This summer, the AIG Women’s Open returns to St. Andrews for the first time since 2013. Here’s everything you need to know about the 2024 championship.
American Lilia Vu will defend the trophy she won comfortably at Walton Heath last year, but she will face a field determined to make an impression at the home of golf. Young and veteran, homegrown heroes and international superstars, professionals and amateurs – the Old Course awaits them all at the AIG Women’s Open.
What is the history of the event?
In a word: surprising. You might think the AIG Women’s Open has a long and storied history. Perhaps not as old as the Open itself, but the women’s game flourished in the early years of the 20th century and exhibition matches between the great male and female golfers were common on both sides of the Atlantic in the 1920s and 1930s. And yet the Women’s Open didn’t exist until 1976, when the British Open Amateur Stroke Play, which itself debuted in 1969, was expanded to include professionals.
The first event was actually won by an amateur and the second title in 1977 was decided by a countback! The event almost went out of existence in the 1980s and became an LPGA sanctioned event in 1994 before becoming a major in 2001. Now organised by the R&A and with a superstructure equivalent to the men’s tours, the chaos of those early years is almost forgotten.
And what is the recent history?
The championship has shone in recent years. England’s Georgia Hall (see our exclusive interview on page 49) opened in 2018 with a superb display of links golf at Royal Lytham & St Annes.
A year later, Japan’s Hinako Shibuno arrived for her major debut expecting a seaside golf course. She was delighted to discover that Woburn was a tree-lined course that reminded her of home and raced to victory.
In 2020, Germany’s Sophia Popov, ranked 304th in the world, pulled off a remarkable double victory, winning £1,700 for a minor tour win at Troon North GC in Arizona in May and £515,000 for a major triumph at Royal Troon three months later. Sweden’s Anna Nordqvist claimed her third major title at Carnoustie in 2021 before South Africa’s Ashleigh Buhai overcame nerves, Korea’s In Gee Chun and the fast-approaching darkness to complete the play-off victory at Muirfield in 2022.
What happened in last year’s championship?
Unlike The Open, the AIG Women’s Open has never been confined to the linksland region of Britain and Ireland, but last year the first championship tournament was held on the majestic heathland of Walton Heath. Future Prime Minister David Lloyd George was a member and his nearby house was attacked by suffragists in 1913; 110 years later, another politically motivated protest occurred when Just Stop Oil protesters ran onto the 17th green before the leaders arrived for the final round. They failed to dislodge Lilia Vu, who had also brushed aside the challenge of Charley Hull with a composed performance to secure a victory by six strokes over the Englishwoman.
Where does the Women’s Open rank among the five majors?
Unlike men’s tennis, where there are three equal majors and a fourth below, the ranking of women’s majors is more flexible, with one exception: the US Women’s Open ranks above all others.
One could argue that American golfers view the Chevron Championship and the KPMG Women’s PGA Championship as the next lowest tournaments, while British players undoubtedly view the AIG Women’s Open as the second best tournament.
In fact, all three tournaments are of equal importance, with the Evian Championship coming in fifth. And of course, there is another obvious difference: in women’s golf, there are five, not four, tournaments that can determine a golfer’s career.
How many Opens have been hosted on the Old Course?
This year’s AIG Women’s Open is only the third to be held on the Old Course at St. Andrews, the first being won by Mexican Lorena Ochoa in 2007. Already ranked No. 1 in the world, she shot a bunker- and bogey-free opening round of 67 to establish a lead that she never seemed to relinquish.
Six years later, American Stacy Lewis was happy to return to St. Andrews, where she had represented Team USA in 2008 and become the first player ever to score five points in a Curtis Cup. She rented an apartment within wedge distance of the 18th green and secured the championship title with a brilliant birdie-birdie finish.
Do women feel as comfortable in the Home of Golf as men?
It certainly seems that way. At the end of May, 2018 champion Georgia Hall looked over the Old Course and could hardly stop raving about the Auld Grey Toon.
“As soon as I’m here, I’m just happier,” she said. “The atmosphere is incredible, the city is incredible.”
I want to buy a house or an apartment up here. I enjoy it so much. There’s nothing like it. I’ve never seen ‘normal’ people just standing around and watching golfers. It’s just incredible.”
“For me as a Brit, this event is always the most important of the year, but at St. Andrews it is even more special. We all want to win a little more.”
Who will lead the home challenge this time?
It’s Hall again. Not only did she win the championship six years ago, she also finished third at Kingsbarns in 2017, second at Carnoustie in 2021 and won the top amateur title at the 2013 Open on the Old Course with Lydia Ko. She also has vivid memories of playing alongside Tiger Woods, Rory McIlroy and Lee Trevino in the four-hole Celebration of Champions event two years ago in the lead-up to the 150th Open.
Hall loves the links country, but her good friend and fellow countrywoman Charley Hull is a little more ambivalent. She even once admitted that she prefers a tree-lined course so much that she imagines trees lining the fairways when she plays by the sea.
It was perhaps no surprise that her best ever championship result came with a second place at Walton Heath last year, but she has finished in the championship top 25 three times on the links and is getting ever closer to her first major triumph – she also finished second at last year’s US Women’s Open at Pebble Beach.
Could Lottie Woad spring an upset? Well, if so, it wouldn’t be too much of a surprise. The 20-year-old Englishwoman shot 3 under par over the last four holes to deservedly win the Augusta National Women’s Amateur last April. She also won the 2022 Sunningdale Foursomes alongside Rachel Gourley, displaying ruthless golf that hinted at a great talent with a sharp mind. She finished tied for 23rd in her major championship debut this year and is perfectly capable of improving.
Will Nelly Korda be the favorite at St. Andrews?
That’s to be expected considering the kind of year she’s had so far. Two wins in a row is impressive. Winning five tournaments in a row is remarkable. To achieve that streak at a major is simply outstanding. Korda, of course, managed to get six wins in seven starts, but then it all went wrong.
On the devilish par-3 12th hole at Lancaster CC in the US Women’s Open, her third hole of the first round, she took 10 shots to reach the bottom of the hole and had to settle for a painful 80 – a pretty spectacular end to her winning streak.
She missed the cut and the world blamed it on that poorly prepared short hole. But in her next start, she opened with a 76 and missed the cut again. And then she shot an 81 in the second round of the KPMG Women’s PGA Championship and missed the cut again.
She is, of course, a tremendous talent, but her slender frame may not be well suited to the golf course and she has only finished in the top 10 once in seven appearances at the AIG Women’s Open. That it took place among the trees in Woburn in 2019 may well be telling.
About the author
Matt Cooper
Contributing Author
Matt Cooper has been a golf journalist for 15 years. His work has included work for Golf365, SkySports, ESPN, NBC, Sporting Life, Open.com and the Guardian. He specialises in reporting, feature writing and tournament analysis.
During this time he has traveled widely and reported on the Gulf from Kazakhstan to South Korea via the Seychelles, Sri Lanka and Nepal.
He has also reported directly on numerous Majors, Ryder Cups and Solheim Cups.
