The Women's Amateur

Top amateurs gather at Hunstanton

An international field featuring many of the world’s top women’s amateur golfers will compete in The 119th Women’s Amateur Championship taking place at Hunstanton from 20-25 June.

The R&A

19 Jun 22

3 mins

Entries for the Championship were received from golfers in 24 countries around the world and a field of 144 players will tee it up on the superb championships links set on the northwest coast of Norfolk when 36 holes of stroke play qualifying begins on Monday.

The leading 64 players will then progress to the match play rounds and compete for a place in the 36-hole Final being played on Saturday 25 June. The winner will earn places in the AIG Women’s Open, US Women’s Open, The Amundi Evian Championship and, by tradition, an invitation to the Augusta National Women's Amateur Championship. The field features nine players in the top 20 of the World Amateur Golf Ranking®, including Ingrid Lindblad of Sweden (number two), Austria’s Emma Spitz (number eight) and leading home hope Caley McGinty (number nine), who returns to England having competed for Great Britain and Ireland in the Curtis Cup at Merio

Williamson hoping for home advantage

GB&I team-mate Amelia Williamson, who will celebrate her 22nd birthday during the week of the Championship, is aiming to make the most of home advantage as a member of Hunstanton where she holds the course record (66). “I probably haven’t played as much there as people might think because I only joined in 2017 and I’ve been away in college, but it’s a course I know well and feel comfortable on,” said Williamson. “The fairway bunkers are really well positioned. If you can hit a lot of fairways it makes it easier, especially on the par-5s. If you can do that then most of them are probably reachable and that’s a huge advantage around Hunstanton. “I’ll be confident but there are a lot of great players in the field. I’m just grateful I get to play such a massive tournament so close to home. It just makes it so much easier for me to have family and friends there because that obviously doesn’t happen a lot. My grandparents will be able to come and watch and that’s the main thing I’m excited about. That will make it a special week because they don’t get many opportunities to see me play.”

Amelia Williamson, who will celebrate her 22^nd birthday during the week of the Championship, is aiming to make the most of home advantage as a member of Hunstanton where she holds the women’s course record (69).

Linblad set to contend

Meanwhile, Lindblad arrives in Norfolk after an 11th place finish in the recent US Women’s Open, taking the low amateur honours, and is a strong contender for the title next week. Her opening six-under-par 65 at Pine Needles set a new low round record by an amateur in the US Women’s Open and the Louisiana State University student is a multiple winner in US college golf, setting a new LSU record for all-time wins. She was runner-up in the 2022 Augusta National Women’s Amateur Championship by one shot, won the 2021 European Ladies Amateur Championship and notched up two professional wins in her native Sweden in the previous year.

Duncan defending title

Reigning Women’s Amateur Champion Louise Duncan (number 48) is aiming to become the first golfer since Louise Stahle in 2005 to defend the title which she memorably won at Kilmarnock (Barassie) last year. Her Scottish counterpart Hannah Darling, also back from the Curtis Cup, is hoping to make further progress in this year’s championship after a semi-final defeat to Duncan in 2021 and add the Women’s Amateur title to the R&A Girls’ Amateur Championship she won at Fulford in the same year. Other players in the field to watch include Alexandra Forsterling (number 12) of Germany, Swede Meja Ortengren (number 15), Spanish international Carolina Lopez-Chacarra (number 18) and Italy’s Benedetta Moresco (number 26).

Live broadcast

The R&A will provide live broadcast coverage of the quarter-finals and semi-finals on Friday 24 June and the 36-hole Final on Saturday 25 June. This can be watched on The R&A’s website randa.org as well as its YouTube channel. This will also be available on the Sky Sports red button. This will be a seven camera production following the golf action across two days with the commentary team being led by Dougie Donnelly, with Beth Allen and Kit Alexander joining him in the booth throughout the two days and an onsite presenter team of Iona Stephen and George Harper Jnr. The 119th Women’s Amateur Championship is open to spectators with free tickets available here. For more information about The 119th Women’s Amateur Championship please visit The R&A website