Women march forward with Open at Walton Heath

Tom Dulat, R&A via Getty Images
Editor's note: This story published originally in the June 5, 2023 issue of  Global Golf Post.
WALTON-ON-THE-HILL, ENGLAND | The AIG Women’s Open, being played this week at Walton Heath Golf Club, 15 miles south of London, has witnessed a radical transformation in its surprisingly short history.
Though the men’s Open was first played in 1860, it took another 116 years for the women’s version to be inaugurated for professionals. The second winner, Vivien Saunders, actually claimed victory on countback – the better final-round score – a detail so startlingly bizarre that it beggars belief (and also maybe reveals that while professionals competed, amateurism still thrived).
The championship was elevated to major status in 2001, and the R&A assumed organisational duties in 2017. Those two advances have boosted stature and prize money.
Consider that when South Africa’s Ashleigh Buhai clinched victory at Muirfield last year, she won $1,095,000. In contrast, Georgia Hall, the champion as recently as 20...