Katherine Hull aspires to achieve all the things you would expect of a young, professional golfer.

She wants to win tournaments, break into the top league of players and have a long and successful career.

But Hull also wants to accomplish things a lot of young professional golfers do not.

Like building a school in Rwanda.

Hull, 25, went a little way to achieving her golfing goals at the Women's Australian Open on Thursday, shooting a two-under par 71 to be a shot off the overnight lead held by Ursula Wikstrom of Finland.

If not for the rain that fell for most of the morning at Kingston Heath Golf Club, the score may have been better, but it still left the Queenslander well placed.

Like Hull, Wikstrom had to contend with the rain and cold for her morning round, but still held off those who enjoyed the afternoon sun.

Among them were New Zealand's Sarah Nicholson, Victorian amateur Alison Whitaker and Korea's Hee Young Park who all shot two-under par 71s, while defending champion Karrie Webb shot 72.

Hull explained she has a particular problem when it rains.

Unlike most other professionals, she doesn't wear a glove.

"My grips were quite wet and I had to put on a rain glove which is a totally different feel to me," Hull said.

"But it was the only way I was going to keep my hands on the club.

"It worked alright, but I prefer not to wear gloves at all."

The only blemish to Hull's round came at the seventh hole - her 16th - when she three putted from two metres for a double bogey.

"Overall I was pretty happy with the round," she said.

"I was a little disappointed at seven ... I got a little carried away with the line and forgot about the speed.

"But my putter was probably the best club in my bag today."

For Hull, such trivial problems as wet grips and missed putts are viewed from a different perspective than most of her colleagues.

While she recognises that being successful and earning money is helpful for existence, she also believes that professional sportspeople, including women golfers, are "way overpaid".

But she also sees it as a means to an end.

Hull went through a life-changing experience last year when she visited Rwanda with other women golfers who have formed the group Golf Fore Africa.

"It changes your perspective of what poverty really is," Hull said.

"Such desperation and need matched by inspiration and hope."

Hull sponsors three children through World Vision and met one of them in Rwanda.

"I broke down as I was leaving. I knew what he was going back to and what I was going back to," she said.

Rather than dwell on what she saw in Rwanda, Hull is using it as motivation for her golf.

"I know that we are able to make a lot of money playing golf, probably more than we should," she said.

"But one of my goals is to build a school in Rwanda, so that's a big motivation to play well."

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