How to win the Women’s Amateur Championship with Emily Toy
It’s a week-long ordeal and matches can swing on a single shot. So how do you prevail against all odds? We asked former Women’s Amateur champion Emily Toy how she did it…
This could have been a very different week for Emily Toy. She might have been striding the fairways at Kilmarnock (Barassie) in a bid to become the first player since Louise Stahle, 15 years ago, to defend the Women’s Amateur Championship.
Toy claimed the famous trophy in dramatic style at Royal County Down in 2019 when holding off Amelia Garvey by the narrowest of margins.
Lockdown has severely disrupted a campaign that would have seen her travel to Georgia in April for the Augusta National Women’s Invitational.
The England Golf squad player will now have to wait until August to try and keep her crown when the R&A’s rescheduled Amateur Championship is staged at West Lancashire.
But on the anniversary of her biggest success, we asked Cornwall’s finest to break down what it takes to win this gruelling event – which sees a huge field take part in two qualifying stroke play rounds before going head-to-head in 18-hole matchplay until the last player is standing…
Preparation is the key
“That’s one of the crucial things. Steve Robinson (England Golf women’s coach) leaves nothing to chance. Chance is inconsistent.
“With proper course planning and mapping, you don’t need to improve your game as such – you just need to think.
“We talk about our golf IQ and how well you can think your way around a course. Over the last year, I haven’t made that many technical changes but the way I think and the way I strategise has been that much better.
“I am saving shots without necessarily changing my technique and that’s what every golfer really wants.”
Get through the stroke play
“The strokeplay is ‘get the job done’ and qualify in the top 64. Position-wise, it doesn’t really matter where you qualify you’ve just got to get in that top 64 and then it’s head-to-head.”
Match play is about grinding it out
“You might not have your best game at each matchplay stage but you just have to keep grinding.
“The first four games I was ahead early and kept that going. As we got further on, and in the semi-final and final, I got down early.
“Actually, it was kind of a good position to be in – that you can chase a game. It’s nice to come from behind and put pressure on your opponent.
“It’s a long week of golf and there are going to be times where you are going to go behind but it’s concentrating on getting that one match done.
“I’m fairly good at not thinking too far ahead so it is concentrating one match at a time and keep grinding.”
Handle the frustration and manage expectation
“I wouldn’t say I was hitting the ball amazingly (that week). I wouldn’t say I had my A-game but when I reflect my mental game was pretty good throughout.
“The conditions weren’t perfect but it’s links golf and that’s what we expect. I play a lot of links golf and put that against the back of my mind. Everyone’s playing in the same conditions.
“Level par in matchplay is a good score. You have to manage your expectations and that was a good score around that golf course.
“There were some tough games and I think my mental game was the best it was all season.”
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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.
