A country rich in its history of castles, kings and prestigious golf clubs, adds a new chapter to its sporting tradition when it welcomes the best in the women’s game to the London area for the first time in over a decade.

Walton Heath Golf Club, which opened in 1903, is located about an hour’s drive south of downtown London and signals the women’s return to the area for the first time since competing at Sunningdale in 2008. The storied venue, where history and politics came to mingle, touts Winston Churchill and King Edward VIII as former members and welcomes the AIG Women’s Open, the fifth and final major of the LPGA’s season.

One year removed from a historic victory by Ashleigh Buhai, who became the first woman to win a major at Muirfield, the LPGA’s finest will have a chance to make history yet again, this time at Walton Heath as it becomes the fourth major venue this season to host a women’s major for the first time. In April, the Club at Carlton Woods became the new home of The Chevron Championship. In June, the KPMG Women’s PGA Championship made its debut at Baltusrol Golf Club’s Lower Course and in July, Pebble Beach Golf Links hosted the U.S. Women’s Open for the first time.

Seeing the women compete at these historic venues, where many men’s majors and notable events have taken place, makes for exciting headlines. But it also presents a lot of unknowns and questions as to how the women will fare on these new tracks. There are few points of comparison to draw upon as they don’t have a historic presence on which to look back. In playing these new venues, often the nearest benchmark is the most recent men’s event to be staged at the course. Walton Heath regularly hosted the men’s European Open in the 1970s and 80s, in addition to the 1981 Ryder Cup, and annually hosts a qualifier for the U.S. Open.

The unpredictability that comes with playing a new venue has produced four first-time major winners this season. Lilia Vu earned her maiden major title at the Club at Carlton Woods in a playoff over Angel Yin. Ruoning Yin became a first-time major champion at Baltusrol and Allisen Corpuz earned the title of being the first woman to win a major at Pebble Beach. Even The Amundi Evian Championship, held annually at the Evian Resort Golf Club, the only recurring major venue on the schedule this season, produced a first-time major winner this year in Celine Boutier.

In a season in which there hasn’t been a single, dominant player, Boutier is emerging as the player to beat in the latter half of the season and an emerging frontrunner for the Rolex Player of the Year award. The Frenchwoman arrives at Walton Heath off back-to-back victories at the Amundi Evian Championship and the FREED GROUP Women’s Scottish Open presented by Trust Golf. Having also won the LPGA Drive On Championship at Superstition Mountain in March, Boutier became the first player this season to win three times. She also now tops the Race to the CME Globe standings. Boutier’s ability to maintain that winning form, while keeping up her energy and stamina on a major track will be a challenge as she looks to win for a third straight week.

Boutier is part of a top-notch field headlined by Nelly Korda, who returned to No. 1 in the Rolex Women’s World Golf Rankings, overtaking Jin Young Ko for the top spot last week. Korda is one of nearly two dozen Americans who have made the trip to compete at Walton Heath, including Corpuz, who leads the Rolex Annika Major Award standings. The winner of the award, which recognizes the player who has performed the most consistently in all five of the season’s majors and won at least one, will be finalized upon completion of the AIG Women’s Open.

A pack of former champions, who already know what it takes to navigate the tough links style of golf that has come to define the AIG Women’s Open, have also made the trip to England, including Catriona Matthew (2009), Stacy Lewis (2013), Ariya Jutanugarn (2016), In Kyung Kim (2017), Georgia Hall (2018), Hinako Shibuno (2019) and Anna Nordqvist (2021).

And while Walton Heath isn’t a traditional seaside links as it is located in Surrey, England, it does have many characteristics similar to that of a traditional links-style layout. Players will be tested by the Bill Fowler construct, which for the AIG Women’s Open will feature a composite of holes from both Walton Heath’s Old and New Courses. Fowler wanted his designs to test all 14 clubs in a player’s bag, and the field is definitely going to need them all as they take on the long, languishing fairways that are complemented by firm and fast greens.

On Monday, the field was finalized upon completion of one, last qualifier at Hankley Common, where the last 12 spots were awarded to cap off the field that will compete for a $7.3 million purse.

English history is ripe with the stories of great men doing great things, some of whom gathered together at Walton Heath to share in their mutual love of politics and sport. And come Sunday, at the club where a Prime Minister played and a King was once a captain, there will be a new chapter written with stories about the talented women who did great things. The best of all one about a woman who won a major at Walton Heath.

LPGA Heads to Land of Kings and Castles for Fifth Major at Walton Heath Golf Club

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