The beauty of golf is that it can be played by anyone of any age and ability, and on the pro tour, the older players can teach the youngsters a thing or two.
The beauty of golf is that it can be played by anyone of any age and ability, and on the pro tour, the older players can teach the youngsters a thing or two, as Lewine Mair reports.
A recent edition of the Singaporean Sunday Times devoted more space to women’s golf than newspapers in the UK might give the subject in an entire year. Even though this was during the week of the HSBC Women’s Champions, it amply demonstrated just how much more countries on that side of the world value their women’s golf, while it provided a fascinating glimpse of how the older women on tour are keeping pace with the burgeoning number of players in the Under 25 category.
For the senior group, Rohit Brijnath, the Assistant Sports Editor on the Singaporean paper, named a four-strong group, all of whom are between 39 and 47 and all of whom anticipate that a next win could be just around the corner. Scotland’s Catriona Matthew, 47 years of age and a mother of two, was at the top of his list; Karrie Webb at 42 came next, with Cristie Kerr and Angela Stanford sharing the distinction of just squeezing in among the 30-somethings.
It was Shirley Brasher, the former French Open tennis champion, who once suggested that the average tennis player has about ten years of being at his or her competitive best, though Roger Federer is an obvious exception.
Much the same applies in golf, though the top men have a better chance than the women of keeping going for longer in that their hugely lucrative Champions Tour can prompt a new rush of desire. With the women’s senior circuit being rather less of a thriving affair, the older LPGA players are all thrice-blessed in having contrived to hang on to the motivation they had when they started out.
And if they ever feel in need of a bit of a fillip, they just remind themselves of the one quality they have which the younger players don’t. Namely, long years of experience.
Give any one of Matthew, Webb, Kerr and Stanford a tough situation, one which they will probably have known in the past, and the chances are that they will come up trumps.
Stanford provided the perfect illustration when she won the 2012 HSBC Champions in Singapore.
Along with the teenage Jenny Shin, she had just putted out at the 71st when an electrical storm stole the group’s thunder and sent the party scurrying to the clubhouse. Shin was one ahead of Stanford at the time and now had one and a half hours of staring out of the window and pondering on that very slender lead.
It was one and a half hours too long and, on her return to the 18th tee, she hit out of bounds on the left on her way to a six. A four-way play-off ensued and, when it came to the third extra hole and Stanford and Shin were the only players involved, Shin missed a three-footer and Stanford holed from the same distance to make off with the trophy. She had known from the start not to think about winning or doing anything heroic.
“I was simply concentrating on being the last man standing.”
Plenty of people have posed the question as to how Matthew could have won the 2009 British Women’s Open at the age of 39 and only 11 weeks after giving birth to her second child. The answer, here, is that she had a healthy distraction and one that ensured that she and her husband Graeme, who was doing the caddying at that point, were bringing a balanced attitude to bear.
By way of bringing together the two sides of the Singaporean Sunday Times’s very readable investigation into women’s golf, the writers introduced a couple of quotes. The first was from the 22-year old Lexi Thompson, who was extolling the merits of being one of an ever-faster growing number of young things playing golf for a living. “It’s really cool to see a bunch of girls out there around my age, we all get along really well but we also push one another to play better.”
The other quote came from Stanford, who maintained, “You’re always told you have a shelf-life, and so to keep on going at a certain level is hugely satisfying.” The truth is that both players’ comments sit well with everyone who plays and follows golf. The glorious mix of ages is so much a part of the appeal of the modern game.
The above is an extract from the May/June issue of Women & Golf magazine, on sale now. Never miss an issue click here to subscribe and enjoy W&G delivered to your door.
