Legendary Karrie Webb will lead the the ALPG team to compete in The Queens Cup in Nagoya, Japan, early next month.
The World Golf Hall of Famer will compete in the tournament for the first time and will also captain the nine-player ALPG team announced recently and is upbeat about its chances.
“I am really excited to be captaining the ALPG team,” Webb told ALPG.
“This is the first time that I have played in the event and especially given the unique format it should be a lot of fun playing alongside my friends on the ALPG team. We have very talented group of players and everyone on the team gets along really well, we are definitely going to Nagoya to win this year.”
Without doubt it is the strongest Australasian line-up since the ALPG Team first played in the event in 2015.
Webb has represented Australia on several occasions, perhaps most notably her Women’s World Cup of Golf victory in 2000 alongside Rachel Hetherington in Malaysia.
Webb also represented her country at the LPGA International Crown on the past two occasions, in 2014 with Katherine Kirk, Minjee Lee and Lindsey Wright, and last year with Minjee Lee, Rebecca Artis and Su Oh.
Webb also represented Australia at the Nations Cup in 2010 when she and Karen Lunn lost in a sudden-death playoff to Swedish duo Anna Nordqvist and Sophie Gustafson.
Webb will be joined on the team by fellow Queenslanders Kirk and Sarah Jane Smith, who have both had great fantastic seasons on the LPGA Tour and who will make their third straight appearances for the ALPG. West Australian Hannah Green will make her debut for the ALPG on the back of winning three times on the Symetra Tour and gaining her LPGA Tour card during 2017.
Fellow West Australian Whitney Hillier also has solid form in 2017, and will make her third straight appearance at the event, as will Sarah Kemp, of New South Wales. Victorian Stacey Peters will make her second appearance for the team.
Both Peters and Green are former Karrie Webb scholarship winners and it would be a great story if either end up partnering their good friend and idol in Japan.
Talented 32-year-old Cathryn Bristow is the lone New Zealander on the team and will make her second straight appearance for the ALPG.
The final spot on the team, a captain’s pick from Webb, is ALPG legend Hetherington, the Queens Cup captain the past two years.
The tournament will be played from December 1-3 and be broadcast live on Fox Sports on the closing two days.
The first day features a fourball best-ball matchplay competition between the four teams – the defending champion Korean LPGA, hosts the LPGA of Japan, the Ladies European Tour and ALPG.
The second day’s format is singles matchplay, the only day in which all nine players will compete, with the final day foursomes matchplay. The leading two teams heading into the final day will play for the Queens Cup, with the others contesting a consolation match.
