That’s all, folks. Catriona Matthew has been such a staple part of the AIG Women’s Open down the years, she’s almost rivetted to the actual trophy.
A St Andrews swansong beckons this week, though. Ahead of her 55th birthday on Sunday, Matthew has announced that this, her 31st appearance in the women’s showpiece, will be her last.
It will be a fitting farewell in the cradle of the game for this true great of Scottish golf.
The Swilcan Bridge has been the site of so many cap-waving, dewy-eyed goodbyes down the years, the sheer volume of romantic, nostalgic tears that have dribbled down on this treasured little crossing has just about caused damp in the stonework.
Will there be more when Matthew performs her last hurrah? “I’ll need to wait and see how I’m playing,” she said with a smile.
From a debut as an amateur back in 1993, long before the championship had major status, Matthew has watched the event grow and grow into a multi-million dollar bonanza that’s now one of the richest in the women’s game.
As a past champion, the North Berwick veteran has an exemption until she is 60 but this indefatigable competitor doesn’t fancy the idea of becoming a ceremonial player plootering around in the lower reaches of the order and making up the numbers.
“This will be my last time,” said the former European Solheim Cup-winning captain. “You don’t want to come and keep playing the event when you’re not competitive.
“It just felt that, being in St Andrews, in Scotland, the home of golf, what better place to play my last one.
“I have no illusions about winning this week. A goal for me this week will be to try to make the cut.
“There’s a bit of relief knowing that this will be the last one. Obviously, I’ll be a little bit sad, too, that I’m not in the event anymore.
“It’s so big now and there’s such a buzz but I’ve realised at 55 I’m not going to be as competitive as I want to be and that everything comes to an end.”
Read more:
Scots golfer Catriona Matthew likens MBE to Solheim Cup victory as she collects royal honour
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Matthew’s’ momentous AIG Women’s Open win at Royal Lytham in 2009, the first major success by a Scottish female golfer, was achieved just 11 weeks after giving birth to her second daughter. You could say it was the mother of all triumphs.
“Obviously the second one (child) was a little bit easier so it was easier to come back from, but at the time you just get on with it,” she said as she mulled over the magnitude and majesty of that win.
“It's not until you look back and reflect on it, then you think, ‘God, how did I do that?’. Even now, myself and Graeme (her husband) look back and think, ‘how did we travel on tour with them both, with all the luggage and getting up in the middle of the night with them?’. You wonder how on earth you ever managed to play any semi-decent golf.”
The only other Scot in the line-up this week is Gemma Dryburgh. How to get more young girls into golf and bolster a new wave of home grown talent is a conundrum that’s as auld as the Martyrs Monument. Any ideas, Catriona?
“I wish I knew the answer,” she said. “If people knew what more could be done, I think it would be being done.
“I'm obviously not the greatest role model because I wouldn't really say either of my daughters play,” she added with a wry chuckle.
It’s not just Matthew who is saying a cheerio. Martin Slumbers, the chief executive of The R&A, will be overseeing his final professional championship.
He leaves the AIG Women’s Open in very fine fettle and yesterday, he announced a further $500,000 would be getting tossed into the prize pot.
Since title sponsor, AIG, came on board in 2018, the purse has jumped from $4.5million to $9.5million.
Perhaps some of that dosh could be used as a wee backhander to get Mother Nature onside? The pesky rascal is set to meddle with affairs over the coming days with winds predicted to reach 40 to 45mph across the exposed links in round one. The media centre is already creaking like an old galleon in a tempest.
“There is a risk that we'll have delays in play,” said Slumbers. “The best players in the world want a bit of a hard challenge. I just hope it doesn't blow so hard that we can't play. I think we'll all be pleased to get through Thursday.”
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