31 July 2019, Woburn Golf Club, England: Royal Porthcawl was announced today as the venue for the 2021 AIG Women’s British Open, following on from Royal Troon, which makes its debut on the Championship roster in 2020.
Royal Porthcawl is renowned to be as challenging a course and as hospitable a club as you will find and has held many amateur and professional tournaments on its famous links. In 2014 the Club hosted the first ever Major in Wales, The Senior Open, which returned again for the 2017 edition won by Bernhard Langer.
Among others, the Club has hosted The Amateur Championship, The Walker Cup, The Curtis Cup, The European Team Championship, The Men’s Home Internationals, The Vagliano Trophy, The Women’s Amateur Championship, The Dunlop Masters, The Penfold, The Ladies European Tour and The Coral Classic.
As South Wales’s first 18 hole golf course, Royal Porthcawl was awarded the privilege of the prefix ‘Royal’ in 1909, only the second course in Wales and one of only 66 clubs around the world to have that distinction.
Johnnie Cole-Hamilton, Executive Director – Championships at The R&A, said: “We are very much looking forward to taking the AIG Women’s British Open to Royal Porthcawl for the first time in 2021. We have a very exciting couple of years ahead with the Championship also making its debut at Royal Troon in 2020. Both courses will present outstanding tests for the world’s best women’s golfers.”
Speaking on behalf of the Welsh Government, Deputy Minister for Culture, Sport and Tourism, Lord Elis-Thomas, said: “We are delighted with today’s news and look forward to the honour of welcoming the AIG Women’s British Open Golf to Wales in 2021. Wales has built its reputation as an outstanding destination for major international events and the AIG Women’s British Open event will help to maintain this momentum and highlights our commitment to bringing world class women’s sport to Wales. We are committing funding to work with the R&A, Wales Golf and clubs and schools across Wales to use the event and the Curtis Cup in Conwy in June next year to inspire more women and girls to take part in golf. Having these two great events in successive years at two fantastic venues like Conwy and Royal Porthcawl is a great boost for golf in Wales in general and women’s golf in particular.”
Royal Porthcawl Club Captain, Rhys James, added: “We are thrilled that the AIG Women’s British Open will be coming to Royal Porthcawl in 2021. Hosting our first women’s Major is a tremendous honour for the Club and we cannot wait to welcome the world’s best golfers to Wales. Being here at Woburn this week and seeing the impressive scale and quality of the Championship makes us look forward to it all the more and to seeing how these fantastic players handle all the challenges our course in two years’ time.”
The Women’s British Open was founded by the LGU in 1976 and has been staged in conjunction with IMG, the world’s largest sports marketing company, since 1984. The event has been co-sanctioned by the LPGA and LET since 1994 and gained Major status in 2001. The Championship is now owned by The R&A.
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