Big week for Bendigo golfers in three different countries

The teenager is one of 85 players from 22 countries in the field for the championship that starts on Thursday.

The field features three of the top-ten, seven of the top-20 and 18 of the top-100 players in the World Amateur Golf Rankings.

The tournament, which is in its fifth year, was developed to nurture talent and provide a pathway for the region's elite women amateurs to the international stage and the opportunity to play in three major championships.

The 2023 WAAP champion will earn starts in the AIG Women's Open, the Amundi Evian Championship and the Chevron Championship as well as the Hana Financial Group Championship and an invitation to play in the Augusta National Women's Amateur.

Roberts, 18, is one of six Australians in the field.

Ranked 186 in the WAGR, Roberts is competing in an international event for the first time. She's in good form having won the Tasmanian Open last month, while she also made the cut at her Australian Open debut during the Australian summer of golf.

Meanwhile, it's a big week for different reasons for Bendigo professional golfers Lucas Herbert and Andrew Martin.

Herbert will play in one of the feature events on the PGA Tour - The Players Championship at the famous Sawgrass course in Florida.

After missing the cut at last week's Arnold Palmer Invitational, Herbert needs a good week to improve his world ranking.

Herbert enters the tournament with a world ranking of 51.

He has The Players Championship, next week's Valspar Championship and the Dell Matchplay Championship from March 22-26 to force his way into the top 50 on the world rankings.

The top 50 players on the world rankings after the matchplay event earn a berth in the Masters at Augusta in April.

Herbert made his debut at The Players Championship last year and finished tied for 68th at seven-over par - 20 shots behind winner Cam Smith.

Hebert has an afternoon tee time for round one. He'll play alongside fellow Australian Jason Day and American Aaron Wise.

The winner of The Players Championship earns $US4.5 million.

Should Martin win the New Zealand PGA Championship the first prize will be in the vicinity of $20,000.

The money is not the most important factor for Martin this week.

It's all about collecting points for the Australasian PGA Tour Order of Merit.

With three events to be played to complete the season, Martin is in fourth place on the Order of Merit.

The top three-ranked players at the end of the season earn a DP World Tour card.

Martin is effectively third because Cam Smith has only played two events and the minimum for the Order of Merit is four.

Martin's closest rival Tom Power Horan is 42.90 points behind him.

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