The Association

It all began in 1972 - the Ladies Professional Golf Association of Australia (LPGAA) was formed. Mr H.T. Bonython, a grazier from South Australia, and Patron and Executive Board Member, financially guaranteed the Association for the first two years of it operation. The Founder and Executive Director, Mr Alan Gillott, launched the LPGAA on a tournament circuit in March, 1973.

Twelve enthusiastic lady professional golfers took part in the first historic events, played at three New South Wales country courses - Wollongong, Moss Vale & Nowra. They were Glennis Taylor, Marilyn Smith, Betty Dalgleish, Barbara McHutchinson, Judy Perkins, Anne Kenny, Penny Pulz, Jan Kelly, Roberta Simpson, Judy Proctor, Laureen Radford and Jackie Pung (Hawaii). They played for a purse of $3,000 sponsored by Simpson Pope.

In the same year, 1973, membership grew to nineteen, with five American girls arriving in Australia to join the regular tour. Seven successful tournaments were played that year in Victoria and New South Wales, followed by a two month tour of Queensland. November saw the lady professional golfers playing their LPGAA championship in Adelaide. Into December, tournaments were held in Victorian country areas, capped off with $15,000 event at Box Hill Golf Club in Melbourne.

In December 1973 Mr Alan Gillott resigned from his position.

In 1974 Mr Bill Davis of Adelaide was named Executive Director. The highlights of the year were Penny Pulz's second place finish to the great Chako Higuchi of Japan, in the Wills Australian Ladies' Open, and the air-lift of fifty top American players to compete in the $50,000 Colgate-Palmolive Far East Open. The LPGAA went international in 1974, with eighteen professionals traveling to New Zealand to play in the first New Zealand Ladies' Open, sponsored by Benson & Hedges.

1975 saw the number of players reduced by three with top stars, Jan Stephenson, Penny Pulz and New Zealand's Marilyn Smith heading overseas to tackle the rich American LPGA Tour. Les Murton of Sydney was Tournament Manager, and nineteen events were played in Queensland, New South Wales, Victoria, South Australia and New Zealand that summer.

In the 1976 - 77 season, only a few tournaments were played, due to a re-Organisation of the Association, initiated at the LPGAA Annual General Meeting in October of 1976. Whereas in the past, Directors and Tournament Managers were employed to organize tournaments and tend to the affairs of the Association, the members decided to become sole administrators of the LPGAA. The lady professionals coordinated tournaments in their respective areas of the country and this proved to be a successful initiative in 1977.

1978 and 1979 were very lean years for ladies professional golf. In 1978 the Sunwhite Rice Classic was played at Leeton, New South Wales in which thirteen lady professionals competed. The highlight for 1978 was the staging of the inaugural Australia Japan Foundation Golf Tournament at Victoria Golf Club, Melbourne. Australian teams traveled to Tokyo for this tournament in 1979.

Members continued as the administrators throughout the 1980's and in 1983 Mr John Hill took on a voluntary role as Secretary of the Association. LPGAA teams competed in the Australia Japan Golf Match in Canberra in 1980 and in Tokyo in 1981. In 1983 the PGA announced that women golfers would now be eligible for membership of the Australian PGA. Tournaments were played each year with Moe Golf Club in Victoria and Rosnay Golf Club in Sydney being two valued supporters of ladies professional golf. By the latter part of the 1980's there was a large contingent of LPGAA members competing on overseas tours and acquitting themselves extremely well. Membership numbers grew to 42 by 1989.

The 1990's started well with several tournaments, organised by Mr Harvey Collins, staged in Queensland. This was boosted by the Japanese company Daikyo announcing the sponsorship of two tournaments in Cairns totalling $500,000 and further tournaments on the Gold Coast.

January 1991, the Board appointed Mr Don Johnson as Executive Director of the LPGAA. He brought with him a wealth of knowledge in professional golf administration and ensured our Association was well positioned in this regard. The Association had a name change to Australian Ladies Professional Golf (ALPG).

Daikyo's valuable support included sponsorship of the Australian Ladies Masters in 1990 and 1991. This major event of the LPGAA tour, owned and promoted by Bob Tuohy (Tuohy Allan Associates,) continued with sponsorship from Philip Morris as the Alpine Australian Ladies Masters.

