The last week in July saw the arrival at Royal Birkdale of the World’s best women golfers to compete in the 35th Women’s British Open; the 5th time that Birkdale had hosted the event.  In testing, blustery and at times rainy conditions the truly cosmopolitan field produced a high quality display of golf for the sizeable galleries to enjoy, with Taiwan’s Yani Tseng emerging triumphant with excellent winning score of 11 under par 277.

The 21 year old greatly impressed everyone who watched her both through her demeanour and her perfectly orthodox, compact, powerful swing which produced a ceaseless flow of glorious shots ideally suited to their specific requirements.  Of her first three rounds, each of 68, the third was probably the pick in as much as she holed only two putts of any significance, taking 33 in all.  Her ball striking in this round was as near perfect as makes no difference, her only statistical blemishes being through strategic choice rather than error, namely when she deliberately drove into the left-hand rough at the 10th to materially shorten her second shot and then at the 17th when her caddie advised her to play a 7 iron second to the front of the green thereby removing the threat of the greenside bunkers.
In her first 56 holes played she had only one bogey, a truly phenomenal feat in windy conditions on a great golf course.

Her 54 hole total of 204 would have spread-eagled a World-class field had the tall athletically built Australian, Kathryn Hull, not completed her 3rd round with a run of five birdies for a 66, one shot worse than the sensational 65 that Morgan Pressel had returned earlier in the day.  Despite Hull’s brilliant finish Tseng had nevertheless established a 4 shot lead going into the final round.

Once again Head Greenkeeper, Chris Whittle, and his staff had presented Birkdale in pristine condition.  Bathed in the sunshine of Sunday afternoon the links looked a picture, a perfect stage for great events.  Played in a fresh South West breeze none of the chasing pack making a significant move, the last round had the feel of being matchplay between the final couple of Hull and Tseng.  An Australian birdie at the 2nd and a bunkered Taiwanese drive at the 3rd which resulted in a bogey cut Tseng’s lead to two but she responded strongly with a 45ft birdie putt on the short 4th and a perfectly played birdie 4 on the 6th thus restoring her overnight lead of four shots.  It was then that Tseng displayed a slight frailty in her putting culminating in a miss from 2 ½ ft for a three putt bogey on the 10th green.  Thus encouraged, Hull needed off four consecutive threes from the 11th including birdies on the 11th and 13th to be only a short behind. 

Despite the pressure Tseng’s well-grooved swing showed no sign of faltering.  Two powerful shots reached the fringe of the par 5 15th green only for the birdie chance to go begging with a miss from a yard.  Hull holed bravely from 6ft at the 16th to match Tseng’s par four.  Neither player could quite birdie the long 17th despite moving both hits long straight drives.  With the honour on the 18th tee Hull hit a shorter drive than expected into the right hand rough leaving herself a down-wind shot of over 200 yards to the flag.  Tseng, using a driver when a 3 wood might have been wiser, opened the door by crunching yet another blistering drive of fully 300 yards which just reached the left hand fairway bunker with its last gash.  Deciding to go down the green on a fairway wood, Hull smashed her second shot dead on line only to set it race well through the green leaving a difficult chip from some 25 yards.
Tseng recovered safely from the bunker and then saw her 9 iron approach slip to the right into the swale at the back of the green 35ft from the pin.

Perhaps somewhat in two minds the Australian saw her chip check on the incline and finish 20ft short.  As is always likely to happen from that position Tseng’s uphill putt pulled up 5ft short of the hole.  Reading a non-existent left-hand break into her putt, Hull’s bold attempt ran by leaving Tseng a putt for victory.  Whether through crowd disturbance or her own uncertainty the Taiwanese golfer had several times previously stepped away from her shots but this time there was no hesitation as she rolled her putt straight into the middle of the cup.

She had led the Championship from start to finish and despite some late anxiety had produced golf of the highest quality under pressure which deservedly earned her the title.

Endearingly the new Champion seemed to be taken by surprise at the warmth of the reception she received both inside and outside the Clubhouse.  Indeed an occasion to remember.


Leading Final Scores

YANI TSENG, TAIWAN    68, 68, 68, 73    -    277
KATHERINE HULL, AUSTRALIA    68, 74, 66, 70    -    278
NA YEON CHOI, KOREA    74, 70, 69, 68     -    281
IN-KYUNG KIM, KOREA    70,72, 68, 71    -    281
AMY YANG, KOREA    69, 71, 74, 68    -    282
CRISTIE KERR, USA    73, 67, 72, 70    -    282
HEE KYUNG SEO, KOREA    73, 69, 70, 70    -    282
MORGAN PRESSEL, USA    77, 71, 65, 71    -    284
INBEE PARK, KOREA    72, 71, 77, 66    -    286
AI MIYAZATO, JAPAN    76, 70, 73, 67    -    286
CHRISTINA KIM, USA    74, 68, 70, 74    -    286
MOMOKE UEDA    JAPAN    72, 70, 70, 74    -    286
BRITTANY LINCICOME, USA    69, 71, 71, 75    -    286

Leading Amateur               

CAROLINE HEDWALL, SWEDEN    74, 75, 72, 70    -    291


Local interest centred on the performances of two Royal Birkdale Members, Florentyna Parker and Kelly Tidy, who have been enjoying great success in their respective golfing spheres. 

Florentyna, a recent winner on the Ladies European Tour, has played her way into the top ten in the Solheim Cup rankings and 18 year old Kelly responded to the disappointment of missing out on the Curtis Cup selection by carrying off the oldest prize in women’s golf with her fighting comeback in the final of the Ladies British Open Amateur Championship at Ganton.

Kelly, responding to the excitement of the occasion and the vociferous backing of her many supporters, demonstrated her considerable skills but just missed the 36 hole cut score of 149 by two shots.  This was mainly due to strategic errors on the 18th tee in the first round when two out of bounds tee shots turned a potential 74 into a 78.  However, seemingly undeterred she came out first thing on Friday morning with a sub par first nine holes but luck deserted her on the last two greens when the putts she needed for birdies both hit the hole but refused to drop.

In amongst company of the holder, Catriona Matthew, and the USA Women’s Open Champion, Paula Creamer, Florentyna redeemed an opening 77 with a gritty 71 played through the incessant rain of the second afternoon to make the cut with a stroke to spare.  A disappointing 3rd round 79 threw her back into last place but Flory showed her true colours in the final round with a four under par 68 for a total of 295.