It's the 50th anniversary of the AIG Women's Open and Matt Cooper is backing the defending champion to rise to the occasion.
- Favourite Nelly Korda yet to convince on links
- 50th anniversary of the championship
- Defending champion can go back-to-back
Golf betting tips: AIG Women's Open
3pts win Miyu Yamashita at 12/1 (General)
1.5pts e.w. Lydia Ko at 28/1 (General 1/4 1,2,3,4,5)
1pt e.w. Brooke Henderson at 40/1 (General 1/4 1,2,3,4,5)
1pt e.w. Esther Henseleit 70/1 (BetMGM, VirginBet 1/5 1,2,3,4,5,6)
1pt e.w. Ryann O’Toole at 200/1 (General 1/4 1,2,3,4,5)
The last two visits of the AIG Women’s British Open to Royal Lytham & St Anne’s have been notable for producing home soil success.
The first of these triumphs came in 2009, a year that the Scotland's Catriona Matthew is unlikely to ever forget. It began with a five-shot victory in a 36-hole LPGA event in Brazil when five months pregnant and it peaked with her only major championship success.
In between she gave birth and then returned to action in the Evian Masters (as it was then known). She made the cut, which was an especially fine effort because she’d narrowly escaped a hotel fire on the eve of the tournament.
Matthew had been woken by what she believed was rain, but her husband (and caddie) Graeme was actually on the balcony at the time. Curious about the noise they opened the door to the corridor where it was, indeed, raining but from ceiling sprinklers which were attempting to put out the fire.
They escaped through the sprinklers and flames, considering themselves doubly fortunate because the porch roof collapsed shortly after they ran underneath it.
Nine days later Matthew played Royal Lytham’s back nine in just 30 shots to grab a share of the halfway lead before rounds of 71-73 helped her complete a three-shot victory.
Spin it forward nine years and England’s Georgia Hall found herself playing a pro-am with Tom Lehman a fortnight before making her way to Royal Lytham.
That experience was nothing like as perilous as Matthew’s prep, but a flame was lit in Hall’s mind when the American, who won the Open at Lytham in 1996, told her to avoid the bunkers at all cost.
With her father Wayne on the bag, Hall spent that entire week on the shoulder of the leaders before pouncing with a final round 67 for a two-shot victory.
So there we have it: find a British golfer with a nice little trigger story and a relative on the bag. Simple.
Or maybe not so straightforward – a bit like the course itself which is notoriously difficult and best explained by the 18th hole. Viewed from the clubhouse it is a sea of grass (albeit it burnt grass this week). But viewed from the tee it is bunker after bunker after bunker, hence Lehman’s warning.
Talking to Hall about the course, a refrain repeats itself: the need to commit to a line from the tee. That might be in order to play short of trouble, play away from trouble, or it could be when faced with blind shots – but be courageous and don’t quit.
We should, perhaps, also look for a golfer who can save par when missing greens because the placed finishers in 2009 and 2018, and top two in particular, all performed exceptionally on and around the greens.
Nelly Korda retains favouritism but is easily ignored with limited returns on the links while this year’s other two-time major champion Haeran Ryu has an even worse record by the British seaside. We’ll look elsewhere.
LYDIA KO is playing a very limited schedule this season, but eight of her 13 starts have reaped top-20s and five of those were top-10s. In her last two starts she was T15 in the KPMG Women’s PGA Championship (when T127 after 18 holes) and T7 in the Evian Championship.
Add in a fine links record and she has to come into consideration. She has four top-10s at Dundonald Links in the Scottish Open plus T3 at Turnberry, T14 at Royal Troon, T7 at Muirfield and she was a winner on the Old Course two years ago.
She was also T11 at Royal Lytham in 2018 when inside the top 10 through 54 holes (and she also recorded fine scrambling stats). The clincher is the inspiration of her compatriot Ryan Fox who won the Open two weeks ago.
Ko completed a superb Old Course-Olympic Gold Medal double two years ago – how about a different kind of Kiwi double this summer?!
As Ryan Fox stormed to victory at Royal Birkdale, fellow Kiwi Lydia Ko felt like she couldn't breathe.
— Beth Ann Nichols (@GolfweekNichols) July 20, 2026
"I was crying," Ko told Fox in the aftermath, when the two New Zealanders caught up over the phone.
Ko opened the call with, "Hello, Champion Golfer of the Year," pumping the… pic.twitter.com/ZNoCTwgkrT
On the subject of doubles, it would be no great surprise if Japan’s MIYU YAMASHITA retained her title this week.
The 24-year-old was mightily impressive when winning at Royal Porthcawl last year and she also looked good on her championship debut at Muirfield in 2022 when she was just three shots back of the halfway lead and eventually finished T13.
She’s accurate from the tee (second for Driving Accuracy this season), superb around the greens (first for Scrambling) and also on them (second for Strokes Gained Putting).
Her form is good too: a winner in the Meijer Classic then T12 in the KPMG Women’s PGA Championship, T4 in the Evian Championship and T5 last week in Scotland.
We’ll also add Canada’s BROOKE HENDERSON who didn’t warm up at Dundonald Links in last week’s Scottish Open, but her last two starts have reaped T3 in the KPMG Women’s PGA Championship and solo second in the Evian Championship.
She finished T11 at Royal Lytham & St Anne’s in 2018 when her driver and putter were in good nick.
She’s also a double winner at Columbia Edgewater which is not a course that obviously tallies with Royal Lytham but plenty of players (Annika Sorenstam, Cristie Kerr, Sophie Gustafson, So Yeon Ryu, Pornapong Phatlum and Hall) have excelled at both.
If there was a forecast for high wind this would be more of a risk, but nothing more than strong breezes are currently expected and Henderson’s neat game (she ranks just behind Yamashita in all the above named stats) could flourish at Lytham again.
Lauren Coughlin was tempting but for some dreadful scrambling returns in recent times so next up is Germany’s ESTHER HENSELEIT who has proven herself a solid major championship performer in recent seasons.
She has two top-20s in her last three Chevron Championships, four top-20s in her last seven KPMG Women’s PGA Championships and two top-20s in the Evian Championship.
She’s a fan of links golf – T2 and T4 (last week) at Dundonald Links and T7 at Dumbarnie Links in the Scottish Open – but is yet to translate it into a solid result in this championship, but T23 at Royal Porthcawl was her best yet and she was T10 with 18 holes to play on the Old Course in 2024.
We’ll close with a big priced outsider in the form of RYANN O’TOOLE who finished nicely for T8 in last week’s Scottish Open and she won that tournament at Dumbarnie Links in 2021.
She’s yet to translate that links competence into a top-20 in this championship but she was T22 at Royal Lytham in 2018 when she ranked 8th for Greens in Regulation.
She’s also got a decent major performance under her belt this year when T7 in the Chevron Championship and can be added at 200/1.
Posted at 10:40 BST on 28/07/26
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