Ricoh Women’s British Open set for Royal Lytham & St Annes

The Ricoh Women’s British Open will take place at Royal Lytham & St Annes Golf Club for a fifth time in 2018.

The Championship was last played there in 2009 when Catriona Matthew famously became the first Scottish woman to clinch a Major title,  only 11 weeks after giving birth to her second daughter.

Matthew, who was a member of this summer’s UK Olympic team and was recently announced as a Vice Captain for the 2017 Solheim Cup, commented, “I am absolutely delighted to hear the 2018 Ricoh Women’s British Open will be played at Royal Lytham. Winning there so soon after Sophie’s birth was undoubtedly the best achievement in my career and I think it is wonderful news that we will be returning there in a couple of years.”

Sherri Steinhauer won the first Championship held at the Lancashire venue back in 1998. Sweden’s Annika Sorenstam followed the American when the Championship was held there in 2003 and then Steinhauer emerged victorious for a third time – the American also won at Woburn Golf & Country Club in 1999 – when she closed with a level par 72 to defeat compatriot, Christie Kerr, in 2006.

Royal Lytham and St Annes Golf Club is one of the most challenging of the Open and Ricoh Women’s British Open venues with 169 bunkers to challenge the players. The Club has hosted eleven Open Championships, the most recent in 2012, won by Ernie Els.

The Ricoh 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.

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