Female pro breaks new ground

Forget women's suffrage and equal rights _ battling Auckland professional Angela Hawkes will settle for making the cut next week at the Carrus Tauranga Open, part of a re-launched golf tour bearing Sir Bob Charles' name.
Hawkes played in last year's Titirangi Open, part of Greg Turner's Golf Tour of New Zealand, but next week breaks new ground as the first woman professional to chase a slice of the $40,000 prizemoney on offer in Tauranga.
Tauranga hosts the first event on the tour, with New Zealand Golf and the PGA of New Zealand jointly managing the new series of four 72-hole strokeplay tournaments for professionals and top amateurs.
Hawkes, 31, missed the cut last year at Titirangi, her home course, but is confident of success at Tauranga, a course she had considerable success on as a young amateur.
"I haven't played at Tauranga for many years but I remember winning the Una Wickham tournament there so hopefully the layout hasn't altered too much.
"I'm not coming down next week looking to prove a point (as the first woman pro) and playing with the boys doesn't bother me in the least. I'm used to them bombing the ball way beyond where I can hit it."
Hawkes is one half of a talented sister act, although her identical twin Wendy's only involvement next week will be as caddy as she awaits surgery on an injured wrist.
The sisters turned professional six years ago after stellar amateur careers, with Angela the leading qualifier in the 2000 New Zealand women's amateur and Wendy national amateur champion in 1999 and 2001.
They have been playing on the Australian Ladies professional circuit since joining the play-for-pay ranks, with moderate success. Hawkes said the opportunity to play back in New Zealand couldn't have come at a better time.
"The Australian tour is good but it's only for a few months over summer, which leaves a void in the middle of the year. I come home to work in the (Titirangi) pro shop over the winter but it's easy to get rusty with nothing on.
"Six months without playing makes it hard to get going again."
Hawkes isn't getting rich in Aussie _ she finished 76th on the Order of Merit this year with season earnings of $A388 and has made just $A1900 in six years, with a tie for 12th at the MacArthur Pro-Am 18 months ago her best result.
Yet she doesn't regret her decision to turn professional.
"I think I'd gone as far as I was going to go in the amateur game. I'd played the women's interprovincial eight times (for Auckland and Otago) and being a pro, while not making me rich, beats a lot of other jobs I could be doing."
Wendy is the more successful of the siblings and qualified for the Australian Open at Kingston Heath in February before withdrawing when tendon trouble in her wrist flared.
"It was suggested at one stage that I turn up in her place," Hawkes laughs, "but not too many people would have been fooled. We might be identical but I don't think we look that much alike."
The difference between success and failure as a professional was hammered home within weeks of Hawkes departing the amateur ranks. ``If you're playing well a top-10 finish is a good achievement, and one shot less as a pro is a place higher up the leaderboard.
"As an amateur you can finish a strokeplay tournament in third place, five or six shots behind the leader, whereas as a pro three or four shots off the pace usually means you're back in 30th."
Hawkes, who is coached by Queenstown's John Griffin, wants to be plying her trade in Europe but will wait until her sister's surgery and rehabilitation before they head off together.