Stephanie Kyriacou is a 19-year-old amateur who on Sunday won the Australian Ladies Classic, a Ladies European Tour event, by eight strokes.
The victory gives her a two-year exemption on the LET, should she choose to turn professional and accept it. She has two weeks to make a decision.
“I have never even been to Europe to play [golf], so it would be a big change,” Kyriacou told the Sydney Morning Herald. “I didn’t even know about that [the tour exemption]. It would be awesome. It would be fun. I need to do a bit of research and look into it. I’m going to have to talk to mum and dad and my team and work it out.”
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Sydneysider Kyriacou went into the tournament 90th in the World Amateur Golf Ranking, a number that does not necessarily portend success on the professional level. Of course, the counter is her dominating performance against professionals in the Australian Ladies Classic.
There, too, is the fact she finished 38th in an LPGA event, the ISPS Handa Vic Open, recently.
Kyriacou is a well-credentialled player with victories in some of Australia’s biggest amateur events, but the win at the Geoff King Motors Australian Ladies Classic is a class above.
“I honestly don’t know what to think right now. I’m lost for words, it’s just amazing,” she said in the immediate aftermath of the win.
“I got off to a slow start again on the first, but then it just clicked. I had a run of five birdies in a row I think, and just… everything was going my way.”
Kyriacou blistered the opening nine holes in six-under 29 to open a 10-shot lead and stun her professional challengers.
She had begun the round with a two-shot buffer but as others struggled Kyriacou surged ahead with six birdies on the outward half and just one bogey for the day, at the difficult 16th.
