This year’s Women’s Golf Day’s Inspire Action Awards have been given to Jackie Davidson, Assistant Director of Golf Development at The R&A; Antony Scanlon, Executive Director of the International Golf Federation; and La Cala Resort.
The Inspire Action Awards, which are in their fourth year, recognise those who have inspired action and created opportunity for women in golf.
Scanlon and Davidson join past recipients Steve Mona, Cathy Harbin, Lisa Longball Vlooswyk and Annika Sorenstam, the latter has recently been confirmed as the new IGF President.
Scanlon said: “I’m truly honoured to receive such a meaningful award and proudly do so on behalf of the International Golf Federation. Our involvement with Women’s Golf Day reflects the IGF’s overall advocacy for gender equality and the importance of providing women not only with playing opportunities, but the ability to contribute in roles of influence and decision-making in golf.
“We also are extremely pleased and proud to have welcomed Annika Sorenstam as our new President. Knowing that Annika is a past recipient of the Inspire Action Award makes this honour even more special to me personally, as no one better exemplifies the Women’s Golf Day mission to engage, empower and support women and girls through our sport than she does.”
Davidson, whose work at The R&A has included the evolution of The Women in Golf Charter, commented: “‘I would like to say thank you very much to Women’s Golf Day for this award, it is recognition of the collective efforts of many. I’m proud to play a part, in my role with The R&A, in working collaboratively with organisations across the industry to make golf more appealing, accessible and inclusive.”
This year, a new category was added to recognise a venue or location that has created an extra special Women’s Golf Day experience, thus amplifying their commitment to creating opportunity and unity for women through golf. La Cala Resort in Mijas, Spain, is honoured with this award, which was announced during the Women’s Golf Day annual presentation at The PGA Merchandise Show on January 28. The WGD community has been inspired year-on-year by La Cala’s ability to deliver first class Women’s Golf Day events and wanted to recognise the action they take and their commitment to community.
Elisa Gaudet, Founder of Women’s Golf Day, said: “Historically, we have honoured individuals, but this year we wanted to add an award for locations and venues to celebrate their outstanding effort and commitment to hosting a spectacular WGD event and specifically this year La Cala Resort. All of the recipients are incredibly inspirational to us, and they have all helped Women’s Golf Day to engage, empower and support more women and girls around the world. We are very excited about 2021 and know that when the event comes around La Cala will be inspiring even more women and girls to take up and stay in the game.”
Edouard Des Fontaines, Sales & Marketing Director at the La Cala, accepted the award on behalf of the team at the Spanish resort. He said: “It is a great surprise and delight to receive this award from Women’s Golf Day. The team here at La Cala are proud to be part of the Women’s Golf Day community. We have a genuine passion for inspiring women to take up the game, so this award means a great deal to us all. We will certainly be thrilled to display it at our 2021 event!”
Women’s Golf Day 2021 takes place across the globe on June 1. Registration is now open and locations signing up using the code WGD2021 before February 28 will receive an industry discount. WGD has confirmed that for the second year in a row, PGA coaches will receive MSR credits for hosting an event. For more details, visit www.womensgolfday.com/register.
