It must honour her home state of Queensland, pay tribute to her Australian roots and be large enough to house a celebratory bottle of wine.
That’s the criteria that one of Australia’s most prolific golf tournament winners will adopt as Karrie Webb transitions from trophy collector to trophy designer.
The Karrie Webb Cup will be awarded to the winner of the Australian WPGA Championship to be held concurrently with the Australian PGA Championship at Royal Queensland Golf Club from January 13-16.
Major champion Hannah Green is the first player confirmed in the field of 24 with former US Open champion Geoff Ogilvy and rising star Min Woo Lee the first male players locked in to contest the Joe Kirkwood Cup.
Joking that she hopes the next generation won’t come to refer to her as “that old lady”, the establishment of the Karrie Webb Cup cements her legacy as one of Australian golf’s greatest players and provides further inspiration for those following in her footsteps.
“This is a first for me, I haven’t had to think about designing one,” said Webb, a winner of 56 professional events in her Hall of Fame career.
“It’s a really great honour and very pleased to have been thought of in that way and know that a future tournament will bear my name for many years to come.
“I’d like to make sure it has some sort of Australian significance to it as well as some Queensland significance seeing as though I am a Queenslander and it is named after me.
“It’s a cup, so it should be able to hold a bottle of wine. That’s certainly a pre-requisite.
“We’re in the early stages of the design but that’s the conversations we’ve had so far.”
Given the expansion of the Webex Players Series to three events this summer, PGA of Australia chair Rodger Davis hailed the establishment of the Australian WPGA Championship as further cementing the co-operation between the PGA and the WPGA Tour of Australasia.
“To start a title that I think the ladies should have in Australia, this event has legs and will definitely be on their calendar forever,” Davis said.
“It will just get better and better and now Karrie’s put her name to it.”
Recently crowned Queensland Junior and Queensland Amateur Player of the Year, Justice Bosio [pictured with Karrie Webb and Lawry Flynn] is expected to receive one of the four invitations extended to amateurs in the field of 24 and is excited to see how her game stacks up against the likes of Green.
“I met Karrie in February, she was a really big part of The Athena event that I played in,” Bosio said.
“That was the first televised event that I played so she was a really big role model coming into that and helped me calm my nerves a little bit.
“She’s just a great role model for all Australian juniors.
“I’ve just finished school so coming out of school and getting into playing golf full-time as an amateur, this will be a really cool tournament to participate in.
“Hopefully I do really well, get my name out there and people can get to know who I am and who I am as a golfer.”
Webb was not much younger than Bosio when she saw women’s golf on TV for the first time.
For her 12th birthday Webb travelled down from north Queensland to watch Greg Norman play the 1986 Queensland Open at Coolangatta-Tweed Golf Club, that exposure cementing her motivation to become a professional golfer.
Now, other little girls with big dreams can see some of the world’s best women without having to leave the country.
“These events with men and women playing in the same field and alongside one another are definitely gaining traction around the world and Australia has been the leader in that,” Webb said.
“Women’s golf has their fan base and men’s golf has theirs. Sometimes there’s a crossover but when men and women play together everyone gains new fans, and maybe even people that don’t normally follow golf.
“That’s what’s special about these events and what I’m excited for in January.
“I didn’t get to watch any women’s golf growing up. I didn’t even get to see it on TV until I was about 15 or 16.
“To be holding a high-profile event in Queensland will be great for all Queenslanders because it is only a short hop down here.
“Hopefully there’ll be a good turnout and this event can help to develop the next Cam Smiths or the next Karrie Webbs.”
