Rodney Stevens
Yamba Golf and Country Club will host the NSW Women’s Open Golf Championships for the next three years in a major sporting and economic boost for the Clarence Valley.
Locals will witness the best female golfers in NSW battling it out on the challenging Yamba layout for $500,000 prizemoney in the tournament which is the result of a partnership between the NSW Government’s Destination NSW, the Department of Regional NSW and Golf NSW.
Yamba Golf Club President Tony Moran thanked the NSW Government and Golf NSW for coming together to bring the NSW Women’s Open Championships to Yamba.
“Bringing it to regional NSW, especially to our venue, is an unbelievable achievement,” he said.
“It’s something that this club will grow on and I’m hoping that we can build on it for the Clarence Valley.”
Mr Moran said Yamba Golf Club hoped to use the tournament as a springboard to promote golf and the courses of the Clarence.
“The Clarence Valley in itself has a number of golf courses, Coutts Crossing, Grafton, Maclean, Lawrence and Iluka and we’re going to try to bring them all into this for the week to let people know that they exist,” he said.
“So, we can not only develop ladies golf in our club, we can develop it all throughout the Clarence Valley and promote golf in general across the Clarence Valley.
“Thank you very much for the opportunity, because it’s a marvellous opportunity.”
Yamba Golf and Country Club Golf Operations Manager Chris Durrington said a date is yet to be set for the tournament which will be held in February or March 2024.
Golf NSW CEO Stuart Fraser thanked the NSW Government for its support of the game.
“Golf is as popular as ever and so the variety of tournaments we can deliver for our players is growing thanks to the support of our partners, in particular the NSW Government,” he said.
“It is an exciting era for us to enter this three-year partnership and to plan our events schedule knowing that we will be supporting regional NSW and giving back to local communities.”
Deputy Premier and Minister for Regional NSW Paul Toole said the program of golf events would allow some of Australia’s leading golfers to compete at the best courses across regional NSW.
Mr Toole said the agreement between the NSW Government and Golf NSW would proceed for three years, regardless of who wins the March 25 state election.
“These events will inject more money into our regional hotels, restaurants and small businesses and put more regional courses like Yamba Golf and Country Club on the ‘must visit’ list of passionate golfers,” he said.
“We expect that these 51 strategically placed golf events over three years will attract more than 16,000 visitors to the host regions, injecting an estimated $13.58 million into the regional NSW visitor economy.”
Member for Clarence Chris Gulaptis said this series of golf events highlights the commitment to building and securing a diverse events program across NSW with beneficiaries in the Clarence electorate.
“The NSW Nationals have demonstrated a commitment to Clarence and regional NSW through this partnership with Golf NSW by creating a pipeline of events that will provide a welcome boost to our local visitor economy,” he said.
Nationals candidate for Clarence Richie Williamson said the announcement was exciting for golf in the Clarence Valley that will put ‘heads on beds’, delivering an economic boost through the patronage of players and spectators at local restaurants, cafes and shops.