In 1994 Tuohy Allan Associates resurrected the Women's Australian Open. The tournament had not been played between 1979 - 1993. Holden were the naming rights sponsor, and the event, played at Royal Adelaide Golf Club was won by soon to be world number one, Annika Sorenstam. This would prove to be Sorenstam's first of many victories on the international golf circuits. The Women's Australian Open remains the second major event on the ALPG Tour schedule, and continually attracts world class fields who make the trip down under for the two major ALPG events. In 2000, a decision was made to co-sanction the tournament with the Ladies European Tour, and this successful venture guarantees the tournament attracts world class fields and worldwide television exposure.

In 1998 Don Johnson tendered his resignation and Mr Warren Sevil was appointed General Manager of the ALPG. Don Johnson stayed on as consultant for 12 months and in 1999 became the first Honorary Member of the Association.

The Australian Ladies Masters tournament grew in terms of prizemoney and status, and from 1997 to 2000 was an official LPGA / ALPG CO-sanctioned tournament, carrying prizemoney of US$800,000 in 2000. Karrie Webb created history by winning her fourth consecutive Masters in 2001 the year the tournament joined the Women’s Australian Open as a co-sanctioned venture with the Ladies European Tour.

Membership numbers steadily increased during the 1990's reaching 97 in 1998. As well as the Australian Ladies Masters and Australian Open tournaments, the Victorian Open, the Hishiski Qld Open, Western Australian Open and several pro-ams were played as part of the LPGAA tour. The increase in membership brought with it many quality players who have between them accumulated numerous tournament victories on the international golf Tours. Currently, approximately 40 members compete full time on the various international Tours.

ALPG Membership numbers at June, 2004 stood at:

The Current Tours

The 2003/2004 ALPG Tour schedule comprised seven pro-ams and four major tournaments offering a total purse of $730,000. (See Current Tournaments) The ANZ Ladies Masters and AAMI Women's Australian Opens are the two major televised tournaments covered by Channels Ten and Seven respectively. 2001 saw the introduction of the ALPG Players' Championship which was played at the Bermagui Country Club on the south coast of New South Wales. This inaugural event boasted prizemoney of $100,000 and continued at that level in 2002 and 2003 when played at the Horizons Golf Resort, Salamander Bay NSW.

2003/2004 launched the Jack Newton Celebrity Classic and ABC Learning Centres Classic as additions to the ALPG Tour Schedule.

Teaching Professionals

1994 Dr Gordon Treble was appointed LPGAA National Education Director and in 1995 our own LPGAA teaching course received accreditation through the Vocational Education & Training Accreditation Board. 17 members undertook the first 18 months course.

In 1998, the Australian Coaching Council approved the ALPG Teaching Course with Level 2 accreditation for inclusion into the National Coaching Accreditation Scheme. Currently, forty two members hold Level 2 qualifications. See Teaching Professionals for contact details of the ALPG teaching Professional in your area.

ALPG Patron

At the 2003 Annual General Meeting of the Association, Dawn Fraser was appointed as Patron of Australian Ladies Professional Golf.

ALPG Board of Directors

The overall responsibility for the management of ALPG remains under the direction of the ALPG Executive Board. The Board is comprised of six directors plus the General Manager position. Current positions are held as follows:

The Board of Directors general responsibilities include strategic planning, member and sponsor relationships, final authority regarding general policy, evaluation of the ALPG management as well as other responsibilities mandated by the ALPG constitution.

General Manager, Warren Sevil:

Warren John Sevil officially began his tenure as General Manager on 1 June, 1998. Holding Business Management qualifications, Sevil held management positions from 1983 to 1992 in the Engineering and Public Relations Departments of the then international communications provider - Overseas Telecommunications Commission. In 1992 Sevil resigned from OTC to join his wife, ALPG member Jennifer, who had just gained exemption on the Japan LPGA Tour where she competed until the end of 1997. Following the retirement of then Executive Director, Don Johnson in 1998, the position was advertised nationally, and Sevil was appointed. Sevil is married, to Jennifer, with two children Ryan (1994) and Laura (1998)