Historic Lydia Hall becomes PGA’s first lady
Meet the new first lady of the PGA. Former Ladies European Tour winner Lydia Hall has broken down the gender barriers by becoming the first woman to win a PGA national tournament.
At Tenby, the club described as the birthplace of golf in Wales, she repelled the challenges of Matthew Tottey and Thomas Phillips to win the 36-hole Wales National PGA Championship by a stroke.
Hall, a former winner of the ISPS Handa Ladies British Masters, did it in style – carding a second-round three-under 67 for a two-under total.
Phillips three-putted the 16th, while Tottey missed a short putt on the 18th to force a play-off. Hall by contrast, unfazed by a rare blip at the 15th, negotiated the last three holes in regulation.
Now representing Hensol Golf Academy, in Mid-Glamorgan, where she has just completed her second year as a PGA Assistant, she attributed her success to the LET.
“The experience of nine years on Tour helped me massively,” she said. “I’ve been in this position – in the final group and leading. So I knew the kind of feeling I’d have, how to keep myself calm, to stay in the present and not think ahead.
“It was quite tight coming down the stretch and I knew I had to get to at least two, maybe three-under. I made a silly bogey on 15 but kept going over the last three holes.
Hall added: “I decided to join the PGA because our tour is growing but we still haven’t got a tournament every single week yet. It gives me an opportunity to teach and I really enjoy that. It also gives me a balance in my life so I don’t have to think all about playing all the time.”
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Tom Irwin
Tom is a lifetime golfer, now over 30 years playing the game. 2023 marks 10 years in golf publishing and he is still holding down a + handicap at Alwoodley in Leeds. He has played over 600 golf courses, and has been a member of at least four including his first love Louth, in Lincolnshire. Tom likes unbranded clothing, natural fibres, and pencil bags. Seacroft in Lincolnshire is where it starts and ends.
