New Zealand amateur golfer Lydia Ko, who became the youngest winner of a pro event at the New South Wales Open last month, lines up against the world's top women professional golfers when the US LPGA Tour season begins at the Women's Australian Open on Thursday.
The 14-year-old South Korean-born Aucklander last week completed the Australian Ladies Masters as the leading amateur but failed in a bid for a top-10 finish.
The Women's Australian Open at Royal Melbourne will be the first LPGA Tour event she has played in after the tournament was added to the LPGA Tour schedule beginning in 2012.
At last year's tournament Ko finished tied 12th in horrid conditions, finishing as the leading amateur.
In this year's tournament, longtime world professional No.2, Suzann Pettersen, aims to start bridging the chasm to record-breaking world No.1 Yani Tseng.
The talented Norwegian is tiring of the secondary role after living in a dominant player's shadow since joining the tour in 2003.
First there was Swede Annika Sorenstam, then Mexican Lorena Ochoa. Taiwan's Tseng is the current, and arguably toughest, nemesis.
Pettersen believes she can overhaul Tseng - who won 12 times last year and became the youngest player to win five majors at age 22 - but she accepts it might take more than a season to do so.
Ko, the No.1 women's amateur, has been confirmed for the 2012 New Zealand PGA Championship at the The Hills in March.
NZN