ALPG legend and eight time LPGA tournament winner Rachel Hetherington will captain the ALPG team at an exciting new match-play teams event in Japan in December, ‘The Queens presented by Kowa.’ The tournament involves teams of nine players representing four of the major women’s golf tours recognised by the official Rolex Women’s World rankings: Australian Ladies Professional Golf, the LPGA Tour of Japan, the Korean LPGA Tour and the Ladies European Tour, and will be held in Nagoya, Japan at the beautiful Miyoshi Country Club.
The opening two days of the three day tournament will feature fourball and foursomes match play, with eight players from each team competing each day. The final day play will see all nine players from each team compete in singles matchplay. Hetherington, a former Women’s World Cup winner, was delighted to be offered the captaincy.
“I was honoured to be offered the opportunity to captain the ALPG team at The Queens Cup by Kowa. It looks like the ALPG will have a strong team and I look forward to competing alongside my ALPG friends and colleagues. I am really looking forward to the tournament, as professionals we don’t often get the opportunity to compete for our country or our tour and play in a team environment.”
ALPG Executive Director Karen Lunn was delighted that Hetherington has accepted the role of Captain for the first edition of ‘The Queens presented by Kowa.’ “Rachel is a legend of the game here in Australia, and will be a great leader and role model for the other players on the ALPG team. We would like to thank the sponsors, Mainichi Broadcasting Systems Inc. and the Kowa Company Ltd, for their valuable support of this exciting new tournament. Everyone at the ALPG is extremely excited to be involved and cannot wait for the event to start.”
The tournament will be broadcasted live on television globally on days two and three. The total prize money will be an impressive 100 million yen (approximately AUD$1,150,000). The winning team will take home 45 million yen (AUD$520,000) plus a further 1 million yen to donate to the charity of their choice. The nine players representing the ALPG will comprise Hetherington as the selected captain, the leading three players available from the 2015 ALPG Order of Merit and the next five eligible players from the Rolex Women’s World Rankings. The team will be announced later this month.
