We had a fantastic winner at Royal Troon, but sadly no British players made it inside the top 30 positions.
By Harriet Shephard - Image: Getty Images
Sophia Popov was the most fantastic winner for an absolutely fantastic AIG Women's Open at Royal Troon.
But while we’re thrilled to have such an inspiring player lift the trophy (and have it back inside Europe might we add) many of you might have been wondering what happened to all our home hopes.
Looking down the leaderboard, there are no British players inside the top 20 or even the top 30 positions.
In fact, the highest ranked players were Northern Ireland’s Stephanie Meadow, England’s Jodi Ewart Shadoff and feisty English player Mel Reid at T39 and +9.
To be fair to the girls, the weather was really quite extreme, with the wind leaving some players struggling to walk or stand up never mind control a golf ball.
But somehow plenty of players from across America, Asia, Australia and other European countries managed to make it into the top 20.
So, what happened to our home hopes?
Georgia Hall
Finishing even, Round 4 was by far the best of the days for 2018 Women’s British Open champion Georgia Hall.
The tough winds seemed to get to her in the rounds before, finishing +5 on Day Two and +3 on Day Three.
Round 3 was a funny one though and at first we thought it was going to be her day. The first nine holes included three birdies, but the last nine were a disaster with five bogies.
Speaking after Round 1 she said:
“It was very challenging. The wind was so strong, especially on the front nine. I didn't start off that great, but I was really proud of how I grinded out there. This is about a mental battle this week. Obviously, tomorrow is supposed to be dreadful weather, so anything can happen.”
Charley Hull
Part of Team GB in the Rio Olympics and ranked the 25th best female golfer in the world on the Rolex Rankings, we had high hopes at the start of the week that 2020 would be Charley's year.
But these hopes were quickly dashed.
Even after the practice rounds Charley admitted that links golf wasn’t really for her, so we should have known really.
Speaking in a press conference she said:
“Obviously I'm not the biggest fan of links golf, I like playing with it my friends and stuff as a bit of fun but I find it hard to score around sometimes. I like parkland golf courses and American-style.”
Her time at Royal Troon won’t have done anything to make her more fond of the form of golf either.
In Round 1 she finished +5 and Round 2 was even worse with a +8 finish.
Sadly, she didn’t make the cut to go through to the weekend.
Catriona Matthew
After Day One, Scotland's Catriona Matthew was named the surprise success.
The winning Team Europe Solheim Cup Captain finished even and one stroke behind the lead.
It's fair to say the 50-year-old, who is due to turn 51 on Tuesday, really showed the young ones how it should be done.
The next day wasn’t as great for the star, who last won the Women’s Open in 2009 just 11 weeks after giving birth to her second daughter.
She shot four bogies in Round 2, and three in Round 3 and by the end of the final she was +13 and T59.
However, it proved that she definitely isn’t done competing and she still has some fight left in her.
After making the cut she said:
"Yeah, I'm really quite happy with how I'm playing. To be playing the weekend is good. I just want to try and swing a little better. I wasn't really committing to my shots today and it was tough in that wind. It's pretty brutal out there.”
2020 AIG Women's Open: Who is Sophia Popov - READ MORE
