The WPGA Tour of Australasia , formerly known as the ALPG Tour , is a professional golf tour for women which is based in Australia . WPGA stands for Women's Professional Golfers' Association .
7-556: The tour was founded as the Ladies Professional Golf Association of Australia (LPGAA) in 1972 by Alan Gillott, who also later on founded The Golfer newspaper, a free publication provided to golfers and golf clubs, Australia-wide. The LPGAA switched to ALPG Tour in 1991. The first events featured twelve competitors, and the early years were a struggle. However the long-term trend was of gradual expansion and by 2004 there were over 150 members. The season features about
14-527: A dozen tournaments, usually played over the Australian summer between November and March. The ANZ Ladies Masters and MFS Women's Australian Open have long been the leading events on the tour, with both being co-sanctioned with the more prestigious Ladies European Tour (LET) which helps attract a higher quality field. In 2010 the New Zealand Women's Open became the third tournament to be co-sanctioned by
21-506: The 2008 prize fund dropped to A$ 600,000, the tournament remained the richest in Australia. The 144 strong 2015 field consisted of 50 ALPG players, 50 LET players, 10 LPGA of Korea Tour players, 5 China Ladies Professional Golf Association players, 3 leading players from the Women's World Golf Rankings and sponsor's invitees. The tournament was founded in 1990 as a 54-hole stroke play event, and
28-730: The LET. The ANZ Masters, the Australian Open and the New Zealand Open have prize funds of A$ 600,000, A$ 500,000 and A$ 400,000 respectively, each higher than the prize funds of all 10 remaining events combined. The New South Wales Open and the Royal Canberra Ladies Classic have purses of A$ 100,000 and A$ 125,000 respectively, and no other event has a purse of over A$ 25,000. Since 2012, the Women's Australian Open has also been co-sanctioned by
35-670: The LPGA Tour and the Ladies European Tour . In January 2012, New Zealand's Lydia Ko became the youngest person ever to win a professional golf tour event by winning the ALPG-sanctioned Bing Lee Samsung Women's NSW Open . In 2021, the ALPG Tour switched to its current name – WPGA Tour of Australasia. ANZ Ladies Masters The RACV Gold Coast Challenge was a golf tournament played in Australia. It
42-497: The U.S. LPGA Tour ; in its first year as an LPGA Tour event, the prize fund increased to US$ 1.1 million. The purse increased to US$ 1.2 million effective in 2013. Australian Karrie Webb , one of the leading players in global women's golf, has a background on the tour, and continues to play in its two main events each season. However Webb and other leading members of the ALPG spend most of the year competing outside Australia, principally on
49-677: Was one of the leading tournaments on the ALPG Tour and was co-sanctioned by the Ladies European Tour (LET) since 2001. Between 1997 and 2000 it was an event on the LPGA Tour . It has been played at the RACV Royal Pines Resort in Benowa, Queensland , a suburb of Gold Coast since 1992. In 2007 the Masters was the richest women's golf tournament in Australia, with a prize fund of A$ 800,000. Although
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