West Australian Kirsten Rudgeley can’t wait to tee it up in her home state at Webex Players Series tournament

Fresh off a breakout season on the Ladies European Tour, West Australian Kirsten Rudgeley can’t wait to tee it up in her home State again for the first time in years. Rudgeley, 23, finished 12th on the order of merit in 2024 and had two near-misses with runner-up placings in her pursuit of a maiden professional win. And after enjoying an extended break at home over Christmas, she will warm-up for another European stint playing the Webex Players Series tournament, hosted at Royal Fremantle Golf Club by fellow Perth-raised golf stars Minjee and Min Woo Lee. “It’s always nice being home and it’s great to have an event here,” she said. “I was saying to mum and dad last night I can’t remember the last time I played in Perth in a tournament.” The Webex Players Series pits male and female professionals and elite amateurs in the same field, competing for the same prize purse in mixed pairings. And despite admitting the male competitors at times “play a completely different game” with how far they can hit it, Rudgeley, the seventh ranked Australian woman currently at No.166 in the world, said she was out there to win. “I love it, any chance you can beat the boys it’s good fun,” she said. “It’s good for Australian golf.” Rudgeley said she hadn’t played Royal Fremantle since her amateur career, which included three Western Australia Amateur titles in 2017, 2019 and 2020, the course set up well for her. “Short game is pretty important on any course but also taking advantage of the tees where we are in front (of the men) and try to be as consistent as possible,” she said. “To me this is just like a European Tour event, you treat it the same and you want to win it.” Rudgeley said she hoped to be paired at some stage with Brett Rumford, who she knows well, adding: “I’d love to beat him”. Other big names in the field include DP World Tour players Jason Scrivener and Haydn Barron, LPGA Tour-bound Queenslander Cassie Porter, two-time winner on the Challenger PGA Tour of Australasia this season Jack Buchanan and local West Australian stars Jarryd Felton and Hayden Hopewell. Host Minjee and Min Woo, who grew up playing at Royal Fremantle, will not compete in the event but did play in Thursday’s pro-am alongside WA sporting starts including Dockers Andrew Brayshaw and Sam Sturt, Eagles Elliot Yeo, Jack Petruccelle and Noah Long and Scorcher Jhye Richardson. Entry is free to spectators all four days.