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Scotsman
a day ago
- Sport
- Scotsman
Nelly Korda feeling 'cold' in Scotland as she hails Scottie Scheffler as 'one of a kind'
Nelly Korda speaks to the media prior to the ISPS HANDA Women's Scottish Open at Dundonald Links |American excited to be making her ISPS HANDA Women's Scottish Open at Dundonald Links Sign up to our daily newsletter – Regular news stories and round-ups from around Scotland direct to your inbox Sign up Thank you for signing up! Did you know with a Digital Subscription to The Scotsman, you can get unlimited access to the website including our premium content, as well as benefiting from fewer ads, loyalty rewards and much more. Learn More Sorry, there seem to be some issues. Please try again later. Submitting... It doesn't happen often, but Nelly Korda had 'underclubbed' on this occasion. 'I'm cold,' admitted the world No 1 as she spoke to a small group of reporters outside the Dundonald Links clubhouse, where a fresh west wind made it feel a tad chilly despite the sun hinting otherwise on the Ayrshire coast. 'As a Florida girl, I'm not used to it,' added the star attraction at this week's ISPS HANDA Women's Scottish Open, smiling. 'But I always pack warm for these couple of weeks. My suitcases are heavy, so, yeah, I'm definitely going to go for some more layers.' Advertisement Hide Ad Advertisement Hide Ad Nelly Korda speaks to the media prior to the ISPS HANDA Women's Scottish Open at Dundonald Links |Korda is making her debut in the LET and LPGA co-sanctioned event, which is being staged at Dundonald Links for the fourth year in a row and also features Hannah Darling and Lottie Woad, two of the top UK amateurs in recent years, making their professional debuts on this occasion. 'I've never played links-style golf heading into The Open,' said Korda, referring, of course, to next week's AIG Women's Open, which is being held at Royal Porthcawl in South Wales for the first time. 'So we'll see how it goes.' Comparisons have been made between Korda, the dominant force in the women's game over the past couple of years, and Scottie Scheffler, who cemented his position at the top of the men's world rankings by landing his fourth major in total and second this season in The 153rd Open on Sunday. 'He's amazing,' said Korda of her compatriot. 'Obviously hats off to him. Not only is he a great golfer, but just also a great role model, as well, for kids to look up to. I think he's one-of-a-kind. He's just really succeeding at what he's doing. He's enjoying it. He has his values and it's just very exciting to see.' Advertisement Hide Ad Advertisement Hide Ad As was Korda going on a tear last year, winning six times before mid-May before adding a seventh title triumph later in the season. In comparison, this year is winless to this point. 'Yeah, obviously I would love to lift a couple trophies by now,' she admitted. 'But it's golf. You never know what's going to happen. As long as I'm sticking to my process and controlling what I can control, I'm just doing my best.' Korda has been paired with Woad, who signed off her amateur career in style by winning the KPMG Irish Women's Open then coming close to adding The Evian Championship, and Charley Hull in one of the marquee groups for the opening two rounds. 'Yeah, scheduling,' said Korda in reply to being asked if there had been a particular reason why she hadn't teed up in this event before. 'Honestly, it depends when Evian (one of the women's majors). In July, all the courses in my hometown in Florida are shut for the entire month. So there's really no point going home. So I really wanted to play this event this year, and it just kind of worked out perfectly. Everything for me is always kind of scheduling.' Some of her fellow players used the gap in between between France and here to do things away from golf. Lauren Coughlin, this week's defending champion, went to Sweden with Maja Stark, the US Women's Open winner this year. Former AIG Women's Open winner Georgia Hall, meanwhile, got engaged to former DP World Tour player Paul Dunne, the pair making the announcement in a post on social media from Gleneagles. Advertisement Hide Ad Advertisement Hide Ad 'I went to Prague,' said Korda of what she'd done on her week off. 'Yeah, obviously the longer you are on tour, I mean, the girls are getting to the age where they are getting married, they are getting engaged, having babies. So it's very exciting to see that and see people enter a new part of their life.' This is Korda's tenth year as a pro. 'I see some girls that were born in 2004, 2003 and I'm like, 'oh, my gosh',' she said, laughing. 'Definitely feel a bit of a veteran out here, but I'm still enjoying it as much as I was my rookie year.' It's no surprise to hear that pre-ticket sales for this week's $2 million event are up in comparison to previous editions here, even though fans had turned up in decent numbers to watch Lydia Ko, in particular, but also the likes of Hall and Charley Hull. Lottie Woad, who won the KPMG Women's Irish Open as an amateur earlier this month, is making her professional debut in this week's ISPS HANDA Women's Scottish Open at Dundonald Links | Mark Runnacles Korda's presence is a huge boost while knowledgeable Scottish golf fans will be keen to get a glimpse of Woad, who, before her recent exploits, won the Augusta National Women's Amateur last year, when she was also the leading amateur in the AIG Women's Open at St Andrews. Advertisement Hide Ad Advertisement Hide Ad 'Yeah, obviously very excited,' said the 21-year-old English player. 'I've been thinking about making my professional debut for a long time and I'm excited to do it on home soil as well. It's going to be really fun. Being (at college) in America, I haven't played links golf that much this year, but I've played it a little bit since I've been back. I felt the transition to it is not too bad since I grew up playing amateur stuff on links golf and kind of know how to flight the ball down and stuff like that, which always really helps playing in the wind.' On her pairing with Korda and Hull, she admitted: 'It's going to be a fun couple of days. Growing up, I watched a lot of the English pros, so being paired with Charley is going to be really cool.'
