Prague, March 12, 2025
Czech professional golfer Klára Davidson Spilková flew to Australia at the end of February. Originally, she was supposed to play a trio of tournaments there, which the prestigious Ladies European Tour series organizes together with the local WPGA. The first tournament was supposed to be the Australian WPGA Championship on Hope Island near Brisbane. However, with Tropical Cyclone Alfred approaching from the east, the threat of extreme winds and the forecast of abnormal amounts of rain led to its cancellation and all participants had to urgently move further south to Sydney.
The Australian WPGA Championship has now passed without the players having played a single shot.
“It’s not just that we’ve been travelling here for over 24 hours and we’ve had to deal with jet lag and acclimatisation. We’ve suddenly had to change our travel plans at the last minute and move from place to place without knowing what’s going to happen next. Last year, we had one tournament on the coast in Bonville cancelled and another inland tournament shortened to one round. It’s just crazy here. It’s like we’re having a little Australian déjà vu.”
Davidson Spilkova now has the second of three planned tournaments to look forward to, also on the south-east coast between Brisbane and Sydney. Only after that is the plan to move further away from the sea, into the interior of New South Wales.
“There are just over 80 European players here and we were advised to leave Hope Island immediately for a safer location. So we got in the car and drove to Coffs Harbour, where the second scheduled tournament was taking place. There weren’t many opportunities to train outdoors last week, but luckily the fitness centres stayed open. So I went to work out and in the evenings I would catch up on my computer work or do some light exercises in my room. It wasn’t ideal, but it was productive. I always try to make the most of my time and do what I can.”
Torrential rains have hit the entire region, so the Australian Women’s Classic has been shortened to 54 holes. The Coffs Harbour course is still busy repairing the damage caused by Typhoon Alfred, and the players will start the tournament without a single practice round. Hopefully, they will be able to play at least three rounds from Friday 14th to Sunday 16th March.
“The Australian PGA has come to our aid and offered us a number of courses on the coast for training. Many players have moved all the way down to Sydney and some have only stayed half way, like me. It’s individual. I’ve only seen the course for the tournament from a buggy tour, but it looks like it could suit my game. It’s in a park with smaller greens and Bermuda grass, which I know well from Florida. I’ll have a local caddie on the bag who knows the holes very well. He’s only seventeen years old, but he has a plus handicap and I think we’ll work well together. So I’m really looking forward to the course and the whole tournament.”
Klára Davidson Spilková will start from hole no. 10 at 13:21 local time in a group with German Patricia Isabel Schmidt and Englishwoman Rosie Davies.
Klára Davidson Spilková’s upcoming tournament calendar:
14.–16. 3.2025 Australian Women’s Classic, Coffs Harbour, Australia
20–23. 3. 2025 Ford Women’s NSW Open, New South Wales, Australia
3.–6. 4. 2025 Joburg Ladies Open, Johannesburg, South Africa
10.–13. 4. 2025 Investec SA Women’s Open, Cape Town, South Africa
Photo: LET / Tristan Jones
