The Karrie Webb Series is expanding.
The biggest prize in Australian women’s amateur golf will now be contested across 17 events with the addition of four new tournaments at which players can accrue points.
This week’s inaugural Women’s Masters of the Amateurs at Royal Melbourne will be joined by three upcoming events on the ALPG Tour schedule; the Canberra Classic, the Australian Ladies Classic and the New South Wales Open.
The series of events, played around Australia, rewards the top two players at season’s end with a $10,000 scholarship and all-important mentoring from Australia’s greatest female player. This, since the inception of the KWS in 2008, has included a chance to stay with Webb during US Women’s Open week.
Webb, a winner of seven major championships, is extremely enthusiastic about her part in ensuring the next generation of Australian female professionals are ready to take that next step.
“The Series has been a great experience for me over the past decade or so,” Webb said.
“It’s been very rewarding to see Australia’s top amateur female golfers strive to be one of the two recipients each year and to have them with me during the US Women’s Open.
“I believe it’s been great for their growth and has propelled them on to playing on the biggest professional tours in the world.
“I have enjoyed following each and every one of the girls’ careers and always love sharing any of my experiences with them.
“I think it’s important to add these new events to the Series, as long as they’re world recognised events with world class fields. These experiences will be highly beneficial to any of the girls looking to make golf a career.”
Webb cited Hannah Green, a dual winner of the scholarship in 2015 and 2016, as a great example of how the Series can benefit rising stars with a dominant year on the Symetra Tour as a rookie professional.
“Hannah’s year was definitely a great start to a very promising career!” Webb said.
“A full year competing on the Symetra Tour and winning three times will hold her in good stead to step up to the strongest tour in the world, the LPGA.”
ALPG chief executive Karen Lunn was keen to add some of her tour’s stops to the Series, espousing the benefits for future members.
“The benefits of having the Karrie Webb Series as a part of our ALPG Tour are many – the experience the amateur players will gain from playing alongside the professionals will be an important part of their overall learning experience, as will creating relationships and friendships in the professional game which can only assist the transition to professional golf,” Lunn said.
“The Karrie Webb Series is a fantastic initiative and one which provides our ALPG members of the future with an amazing opportunity to spend quality time with our greatest ever player.
“To have that level of mentorship from a figure like Karrie is priceless for the young players who are fortunate enough to get this opportunity.
“You just have to look at the quality of the current group of young ALPG Tour players who have come through the Karrie Webb Series the past few years and talk to them about their experiences to see how successful the program has been.”
Golf Australia’s female pathway manager Stacey Peters, also a dual recipient of the scholarship, said the addition of the ALPG Tour events to the Series was critical.
“Karrie recognises that it’s important to acknowledge the amateur girls who are playing in these professional events and that they should be rewarded if they perform well,” Peters said.
“I can see how motivated these girls are when it comes to the Karrie Webb Series. It’s great to hear the girls saying, `Well, if I can play well in this, I could get more KW points and then I could get to go on a trip with her’.
“Karrie’s appeal to these girls is enormous and the Series adds so much motivation to the girls’ calendars.
“It has sure changed since the days of playing for pro-shop vouchers.”