The internationally-renowned Championship Course at Royal Dornoch Golf Club will host the world’s best senior ladies amateur golfers next week for one of the calendar’s major tournaments.
A strong field of nearly 100 golfers from around the globe will contest the three-day Senior Ladies’ British Open Amateur Championship which is being held at Royal Dornoch for the first time between 16-18 September.
Players from 16 countries will be competing in the 54-hole stroke play contest and, such is the demand for places, the event has been oversubscribed and a waiting list is operating.
Ann Lewis from Wales will defend the title she won by one shot last year at Royal Portrush in Northern Ireland. Among the challengers will be Ireland’s Sheena McElroy, who was pipped at the final hole last year, and Minna Kaarnalahti from Finland, who led the 2013 event at the halfway stage.
Neil Hampton, general manager at Royal Dornoch Golf Club, said: “We are honoured to be hosting this prestigious championship. It adds to a long list of leading competitions held at Royal Dornoch and again highlights our efforts to bring major events to the north of Scotland and to support the playing of the game at all levels.”
Shona Malcolm, CEO of the Ladies’ Golf Union, added: “Royal Dornoch is an historic and illustrious venue which will provide a tough but highly enjoyable challenge. We always like to take our championships to the best available courses, and Royal Dornoch definitely falls into that category.”
Royal Dornoch Golf Club, which in 2016 celebrates 400 years of golf being played on the town’s links, is part of Highland Golf Links (HGL) which promotes Play and Stay destination breaks in the region.
HGL also includes Castle Stuart Golf Links and The Nairn Golf Club as well as The Kingsmills Hotel and Culloden House Hotel, in Inverness; the Royal Golf Hotel at Royal Dornoch; and the Golf View Hotel and Spa in Nairn.
Last month the three HGL courses were named among the 100 best places to play in Europe by a prestigious magazine. Royal Dornoch’s Championship Course was ranked third in the list, compiled by the German publication Golf Journal. Castle Stuart was placed 33rd and Nairn 81st.
In May all three courses were named among the 40 best places to play in Great Britain and Ireland by Golf World magazine, with Royal Dornoch placed 9th, Nairn 26th and Castle Stuart 31st.
The three courses feature in the 54-hole Tomatin Single Malt Homecoming Pro-Am, which will be held from 30 September to 2 October, just a few days after this year’s Ryder Cup. Former Ryder Cup captain Bernard Gallacher will lead a field of nearly 300 golfers taking part in the 2014 event.
Competitions previously held at Royal Dornoch’s Championship Course include the Northern Open, the Scottish Ladies Amateur Championship, the Scottish Professional Championship, the Home Internationals, the British Amateur Championship, the Scottish Amateur Championship, the Ladies Home Internationals and the Scottish Strokeplay Championship.
Next year it will host the Jacques L’eglise Trophy, an annual amateur boys’ team golf competition between Great Britain & Ireland and the Continent of Europe.
Royal Dornoch Golf Club www.royaldornoch.com
Ladies’ Golf Union www.lgu.org