This history this week at Muirfield won’t be limited to the course.
This history this week at Muirfield won’t be limited to the course. The R&A and AIG have announced an increase to the purse at the AIG Women’s British Open by 26 percent, to a new championship record $7.3 million. The first woman to win a professional title at historic Muirfield will receive $1,095,000.
The player who finishes second will earn $720,028.
The total purse for this event has increased 125 percent since AIG came on board as title sponsor.
“We are proud to be the title sponsor of the AIG Women’s Open and to serve as allies to women in golf, business and the communities where we live and work,” said Peter Zaffino, Chairman & Chief Executive Officer of AIG.
“Thanks to our great partnership with The R&A, we continue to make progress on pay equity while raising the profile of women’s golf and showcasing the tremendous talent of the elite women athletes competing in this iconic championship.”
Martin Slumbers, chief executive of The R&A, reiterated that the progress in prize funds needs to be commercially sustainable.
“We are delighted that many of our Open patrons now also support the AIG Women’s Open,” said Slumbers, “but we need to unlock new supporters to make sure women’s golf is financially viable.
“This week is the show piece of the R&A’s commitment to women’s golf, but it goes much further than just this one week. It’s woven into all we do. We need to increase the number of women and girls, not only playing golf, but we also need to create opportunities for women in leadership.”
During his time with the press on Wednesday, Slumbers was asked to reflect on the progress that has been made since 2016, when the membership at Muirfield failed to reach the two-thirds majority needed to change the rule to admit women.
The club was actually removed from the R&A’s rotation of British Open host venues after that vote. The membership voted again in 2017 and pushed it through.
“I think 2016, it was an important time for this sport and for the R&A,” said Slumbers. “I had only been in the organization a few months. We had been working very hard on a strategy for the R&A that had inclusivity very much as a part of it. We were in the beginning stages of merging with the Ladies Golf Union, and frankly, that merger transformed the R&A into where we are today.
“I think that when you think back over that six-year period since then, women’s golf has really exploded, and it’s got a long way to go yet. But I do think that that time will be viewed as pivotal in that change.”
Earlier this year, the best female golfers in the world played for a record $10 million purse at the U.S. Women’s Open at Pine Needles, where the top two finishers earned seven-figure checks. The KPMG Women’s PGA increased its purse to $9 million this year.
AIG Women’s Open purse on the rise:
2022 – $7.3 million
2021 – $5.8 million
2020 – $4.5 million
2019 – $4.5 million (beginning of The R&A and AIG partnership)
“I just love the way it feels and the way it looks.”
Brooke Henderson won her second major title, and first in six years, two weeks ago at the Amundi Evian Championship, and then promptly pulled out of the Trust Golf Women’s Scottish Open to recharge.
She took the unplanned off-week to tour a couple of castles in Scotland and practice at Carnoustie, site of last year’s AIG Women’s British Open.
This year’s British Open will be contested at iconic Muirfield for the first time. Muirfield has hosted 16 men’s British Opens, dating to 1892. It was only three years ago that the club invited its first female members in 275 years. This year’s champion will join a list of 16 men who have won an Open at Muirfield, including the likes of Harry Vardon, Walter Hagen, Gary Player, Jack Nicklaus, Lee Trevino, Tom Watson, Nick Faldo, Ernie Els and Phil Mickelson.
Henderson, the winningest Canadian golfer of all-time – male or female – played nine holes at Muirfield on Sunday night and 18 on Monday and said it might be her favorite links course yet.
“I just love the way it feels and the way it looks,” said Henderson. “I mentioned some of the spectacular views of the water, which is really cool. You can see it from a lot of different holes, actually, which is pretty neat.”
Brooke M. Henderson of Canada lift the trophy after winning the The Amundi Evian Championship during day four of The Amundi Evian Championship at Evian Resort Golf Club on July 24, 2022 in Evian-les-Bains, France. (Photo by Stuart Franklin/Getty Images)
With no top-10 finishes to her credit yet at the British, Henderson isn’t as high on the list of favorites as one might think, despite her recent triumph. She’ll rely heavily on older sister Brittany, who has more of an analytical mind, to help her manage her way around a course originally designed by Old Tom Morris.
