The ever-cool Kirsten Rudgeley is excited to get going at the Australian Women’s Classic as she tees up on home soil following a tumultuous week of tropical weather.
It has been a difficult fortnight for everyone involved on both the Ladies European Tour (LET) and WPGA Tour of Australasia after Cyclone Alfred hit the east coast of Australia causing last week’s Australian WPGA Championship to be cancelled, and this week’s tournament to be reduced to 54-holes.
Despite having not had a practice round due to the weather, Rudgeley, chasing a maiden victory on the LET, is raring to go at Coffs Harbour Golf Club.
“It’s good that we’re all in the same boat having not been able to play the golf course,” the Aussie said. “It’s just one of those things, you can’t do anything about the weather! It felt a bit weird having a bit of time off. Everyone who has been involved this week has done a fantastic job on the golf course.
“It hasn’t really bothered me too much. Straight away when I hit balls today I didn’t feel anything was out of sort. I’m really looking forward to the week. I’m excited to get going and I’m looking forward to enjoying the golf.”
Rudgeley, like a large chunk of the LET faithful, spent last week at Magenta Shores Golf Club to prepare for the tournament. She also played host to Amy Taylor – offering the Englishwoman a taste of local culture.
“I’ve just been chilling!” the 24-year-old laughed. “We went to Magenta Shores last week after we found out it [the Australian WPGA Championship] was cancelled. I had a cruisey week. It was good.
“I went to a show with Amy [Taylor]. It was called Outback Spectacular. I went maybe six or seven years ago and we thought Amy hasn’t experienced anything like that before. It was really good fun. Although I think Amy was struggling with some of the Aussie slang! We enjoyed it.”
Hailing from western Australia, Rudgeley, 12th in last season’s Order of Merit, has home comfort alongside her this week as she goes in pursuit of a long-awaited maiden LET victory.
“My mum is caddying for me,” the Australian explained. “She’ll come out and push the trolley which is nice for her. She hasn’t done it for a while.
“I’ve only played this course once so I can’t remember it too much. I’m going to walk it now to get my head around it. It’s nice to play at home. It hasn’t been a normal two weeks for any of us but it’s nice to finally have some sun. I feel like I’ve worked really hard when I was at home, before last week. I’m confident [about getting the win].”
Rudgeley gets underway at the 54-hole Australian Women’s Classic on Friday afternoon playing alongside France’s Pauline Roussin-Bouchard and Thailand’s Saraporn Chamchoi.
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