Catriona Matthew with the Scotland team who will be playing in the girls' home internationals at Fairhaven Golf Club this coming week (image by Gillian Kirkwood; click on it to enlarge).Great Scot! That's Catriona as she wins the Ricoh
Women's British Open by three strokes
FROM THE TELEGRAPH.CO.UK WEBSITE
By MARK REASON
It was the mother of all victories. Eleven weeks after giving birth to her second daughter, Catriona Matthew became the first Scot to win a women's major golf championship.
Her three-stroke triumph over Karrie Webb in the Ricoh Women's British Open earns Matthew the title of super-mega mum. From now on maternity leave is for wimps.
She said afterwards: "I had a tear in my eye coming up the last and had to hold myself together for the last two putts. The British Open is the biggest one for me. You do wonder if your chances are running out."
It had not been a great year for British sport after the heroics of the 2008 Olympics, but late summer now seems to be turning golden. First of all there was young Tom Daley diving into history, then the cricket team removed Australia's aura, now Matthew has done it for mums around the world.
Asked how long the recent birth had taken, Matthew said: "I had four hours of labour, too speedy for an epidural which was a bad thing."
Her three-stroke triumph over Karrie Webb in the Ricoh Women's British Open earns Matthew the title of super-mega mum. From now on maternity leave is for wimps.
She said afterwards: "I had a tear in my eye coming up the last and had to hold myself together for the last two putts. The British Open is the biggest one for me. You do wonder if your chances are running out."
It had not been a great year for British sport after the heroics of the 2008 Olympics, but late summer now seems to be turning golden. First of all there was young Tom Daley diving into history, then the cricket team removed Australia's aura, now Matthew has done it for mums around the world.
Asked how long the recent birth had taken, Matthew said: "I had four hours of labour, too speedy for an epidural which was a bad thing."
So she's not even on drugs, then. Matthew added: "Thirty-nine sounds old, but I don't feel old. The difficult bit will be when Katy [the elder daughter] starts school. But this has certainly spurred me on to play for another few years."
The margin of Matthew's victory implies a stroll round the links of Lytham, but for much of the round she was a woman on the verge of a nervous breakdown. Her rhythm was ragged and shortly after the turn, Matthew had been caught by Ai Miyazato of Japan.
Matthew's second shot into the 10th looked like the swing of a broken golfer. She spooned the ball into a gorse bush 10 yards to the right of the green. After taking a penalty drop the Scot salvaged a bogey with the most important putt of her career.
From that moment on she could scarcely miss, at least with the putter. How accustomed are we to Americans holing everything on the final day? Last month Stewart Cink rolled in a putt on Turnberry's final green just before Lee Westwood three-putted.
How often have we seen that movie before? Even Matthew has played the fall-girl in that closing scene. Three years ago she three-putted the final green of the Kraft Nabisco, when two putts would have got the Scot into the play-off. Perhaps Britain's fortunes are now finally turning.
Matthew holed crucial putts on the 12th and 13th and then she rolled in a huge putt from the front of the 14th green.
"I thought then, this is mine for the taking – I'm never going to have a better chance so let's take it," she said.
When did we last hear such words and see such deeds from a Brit?
It is incredible to think that just over a week ago Matthew was running for her life when the hotel she was staying in caught fire. At first she thought the drumming sound was rain hitting the balcony. When husband Graeme came in from outside and asked what she was talking about, they peered out of the door and saw the corridor ablaze.
On the way out Graeme burned his feet and was unable to caddie for his wife last week. But he was back on the bag at Lytham, an astonished witness in the second round when Matthew followed up an eagle with a hole-in-one. That prompted the best line of the championship when American Solheim Cup captain Beth Daniel said: "Beanie's on fire out there – oh no, that was last week."
The less generous may reprise Hale Irwin's ungracious line about a young Seve in 1979 and dub Matthew the 'Car Park Champion'. She was that wild at times and she had her share of luck. But in the end Matthew kept her head when everyone about her was losing theirs.
It can fairly be said that the challenge to Matthew was pitiful at the end – but frankly who cares? When Matthew holed her par putt on the 16th green there was a ghost of Tom Watson about the smile – same colouring, same slightly craggy, wind-swept self deprecation.
A fortnight ago Watson missed history by an inch as veterans wiped the water from their eyes. This evening, as Matthew touched in one of the shortest putts to ever win a championship, there were only tears of joy.
The margin of Matthew's victory implies a stroll round the links of Lytham, but for much of the round she was a woman on the verge of a nervous breakdown. Her rhythm was ragged and shortly after the turn, Matthew had been caught by Ai Miyazato of Japan.
Matthew's second shot into the 10th looked like the swing of a broken golfer. She spooned the ball into a gorse bush 10 yards to the right of the green. After taking a penalty drop the Scot salvaged a bogey with the most important putt of her career.
From that moment on she could scarcely miss, at least with the putter. How accustomed are we to Americans holing everything on the final day? Last month Stewart Cink rolled in a putt on Turnberry's final green just before Lee Westwood three-putted.
How often have we seen that movie before? Even Matthew has played the fall-girl in that closing scene. Three years ago she three-putted the final green of the Kraft Nabisco, when two putts would have got the Scot into the play-off. Perhaps Britain's fortunes are now finally turning.