“I’m very much just a feel player,” said Henderson, “so coming in, I like to see the golf course and kind of feel my way around. I feel like we make a really good team that way. The two methods kind of fit really well together.”
Get to know more about the three-time major champion and her unique new gear.
Both personally and professionally, 2021 has been a fantastic year for nine-time LPGA winner Anna Nordqvist.
The 34-year-old native of Eskilstuna, Sweden, got married to caddie Kevin McAlpine, won the AIG Women’s British Open for her first major in four years and then was a member of the winning European Solheim Cup team, where she compiled a 2-1-1 record and was the first player out in Sunday singles against Team USA’s Lexi Thompson. Now a resident of Scottsdale, Arizona, Nordqvist recently talked with Golfweek about her major win at Carnoustie in August and how she teamed up with a new putter and accessories company, Swag.
David Dusek: So, 2021 has been quite a year for you. It’s pretty much all come together. Was more aquavit consumed during your wedding or after winning the Solheim Cup? Anna Nordqvist: Uhm, well, I’m actually not a big drinker, so I must say it was probably more champagne in the trophy. And I don’t actually like champagne, so it was consumed mostly by my team.
DD: Have you learned how much champagne can be held in the trophy? AN: No, I should probably ask my caddie. I think it’s quite a bit, so I’m gonna have to ask the boys to see how much it actually fills up.
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DD: Congratulations on winning your third major. I would imagine it was a pretty special thing. Carnoustie has seen its share of carnage on the men’s side. Over 15 minutes playing the final hole, it had to be one of the biggest swings of emotions you’ve probably ever had as an athlete. Outwardly you stayed calm, but inwardly you must have been going nuts. AN: Yeah, I mean, I’ve been pro for I don’t know how many years now and I live for the moments of pressure. I love coming down the stretch and even having a chance. I play better knowing that I have a chance than when I’m totally out of it and battling for 65th place.
Carnoustie is such a hard golf course and on the last four holes, you can’t really lose focus. Those holes, as we all know, will just eat you straight up. After hitting my lag putt on 18, and knowing I had like a 1-inch putt for the win, that’s when I finally kind of got a little bit over my emotions, but you’re so focused on what you’re doing. You’re staying in the moment.
Anna Nordqvist of Sweden poses with the trophy after winning the 2021 AIG Women’s British Open at Carnoustie. Photo by Ian Rutherford/PA Wire
DD: Every player wants to win a major championship, but winners at certain venues get a little nod. Almost like a bonus point for winning a U.S. Open at someplace like Pebble Beach, Oakmont or Winged Foot. I asked Paula Creamer about this a while ago because she won at Oakmont and she kind of acknowledged it. Carnoustie is known as being one of the hardest of the British Open venues. Do you sense your peers give you a little bit of a bonus because you won at Carnoustie? AN: Yeah, I think I’ve learned over the years to not really listen too much to what everyone else thinks of me and thinks of my accomplishments and thinks of my game up. I appreciate all the support that I get, but for me personally, that’s all I could have asked for.
If I had to pick between St. Andrews and Carnoustie, I will play Carnoustie every day because I think Carnoustie is such a tougher golf course. And for me, it couldn’t have happened at any better place. So that is something I’m going to be extremely proud of for the rest of my life—knowing that I won the British Open at Carnoustie. If my peers think it’s better that I won there than any other … I’ve just learned that I can’t live my life depending on what everyone else thinks of me and my comments and stuff like that. But for me personally, there’s no golf tournament at a better venue that I could win, and that is something I’ll be forever proud of.
DD: On the equipment side, you play a Swag putter. It’s a relatively small and new brand. It started in 2017. How did you come to learn about the brand? AN: So, I met the owner, Nick Venson, and the tour rep out here in Arizona. He had a few putters around. Over the years, I’ve putted with a lot of different brands. I used to switch every two or three months because I never really liked the feel of a putter. So, when I came out, he had a few putters laying around that I like, kind of the normal like Anser style.
