Women’s Golf Open returns to St Andrews

The Ladies Golf Open hosted by the women’s section of the St Andrews Golf Club returns to the Moka fairways in Maraval from Thursday to Sunday after its absence last year because of the covid19 pandemic.

A St Andrews Golf Club media release said, “The organising committee is expecting great enthusiasm from local golfers after the hiatus of top-level competition during the lockdown that began in March 2020.”

Sarah Ramphal was the winner in 2020, but it is uncertain if she would compete this year.

While many of the golfers may be rusty after the long absence of competitive golf, Yeji Lee, also a former women’s champion in the top category, is considered the top seed, having got the better of Ramphal at the Brechin Castle Open recently. As past junior golfers, they will now face the next generation of maturing junior golfers, Jada Charles and Chloe Ajodha, who are now campaigning at the highest level.

The event has new sponsors this year.

“The Ladies Open, which began in 1989 under the sponsorship of the Nestle brand, will have new sponsors in 2022. Given the challenges faced by commercial enterprises in the past two years, we welcome both AIB Insurance Brokers and Caribbean Bottlers as co-sponsors of this event. Both have been associated with Ladies Golf for decades.”

This year golfers from around the Caribbean will not be able to attend because of the pandemic.

“As the premier event for female golfers in the country, the tournament creates an atmosphere of both competition and fellowship. Golfers from our Caribbean neighbours will be absent this year, given the continuing challenges of cross border travel, but the competition will be no less keen.”

The tournament is open to all golfers with a course handicap of 36 or better, and the 36-hole competition on the weekend is divided in three classes to allow golfers of similar handicap levels to compete against each other.

This year, a new category is being launched, aimed at beginners, who have not played in open competition before, to test their skills.

This new category will be played over nine holes on Saturday. Also included on the event calendar is a chipping and putting clinic on Saturday to provide additional guidance on the skills that are viewed as the “scoring” part of the game.

The Ladies Open has been a major testing ground for those who will represent the national team at junior and senior levels and who will want to catch the eyes of selectors to be on the national teams for the Caribbean Junior and Senior Championships to be held in July/ August 2022.

Over the years, the tournament has seen the rise of young players through the ranks and some examples of those who made it to the champion’s podium include Maria Nunes, Tracey Clarke, Martine de Gannes, Monifa Sealy, Michelle Torry, Cristina Ferreira and Ysabelle Lawrence, who all went on to play college golf in the US.

The week of golf tees off on Thursday with an 18-hole stableford format, in which all players will compete against each other based on their handicaps.

The 36-hole tournament is played over two days and will end on Sunday.