Golf Australia magazine‘s expert tipsters have thus cast a wide net and hauled in a host of solid bankers, some surprising surprise packets, and a 144-strong field of daydream believers.
And John Huggan might even create an international incident.
Stacey Peters – Golf Australia Women & Girls Pathway Manager
BANKER: Jin-young Ko is in the zone! She’s fresh off a sixth place in the Scottish Open, where the wind was so strong it nearly blew the bagpipes out of tune. Her swing is so rythmic and when it comes to handling the brutal conditions of St Andrews, she’s got the rhythm that could make even the Old Course dance. A proven major winner – twice in 2019 at the Evian and the Chevron – I really think this could be her week.
SURPRISE PACKET: Okay, hear me out: Brooke Henderson. Not a shocker to everyone, but given her recent form, I think she could surprise us all. Her competitive nature will bring out the best of her. If she can harness that power, she might just be clearing space for another major trophy.
TELL HER SHE’S DREAMIN’: Now, don’t get me wrong, I am a lifelong member of the Rose Zhang fan club. But let’s be real – there might not be a fairytale finish here. She’s 21, fresh on the pro circuit, and everyone’s hyping her up like she’s the next big thing. Now, yes – she probably is! But St Andrews? It’s the kind of course that demands every bit of experience, and I think Rose might be a little too green for this one. Her time will come. But this week? She’s dreamin’.
Living the dream: Rose Zhang with her father Haibin on the Swilcan Bridge ahead of the Womens Open Championship at the Old Course, St Andrews. PHOTO: Getty Images
Mike Clayton – Mike Clayton
BANKER: I’m tipping Lydia Ko but not because she’s in form – though that never hurts. But rather it’s on the evidence of her brilliance at Royal Melbourne in 2015 in the Australian Women’s Open. Royal Melbourne demands strategic awareness and a cool head, both of which Lydia has at levels above the rest. St Andrews is the ideal course for her and provided she gets a reasonable draw (not necessarily a good one but not a bad one) she should be there at the end.
SURPRISE PACKET: JiYai Shin is hardly a surprise packet but playing primarily outside of the United States means one of the best players in the world is a little ‘out of sight, out of mind’. Like Ko, she is a brilliant player on courses a level above the average LPGA test where ‘everything is right in front of you.’ (Golf’s greatest non-compliment.)
TELL HER SHE’S DREAMIN’: For someone so talented, Lexi Thompson is in her last full LPGA season – at 29. Ten years ago she won her major championship in Palm Springs and since then she’s been 2nd at the U.S Open, PGA and Evian with 8th her best in the British Open. It seems as though Lexi has been out there ‘forever’ but surely her chances to win in Britain are long past. Especially at St Andrews.
Outside a score of six-over in the final round, Lydia Ko was up to her boot straps in the Scottish Open at Dundonald Links. PHOTO: Getty Images
Paul Prendergast – Golf Plus Media
BANKER: A sparkling start to the 2024 season has cooled considerably for world number one, Nelly Korda. She was clearly frustrated with her T22 finish as the defending Olympic gold medallist in Paris and I think made the right choice to skip the Scottish Open last week to focus her energies on the Open. An Open at the Old Course doesn’t come around very often and if ever a venue was going to provide a spark, this would be it. Winners at St Andrews include most of the greats of the game throughout time and there’s no doubting Korda would be a worthy addition to this list. A Korda wire-to-wire victory, akin to Tiger Woods‘ feat at the 2005 Open at the Old Course, would make front pages around the world.
SURPRISE PACKET: It takes a bit of scrolling down the list of those favoured for the 2024 title to find Ashleigh Buhai‘s name but would anyone really be surprised if Buhai contended prominently for the title all week? Already a Women’s Open champion from 2022 and, of course, the back-to-back Australian Open champion, Buhai has proven she has the patience and game to handle links and ‘links-like’ conditions around the world. A tie for 13th in Paris and the round of the day (67) on Sunday last week at the Scottish Open indicates that her game is not far away. Great putters have a track record of thriving around the Old Course and when she’s on, there are few who roll it better than the South African.
