Farewell Annika

This time last year we were all looking forward to history being made with the Old Course, St Andrews, hosting the Women’s British Open.

It was the first time the course had staged a women’s professional tournament and it grabbed the attention of golf fans as well as the wider world at large.

This year there is not the same historic nature to the championship but such are the advances that the event has made in recent years that there is still plenty to look forward to.

It is impossible, first and foremost, not to comment on the fact this will be Annika Sorenstam’s last Major and last competitive event in Britain.

We hope you find our extensive look at her career (find it in pages eight and 17 of our Lady Golfer magazine) does the Swedish superstar’s incredible list of achievements justice.

It will certainly be an emotional week for Annika, her many fans and also many of the players she has competed against for more than a decade.

I will leave my thoughts on Annika there for now because I contribute to our tribute to her. What a magnificent servant to ladies’ golf she has been though.

However, there are other exciting themes to touch on ahead of the biggest week in British ladies’ golf in 2008.

One centres around Karen Stupples’ return to Sunningdale, the venue at which she won the Women’s British Open in 2004.

I’m delighted to say we have spoken to Karen ahead of what will also be an emotional week for her.

Happily, she is finding her best form again and has every chance of mounting a stiff defence of her Sunningdale crown.

The lady she knows may well stand in her way is not Annika, as it has been for so long, but instead Lorena Ochoa.

The Mexican broke her Major duck at St Andrews 12 months ago and that was the signal for her to begin a period of all-encompassing dominance of Annika-type proportions.

She claimed the opening Major of this year – the Kraft Nabisco – and has challenged in every event in which she has played.
It is almost inconceivable that Lorena will not have a major part to play in the championship.

Also in our preview of the championship, which this year begins on the last day of July, is a look at the stunning Sunningdale course.

We are used to watching the event on a links but of course Berkshire is famous for its heathland layouts and it makes a nice change to go to the likes of Sunningdale now and again.

Finally a word about the Curtis Cup, which coincidentally was played at the Old Course for the first time at the end of May.
The American side won again but it was a terrific and brave effort from GB&I and well done to all the girls and captain Mary McKenna.

If we could just have turned a couple of the pairings matches on the first two days which ended all square in our favour, then it could have been different.

The deficit going into the singles always looked like being too much of a task for our girls.

We now must look to 2010 for our next chance to regain the cup.

Will we have help from mainland Europe? We examine that issue in this month's magazine, find it in your clubhouse!