Wales Golf is ready to learn from this year's AIG Women's Open Championship to help ensure that the biggest sporting event ever held in Wales is a success and benefits Welsh golf.
The world's best female golfers, including those competing this week in the Solheim Cup, will descend on Royal Porthcawl when the AIG Women's Open comes to Wales for the first time in 2025.
Welsh golf representatives and the Welsh Government were in St Andrews to find out the facts about this year's AIG Women's Open.
It will be the first time that Welsh golf fans will have the opportunity to watch the world's best female players close to home, and a unique opportunity to promote the participation of women and girls in golf in Wales through legacy initiatives.
Wales Golf chairman Rob Holt has been the Chief Executive Officer of Ryder Cup Wales, so he knows a lot about how to host golf's biggest event to ensure its lasting impact on the sport.
“We want to work with The R&A and AIG, as sponsors of the event, to increase the crowds at the event and use the event to encourage more women and girls to get into the game of golf,” said Holt. “We want to encourage clubs to get involved and think about how their facilities can be more female friendly, are there female toilets on the course, are their dormitories and changing areas attractive to women and girls”
“We are attracting more women and girls to the sport through our New2golf program with courses running across Wales but the challenge is to retain them and help the sport grow. We want to bring as many young girls and women to the event as possible so that they can see and be inspired by top players, and become these people in the future.”
“It's not just about women, male players of all levels can be inspired to match the time of elite athletes such as this year's AIG Women's Open winner and Olympic gold medalist Lydia Ko, as well as players such as World No,1 Nelly Korda. .
“Hopefully there will be some Welsh players to support and we will be showcasing one of Europe's best links courses Royal Porthcawl and encouraging people to come to Wales to play our many great courses.”
St Andrews fact-finding went from course work to event planning, and the festival town has something for all the family, including a sell-out Tom Grennan concert on Saturday night.
This event includes the Women in Sport conference that will be repeated in 2025.
“I attended this year's conference and was very impressed, but I know we can take it to the next level in 2025,” said Holt.
While Wales Golf will play a major role in ensuring there is a lasting legacy from hosting the AIG Women's Open, it will be an All-Wales effort to learn from the successful 2010 Ryder Cup.
Jason Thomas, Welsh Government Director of Tourism, Marketing, Events & Arts, added, “For me the best part has been seeing such an incredible event unfold on such an incredible scale before my eyes. Seeing top quality female golfers doing their thing is inspiring and really makes you look forward to next year when Wales hosts the event.
“The opportunity is huge: this will be the biggest women's sporting event we've ever had in Wales, so coming here to learn more about what it takes to host a successful tournament is really important. Building on our previous success hosting the Legends Tour and the Ryder Cup, we can still take many useful lessons from this year's event.
“The most important thing for me and my team is to see, in person, the true quality of the event, so that we can be in the best position to make a show that we will not forget next year. The work has begun – to make sure we take full advantage of the opportunity to integrate the event into many key policy areas across government – from equality, encouraging participation in sports, targeting healthy lifestyles, growing the tourist economy and much more. It's just a great opportunity to show what we can do. I can't wait for Royal Porthcawl in 2025.”
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