The Women's Amateur

Beth Coulter lead qualifier at The Women's Amateur Championship

The R&A

14 Jun 23

3 mins

Ireland’s Beth Coulter lead the stroke play qualifiers after an impressive 36-hole display in The 120th Women’s Amateur Championship at Prince’s.

The 19-year-old signed for a two-under-par 70 to add to her opening 69 and a qualifying total of five-under-par 139 in sunny conditions on the Kent coast. Coulter, who recently finished her Freshman season at Arizona State University, was runner-up in the R&A Girls’ Amateur Championship in 2021 and led the top-64 players and ties into the match play stage. Having played in the Junior Vagliano Trophy at neighbouring Royal St George’s in 2019, Coulter used her links experience to record five birdies in her day two effort and finish three shots clear of four players on two-under-par. The quartet featured new women’s amateur world number one Ingrid Lindblad, Scotland’s Hannah Darling, American Latanna Stone and Sera Hasegawa from Japan.

Coulter form

“It's nice to lead the stroke play qualifying but it doesn't mean anything now,” said Coulter. “It doesn't matter if you're one or 64. It's just about qualifying. Obviously it's nice to be top qualifier but, yeah, we'll see tomorrow. Both days I hit it pretty good. Today I definitely didn't hit it as good as I hit it yesterday but I hit some nice shots coming in and rolled a few putts in to make birdie and hung on for pars.” Lindblad, who made the cut at the Scandinavian Mixed in the professional ranks last week, eased into the knock-out after a three-under-par 69 on day two. The Swede highlighted her day with two back nine eagles for a two-under-par total and a tie for second spot. “I eagled both 12 and 15, which helped a lot because I did have a few bogeys,” she said. “On the Swedish team, if someone makes six birdies or makes an eagle we have a deal with the coaches that the whole team gets ice cream. So on the first putt I was standing over a 12-footer for eagle and I was like, "This is for ice cream, if I make it, we get ice cream tonight.”

Beth Coulter - Ireland

“It's nice to lead the stroke play qualifying but it doesn't mean anything now. It doesn't matter if you're one or 64. It's just about qualifying. Obviously it's nice to be top qualifier but, yeah, we'll see tomorrow."

Baker handles pressure

Darling achieved the same qualifying mark after two solid rounds of 71 as she aims to go better than the semi-final stage on her last two appearances in the Championship. Jess Baker defeated Darling en route to victory at Hunstanton last year and she is again into the last-64 after responding from her opening 77 with a 69. The English player is aiming to be the first player to defend since Louise Stahle in 2005. “I'm really pleased with today,” said Baker. “I’m really proud with that finish, that back nine. There is a bit of pressure this week but I'm pleased to come out the other side and into the match play. This year has definitely given me satisfaction, sort of got my name up there a little bit. The experiences I've had at the majors have been unbelievable. I've taken so much from this year and that will help me look forward.” Stone is part of a strong USA contingent in England’s south-east and she has quickly adjusted to her first experience of links golf. The world number 29 mixed an eagle, five birdies and three bogeys in her 68 to post a 36-hole total of two-under.

Links debutant

Stone said, “It’s my first time being here and playing links is actually so much fun. It's such a different experience compared to the US and I think that this will definitely help my golf game for future events, like getting the exposure and playing against the best amateurs in the world. You know, going across the seas, I think it's very special. I'm trying to take it all the way. We're all here to win and I'm looking forward to the next couple of days.” Prince’s has welcomed a world-class field of 144 players representing 37 countries, including no fewer than 12 players ranked inside the top-50 on the Women’s World Amateur Golf Ranking® (WAGR®). The qualifying mark for the match play fell at seven-over-par, with 2022 R&A Girls’ U16 Champion Grace Crawford, 2022 Women’s Amateur Latin America Champion Valentina Rossi and 2022 Women's Amateur Asia-Pacific Champion Ting-Hsuan Huang among those to miss out.

Jess Baker - England

“I’m really proud with that finish, that back nine. There is a bit of pressure this week but I'm pleased to come out the other side and into the match play. This year has definitely given me satisfaction, sort of got my name up there a little bit."

Live coverage

The R&A will provide live video coverage of the quarter-finals and semi-finals on Saturday and Final on Sunday. This can be watched on The R&A’s website, randa.org, as well as its YouTube channel. Spectators are welcome to attend The Women’s Amateur Championship with tickets available to purchase at www.randa.org. Adult tickets are available from £10, with a four-day ticket just £25.

To encourage children and young people to attend The Women’s Amateur Championship, The R&A will continue the successful ‘Kids go Free’ programme which provides children under-16-years-old free entry to the Championship when accompanied by a paying adult. Half-price youth tickets are also available for 16-24-year-olds. View the stroke play scores from The Women’s Amateur Championship here

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