WITH

ricoh ending their 11 year sponsorship of the Women’s British open after this week’s edition at royal Lytham, and still no venue announced for next year, this might seem yet more evidence of the troubled picture concerning the female game.

But there are heartening shoots of recovery starting to emerge. it won’t be long before a new sponsor is on board and a new venue in england will be announced for 2019 on Friday.

the r&a are also committed to strengthening their support, while fair play to england Golf as well, for their online campaign this week highlighting the many untold success stories concerning women and girls involved in the sport in this country.

What they all really need now, of course, is for someone from the British game to come up with a performance in the open this week similar to the remarkable display of Catriona Matthew when the event was last staged on the Fylde coastline in 2009.

Just 11 weeks after giving birth, the scot won the title, not to mention the richly-deserved moniker of ‘supermum.’ What a nice trip down memory lane it will be for the solheim Cup captain and her husband and caddy Graeme this week, in the company of their daughters sophie, who has just turned nine, and elder sibling Katie.