Friendly wagers on and off the golf course with caddie Wei Wang are helping Stephanie Kyriacou unlock her best golf heading into this week’s US Women’s Open at Erin Hills.

Tied for 30th in the first LPGA major of 2025 and top six in her two starts since, Kyriacou is arguably the form Aussie of the six in the field along with Kiwi legend Lydia Ko.

Only an eagle at the final hole from Ayaka Furue at last year’s Amundi Evian Championship denied Kyriacou from joining fellow Australians Minjee Lee and Hannah Green as major champions, the 24-year-old becoming ever more comfortable on the world stage.

Helping her find comfort in golf’s most pressurised situations is the unconventional relationship she has with long-time friend, now looper, Wang.

The pair go back to junior golf at St Michael’s Golf Club in Sydney and now break the tension with bets designed to either embarrass or entertain, depending on which side of the outcome you fall.

“Wei and I have been working together for three years now; I don’t think it’s a regular caddie/player relationship,” said Kyriacou.

“We are good mates and have been for over 10 years now. We grew up at St Micks together playing junior pennants, so we’ve played a whole bunch of golf together for years and years.

“I think that made it easy for him to come out. He already knows my game and Wei is someone that can tell me to pull my head out of my bum in times when I need it, whereas someone else who I haven’t had that history with, might not be able to.

“I think that’s a big advantage that we have.”

That playful and honest perspective is now feeding into how Kyriacou approaches her work on the golf course.

With the technical foundation established, Kyriacou has found that side bets with Wei and even fellow players are instilling a sense of freedom that brings out her best.

“When I first came out, I got a bit sucked into the technical side and trying to make things perfect when it’s just not reliable because, in golf, you’re going to fail more times than you’ll succeed,” added the two-time Ladies European Tour winner.

“The last year, I’ve tried to play games within the game. Having little bets with my caddie or some sort of birdie match with some of the other girls.

“I’ve just tried to get a bit more external and just play golf rather than trying to make it look pretty and it’s been working.

“That’s the approach I’m going to take for a while.”

But the bets don’t end on the golf course.

As she went within a whisker of winning the Evian Championship last year, Kyriacou was sporting a slit shaved into her eyebrow after losing a bet playing basketball with her osteo, Jack.

“There’s a couple of photos and you can see the slit, it’s horrendous,” conceded Kyriacou, who recently exacted revenge by giving Jack a bowl cut as punishment for a bet lost.

“My osteo lost a bet to me and he had to get a bowl cut. I did it and it wasn’t very pretty.

“That was probably the highlight, just watching him in pain. Which sounds really mean, but everyone was laughing, it wasn’t just me.”

The 80th US Women’s Open is broadcast live on Fox Sports and Kayo all four days. Coverage of the first two rounds is 2am-10am Friday and Saturday with coverage to begin at 3am Sunday and 4am Monday.