they’re showcased well around Australia.”

While Hannah Green and Steph Kyriacou will play in both tournaments, Minjee and Grace will take part in just the Aus Open before flying back overseas to compete in the LPGA.

“It’s great both for events, to have Hannah and Steph playing WPGA that means a lot to that event. We have a strong contingent from Europe and there’s many so good up and coming European players as well. So I think, just adding those two bigger Aussie names to the lineup is going to bring a lot of credibility to the event.”

SINGAPORE, SINGAPORE – MARCH 01: Minjee Lee will tee it up in Western AustraliaSource: Getty Images

The Australian Open is co-sanctioned with the Ladies European Tour (LET) but from 2012 – 2020 it was also a LPGA Tour event. While Webb concedes the US Tour is unlikely to feature events in Australia again, this fortnight of women’s golf provides an opportunity to grow to a level that the LPGA will be forced to take notice.

“I think we can make it attractive for certain players to come down for sure, we might not get that LPGA sanctioning again but we can make those events big enough and attractive enough that they want to come down and play,” Webb said.

“You don’t need 20 (LPGA players), if you get the right two or three of them (outside our Aussie contingent), that draws the attention of the world media to that event.”

“For the longest time that’s what they’ve done with men’s golf, that’s what they did last year at the Australian Open, there wasn’t a lot of big names there, but Rory was there, so the world golf media followed it because Rory played, you just need the right players to commit to playing.”

The Australian Open holds a special place in 7 time major winner’s heart, it was where she made her professional debut in 1994 as a teenager and a tournament she’s won a record five times.

Hannah Green at a press conference ahead of the Australian Women’s Open Picture: Kelly BarnesSource: News Corp Australia

“I’d love them to have the respect that when the LPGA is looking at their schedule that they give those events some respect. I know it’s their job to fill that whole schedule, but I hope that our events are big enough and important enough that they’re really considering what they’re putting in alongside it because, they might lose some players to the Australian Open or to the WPGA (Championship) because those events have become so big and popular.”

The WPGA Championship returns to the schedule this year, after Cyclone Alfred ripped through the Gold Coast in 2025, forcing the event to be cancelled.

A festival of golf is organised for the week by Mulpha, the company that runs the annual International Boat Show at Sanctuary Cove, with events, stores and activations providing an innovative twist for attendees.

The Championship was originally held in 2022, with the winner to receive the Karrie Webb Cup, an honour Webb didn’t want to be lost.

“I didn’t want it to be a tournament that ran for three or four years and then never played again. When I was making the decision to say yes, I was asking, ‘is this a tournament long term?’ So hopefully this kicks it off a 20, 30, 40 year run,” Webb said.

Olympian Su Oh won the WPGA Championship in 2022, but the Australian Open hasn’t produced a Aussie winner since Webb last won it in 2014. And with 3 major home grown winners in the field, it’s a record that Webb believes is set to be broken soon.

“There have been a couple of close calls. I think Minjee’s had a couple of really close chances and Greeny as well. I think they’re primed to. You think they should be the favourites and they should go on to win, but that’s golf and everyone who tees it up has a chance to win.”

“Hopefully the girls give themselves chances on Sunday and I want two Aussie flags as champions of both those events, that’d be awesome.”