The fifth women’s Major of the year, the AIG Women’s Open, begins later this week at the Old Course, St Andrews, and the last chance to earn a place in the field came in final qualifying, which was held at Crail Golfing Society in Fife on Monday.
In total, 12 spots were up for grabs at the 18-hole event, as the 92 players in the field tackled windy conditions to try and earn their spots.
In the end, five-time China LPGA Tour winner Weiwei Zhang finished on top of the leaderboard after a five-under 67 to book her first appearance at the Major.
Afterwards, she said: “I played great today and holed some important putts. It was very windy and so it was hard out there. The pin positions were tough to reach. However, the practice I had helped me and I got to know the course beforehand.”
Another player safely through is French pro Emma Grechi. She reached the 2023 edition at Walton Heath via final qualifying, and she did it again this year following a four-under at Crail Golfing Society.
English LET pro Annabell Fuller was another who completed a round of four-under to confirm her appearance, where she will look for an improvement on her T61 at the 2021 edition, while another finishing on the same score was American Kristen Gillman, whose best performance at the Major was a T11 in 2020.
Fuller said: “I’m so excited to be playing at St Andrews. I grew up playing ‘wee wonders’ here at the junior golf course so it’s nice to be going back. I played St Rule Trophy years ago but it’s been a while since I last was on the Old Course. It’s great to be back there.”
Another player to finish T2 in Fife was South African Casandra Alexander, who has five wins on the Sunshine Tour, and who missed the cut at the 2022 AIG Women’s Open in her only appearance to date.
Four players completed rounds of 70 to finish two-under for the day, which also proved enough to qualify.
One was American Lauren Hartlage, whose best performance in a Major so far came with a T5 at this year’s KPMG Women’s PGA Championship. The LPGA Tour pro will be making her maiden appearance at the AIG Women’s Open when it gets underway on Thursday.
Noora Komulainen of Finland booked her place in the tournament for the fourth time with her two-under, meaning she can now prepare for an attempt to make the cut for the first time at the tournament.
German Patricia Schmidt, who won the 2023 Belgian Ladies Open on the LET, also qualified, meaning she will make only her second Major appearance after she missed the cut at Walton Heath last year.
South African veteran Lee-Anne Pace, who has 23 professional career wins, also completed a round of 70 to confirm her appearance.
That left 12 players who finished on one-under to head into a playoff to determine the final three places, including Stephanie Meadow, who has three top-10 finishes in Majors, 2023 Team Europe Solheim Cup star Caroline Hedwall and Jodi Ewart Shadoff, who finished runner-up in the 2017 tournament.
Ewart Shadoff was the first to make it through to give her the chance to go one better than seven years ago as she looks for her maiden Major title.
Eventually, just Meadow, Hedwall, Ursula Wikstrom and Laura Fuenfstueck were left competing for the final two places, and it was Meadow and Wikstrom who prevailed.
Northern Ireland's Meadow's best finish at the tournament came in 2020 when she finished T39, while for Finn Wikstrom the occasion gives her the chance to improve on her best finish of T46, which came at the 2009 event.
AIG Women's Open Final Qualifying: Who Made It Through
- Weiwei Zhang
- Emma Grechi
- Annabell Fuller
- Kristen Gillman
- Casandra Alexander
- Lauren Hartlage
- Noora Komulainen
- Patricia Schmidt
- Lee-Anne Pace
- Jodi Ewart Shadoff
- Stephanie Meadow
- Ursula Wikstrom
