[PHOTO: Gary Lisbon]

The WPGA Tour of Australasia will visit four states across the first half of 2025, with three Ladies European Tour co-sanctioned events, including the Australian WPGA Championship, headlining the schedule announced today.

Played for the first time as a standalone event, the Australian WPGA Championship will be the first of three straight weeks of co-sanctioned events, while offering the largest prize purse of 12 events totalling a minimum of $3 million, including the innovative The Athena.

The 2025 season kicks off at the new Webex Players Series Perth event that will be hosted by Minjee and Min Woo Lee at Royal Fremantle Golf Club alongside the Challenger PGA Tour of Australasia.

From there, the Tour returns to Latrobe Golf Club for the Melbourne International, followed by a run of Webex Players Series events.

Castle Hill Country Club will again welcome men, women, all abilities and junior players for the Webex Players Series Sydney before the next generation of women’s golf is showcased at The Athena, where players contest skills challenges to qualify for the match play section.

Peninsula Kingswood Country Golf Club provided the perfect location for Kelsey Bennett’s victory, with the tour thrilled to return again this March.

“The Athena is such a special event for our tour, our players and our fans, and returning to Peninsula Kingswood is tremendously exciting for everyone involved,” said chief executive of the WPGA Tour of Australasia Karen Lunn.

From putting the next generation on display at The Athena, the tour celebrates its greatest ever player with the Karrie Webb Cup to be awarded at the Australian WPGA Championship, which signals the return of the Tour to one of its long time homes of the Gold Coast.

Played at Sanctuary Cove Golf & Country Club’s Palms course [pictured], the Australian WPGA Championship will be part of the new Gold Coast Festival of Golf, a joint initiative by the PGA of Australia, Mulpha Group, Tourism & Events Queensland and Experience Gold Coast.

Featuring a golf expo, a two-day amateur golf tournament, a Superyacht Chipping Challenge, food, beverage and entertainment zones, live music and street performers, plus a kids zone, the Festival of Golf will show golf as a game for all, while the third round of the tournament will fall on International Women’s Day and be a celebration of women’s sport.

“We can’t wait to welcome top-line women’s golf back to its natural home here on the Gold Coast, with the Australian WPGA Championship at Sanctuary Cove,” said Gold Coast mayor Tom Tate. 

“Fittingly, the players will be competing for the Karrie Webb Cup and the Gold Coast Festival of Golf will add an extra dimension to this prestigious event.”

Once the successor to Su Oh as the Australian WPGA Championship winner is crowned on the Gold Coast, the tour heads south to once again play three consecutive events in partnership with Golf NSW.

The Australian Women’s Classic, which has helped launch the careers of LPGA Tour players Steph Kyriacou and Celine Boutier, will be played at a new host venue of Coffs Harbour Golf Club. The Women’s NSW Open is next and also finds a new home for 2025.

Played at Wollongong Golf Club for the first time, WPGA members will mix with the best from the LET for a third straight week before many take on the unique challenge of sand greens at the Women’s World Sand Greens in its second year in regional New South Wales.

The sand greens of Binalong Golf Club welcome the event for the first time with an increase in prizemoney and offering Rolex Women’s World Rankings points.

To close the first half of the schedule, The Navigate Advisors Wagga Wagga CC Pro-Am, a lucrative two-day event returns.

“This first half of the schedule provides great playing opportunities for our local players, while welcoming some of the best in the world during the Aussie summer,” Lunn said.

“Last season we saw a tremendous list of winners and we look forward to many returning, as well as new names coming to the fore with 10 of our events broadcast around Australia, as well as global coverage through the Ladies European Tour partner network.”

Alexandra Armas, chief executive of the Ladies European Tour, added: “We are thrilled for the LET to be co-sanctioning with the WPGA of Australasia once again and have three back-to-back tournaments for 2025.

“It is exciting that our players get the opportunity to play across the world and having three tournaments is testament to the commitment to the women’s game in Australia. I’d like to thank the WPGA of Australasia and Golf NSW for all of their hard work and we are looking forward to returning to Australia next year.”

WPGA Qualifying Tournament
December 30-31
Coolangatta & Tweed Heads Golf Club
 
Webex Players Series Perth hosted by Min Woo and Minjee Lee
January 9-12
Royal Fremantle Golf Club
$250,000
 
Melbourne International
January 15-16
Latrobe Golf Club
$40,000
 
Webex Players Series Victoria 
January 23-26
Rosebud Country Club
$250,000
 
Webex Players Series Murray River in honour of Jarrod Lyle 
January 30-February 2
Cobram Barooga Golf Club
$250,000
 
Tournament TBC 
February 6-9
 
Webex Players Series Sydney 
February 20-23
Castle Hill Country Club
$250,000
 
The Athena 
March 1-2
Peninsula Kingswood Country Golf Club
$50,000
 
Australian WPGA Championship (LET co-sanctioned)
March 6-9
Sanctuary Cove Golf and Country Club
$600,000
 
Australian Women’s Classic (LET co-sanctioned)
March 13-16
Coffs Harbour Golf Club
$500,000
 
Women’s NSW Open (LET co-sanctioned)
March 20-23
Wollongong Golf Club
$500,000
 
Women’s World Sand Greens
March 27-29
Binalong Golf Club
$175,000
 
The Navigate Advisors Wagga Wagga CC Pro-Am 
April 3-4
Wagga Wagga Country Club
$50,000