In the past week, the Lionesses have continued their triumphant journey in the FIFA Women’s World Cup, while England’s Vitality Roses created history by securing a spot in the Netball World Cup final. Simultaneously, double-header men’s and women’s matches in The Hundred cricket tournament have been unfolding, so the momentum driving women’s sports in the UK is palpable.
As anticipation builds for the start of the AIG Women’s Open at Walton Heath Golf Club, a question emerges: Will the tournament gather similar media attention and public recognition as the aforementioned events?
In all probability it should, considering that the final women’s Major of the year is anticipated to be the best one yet.
Notable players teeing up at Walton Heath include World No 1 Nelly Korda, former AIG Women’s Open champion Georgia Hall, defending champion Ashleigh Buhai, young American sensation Rose Zhang, Charley Hull will be hoping to go one better than her runner-up finish at the US Open, and the player of the moment Celine Boutier will be hoping to make it a hat-trick of back-to-back titles.
An inventive festival-style village designed to appeal to the whole family and a live performance on Saturday evening by chart-topping artist Ellie Goulding, with support from Freya Risings, will add to the excitement of four days of exceptional golf.
However, it's widely acknowledged that women's golf has been working to bridge the gap with other women's sports due to several factors. Golf's historical links with exclusivity and elitism, paired with gender disparities of the past, have posed hurdles to accessibility.
Also, sports such as football and tennis benefited from earlier and more consistent investments in media coverage, sponsorships, and infrastructure, which bolstered their growth and appeal, enabling them to attract public attention and cultivate fan bases more effortlessly.
The crux lies in visibility, and unlike the Women’s World Cup and Netball World Cup, exclusive live viewing of the AIG Women’s Open is limited to Sky Sports.
This naturally denies women’s golf the advantage of terrestrial television exposure, other than a one-hour BBC highlights programme, and this is a key factor in garnering public interest. While there has been a notable increase in women’s golf coverage on TV compared to the past, discovering it still remains somewhat of a quest, particularly for those unfamiliar with the sport.
It's evidently crucial for The R&A to promote women’s golf beyond Sky's broadcast coverage to engage a broader and more diverse audience.
According to female sports fans, they want to see greater visibility of all women’s sports. Research released to mark the launch of a partnership between the Women’s Sport Trust and The R&A ahead of this year’s AIG Women’s Open, found that women’s sports fans in the UK feel underserved by the content available to them despite record-breaking women’s sport TV viewing figures in the first five months of 2023.
Research showed that over two-thirds of committed women’s sports fans (there are currently 6 million committed fans* of at least one women’s sport in the UK) would like to see greater innovation in broadcast coverage, and while they recognise the importance of women’s sport being shown on free to air TV, a large number would like to see a dedicated women’s sports channel and many would be prepared to pay a subscription fee to access this.
Naturally, it's often simpler to rally behind a team, as in football or netball, and subsequently root for individual players within that team, but golf’s distinction lies in its individualistic nature. This does mean that it’s even more important to expose relatable role models across all media platforms to help spark greater interest and involvement in women’s golf.
What sets golf apart is its uniqueness in being an individual sport, and at a tournament such as the AIG Women’s Open, it’s inspiring for anyone to observe up close how the best female players in the world essentially challenge themselves and demonstrate the resilience required to thrive under immense pressure.
The global visibility of women's golf has significantly grown in recent years. While there is progress to be made, the AIG Women’s Open is poised to generate the kind of sporting headlines that have become synonymous with women’s sports, further advancing the game in the right direction.
* Committed women’s sports fans score 5 out of 5 on claimed passion for one or more women’s sports and watch 1 hour or more of live women’s sport content per week.
