Bouncy fairways and fast, true greens will welcome a star-studded group for the Women’s Australian Open at Victoria Golf Club starting on Wednesday.
Top bill and world No.2 Suzann Pettersen will contend with four-time winner Karrie Webb, New Zealand teen sensation Lydia Ko and 2012 winner Jessica Korda in a strong field for the LPGA title.
Pettersen submitted herself to the elements for a practice round early on Sunday, playing in heat and extreme wind.
While she called those conditions unplayable, she said she did not want to practise in perfect weather either.
“This is a course where the wind brings the character to the course,” she said.
“We’ll see what the different days bring us … hopefully the wind kicks up to give us a nice challenge early in the year.”
The Norwegian, who admitted long nights watching her compatriots claim medals in the Winter Olympics, said she had no trouble starting favourite for the event.
“Being a favourite is not a bad thing,” she said.
“Being a favourite means a lot of pressure, expectations but it also means you’re pretty good.”
World No.3 Stacy Lewis is also among the established names facing a new force but an old name in the Open – Woods – Cheyenne Woods, that is – the niece of superstar Tiger.
Woods won her second career title at the Australian Ladies Masters on the Gold Coast on Sunday, revealing the huge interest in her since then had prevented any contact with back home.
“I haven’t even been on the phone with my mum or dad – it’s been so crazy. Plus the phone calls are pretty expensive,” Woods said.
Woods took a congratulatory text message from her famous uncle following her win, boosting her Twitter account by more than 5000 followers in two days.
The 23-year-old said her performance at Royal Pines had boosted her confidence.
“Last week, I was going into the tournament after missing a cut completely and then to win and now coming into this week, after playing so well, it feels really good,” she said.
Giving the field tough competition is 2012 champion Korda and winner of the LPGA season opener in the Bahamas last month.
Korda, the daughter of former tennis star Petr Korda, could relate to the burden of carrying a loaded family name into a professional sporting career.
“It was very weird to see the name Woods on top of a leaderboard at a women’s tournament, but it was nice,” she said.
“I know what it’s like to have a big last name and for her to not let it define her was awesome.”
The players will have another challenge as they play Victoria’s 18 holes – an influx of pesky flies that were the talk of the playing group.
“They’re quite annoying but everyone has to deal with them so I’ll have to suck it up and deal with it,” Woods said.