TELL HER SHE’S DREAMIN’: It’s been tough going for talented Irishwoman, Leona Maguire, this season with just the one top-10 finish back in March. There have been a flurry of middling finishes and missed cuts – including three of the four majors staged to date – ahead of an alarming 23-over par last place finish at the Olympics at Le Golf National two weeks ago. If there is any positive Olympic vibe to cling to heading into St Andrews, she was under par in her final round in Paris but then was again amongst the also rans at the Scottish last week. I’m not sure any of the above will instil sufficient confidence to springboard her into winning form this week.
Nelly Korda won six of her first seven events on the LPGA season. Recent form is T22 in the Evian, T26 in the Olympics. PHOTO: Getty Images
Karen Harding – Golf Australia magazine contributor and host of ‘Tee For Two’ podcast
BANKER: First, let me say the Open is called an ‘open’ for a reason and that’s because so many can win. And that is definitely the case with the Women’s Open this year. I’m going to keep it local and choose between Hannah Green, Minjee Lee, Steph Kyriacou and Lydia Ko. Every one of these fine players makes a case for herself and each would – will! – make a grand storyline for the championship if she wins. Each is a fine wind player, has a great short game, handles links golf, and has posted good results this year. Down to one, I’m going for Minjee. Just. The clincher is her record in this event (five top-10s, three of them top five) and in Scotland: six top-10s in the Women’s Scottish Open and in contention last week before a poor final round. Four good rounds and she’s home.
SURPRISE PACKET: Let’s see, looking further afield, Aditi Ashok, Allisen Corpuz, Gemma Dryburgh, Leona Maguire, among others (it’s a wide open Open, remember!), all have claims as a ‘surprise’ winner who might nor surprise at all. That said, I’m coming back to another Aussie: Gabi Ruffels. Gabi is on a steady trajectory which is arching ever higher. She has all the shots and all the mental ingredients too – calm, process-focused and a strong self-belief. Perhaps the only question over her has been whether she could handle links golf. But anyone who grows up playing the Sandbelt, as Gabi did at Victoria, has a head start on that and her tie for sixth last week at Dundonald Links, including the equal best final round of four-under, is good form leading into this week.
TELL HER SHE’S DREAMIN’: At her best Yani Tseng was so far in front of second in the world rankings, it wasn’t funny. She was ranked world number one for 109 weeks between 2011 and 2013 and a five-time major winner, including two Women’s Opens. Indeed, her first LPGA win was a major, the LPGA Championship of 2008. Her list of achievements is nothing short of spectacular but it came to an end, seemingly out of nowhere, though a longtime elbow injury was a factor in her ultimately shattered confidence. It will be great to see her join the other past winners teeing up here. But win? No.
Gabi Ruffels was T6 and eight shots off the pace in the Scottish Women’s Open. PHOTO: Getty Images.
Emma Ballard – Editor Womenandgolf.com
BANKER: : I honestly think it’s nearly impossible to pick a winner this week – but Lauren Coughlin is coming in hot after two wins in three starts. Charley Hull was also sniffing around the lead at the ISPS Handa Women’s Scottish Open plus we have Olympic Gold medallist Lydio Ko. So, with all that in mind, my banker is Minjee Lee. There’s every chance she could win but if she doesn’t, she will definitely be in the mix. She has fantastic Women’s Open links golf form – 3rd in 2020 at Royal Troon, T5 in 2021 at Carnousite, T4 in 2022 at Muirfield. It’s time to go one or two places better at St Andrews, the most iconic links of all!
SURPRISE PACKET: Can I just go with a Swede?! I know one will feature. But, okay, twisting my arm, I’ll go with Madeline Sagstrom – and I know I’ll regret not saying Lisa Pettersson. But Sagstrom’s Major performances have been trending in the right way to culminate in her best finish of the year – T12 in the Evian. She also has Women’s Open links golf form with a T2 at Carnoustie (2021) and T4 at Muirfield (2022).
TELL HER SHE’S DREAMIN’: I’m not here to make enemies! I need as many friendly faces in women’s golf as I can find! There will be 144 dreamers at the start of the week, and only one will see that dream come true. But … if we must pick someone, I am going with the world’s number one amateur, Lottie Woad. And while I wouldn’t expect her to win this week, I hope that she enjoys a week like Louise Duncan did as an amateur at Carnoustie in 2021. And Lottie will be dreaming alright – about all those opportunities to walk over the Swilcan Bridge as a top pro in the future!
Madeline Sagstrom of Sweden was T12 in Aumundi Evian and T30 in the Scottish Open. PHOTO: Getty Images.
