Dubbo Golf Club has received a boost to it's efforts in hosting the Worrell's NSW Women's Open this year, after Dubbo Regional Council announced a sponsorship of the event, contributing $10,000 to the club in advance of the Open.
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The club will play host to 132 of the top women golfers in the world when the 2020 NSW Women's Open touches down at the end of February.
Dubbo mayor Ben Shields called the event a 'great coup' for the local golf club when announcing the contribution.
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"Dubbo Regional Council needs to get behind these things, the number of visitors it's going to draw and the spotlight it's going to put on this city will be huge," Shields said.
"I've got a view that Dubbo needs to be an events and destination centre and that means being a sporting hub and Golf will play a major part in that."
"Dubbo is already known for having a very strong and vibrant golfing community and it's only going to get better from here on in."
Both Shields and the Golf Club's general manager Rod Archer expressed optimism that a successful event could mean a future return to Dubbo for the Women's Open.
Archer also expressed hopes that the increased focus on women's golf would give more young athletes more opportunities in the future.
"Only about 25% of people who play golf are women and juniors in New South Wales, we want to increase that participation number," Archer said.
Golfers from the United States, South East Asia, the United Kingdom and across Europe as well as Australians will tee off at the event, which is set to start on February 27 and continue until March 1 with a prize pool of $320,000.
Dubbo Golf Club President Niall McNicol says that the event also be helped by its status as a European Tournament Qualifier.
"We've got those 132 golfers coming along from destinations all around the world, and they're coming to us because this event is only one of two European tournament qualifiers for the women that will be held in Australia this year," McNicol said.
"It'll bring us here in Dubbo international exposure, with all those international players, it'll bring a huge spotlight from the international media and it's going to put Dubbo under that spotlight for a period of time."
From the competing players, McNicol expects to see an international standard of golf played, with the competition's last two iterations being won by English Professional golfer Meghan MacLaren.
"These players all have to be at their best in order to get the points they need in order to qualify, so we're expecting something very big and a very high level of golf to be played," McNicol said.
The championship will feature a tight schedule with players needing to get acclimatised quickly.
"The women will arrive here a day prior to the tournament, Golf NSW will host them and take them out to Dunedoo for a day to show them the sand greens and what that's all about.," McNicol said.
"Then there'll be a ProAm competition on the Wednesday and after that the competition will run for four days, across the Thursday, Friday and Saturday with the final held on the Sunday."