The incredibly strong field for the 2009 ANZ Ladies Masters has been further boosted by the inclusion of Japanese sensation Ai Miyazato. Runner-up to Karrie Webb in 2005, Miyazato, 23, joins a line-up that includes three current major winners – In-Bee Park (US Open), Yani Tseng (LPGA Championship) and Ji-Yai Shin (British Open).
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The ANZ Ladies Masters, the longest running and richest event on the ALPG calendar, is celebrating its 20th anniversary and will be played at RACV Royal Pines Resort on Queensland’s Gold Coast from 5 – 8 February.
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Miyazato, from Okinawa, made herself known to golf lovers around the world in 2005 when she finished 12 shots clear of the pack at the US Tour school and was LPGA Rookie of the Year in 2006. Not lacking in confidence, she signs her autograph “Ai-54” which she explains is the score in the perfect round of golf made up entirely of birdies.
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On debut at Royal Pines in 2005 she equaled Webb’s course record of 63 on the first day and led the Australian by four going into the final round before losing by a shot. For Webb, it was the fifth of her six wins since making her debut as an amateur in 1993.
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Last year at Royal Pines, Miyazato tied for 14th place with Australia’s Katherine Hull, seven shots behind winner Lisa Hall of England. A shot in front of her was Gwladys Nocera of France who has just been named the 2008 Players’ Player of the Year after five victories on the Ladies European Tour.
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A men’s field with the reigning major champions would include Tiger Woods, Trevor Immelman and Padraig Harrington. While the male champions make rare and fleeting visits to Australia, the top women have been supporting the tournament since its inception and given it credibility and respect around the world.
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Tseng, ranked No. 2 in the world, finished a shot behind teenage winner Amy Yang in 2006 and Shin, ranked No. 6, tied for sixth with Karin Sjodin in 2008. Webb, who was looking for her seventh win, was fifth. Webb and Shin also battled it out at the 2008 Women’s Australian Open where they both shot closing rounds of 67 before Webb won on the second hole of the sudden-death playoff.
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Webb made up three strokes on Shin in the closing five holes, prompting five-times British Open champion Peter Thomson to write in the Age that “Karrie Webb’s astonishing win of the Women’s Australian Open at Kingston Heath on Sunday was the best performance of a golfer – man or woman – in the past 50 years”.
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Expect more of the same at Royal Pines in February.
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The Sisters of Swing tee off at the RACV Royal Pines Resort between February 5 – 8, 2009.
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The ANZ Ladies Masters, co-sanctioned by the Ladies’ European Tour and the ALPG Tour, will be broadcast by Network Ten on February 7 & 8 and will reach an international audience in excess of 160 million households.
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Tickets now on sale at all Ticketmaster outlets.
rnANZ Ladies Masters proudly supporting the National Breast Cancer Foundation.