Jimmy Emmanuel – Contributor
BANKER: She was top-5 last week on the other side of Scotland at Dundonald Links and was in the mix last year. So Charley Hull gets my full unwavering support at St Andrews. Quality player and if the wind gets up as much as we’ve been told, it could suit her even more. And she has an advantage checking the direction of the breeze too!
SURPRISE PACKET: It will only be a surprise because she doesn’t play in America anymore and so won’t be on some radars. But I don’t just expect Ji-yai Shin to play well, I expect her to be right in the thick of things when they reach the Road Hole on Sunday … and maybe even lifting another major trophy.
TELL HER SHE’S DREAMIN’: On the links of the Auld Grey Toun with weather that would make sheep concerned, you can almost not rule out a single one of the starters getting the good side of the draw and some luck and being the latest unlikely hero of an Open Championship. But the convenors want a name, so I will with great trepidation say Yani Tseng, who will find too many bunkers and gorse to make an impact.
Charley Hull’s wind barometer could be in play this week at St Andrews. PHOTO: Getty Images
John Huggan – Columnist-at-Large
BANKER: She might not like to hear it, but Carlota Ciganda is one of the slowest players in golf, male or female. But here’s the thing. Courtesy of the double greens and the configuration of the Loop at the far end of the premises, the Old Course plays slow too. So, while just about everyone else will be suffering because of the predicted wind and rain, Ciganda won’t even notice. That’s a big advantage, one she is well capable of using to her best benefit.
SURPRISE PACKET: For some strange reason, Hannah Green seems to think she is Australian. This has come as a great surprise to those of us who know she is actually Scottish, or at least her mother is. That is good enough for us to claim Hannah, especially as she is one of only three players to have won more than once on the LPGA Tour this year. Now, you may think that impressive feat makes her winning the Women’s Open less of a surprise. But as she herself will be surprised to hear that she would be only the second Scot after Catriona Matthew to claim the title, that’s again good enough for me to put her in this category.
TELL HER SHE’S DREAMIN’: While I hate to descend into anything resembling stereotyping, this week is not going to be pretty weather-wise. If the forecast is correct, I’m betting we can eliminate just about every Asian golfer. Faced with conditions they can only have imagined in their worst nightmares, those more used to high humidity and light breezes are going to have a tough time of it. Making the cut will be the limit of most ambitions. Welcome to Scotland.
She was born in Perth (in Western Australia) and first visited the Home of Golf at St Andrews in 2018. Yet Hannah Green looms as Scotland’s best chance of a second Women’s Open title, according to our man Huggan, who might need his own section in the Tell Him He’s Dreamin’ section. PHOTO: Getty Images
Mark Hayes – Media Figure
BANKER: Even though I most certainly am, I don’t want to sound biased when I tip Minjee Lee to win. She’s about to go to the next level of Australian golf legends when she wins a third major at the home of golf, where obviously we have a great record as a nation in major championships. But more than that, she’s totally at home in links golf, with top-fives in three of the past four women’s Opens,the only exception being the “non links” of Walton Heath last year. The other near misses have been at Troon, Carnoustie and Muirfield – so the runs are on the board in the legendary “rota” courses.
SURPRISE PACKET: Ahhh, bugger it. If I’m going to be tagged as biased, I might as well be go the whole hog. Steph Kyriacou is quietly gaining a reputation as a majors contender and like her west coast sister, has a penchant for playing well on tough links courses. Was thereabouts at Carnoustie in 2021, right in the hunt at Muirfield two years back and absolutely thrives in challenging conditions, especially in comparison to many in this field who will not hang in the rain approaches “sideways”. VERY close at Evian and might just rock the world here.
TELL HER SHE’S DREAMIN’: These past couple of LPGA Tour seasons have proven, beyond doubt, the depth of the women’s game. So putting a line through anyone of note in these few paragraphs is fraught with danger. That said, it’s not like I haven’t been an idiot in print before, so let’s roll with Brooke Henderson. My Canadian friends will hate me for this and I admire her game greatly, but I just think she’s just off the boil a little and any erratic stuff off the tee at St Andrews will be dealt with severely. It’s by far her weakest major given her exemplary record in them as a rule, so I’m going to embarrass myself by picking one of the nicest women on tour in the hope she’ll forgive me should she ever read this.
