{"id":20855,"date":"2024-08-20T10:35:15","date_gmt":"2024-08-20T08:35:15","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/ladiesingolf.com\/?p=20855"},"modified":"2024-08-23T10:35:33","modified_gmt":"2024-08-23T08:35:33","slug":"catriona-matthew-says-goodby-in-the-home-of-golf","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/ladiesingolf.com\/en\/catriona-matthew-says-goodby-in-the-home-of-golf\/","title":{"rendered":"Catriona Matthew says goodby in the home of golf"},"content":{"rendered":"

Former champion\u00a0Catriona Matthew\u00a0announced that she will play in her final AIG Women\u2019s Open on the Old Course at St Andrews this week.\u00a0Marking her 31st appearance in the major championship, the 2009 champion will wave goodbye to her home fans in the home of golf with her husband, Graeme, as her caddie.\u00a0<\/strong><\/p>\n

Her stated goal is to make the cut, largely to that her teenage daughters, who return to school on Thursday, can watch her play over the weekend.<\/p>\n

At 54, Matthew is eligible to play in the AIG Women\u2019s Open<\/strong><\/a> until she\u2019s 59 but has decided that she doesn\u2019t want to play if she\u2019s not competitive. She will turn 55 on Sunday.<\/p>\n

\u201cI have no illusion. I\u2019m not going to be winning the event, but I think a goal for me this week would be to try and make the cut. You don\u2019t want to come and keep playing in the event when you\u2019re not competitive. It just felt being in St Andrews, in Scotland, the Home of Golf, what better place to play my last one,\u201d\u00a0she said.<\/p>\n

When asked if she will make an emotional farewell on the Swilcan Bridge, she added: \u201cI don\u2019t know about that; I\u2019m still kind of competitive.<\/p>\n

\u201cI think probably in a way, it will be a little bit of a mixture of relief, knowing myself that this will be the last one I\u2019m going to play in. Obviously, you\u2019ll be a little sad that you\u2019re not in the event. It\u2019s so big now and it\u2019s such a buzz when you come to these events to play in them. But I\u2019ve realised, you\u2019ve just got to, at 55, you\u2019re not going to be competitive enough as I want to be. Everything comes to an end.\u201d<\/p>\n

Matthew made her debut in the AIG Women\u2019s Open in 1994 at Woburn, playing as an amateur, alongside Trish Johnson, with her mum as her caddie. She has recorded eight top 10 finishes in the championship, including the highlight, her victory at Royal Lytham in 2009, just 11 weeks after giving birth to her second daughter, Sophie.<\/p>\n

\u201cI think at the time in 2009, 11 weeks after I\u2019d had Sophie. Obviously the second one was a little bit easier so it was easier to come back, but at the time you just get on with it and you don\u2019t really realise. It\u2019s probably not until you look back and reflect on it you think, God, how did I do that. Even now myself and Graeme look back and think how did we travel with them both, travelling on Tour with the two of them and all the luggage and up in the middle of the night with them. You wonder how on earth you ever managed to play any semi-decent golf.<\/p>\n

\u201cMy mum and dad actually came down, so my mum said she would do the 3am feeds for Sophie. She did it during the week, but then on the Sunday night I remember saying, for our great celebration, that I would get up and feed Sophie. I remember my mum and me sitting there at the kitchen table at 3am in the morning with a cup of tea with the trophy sitting there feeding Sophie.\u201d<\/p>\n

She feels that the championship has been elevated considerably since then, and especially since it has been played at Open Championship venues, like St Andrews.<\/p>\n

\u201cWhen they started going around The Open rota courses, to come to St Andrews, it\u2019s always been one of my favourite golf courses and from the days playing the St Rule Trophy as an amateur.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt\u2019s always very special coming back to St Andrews and playing. It\u2019s a really special week. Obviously being Scottish, being British, growing up, the AIG Women\u2019s Open was the one you wanted to win. If you were going to win a major, this is the one you wanted to win. It was your dream, holing that putt to win this event.\u201d<\/p>\n

The two-time successful European Solheim Cup captain<\/strong><\/a>, who led Team Europe to victory in 2019 and 2021 and also made nine appearances as a player, will be grouped with 2023 and 2024 United States Team Captain Stacy Lewis and Australian Hall of Famer Karrie Webb for the first two rounds, playing at 7.33am from the 10th<\/sup>\u00a0on Thursday.<\/p>\n

Lewis expressed her respect for Matthew when she said:\u00a0\u201cI get to play with her and Karrie Webb. That was like most exciting news to happen all week is my pairing.<\/p>\n

\u201cCatriona, she\u2019s meant a tremendous amount to women\u2019s golf, especially here in Scotland where, you know, we don\u2019t have a ton of tour players coming out of here, and you can see, because the weather.<\/p>\n

\u201cShe\u2019s been such a tremendous competitor and to go up against her in Solheim Cup and watch her be a leader there, and she\u2019s really become a leader in women\u2019s golf, I feel like off the golf course, and has helped us continue to grow. It\u2019s just a huge honour for me to get to play with her, and then also Karrie, someone that I\u2019ve admired so much growing up. So, I\u2019m really, really excited for Thursday and Friday.\u201d<\/p>\n

Matthew\u2019s leadership legacy will continue when she leads the GB&I Curtis Cup Team against the United States side at Sunningdale in England next week.\u00a0On Tuesday, she played a practise round with GB&I Team member, Lottie Woad.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Former champion\u00a0Catriona Matthew\u00a0announced that she will play in her final AIG Women\u2019s Open on the Old Course at St Andrews this week.\u00a0Marking her 31st appearance in the major championship, the 2009 champion will wave goodbye to her home fans in the home of golf with her husband, Graeme, as her caddie.\u00a0 Her stated goal is<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":4,"featured_media":20850,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_vp_format_video_url":"","_vp_image_focal_point":[]},"categories":[45,893,864,881],"tags":[3753,4100,4099],"aioseo_notices":[],"aioseo_head":"\n\t\t\n\t\n\t\n\t\n\t\n\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t