It’s been a while since the Ricoh Women’s British Open trophy has been plonked on a mantelpiece in its native land.
Since Catriona Matthew won the title back in 2009, the shimmering slab of silver has been carted off to Taiwan, South Korea, the US and Thailand. Perhaps it’s time for a homecoming?
Here at Royal Lytham, the venue for Matthew’s conquest nearly a decade ago, Georgia Hall offered early hope of an overdue success as she tucked herself in among the frontrunners with a bogey-free five-under 67.
On a day that started as damp and as dour as the end of the central pier in a tempest but turned out brighter than the Blackpool Illuminations, Hall’s nicely assembled card left her two strokes behind Australian pacesetter Minjee Lee.
From the moment she plonked a 5-iron to within 10-feet on the par-3 first and made an early birdie, Hall was in her stride. Royal Lytham’s abundant perils are not hard to find. Its liberal peppering of bunkers just about resembles a battlefield after a mortar assault.
They may have reduced the number of sand traps by 37 in recent years but there remains a daunting 167 in total.
“I played here recently with Tom Lehman, who won the Open at Lytham in the year I was born in 1996 and he just said, ‘stay out of the bunkers’,” said Hall of that simple piece of advice.
That’s easier said than done, of course, but Hall managed to plot a nice route over the links as she strives to go a couple better than the third place she managed in the Women’s Open a year ago. Since being elevated to major status in 2001, only Karen Stupples and the aforementioned Matthew have scored a UK triumph in the Women’s Open but Hall, who made a big impact on her European Solheim Cup debut last year, underlined her title credentials.
A trio of successive birdies at 13, 14 and 15 got her in the thick of things while a calm two-putt from over 100-feet for par on the last brought a good day’s work to a satisfying end.
Lee, meanwhile, launched her bid for a maiden major victory with a 65 which featured a couple of raking putts including one of around 30-feet on the 15th which trundled in for an eagle-three.
The 22-year-old, who has a win, two seconds and five other top-10 finishes on the LPGA Tour this season, spurned a three-footer on the final hole at Gullane last Sunday to miss out on forcing a play-off in the Ladies Scottish Open. She continues to adopt a fairly philosophical approach to the one that got away, though. “That’s just golf,” she said. “You can’t win every week.”
On a busy leaderboard, which has former world No 1 Lydia Ko lurking on four-under, England’s Florentyna Parker managed to hoist herself into the upper reaches with an eventful, topsy-turvy three-under 69 that could have been added to the attractions at the nearby Pleasure Beach.
Four-over after just five holes, Parker began her salvage operation with a brace of birdies at six and seven before holing her 8-iron tee-shot on the short ninth.
“After the first few holes I was thinking ‘why can’t I just start again?’ but the hole-in-one gave me that second chance,” she said.
Charley Hull, another of the home hopefuls, limped to the turn in three-over but charged home in four-under to post a one-under 71 and finish alongside past champion Matthew.
A good birdie putt on the 17th got Matthew back under-par as she enjoyed her first outing at Lytham since she won the Women’s Open nine years ago.
“You do remember the odd shot from 2009 and hopefully I can keep remembering a few more good ones,” said the Scot.
Her compatriot, Kylie Henry, endured a ghastly finale on the 18th, however. Forced to take a drop after knifing a bunker shot into its face, Henry then hoiked a full-blown shank over the stand towards a stall selling coffee in the tented village.
After a prolonged palaver with a ruling, Henry eventually trudged off with a triple-bogey seven in a 78.
She looked like she needed something a bit stronger than an Espresso after that calamitous conclusion.
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