Master and the apprentice line up for battle at Hoylake

Sunday 9 September 2012

Scotland's Catriona Matthew will take a pleasant walk down memory lane when she tees up at Hoylake this week for the Ricoh Women's British Open.

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Elspeth Burnside

It was 20 years ago, as an up-and-coming North Berwick amateur, that she helped Great Britain and Ireland defeat the USA in the Curtis Cup over the Royal Liverpool course.

Little more than a week after that famous triumph, the Booths from Comrie welcomed a new addition to the family. They named the baby Carly. As a 20-year-old, she is now in the midst of a terrific season and looking forward to her Women's British Open debut.

Matthew, who became the first Scot to win a women's Major when she won the British Open at Royal Lytham and St Anne's three years ago, is Scotland's most successful woman professional, but Booth has long been a star in the making. She won the Dunblane New Club Championship at the age of 11, qualified for the Ladies' European Tour at 17 and, at 19, she made the biggest breakthrough when she won the Aberdeen Asset Management Ladies' Scottish Open at Archerfield in May. A few weeks later she added the Swiss Open title and she is currently the No 1 on the LET Order of Merit with around £120,000. This weekend, she is warming up for Hoylake at the Uniqa Austrian Open. Matthew has also won this year, claiming her 10th career title at the Irish Open last month, and she relishes the challenge of facing a new British Open course, but one that has a familiar feel. "It's always great to come back to somewhere that brings back good memories," said the 43-year-old, who tied for fifth in the British Open at Carnoustie last year. "It will be a great test for the players. "I'm also delighted to see Carly doing so well this season. It's good for Scottish women's golf and, hopefully, it will encourage more young girls to get into the game. "I always enjoy the Open. Lifting the trophy at Lytham was one of my career highlights, but so was the Curtis Cup all those years ago." So this week will be an intriguing tussle between the experienced master and the new Scot on the block. Both are just hoping that the weather plays ball and that the decision to move the Championship outwith the Olympic period will be rewarded with sunshine rather than showers. Yani Tseng defends the title she won in style at Carnoustie, but the five-time Major champion from Taiwan has not had the best of times recently. The 23-year-old continued in her now familiar role as the world best player with three wins at the start of the season on the LPGA Tour, but she has missed three cuts this summer and failed to challenge at the US Women's Open in June. As ever, there will be a bunch of South Koreans challenging for the final Major of the women's season. Sun Young Yoo (Kraft Nabisco) and Na Yeon Choi (US Women's Open) have won Majors this year, with the third, the LPGA Championship, going to China's Shanshan Feng. Amateur Lydia Ko is also one to watch. Born in South Korea but raised in New Zealand, she won the Canadian Open last month, becoming the youngest winner on the LPGA Tour at the age of 15.

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Master and the apprentice line up for battle at Hoylake

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