Aussie Opens to combine

The men’s and women’s Australian Open will be played together for the first time, with five-time champion Karrie Webb coming out of semiretirement to chase another title. The tournamentswill be played at The Victoria Golf Club and Kingston Heath on Melbourne’s sandbelt from December 1-4. The courseswill share hosting duties for the opening two days and the closing two rounds at Victoria, with full fields of 144men and 144 women competing for an equal split of $3.4 million prizemoney. In another first, themen’s tournament will be cosanctioned by the DP World Tour, formerly the European Tour.