Women’s British Open qualifier to play pregnant

Hampshire based Liz Young has qualified for the British Open for the fourth time - but this time she'll be playing when she’s seven months pregnant!

33-year-old Liz qualified by finishing 18th in the Tipsport Golf Masters in the Czech Republic, at five-and-a-half months pregnant.

But she said that her pregnancy has not affected her game. “The first three months of the tour in Australia, New Zealand and China I had some morning sickness and dizziness on the putting and my score showed that.

“That stopped and now the only thing is I get a bit tired and have a bit of a sore back.

“My expectations are not as high as they were beforehand but my friends say my pregnancy is doing my golf good as I have already had two top 10 finishes this year.”

She hopes her unborn daughter will take to the sport as well.

She said: “She is learning the swing early. My husband plays scratch golf as well so she is coming into a golfing family.

“I think it has been good to keep active as long as you don’t do any harm to the baby. I am just taking it one shot at a time and if I am not feeling right I will withdraw.

“There are a couple of girls on the tour who are mums but no one else is pregnant, some girls have to stop at three months because their bodies don’t adjust to it.

“And I don’t know if anyone has played in the British Open pregnant before.”

Catriona Matthew won the HSBC LPGA Brazil Cup in 2009 while five-and-a-half-months pregnant, so this is not the first time a woman has competed, and indeed won, whilst pregnant.

Matthews was back  in action just eleven weeks after giving birth and went on to win the Ricoh Women’s British Open in that same year.

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