The Courier & Advertiser (Fife Edition)
Booth relishes facing ‘really amazing field’
Seven Scottish players are in the field for the Aberdeen Standard Investments Ladies Scottish Open at The Renaissance Club in North Berwick next week.
It marks a return of professional women’s golf to Scotland for the first time since Europe’s triumph in the 2019 Solheim Cup last September.
The seven home hopefuls are Comrie’s Carly Booth, Gemma Dryburgh, Kylie Henry, Kelsey MacDonald, Catriona Matthew, Alison Muirhead and Michele Thomson.
They will take on a world-class international field which includes over 30 nationalities and three of the world’s top 10 ranked players on the Rolex World Rankings.
Heading the field is world No 2 Danielle Kang, who won the first LPGA tournament back after almost six months without tournaments, the LPGA Drive On Championship.
The Scots will hope to get the better of the star-studded field that includes 15 major winners with a haul of 24 titles between them, the most prolific being former Ladies Scottish Open winner Dame Laura Davies.
There are 27 Solheim Cup players in the field, having notched up over 100 appearances between them and six past champions – Davies, Matthew, Booth, Trish Johnson, Mi Hyang Lee and former world No 1 Ariya Jutanugarn.
Booth said: “I am always excited ahead of the Aberdeen Standard Investments Ladies Scottish Open as it’s my home event and I have the added happy memory of having won it before.
“Now, after so long without tournaments, it feels like an even bigger occasion, marking not only the first women’s golf events back in Scotland but I think the first professional women’s sports events to take place in the UK.
“It’s a really amazing field for what is a great event and I hope lots of people will enjoy the coverage and be supporting us in spirit, if not in person, this year.”
The field for the 2020 event is even stronger than last year with three of the world’s top 10 ranked players on the Rolex Women’s World Golf Rankings taking part – America’s Danielle Kang (No 2) Japan’s Nasa Hataoka (No 5) and Australia’s Minjee Lee (No 8).