Although the men’s event was postponed due to Covid-19 the Women’s Open was saved and starts on Thursday – the only thing that can stop it now is the weather
If there can be no question that the R&A’s decision to postpone this year’s men’s Open Championship was the correct one, the governing body’s willingness to stage its equivalent for women deserves higher praise. This weekend, Royal Troon will host arguably Britain’s biggest golf event of 2020 and women’s sport in general. A total of 32 countries are represented in the Women’s Open, which has a $4.5m (£3.4m) prize fund.
“Those were pretty dark times, weren’t they, in late March, early April,” said Martin Slumbers, the R&A’s chief executive. “There were bigger issues for the world to worry about and still are bigger issues to worry about. I think at that time we were struggling to see how any golf was to go to take place, certainly at the top level. Right through it we wanted to take as much time as we possibly could on the women’s event. We wanted to see where everything developed, and all along, I have felt this sort of deep responsibility to stage this.
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