AS you’d expect for a Ladies European Tour event, when the Australian Women’s Classic tees off at the Coffs Harbour Golf Club next week it will be a star-studded field.

Leading Ladies European Tour (LET) players Chiara Tamburlini, Pauline Roussin-Bouchard, Trichat Cheenglab, Alice Hewson, Manon De Roey, Cara Gainer and Shannon Tan are expected be among the top players on the leaderboard when the whips are cracking late on the final day.

Co-sanctioned by the Women’s Professional Golf Association Tour of Australasia (WPGA) and the LET, the 72-hole championship which begins on Thursday will be hotly contested with a $500,000 prize purse up for grabs.

Coffs Harbour Golf Club general manager Paul McAra said spectators who walk the Coffs Harbour fairways and greens to watch the tournament will have no choice but to feel an international flavour.

“There are more than 80 players from overseas who will be playing and you look through the list of those names and there are some world class golfers among them,” McAra said.

“There’s about another 80 international players on the waiting list hoping to gain entry.

“It’s a crazy standard of golf we’re going to have next week. It’s really exciting.”

Meghan MacLaren is another international player returning to the Coffs Coast next week.

The last time a Ladies European Tour event was held at the Coffs Harbour layout in 2018, MacLaren from England won the Women’s NSW Open.

The Coffs Coast is clearly a happy hunting ground for her as Maclaren also won the Australian Women’s Classic in 2022 when it was being played at Bonville Golf Resort.

There will also be a local flavour to follow.

Local Amelia Mehmet-Grohn gets the chance to play a prestigious tournament on the course she grew up on while teenager Annalise McKee who is the current club champion at Coffs gets to play in her first international event.

Karen Lunn, CEO of the WPGA Tour of Australasia, highlighted the exceptional opportunity for rising Australian players to compete against world-class opposition on home soil.

“This level of competition and reward is instrumental in advancing the sport and inspiring the next generation of female athletes,” Lunn said.