DD A heel-toe weighted blade? AN: Yeah, Swag calls it the Handsome Too, the model that I’m using. I got into a few mallets over the years, but I always tend to come back and I’ve seen seemed to have won the most victories with that style (heel-toe weighted blade). I used to always kind of change every two or three months and it used to drive my old caddies crazy. They were like, “Why are you changing putters again,” but it used to always come down to me not liking the feel or the way it comes off. I’m very much a feel player and I like to feel the ball come off the face. A lot of them, I refer to as it’s almost being like a marshmallow-like, it comes off so soft with all these inserts that companies have started to add over the years. Or it just comes out too firm or you can’t feel the ball. It’s like a delayed hit.
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So, I think when I when I asked (Nick) if I could try a putter, I think it was 34 inches and I’m at the 36 now. So, it was more just getting a feel for it. It was almost like love at first sight because I could finally feel the ball come off the putter. I mean, Nick has so much experience. He used to work for Scotty Cameron, used to work for Bettinardi, so he knows what he’s doing.
What’s cool about Swag is they can basically build you anything you want. Any style, any color, any shaft. So they ended up making me a black one, so that’s what I have in my putter now. So then they made me (another) black one in January and I put it in play at the Australian Open and I think I had my first top 10 in a long time, at the beginning of last year. (Since then) I have not changed putters. We have messed around a little bit with the lofts and lies, but I have not changed putter since 2019. That’s huge for me because that’s over a year and a half.
Obviously now, being on board with the team, it’s been such an amazing opportunity for me, but I don’t know if you’ve seen my golf bags this year….
DD: Oh, you can’t miss them. AN: It was actually good! I played in a charity event yesterday, and you know how they take your bag at backdrop and yours goes among the 50 bags. So, I was just sneaking out and like, “OK, there’s my bag.” I could see it.
Anna Nordqvist’s neon-yellow Swag golf bag at the 2021 Women’s British Open. (Andrew Redington/Getty Images)
DD: That the putter headcover that you’ve you’ve got that that Queen had covered did they. Did you request that or did they bring that to you? AN: So, they actually made it for me as a surprise. Swag does all these custom headcovers, like shoe drops, very once in a while and these headcovers sell out in minutes, sometimes seconds. So, after my win at the British, they literally, I think the Monday, showed me a picture of his head cover they were making. They call it a Swedish Queen and if you look closely at it actually has my trophy in it.
The R&A announced Thursday it canceled two amateur events but is keeping an eye on coronavirus ahead of the Open and Women’s Open.
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The R&A announced Thursday it canceled two more events as the threat of coronavirus continues to evolve.
Based on advice by the UK Government, the R&A has canceled two international amateur events — the R&A Student Tour Series Final at St Andrews and Carnoustie and The R&A Girls’ U16 Amateur Championship at Fulford. Both events were scheduled for April.
The R&A said it is also evaluating current plans for the British Open at Royal St George’s in July and the AIG Women’s British Open at Royal Troon in August. Currently, the R&A plans to proceed with both events, but will also consider a range of options for the championships if necessary.
“Our absolute priority is to ensure the safety of players, fans, officials, staff and all involved in our championships and that will be at the forefront of our thinking as we monitor developments,” Chief Executive of the R&A Martin Slumbers said in a statement. “We have some time before we start building the infrastructure at both venues and so we are keeping the scheduled dates in place for The Open and AIG Women’s British Open at this point.
“We recognize that this is a rapidly changing situation and we will keep everyone informed of any changes to our plans. These are difficult times but we are bearing in mind our responsibility for what’s right for golf and most importantly for society.”
The R&A said in its statement it will stay updated on the progression COVID-19 and how it will impact the remainder of the season’s events.
The R&A is not the only organization holding off on canceling major events scheduled for later this summer. The International Olympic Committee has not yet called off the 2020 Olympics in Tokyo even though COVID-19 was officially declared a pandemic last week and many countries have barred non-essential travel.
