Offering players a second straight week of over EU200,000 in prizemoney and top level competition, the Women’s NSW Open was first played on the then ALPG Tour back in 2006 and boasts Laura Davies and Lydia Ko on its honour roll.

Having been played over a mix of city and regional courses in the past, and missing from the schedule last year at the hands of Covid, the tournament moves from Dubbo to the top of New South Wales and Coolangatta & Tweed Heads that sits just on the edge of the golf rich Gold Coast region in the south of Queensland.

DEFENDING CHAMPION: Aged just 18 at the time, Julia Engstrom took out the title in dramatic fashion back in 2020 at Dubbo Golf Club, the win marking the Swede’s first LET win.

At the start of the final day, anything but a Manon De Roey victory appeared unlikely, with the Belgian having started Sunday with a five shot lead after leading since Friday afternoon.

RIGHT: Julia Engstrom captured the title last time the Women's NSW Open was held in 2020. PHOTO: Golf NSW.

But Engstrom had other ideas and after bogeys at the 16th and 17th by De Roey, the pair found themselves tied at 13-under standing on the par-3 18th tee.

Engstrom produced the shot of the tournament, her 5-iron from 176 metres nearly finding the bottom of the cup for a one, with her playing partner missing the green and hitting a poor chip, allowing a tapped in birdie and celebration for Engstrom.

The Swede added another win on Tour in 2020 before a back injury and subsequently not playing at all in 2021, Engstrom back in Australia and defending this week.

COURSE: The West Course itself and the greater Coolangatta & Tweed Heads Golf Club property are no strangers to professional golf, however, the challenge on offer is a different one than many will remember from the course’s hosting duties in the 1980s.

Having welcomed the likes of Arnold Palmer, Sam Snead, Gary Player, Bernhard Langer, Payne Stewart, Ian Baker-Finch, Steve Elkington and Greg Norman at times, the club also played host to the inaugural Athena.

Ranked No.74 in Golf Australia magazine’s Top-100 Public Access Courses for 2021, the West Course is longer than its River neighour and is the beneficiary of work to its bunkers and greens in recent years that have elevated the quality of the tree-line par-72.

The West Course at Coolangatta & Tweed Heads Golf Club welcomes the WPGA and LET this week. PHOTO: Brendan James.

Topping out at just over 6,000 metres there is no designer credited with the original nine-hole layout at Coolangatta, while Geoff and Ted Parslow, Peter Williams, Richard Chamberlain and Graham Papworth have all completed work on the property, with par-5s a strength of the West Course layout.

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PRIZEMONEY: EU210,000

PLAYERS TO WATCH: If there was ever a player to watch at an event, then England’s Meghan MacLaren is it here.

Not only did MacLaren reignite her love affair with Australia last week at Bonville on her way to winning on our shores once again, but the 27-year-old is also a two-time past champion of this event.

MacLaren will need to learn a new venue this week, but that hasn’t proven an issue for her in the past and with a slightly more normal feel to this week where players will walk rather than take carts, and hopefully the rain staying away, MacLaren is a huge chance of a NSW Open hat-trick.

Once again, Sweden’s Maja Stark is worth keeping an eye on here.

Stark recorded a second straight runner-up finish last week down the coast in the Coffs Harbour region, and appears around the corner from adding another LET victory to her resume.

After her win at Bonville last week and two previous Women's NSW Open titles, Meg MacLaren is rightly one of the favourites this week. PHOTO: Golf NSW.

Whitney Hillier appeared to find something last week in her final round of 66 that must have her looking forward to another chance to tee it up at home again before she spends much of the year on the road, while there is a host of other Australians playing well with a chance to change their career trajectory this week.

Amateurs Kelsey Bennett, Justice Bosio, Kirsten Rudgeley and Sarah Hammett all did nothing to hurt their reputations last week at Bonville, and Bosio has played this venue not long ago in tournament conditions as part of the adidas Junior 6s Tour.

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Meanwhile, Stephanie Bunque once again showed signs of what she can do last week on her way to a share of 14th but will be ruining a second round 75 during the rainy conditions, and Kiwi Momoka Kobori should find this layout more to her liking than Bonville.

72-HOLE RECORD: 16-under-par, (Joanna Klatten, 2014).

PAST AUSSIE WINNERS: Sarah Oh (202010 & 2009); Joanne Mills (2006).

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