Grace Kim to Play Australian Open

Image courtesy of Golf Australia

Grace Kim to Play Australian Open

Major winner Grace Kim is the first big name to announce she will play the Australian Open at Kooyonga GC in Adelaide from 12-15 March 2026.

The Australian Open falls between two LPGA events, the Blue Bay (5.3 – 8.3) in China and the Fortinet Founders Cup (19.3 – 22.3). Kim has exemption on the LPGA as a result of her win at Evian so it may well mean that she forgoes the Blue Bay event in China. The Founders is a big event in USA and it would be unlikely that she would miss that event.

Kim is the first marquee player to announce she will play the Australian Open. Hopefully this announcement will be the catalyst for others to follow. Minjee Lee is in the same position as Kim given her win this year at the KPMG Women’s PGA Championship.

However many of the other Ozzies on the LPGA do not have the exemptions that Kim and Lee enjoy and may not be willing to give up playing in the China event as an early season opportunity to get valuable OOM points. This includes players like Cassie Porter, Karis Davidson, Robyn Choi, Gabbi Ruffels and Hira Naveed. Hannah Green also has ongoing exemption due to her three wins on the LPGA in 2024.