Several of Australia’s leading amateur stars will make the trip to Perth for next week’s Bowra & O’Dea Women’s Classic at the Western Australian Golf Club.
As well as a host of WA’s own top players and rising junior stars, a number of exciting talents from the Eastern states will line up in the field, including five members of Golf Australia’s High Performance Squads in Caitlin Peirce (SA), Hannah Reeves (QLD), Jazy Roberts (VIC), Annika Rathbone (NSW) and Hallie Meaburn (TAS).
Fresh from her run to the last 16 of the US Women’s Amateur in Los Angeles, Australia international Peirce is arguably the biggest name in the field.
The 22-year-old Royal Adelaide player has enjoyed another sensational year, winning her state amateur championship and being named as one of two recipients of the 2023 Karrie Webb Scholarship. She has also just been named in the Australia team to contest the World Amateur Team Championship in October.
Queensland’s Reeves also looks to be a player to watch, having just won the state Women’s Strokeplay title. the 21-year-old Brisbanite has a track record at the Bowra & O’Dea, finishing runner-up to Abbie Teasdale last year, recording an ace along the way.
NSW duo Rathbone and Ella Scaysbrook may well contend at the business end of proceedings, too. Seventeen-year-old Scaysbrook won the NSW Girls Amateur for the third time this year, and also went unbeaten throughout the Australian Junior Interstate Teams Matches.
Rathbone, meanwhile, is a perennial contender in state and national championships who has a string of top-10 finishes to her name in ranking events this season. Earlier this month, she finished ninth in the Women’s Western Amateur Championship in the US, proving she has the goods to mix it up with the world’s best.
This year’s Bowra & O’Dea also welcomes a trio of sisters: Redlichlien, Richtier and Reicherin Hansklie, who will represent the Indonesia Golf Association.
Who are the home hopes?
Erina Tan (left) and Isabella Leniartek could be WA’s best hopes of a home winner
With Royal Fremantle’s Abbie Teasdale overseas and unable to defend her title, the likeliest WA challengers would seem to be junior stars Erina Tan and Isabella Leniartek (both Mount Lawley).
Tan, aged 17, has won a slew of Junior Opens around Perth in 2023, as well as picking up the Drummond Golf Girls Amateur Championship in July and finishing as runner-up to Teasdale in the Women’s WA Amateur in March.
Fourteen-year-old Leniartek, meanwhile, has enjoyed a breakthrough season that saw her win the Cobra Puma Junior Championship – the biggest title of her career – in July. Significantly, that event was also played at WAGC and Leniartek will be in confident mood on one of her favourite tracks.
Elsewhere in the field, past WA state champions Celine Chen and Amie Phobupba (both Joondalup CC) both have the class to contend, as do Mount Lawley’s Amanda Gan and her in-form clubmate Ruby Cotton.
The Western Australian Golf Club hosts this year’s Bowra & O’Dea, which comprises the 72-Hole Women’s Classic as well as 54-hole Mid-Amateur and Senior competitions from August 28-30.
You’ll be able to track event scoring here, and we’re hoping to be able to livestream some of the event. Look out for updates on that front…
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