The Queenslander proved her victory in Canada was no fluke by scoring a convincing win in the $600,000 ANZ Ladies Masters at Royal Pines Resort on the Gold Coast.

She certainly walked the walk after talking the talk in the lead-up to the event when she challenged the strong field, including six-time champion Karrie Webb, to “bring it on”.

Hull, who won Australia’s richest women’s tournament after posting 16-under par 272 with rounds of 69-67-68-68, became only the third Australian to lift the crown behind Webb and Jane Crafter.

The 26-year-old with the infectious smile said she had dreamt about winning this tournament since she was a child.

“I’ll cherish the moment. There are so many great names on the trophy,” Hull said after accepting the cup and a cheque for $90,000.

Webb entered the tournament underdone after being left high and dry – wet, actually – when unable to practice due to severe flooding in north Queensland.

Consequently, she never challenged, although a third-round 69 gave her some joy. She finished in 30th place.

The challenge was left to South Australian Tamie Durdin, Korean Se Yeon Ryu, Sarah Kemp (NSW), Ya-ni Tseng (Taiwan) and Europe’s number one Gwladys Nocera (France), who arrived brimming with confidence after winning the $117,000 New Zealand Women’s Open at Clearwater Resort.

Sure, West Australian rookie and future star Kristie Smith threw her hat into the ring on day two with a course record-equalling 62, but that’s where her dream ended.

Smith, the daughter of former touring pro Wayne Smith, revealed it was her new cross-handed putting grip that allowed her to register 12 birdies in the round.

“Twelve birdies in a round? I’ve never had 12 birdies in a tournament,” said Wayne, who changed his putting grip in 1993 and won the Eagle Blue Open at Royal Adelaide.

His daughter was unable to follow in his footsteps and eventually finished in a tie 20th.

“My previous best score was 66. I’ve beaten it by four shots. I’m pretty stoked with that round actually,” she said.

Durdin had the best chance of spoiling Hull’s party and got within three strokes of the lead on Sunday, but Hull turned up the heat on the back nine and eventually finished five in front of Durdin, who bogeyed the 72nd hole, and Ryu, who birdied the last.

Unfortunately, defending champion Lisa Hall of England missed the cut.

An Australian summer of golf wouldn’t be that if Karrie Webb and long-time visitor Laura Davies didn’t feature in at least one of the tournaments.

Mind you, they left it until the Australian Women’s Open at Metropolitan, the challenging Melbourne layout.

Defending champion Webb looking like a winner after opening with a seven-under-par 66, but slipped off the radar with mediocre follow-up rounds of 75-75-74.

She eventually finished in a tie for sixth alongside Ladies Masters champ Katherine Hull (76-74-70-70).

Davies, the long hitter from England, was making her 19th visit Down Under and didn’t disappoint.

She finished seven-under to claim her second Australian Open title when she edged out Spain’s Tania Elosegui by a single shot.

Unlike Webb, Davies started slowly (74-76) before firing a third round 67 to surge into contention.

Despite being just two shots off the pace entering the final round TAB Sportsbet installed her as a 16/1 chance – enough for one well-known golf writer to celebrate her win. Even he rued that she was at one stage a 250-1 shot after shooting 76 and leaving the course in disgust in round two.

Still, he did have a few nervous moments and even threw the ticket in the rubbish bin when Elosegui had one hand on the trophy teeing off on the 72nd with a one-shot lead.

Just 15 minutes later Davies wrapped both arms around the trophy after Elosegui double-bogeyed the last.

“You feel mean, because you’re willing everyone to do really badly, whereas normally you’re willing people to do well. I felt a little bit mean hoping people were going to miss,” Davies said after watching the drama unfold.

The Down Under women’s tour included New Zealand for the first time and the $117,000 54-hole NZ Open produced a French winner, Gwladys Nocera.

Windy Clearwater Resort at Christchurch will test the strength of character of any professional golfer, but Nocera relished the conditions. The 33-year-old scored a runaway six-shot victory over Katherine Hull, Nikki Garrett (NSW), Sarah Kemp (NSW) and Bobea Park (Korea).

The margin of victory is hard to believe when you consider Nocera started the final round in third place behind leader Sarah Oh and Katherine Hull.

But the Aussies struggled as the strong southerly swept the course and they could only manage final rounds of 80 and 76 respectively.

After her win, Nocera was caught by surprise when fellow tour members dumped her in the lake at the 18th.

“The water wasn’t too cold,” Nocera, an avid cricket fan, said.

“Some people think the French don’t know cricket but I do,” she said. “I didn’t hit many wides today – and I had no sixes.”

In the lead-up to the three major events, the ALPG organised nine events, including the $125,000 LG Bing Lee NSW Women’s Open at Oatlands Golf Club.

The 54-hole event fell to rookie pro Sarah Oh, who banked $18,750. The women’s mini tour carried prize money of $310,000 and produced seven winners including veteran Karen Lunn, who captured the Peugeot Kangaroo Valley ALPG Classic.

Aussies Kate Coombes, Rachel Bailey, Angela Tatt, Sarah Kemp along with Kiwi Stacey Tate enjoyed wins, but South Australian Susie Mathews was perhaps the most consistent placegetter.

She finished in the top 10 in all bar one event and had two runner-up finishes and placed third on two occasions.