25-06-2025
‘I want to show other girls what is possible in golf'
Aaliyah Hryniewiecka-Irwin was 'shocked and excited' when her mother told her that her superb first round at the prestigious Fairhaven Trophy had set the pace on the Justin Rose Telegraph Junior Golf Championship girls' leaderboard.
Though now placed second behind Erin Huskie, the Huddersfield ace's 71 could help her reach the 35th girls' final later this year, which would be her final tournament as a junior should she make the cut.
She eventually finished tied third at April's Fairhaven Trophy, in between top 25 finishes at the Helen Holm Scottish Women's Open and Welsh Open Youths, where she was also the best-placed female.
But it is closer to home where Hryniewiecka-Irwin has been breaking down inclusivity boundaries in the women's game.
Last year, when she was 16, the Crosland Heath member became the first female player to compete in the Halifax, Huddersfield and District Union's scratch league after a rule change allowing for a dual-gender competition.
Hryniewiecka-Irwin now says that other leagues should follow suit and allow mixed gender competitions.
'One hundred per cent, and it opens everything for women,' she says. 'It's nice to feel more inclusion within the sport, as golf is still often seen as quite old-fashioned. It's definitely improving, though. When I played in that scratch team it was an unreal feeling as I was the first female to play in the men's team [she teed it up for her club in a Division One fixture and duly won her match two and one]. It brings a lot more inclusion and hopefully more women will start playing golf,' she adds.
Born in Northern Ireland, she moved to Yorkshire two years later and studies at Huddersfield New College.
Last August she won a mixed-gender Faldo Series qualifier, which secured her spot at the grand final in the UAE, where she placed in the top 25.
It was a career highlight which could be surpassed by competing for the Justin Rose Telegraph Junior Golf Championship title at Quinta do Lago this winter.
She adds: 'It would be an amazing experience and a great opportunity that any person would want to take up.'
