Championships - Ladies' British Open Amateur Championship 2010
« Back to news indexNews for this championship
Ganton will host the 2010 Ladies' British Open Amateur Championship
27.05.2010
2010 Ladies' British Open Amateur Championship Preview
STOP PRESS : 21st JUNE 2010MAGUIRE TWINS WITHDRAW FROM LADIES BRITISH OPEN AMATEUR
CHAMPIONSHIP AT GANTON
The 15-year-old Maguire twins, Lisa and Leona, from the Slieve Russell Club, Co Cavan in Ireland, have withdrawn from the Ladies’ British Open Amateur Championship which tees off at Ganton Golf Club, Yorkshire on Tuesday with the first of two qualifying rounds.
Tbe siblings both played for Great Britain and Ireland in the recent Curtis Cup match against the United States at Essex County Club, Massachusetts.
“Their parents have E-mailed the Ladies Golf Union to say they are too exhausted after the Curtis Cup match to play in another big tournament so soon,” said Susan Simpson, the Ladies Golf Union Head of Golf Operations.
There have been no other big-name withdrawals from the maximum field of 144.
The field for this year’s Ladies British Open Amateur Championship confirms the world-class status of this five-day tournament. The entry of 224 players is a record for the championship which was first staged in 1893 and will be played for the 107th time from 22 – 26 June at Ganton Golf Club, Yorkshire. The number of entries has been rising substantially over the past five years – 133 in 2005, soaring to 210 in 2007 and now 224 this year. Unfortunately, the maximum field size is 144 which is as a big a field as can be accommodated when the championship opens with two stroke play qualifying rounds before the top 64 qualifiers progress through to the match-play stages starting on the Thursday.
The quality of the field is demonstrated by the fact that 129 of the entrants have a handicap of 0.0 or better and only one of the eight players with exact handicaps of 0.4 survived the ballot necessary to trim the field to the required figure. Competitors from 20 nations entered this year’s event – a world class spread of competitors possibly rivaled only by the US Women’s Amateur Championship.
On paper, the best player in the field is Carlota Ciganda, a former champion from the Spanish city of Pamplona. A student at Arizona State University, Carlota has a handicap of +5.7, marginally better than another US college student, Caroline Hedwall from Sweden who has a handicap of +5.5.The third lowest handicap in the field belongs to the 2009 Australian women’s champion Justine Lee from New South Wales. Her rating at the time of entry was +4.1. Ciganda, who will be 20 on June 1st, has an astonishing golfing CV for one so young.
A naturally-gifted player, who is modest about her own achievements, Carlota was only 14 years old when she won the European Women’s Individual Amateur title in 2004. After being beating at the third hole of a play-off by Caroline Hedwall in 2007, Carlota regained the European crown in 2008. Ciganda won the Ladies’ British Open Amateur Championship at Alwoodley, Yorkshire in 2007; did not enter in 2008, but returned last year where she lost in the final to compatriot Azahara Munoz at Harlech.
Caroline Hedwall, 21, a student at Oklahoma State University and from Loddekopinge, Sweden is not far behind Ciganda when it comes to golfing achievements. Caroline lost to Anna Nordqvist in the 2008 final at North Berwick after beating her own twin sister Jacqueline in the semi-final. Last summer Caroline won the European Women’s Amateur crown for a second time. A sophomore (second-year) student at Oklahoma State University, Caroline has won five times on the 2009-2010 US college circuit and is Golf Week’s No 1 ranked female college player.
She was also voted the Player of the Year by the National Coaches Association of America. She won the 2010 NCAA women’s championship by four strokes from two members of the US Curtis Cup team to climax a great year on the US women’s college circuit.
Spanish players have dominated the Ladies’ British Open Amateur Championships over the past decade with Marta Prieto (2001), Elisa Serramia (2003), Belen Mozo (2006), Carlota Ciganda (2007) and Azahara Munoz (2009) all winning the prestigious title.
Another aspect of this championship is becoming apparent, it is now producing champions who are so good that they are capable of stepping over into the professional ranks and making a mark almost immediately. Sweden’s Anna Nordqvist, champion at North Berwick in 2008, quickly became a star on the LPGA Tour and Azahara Munoz, turning pro only a few weeks after becoming champion last June, won on the Ladies European Tour within a couple of months.
All members of the 2010 Great Britain & Ireland Curtis Cup team have entered and because of that fixture (being played at Essex County Club, Massachusetts, USA from June 11 to 13), the Ladies’ British Open Amateur Championship is being played a week later than normal this year. The playing of two major tournaments within a few weeks is sure to test the stamina of Captain Mary McKenna’s Team.
Ganton Golf Club’s course, situated some 11 miles from Scarborough, will undoubtedly play its part in ensuring that the new champion is a player of the highest quality.
The Yorkshire course, with its ‘linksy’ feel, has staged the 1949 Ryder Cup, the 2000 Curtis Cup and the 2003 Walker Cup and was once referred to by Gary Player as ‘the only inland course worthy of staging the Open championship’. The legendary Harry Vardon was one of Ganton’s first club professionals, serving from 1896 to 1903. Winner of six Open championships, Harry took the Claret Jug back to the Yorkshire clubhouse three times.
The Ladies’ British Open Amateur Championship has been played on three previous occasions at Ganton. Frances Stephens beat Elizabeth Price 4 and 3 in the 1954 final, Elizabeth Chadwick was a 3 and 2 winner over Vivian Saunders in the 1966 final while Ireland’s Lilian Behan beat Claire Waite by one hole in the 1985 final.
Last year the final was contested by two Spanish players. Two years ago the finalists were both Swedish. The last all-British final was in 2000 when Rebecca Hudson beat another Yorkshire player, Emma Duggleby, at Walton Heath. Emma, now playing under her married name of Brown will be competing in this year’s event while Rebecca was also the last British player to win the title (Ashburnham, 2002) when she beat Kent-born Australian Lindsay Wright in the final.
The Hedwalls from Sweden will not be the only twins playing in the championship. Leona and Lisa Maguire from Co Cavan, Ireland, who, at the age of 15, will be GB & I’s youngest ever Curtis Cup team members at Essex County Club in June, will be making the trip back across the Atlantic and the Irish Sea to take their places in the star-studded field at Ganton.
Do you have comments or questions about the LGU?
LGU legal disclaimer | Privacy statement | Copyright © 2012 - Ladies' Golf Union
Ladies' Golf Union, The Scores, St. Andrews, Fife, KY16 9AT
Tel: 01334 475811, Fax: 01334 472818