Steph Kyriacou was second by a single shot in the most recent women’s major, The Amundi Evian Championship. PHOTO: Getty Images
Matt Cleary – Golf Australia Senior Writer
BANKER: It took one shot in the Scottish Open to show me that Charley Hull has the game to navigate whatever the Old Course at St Andrews can throw her way. There she was at Dundonald Links, round three, on the par-4 12th, 122 metres out, dead into the breeze, she might’ve had a five-iron … and then: bang, a pure strike, low trajectory, she stared it down … and stuck it 10 feet from goal. Then she made the putt. She’s 28 and prime. And primed for good times, Charley.
SURPRISE PACKET: South African Ashleigh Buhai, 35, won the 2022 Women’s Open Championship at Gullane, East Lothian, which is 40 kilometres south of St Andrews. She’s a two-time winner of South African Women’s Open (2018 and 2023) and a two-time winner of the Women’s Australian Open (2022 and 2023). Safe to say she knows how to win. What’s surprising is that some makers of sports book rate her a 125-1 chance of winning this 48th Women’s Open Championship, and I may have had a little nibble at that.
TELL HER HE’S DREAMIN’: Lexi Thompson‘s best finish in a Women’s Open Championship is T8, eight years ago at the tree-lined Woburn Golf and Country Club, north of London. She’s also missed the cut in three of the last four Women’s Opens. I’m sure she would really, really like to finish off her career with a win at the Home of Golf. And I would not begrudge her that, for it would be a fine story indeed. But her exposed form in exposed conditions leads one to predict that there will be no fairytale finish for 29-year-old Thommo.
Charley Hull gets some practice in at the Road Hole ahead of the Women’s Open Championship at the Old Course, St Andrews. PHOTO: Getty Images
Callum Hill – Writer Golf Australia magazine.
BANKER: The stars are aligning for Lydia Ko. There is no need to discuss her form line. With an Olympic gold medal in Paris and a top-10 at last week’s Women’s Scottish Open, the Kiwi’s game is clearly in good order. Ko illustrates all the qualities for success around the Old Course. She is excellent in the wind and has an impeccable short game – she was the Open’s low amateur at the Home of Golf in 2013. Although we still have a handful of years to watch before Ko exits stage left, she has made it clear she isn’t going to play much professional golf past the age of 30. At 27, the two-time major champion is doing a fantastic job of writing her own epilogue. A major championship at the most famous golf course on the planet, it could be written in the stars.
SURPRISE PACKET: We saw Steph Kyriacou in full flight at the Aumundi Evian Championship, falling just short of a maiden major title in France. On this side of the world, golf fans know just how highly rated the Sydneysider is. I just loved how she went about her work in the major championship cauldron last time around. Massively promising at such a young age, Kyriacou is accurate off the tee, chips and putts well, and is at a place, St Andrews, that Aussies have a great affiliation with. Will be in the mix.
TELL HER SHE’S DREAMIN’: At 1000-1, it is pretty challenging to see the Czech Republic’s Jana Melichova hoisting the trophy. But never say never!
Jana Melichova is rated a 1000-1 shot among the 144-woman field at the Women’s Open Championship. At least you know she’ll be prepared for weather. PHOTO: Getty Images.
Rod Morri – Podcast Mogul
BANKER: Winning Olympic gold might just spark Lydia Ko to reproduce some of the staggering golf she played as a teenager when she took the golf world by storm. The 27-year-old Kiwi has spoken of retirement more than once and, with that in mind, a fast-and-furious couple of years to add to a major tally that is thinner than it should be might be in the offing. If this pans out, it will be we fans who are the beneficiaries.
SURPRISE PACKET: There are so many good players in this field it will hardly be a surprise no matter who wins but not many will pick Ally Ewing. The American is a big event specialist and so far this year has finished T3 at the US Women’s Open, T5 at the Women’s PGA and T10 at Evian. The biggest unknown for Ewing will be the course, a vastly different test to what the LPGA plays most weeks.
TELL HER SHE’S DREAMIN’: It would be one of the all time greatest stories in sport if Yani Tseng were to get the job done this week but it won’t happen, sadly. For a time, the 35-year-old from Taiwan played with a flair that was other-worldly and between 2010 and mid 2013 was the most dominant player in the world. But it has been more than a decade since her last win and eight years since her last top 10.
Ally Ewing is in tremendous form heading into the season’s last major championshiop. PHOTO: Getty Images
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