Ashleigh Barty: Women’s tennis’ world number one wins club golf championship

World number one Ashleigh Barty may not be defending her French Open title later this month, but that hasn’t stopped her from winning more silverware – except this time, in golf.

Already an adept cricketer, having previously played for the Brisbane Heat in the inaugural season of the Women’s Big Bash, Australian Barty swapped her racquet for a club to win the women’s championship at the Brookwater Golf Club near Brisbane.

The 24-year-old, whose father once represented Australia as an amateur golfer, clinched the title with a 7&5 victory in the matchplay final.

But golf isn’t a new hobby of Barty’s.

Her boyfriend, Garry Kissick, is a PGA trainee professional at Brookwater, where they met in 2016, while she previously caught the eye of 15-time major winner Tiger Woods before the Presidents Cup in Melbourne last year, with Woods saying she had a “great swing”.

“She’s got all the tools if she wants to pursue it. If she put her mind to it, I’m sure she could,” men’s champion Louis Dobbelaar told the Australian Associated Press.

“I’ve seen quite a lot of golfers come from different sports and she’s the one that stands out the most – by far actually. Her ball-striking’s really good. She just gets that naturally from tennis, the hand-eye stuff.”

Barty withdrew from the French Open earlier this month because of concerns about coronavirus.

She has also been unable to train with her Melbourne-based coach because of the state border closures imposed in Australia to prevent the spread of Covid-19.