Anna Nordqvist of Sweden

A galaxy of stars will compete in Thursday's opening round at the Handa Women’s Australian Open at Commonwealth Golf Club, Melbourne.

World Number 6 Yani Tseng, World Number 7 Anna Nordqvist and World Number 8 Karrie Webb complete a trio of top 10 players complemented by World Number 25 and 28 Australians Lindsey Wright and Katherine Hull.

Sweden’s Nordqvist, who was the 2009 McDonald’s LPGA Championship winner, is the top ranked European and told her followers on Twitter: “Melbourne is my favorite stop on tour so far.”

The Solheim Cup star has been relaxing ahead of the tournament by feeding the birds in Melbourne’s city centre and will be hoping to improve on her tie for 11th at last week’s ANZ Ladies Masters, making her debut appearance in Australia as a professional.

She commented that the Commonwealth Golf Course reminded of her playing in England and Ireland.

"This reminds me of some British Open courses. Someone has compared this to Sunningdale where we played the British Open two years ago. Once in a while I play in Great Britain and Ireland and it reminds me a little bit of that. I really like it," Nordqvist said.

There are eight players in the field who won on the Ladies European Tour in 2009; namely the defending champion, Laura Davies, Becky Brewerton, Marianne Skarpnord, Bo Mi Suh, Azahara Munoz, Felicity Johnson, Linda Wessberg and Tania Elosegui; who finished second behind Davies in the 2009 Women’s Australian Open at nearby Metropolitan Golf Club last year.

Last week’s ANZ Ladies Masters champion Karrie Webb is targeting her fifth Australian Open title but said the course did not favour anyone's particular style of game.

"It can set up for a number of different players. It is fairly long but I don't think that favours the big hitters. The key here is hitting fairways and greens. It is pretty hard to get up and down," Webb said.

It will be a sand-belt baptism of fire for World Number 1 amateur Alexis Thompson who has been paired with Webb and Tseng in the opening round to tee off at 8.25am but the 15-year-old American is unfazed.

“I want to play really well in this one. I think I can win. I am not going, like, I know I can win,” she said. “I think I can, if I have four good days of solid play. I feel pretty good about my game.”

Another rising American star in the field is rookie Amanda Blumenherst, who led the first two rounds of the ANZ Ladies Masters last week and finished in a share of eighth place.

The championship offers a great opportunity for local fans to observe the early stages in the career of a budding star.

There are 55 Australians in the field hoping to claim their home title including Webb and Australian number two Lindsey Wright, who spent three years living in Melbourne.

Like Wright, Hull, the popular winner of the ANZ Ladies Masters in 2009, is also hoping to seal her first Handa Women’s Australian Open crown.

The championship tees off at 7.45am local time on Thursday with the last groups out at 2.45pm. To keep up to date with all the action as it happens, please see the live scoring page.