Over the past few days, we've looked back at some of this year's most memorable moments in golf, and to mark the last day of 2018, we've saved some of the best until last!
Over the past few days, we've looked back at some of this year's most memorable moments in golf, and to mark the last day of 2018, we've saved some of the best until last!
The Postman Delivers Again
For a split-second during Sunday's singles matches at Le Golf National, it looked as though Europe's win could be in question, but that wasn’t the case for very long. Francesco Molinari beat Phil Mickelson to claim the 14½ point that Europe needed to win, simultaneously becoming the first European to win five points in one Ryder Cup. Sergio Garcia, Jon Rahm, Thorbjorn Olesen and Henrik Stenson joined Molinari in winning their matches, whilst Ian Poulter, who has earnt himself the nickname of ‘The Postman’ because he ‘always delivers a point’, donned a pillar-box fancy-dress outfit after winning his match. He then led the charge on to the 18th green when Noren holed a 35-foot putt to win the final match.
It's a Sister Act!
In 68 seasons of the LPGA Tour, the only Annika and Charlotte Sorenstam have claimed a victory in the same year. In 2018, the ‘sister slam’ happened twice: Moriya Jutanugarn joined her sister and former World Number One Ariya Jutanugarn in the winners’ circle after her triumph at the HUGEL-JTBC LA Open in April, then Jessica and Nelly Korda did the same. Nelly Korda won the Swinging Skirts Championships just months after her sister Jessica claimed her fifth tour victory at the Honda LPGA Thailand.
Tiger’s Back in Business
A year ago, even Tiger Woods thought that he was done with golf. After four back surgeries and a long and painful return to golf that saw his ranking slump to 1,199th at the end of 2017, he capped a remarkable win at the Tour Championship in September with his 80th PGA Tour victory and his first title since 2013.
Home Soil Victories
2018 has been quite a year for homecoming parties; England’s Georgia Hall won her first major at the Ricoh Women’s British Open, Canadian Brooke Henderson took the trophy at her homeland’s championship, the CP Women’s Open, Nasa Hataoka overcame the pressure of competing in front of home-country fans to win the TOTO Japan Classic, and Americans Annie Park and Marina Alex both won on home soil too.
Women and Girls’ Golf is on the Rise: Latest figures show promising signs that female participation is heading in the right direction
If Georgia Hall’s winning smile upon lifting the Women’s British Open trophy was one of the endearing photographs of 2018, so were the fun-filled images of women and girls getting into golf across Great Britain and Ireland this past year.
The last 12 months saw a notable rise in the number of dedicated participation initiatives and coaching activities delivered by leading golfing bodies to encourage more women, girls and families into the sport.
Through the work in England, Ireland, Scotland and Wales and the launch of initiatives such as The R&A’s Women in Golf Charter, early signs of progress are promising. Inspired by England Golf, this year’s Women & Girls Week was a great success from the homebodies across social media, reaching more than 2.5m people on Twitter and generating 12m impressions.
On the course, there are examples of numbers beginning to trend upward. In Ireland, junior girls’ membership as a whole is up nearly 1% this year, as is overall female membership - the first time the Irish Ladies’ Golf Union (ILGU) has seen an overall growth in membership since 2008.
Building on this, the ILGU recently hosted five Festivals of Golf across the country, as part of the Golf4Girls4Life Programme (in aid of Play in Pink - Breast Cancer Research), and were attended by 130 girls - all with no handicap or minimum 35/36 handicap.
In England, participation among women and girls has increased from 15 to 17%, while the Girls Golf Rocks programme has grown from 15 counties and 72 clubs in 2017 to 21 counties and 98 clubs for 2018.
With increased participation in golf by women, girls and families identified as a tremendous growth opportunity for the sport, other initiatives are also making a difference.
With the popular GolfSixes League format growing this year across England, and expanding into Wales and Scotland, 30% of GolfSixes participants this year were girls. There was also a 20% increase in reach with the Golf Foundation’s Girls Golf Rocks ambassador mentoring programme.
On the same theme, 55% of the participants in Wales in their New2Golf Back2Golf Beginner Scheme were female. In Scotland, This Girl Golf hubs have proved popular, while the inaugural Kingsbarns Girls' Classic saw girls come together from counties across the country to experience competition and camaraderie.
Ross Duncan, Development Director at Scottish Golf, said: “We need to encourage clubs to change and become a more attractive proposition for women, girls and families. A culture shift is required and that will take time, but next year’s Solheim Cup at Gleneagles in September gives us a great platform to raise the profile of what we are doing around women’s and girls’ golf.”
You can catch up on the rest of this three-part article by heading to our Features section
