Karrie Webb beat Cameron Smith for a bottle of Grange

Open Champion Cameron Smith revealed that Karrie Webb beat him off the stick earlier this year and he paid up with an expensive bottle of wine.

The unique format of this year’s ISPS HANDA Australian Open means there are a stack more pre-tournament press conferences going on than usual.

For the first time the Men’s, Women’s, and All-Abilities Australian Open will be run concurrently on the same golf courses – at Kingston Heath and Victoria Golf Club.

The logistics of running the event this way is out of control and already the media are scrambling to get from one interview to the next.

It should be a wonderful celebration of Australian Golf after several lean years for professional golf due to the COVID pandemic. And it’s already been entertaining with a fun story being revealed today by Cameron Smith and Karrie Webb.

Golf Australia’s Dane Heverin reported that while this week will be the first time Cameron Smith has played a tournament during a women’s event on the same fairways, he did take on seven-time major champion Karrie Webb for a bottle of wine earlier this year.

“That was actually before The Open (that he played with Webb). I went down to do some practice down in South Florida. I didn’t even know Karrie was a member there and we ran into each other and yeah, she beat me.

“I don’t know what to say. Yeah, hopefully she doesn’t beat me off the stick this week. I think she had a home course advantage down there, so I’m blaming that.”

Webb was reluctant to claim full bragging rights as their round was put to a halt after 15 holes by inclement weather, but Smith did pay up.

“The bet was for a bottle of wine but he brought over a bottle of Grange. If he had told me on the first tee that we were playing for a bottle of Grange, I probably wouldn’t have played so well,” Webb said with a laugh.