The time ticked nearer to 1 pm, so I left the media centre and made my way towards a group at Royal Lytham & St Annes boasting nine major championships between them.
Hae Ran Ryu and Nelly Korda arrived in Lancashire holding four of the five women’s majors contested in 2026. Ryu is chasing an extraordinary hat-trick after victories at the KPMG Women’s PGA Championship and the Amundi Evian Championship, while Korda had already lifted both the Chevron Championship and the US Women’s Open trophies.
Alongside them was Lydia Ko, who possesses the one major trophy neither of them has – the AIG Women’s Open, claimed so memorably on the Old Course at St Andrews two years ago.
There was one thing I was curious to discover this week: would following the biggest stars in women’s golf feel any different to following Rory McIlroy, Tommy Fleetwood or Scottie Scheffler at The Open Championship?
I presumed it would be far easier, for sure. The answer to my question came almost immediately.
Standing behind Royal Lytham’s magnificent 1st green, anticipation steadily built for the marquee group. Spectators packed around one of championship golf’s most famous putting surfaces, all hoping for the same thing – a glimpse of the world’s best players.
The excitement was oozing from the practice ground. Korda took her final few towering swishes on the range before heading to the 1st tee, looking to recover from an opening-round 73. Even at this stage, you were relying on a leg-up to see her.
Before she emerged on Lytham’s famous par-3 1st, though, England’s brightest new major hope stole the spotlight.
Lottie Woad, from Farnham in Surrey, was in the group ahead. She rattled her birdie putt past the hole before calmly rolling in a par, prompting an eruption of applause.
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There was a genuine hunger among the galleries on the Fylde coast to see Woad climb the leaderboard.
Moments later my head swivelled like an owl as another roar echoed across the course from the 17th green. Charley Hull, one of the game’s biggest crowd-pullers, had splashed out from a greenside bunker and watched the ball disappear into the hole for birdie.
It was like Lee Westwood and Luke Donald had been teleported back into their pomp, chasing those majors that never came.
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An army of supporters followed Hull’s every move before she striped one final drive down the iconic 18th and signed for a round that kept her firmly in contention.
On my first-ever championship day at the AIG Women’s Open, I quickly realised I’d made the wrong assumption. Although the crowd volume isn’t what it was at The Open further down the coast, or on any coast for that matter, I still found myself doing exactly what I’d been doing at Royal Birkdale: craning my neck over shoulders and trying to keep up with the game’s biggest stars.
The irresistible urge golf fans have to chase every shot, every roar and every superstar isn’t exclusive to the men’s sphere – far from it.
While the AIG Women’s Open isn’t welcoming six-figure crowds as The Open did a fortnight ago, if you arrive expecting acres of space and uninterrupted views of the likes of Korda, Ko, Hull and Woad, you’re in for a surprise
Following the marquee group quickly became an exercise in patience and picking your battles with vantage points and standing specs.
After the 1st hole, the players disappear towards the railway line to play their 2nd and 3rd tee shots in relative tranquillity before emerging once again to galleries lining the fairways several people deep.
The dunes surrounding the 3rd green created a natural amphitheatre, with spectators perched high above the action. By the time you reached the bottleneck approaching the 4th tee, the experience became instantly familiar.
You found yourself standing on tiptoes, peering over shoulders, hoping to catch even a fleeting glimpse of Ko plotting her way around a particularly demanding pin position, which forced a three-putt from her playing partner Ryu.
Children darted between adults for a better view as Ko safely negotiated a par. Others simply listened for the cheers before hurrying in the opposite direction down the fairway.
A couple of stretches of the front nine were exactly like this, and the far end of the course by the 8th green and 9th tee can be particularly suffocating.
The biggest names in women’s golf now command galleries that move, swell and bottleneck in much the same way as those following McIlroy, Fleetwood or Scheffler at The Open.
I soon discovered that you can’t just stroll behind the world’s best women’s players. You plan where to stand, anticipate where the crowds will gather and sometimes settle for hearing the roar before seeing the shot.
The most satisfying part of the day wasn’t seeing the stars and their quality in person. It was occasionally struggling to do so.
That meant thousands of other people had come to watch them too.
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