Catriona Matthew confirms final AIG Women’s Open appearance

Catriona Matthew has announced that this week’s AIG Women’s Open at St Andrews will be her final appearance in the event.

The 2009 champion will be pegging it up in the event for the 30th time and, with her 55th birthday looming on Sunday, she has confirmed that she won’t play beyond this year.

“This will be my last time,” said Matthew. “You don’t want to come and keep playing the event and not be competitive.

“It just felt that, being in St Andrews, in Scotland, the home of golf, what better place to play my last one.

“I have no illusions about winning this week. A goal for me this week will be to try to make the cut.”

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Matthew added that she hasn’t really thought about pausing on the Swilcan Bridge to wave farewell to the crowds as Jack Nicklaus, Arnold Palmer, Tom Watson and others have done in previous editions of the men’s Open.

“I’ll need to wait and see how I’m playing,” she smiled. “I’m still pretty competitive.

“[But] there’s a bit of relief knowing that this will be the last one. Obviously, I’ll be a little bit sad, too, that I’m not in the event any more.

“It’s so big now and there’s such a buzz but I’ve realised at 55 I’m not going to be as competitive as I want to be and that everything comes to an end.”

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None of which is to say that Matthew will be lost to the game completely.

Next week, she will captain GB&I in the Curtis Cup at Sunningdale, an event she played in three times during her amateur days.

“I’m looking forward to that,” she said. “I’ve been watching a lot of amateur golf: the ANWA, NCAA, the British Am. They are a great bunch, and we have a great team.

“We’ll be big underdogs against the Americans but looking forward to it.”

Michael McEwan is the Deputy Editor of bunkered and has been part of the team since 2004. In that time, he has interviewed almost every major figure within the sport, from Jack Nicklaus, to Rory McIlroy, to Donald Trump. The host of the multi award-winning bunkered Podcast and a member of Balfron Golfing Society, Michael is the author of three books and is the 2023 PPA Scotland 'Writer of the Year' and 'Columnist of the Year'. Dislikes white belts, yellow balls and iron headcovers. Likes being drawn out of the media ballot to play Augusta National.

Deputy Editor