Matthew holed crucial putts on the 12th and 13th and then she rolled in a huge putt from the front of the 14th green.
"I thought then, this is mine for the taking – I'm never going to have a better chance so let's take it," she said.
When did we last hear such words and see such deeds from a Brit?
It is incredible to think that just over a week ago Matthew was running for her life when the hotel she was staying in caught fire. At first she thought the drumming sound was rain hitting the balcony. When husband Graeme came in from outside and asked what she was talking about, they peered out of the door and saw the corridor ablaze.
On the way out Graeme burned his feet and was unable to caddie for his wife last week. But he was back on the bag at Lytham, an astonished witness in the second round when Matthew followed up an eagle with a hole-in-one. That prompted the best line of the championship when American Solheim Cup captain Beth Daniel said: "Beanie's on fire out there – oh no, that was last week."
The less generous may reprise Hale Irwin's ungracious line about a young Seve in 1979 and dub Matthew the 'Car Park Champion'. She was that wild at times and she had her share of luck. But in the end Matthew kept her head when everyone about her was losing theirs.
It can fairly be said that the challenge to Matthew was pitiful at the end – but frankly who cares? When Matthew holed her par putt on the 16th green there was a ghost of Tom Watson about the smile – same colouring, same slightly craggy, wind-swept self deprecation.
A fortnight ago Watson missed history by an inch as veterans wiped the water from their eyes. This evening, as Matthew touched in one of the shortest putts to ever win a championship, there were only tears of joy.
Ricoh Women's British Open ScoreboardRoyal Lytham & St Anne's Golf Club, Lancashire
FINAL TOTALS
Par 288 (4x72)
285 Catriona Matthew (Sco) 74 67 71 73 (pictured with the championship trophy by Gillian Kirkwood).
288 Karrie Webb (Aus) 77 71 72 68.
289 Hee-Won Han (SKo) 77 73 69 70, Paula Creamer (US) 74 74 70 71, Ai Miyazato (Jap) 75 71 70 73, Christina Kim (Us) 73 71 71 74.
290 Kristy McPherson (US) 74 74 72 70.
291 Cristie Kerr (US) 76 71 75 69, Na Yeon Choi (SKo) 80 71 70 70, Jiyai Shin (SKo) 77 71 69 75.
292 Michelle Wie (US) 73 76 74 69, Maria Hjorth (Swe) 72 76 73 71, Giu7li8a Sergas (Ita) 74 678 78 73, Hee Young Park (SKo)( 71 75 73 73, Song-Hee Kim (SKo) 70 73 74 75, Mika Miyazato (Jap) 76 72 69 75.
293 Michele Redman (US) 75 75 73 70, Kyeong Bae (SKo) 73 71 74 74, Jane Park (Us) 74 72 72 75.
295 Yani Tseng (Tai) 74 70 78 72, In Kyung Kim (SKo) 81 70 70 73, Angela Stanford (US) 70 76 74 74, Se Ri Pak (SKo) 76 71 73 74.
295 In-Bee Park (SKo) 76 72 76 71.
Selected scores:
297 Jade Schaeffer (Fra) 79 71 75 72 (27th).
298 Brittany Lincicome (US) 77 73 79 69, Vicky Hurst (US) 74 75 77 72, Lorena Ochoa (MNex) 75 77 72 74, Katie Futcher (US) 75 77 70 76 (jt 28th).
299 Sophie Gustafson (Swe) 74 71 82 72, Sandra Gal (Ger) 69 80 75 75, Becky Morgan (Wal) 80 71 72 76, Brittany Lang (US) 81 70 71 77 (jt 33rd).
300 Katherine Hull (Aus) 75 77 77 71, Allison Hanna (US) 76 76 73 75 (jt 40th).
301 Morgan Pressel (US) 77 72 76 76, Martina Eberl (Ger) 75 75 72 79, Marianne Skarpnord (Nor) 76 69 76 80 (jt 42nd).
302 Carmen Alonso (Spa) 75 77 77 73, Ursula Wikstrom (Fin) 74 79 75 74, Laura Davies (Eng) 79 74 75 74 (jt 46th).
303 Anna Nordqvist (Swe) 78 75 75 75, Samantha Head (Eng) 74 76 72 81 (jt 51st).
304 Louise Stahle (Swe) 787 76 74 77 (jt 55th).
305 Christel Boeljon (Net) 79 73 74 79 (jt 58th).
306 Emma Zackrisson (Swe) 75 77 76 78, Anne-Lise Caudal (Fra) 75 78 75 78 (jt 60th).
307 Reilley Rankin (US) 77 76 78 76, Lee-Anne Pace (SAf) 75 77 75 80 (jt 63rd).
308 Kristin Tamulis (US) 78 75 82 73 (65th).
309 Vikki Laing (Sco) 73 80 77 79 (66th).
310 Stacy Prammanasudh (US) 75 75 79 81, Laura Diaz (US) 76 76 76 82 (jt 67th)
312 Karin Sjodin(Swe) 75 74 78 84 (70th).
Labels: Pro Ladies
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