News18
a day ago
- Sport
- News18
Pranavi back from injury, Diksha seeks to maintain form in Scottish Open
Agency: PTI Last Updated: Ayrshire (Scotland), Jul 23 (PTI) After recovering from an injury sustained in May, Indian golfer Pranavi Urs returns to action at the USD 2 million ISPS Handa Women's Scottish Open beginning at the Dundonald Links here on Thursday. Other Indians in the field are the in-form Diksha Dagar and Tvesa Malik. Rookie Avani Prashanth and Hitaashee Bakshi failed to make the field. Pranavi, who won the Hero Women's Order of Merit in India in 2022 with five victories in a single season, has been a regular on the Ladies European Tour, where she was the top Indian in 2024. This season, after some good finishes in Top-15 at the Ford NSW Open in Australia and Investec SA Women's Open, she played and made the cut a Aramco Korea, but hurt her wrist. It got so bad that she withdrew after the first round in the following week at the Dutch Ladies Open. That was in mid-May and she has not played since then. She is now 81st on the Order of Merit. Diksha has been having a good season that began with a runner-up finish at the Lalla Meryem Cup. She had four other Top-10 finishes and two more in Top-15. She is lying 13th on the Money List. Pranavi plays with Kim Metraux of Switzerland and Spain's Fatima Fernandez Cano in the morning, while Diksha tees off with Miranda Wang of China and Korea's Sei Young Kim in the afternoon. Tvesa will play alongside China's Weiwei Zhang and Norwegian Dorthea Forbrigd. The 2025 ISPS HANDA Women's Scottish Open at Dundonald Links is the ninth edition of the tournament since it became co-sanctioned with the LPGA Tour and the fourth consecutive year that Dundonald has hosted. A field of 144 players representing 32 nationalities will compete in a 72-hole stroke play competition with a cut to the top 65 players and ties after 36 holes. The field is split between the LET and LPGA with players from both Tours competing for a slice of the USD 2 million prize fund. Four past champions will be teeing it up with Lauren Coughlin (2024), Ayaka Furue (2022), Ariya Jutanugarn (2018) and Mi Hyang Lee (2017) all in the field. Three of the major champions from 2025 are also in Scotland with Sweden's Maja Stark, who won the U.S. Women's Open presented by Ally, playing as well as Australian duo of Minjee Lee and Grace Kim. There are 11 LET winners from the 2025 season here. PTI Corr PDS PDS PDS view comments First Published: July 23, 2025, 16:00 IST Disclaimer: Comments reflect users' views, not News18's. Please keep discussions respectful and constructive. Abusive, defamatory, or illegal comments will be removed. News18 may disable any comment at its discretion. By posting, you agree to our Terms of Use and Privacy Policy.
The Herald Scotland
2 days ago
- Sport
- The Herald Scotland
Golf's female professionals exposed by lack of TV coverage
"I have friends [on the tour] that worry a lot about money and the financial side of things, so I think being on tour and trying to make a cheque to pay the rent or pay for your expenses is quite stressful, and it can affect your golf quite a lot," Ms Dryburgh said. Read more: "I think over a whole career I've been able to kind of put that in the back of my mind and focus on the golf, but don't get me wrong, it has affected me at times." At the crux of the matter is exposure, most specifically, the amount of airtime given to coverage of women's events. The knock-on effects reverberate throughout a player's potential earning streams. 'We're not shown as much on TV, so people don't necessarily know we are on [[TV]]," Ms Dryburgh said. "They don't know where to look for us. We might be on recorded, later in the day, [so] not on prime time [[TV]], whereas the men are on consistently every week and people know where to find them." She added: 'It's still not easy for a women to get sponsorship because of the TV thing. Gemma Dryburgh says the pressure to earn money has affected her golf at times "Week-to-week it's kinda the same five to 10 [female] players that are on TV, and I would say those players are probably doing pretty well on sponsorship. But for example, for myself to get on TV, I have to be in the top 10 or the top 15, trying to contend, to get some TV time." Less airtime means less exposure for sponsors and their brands, pushing down the value of contracts. This has been alleviated to a degree by social media, which some players have successfully used to build a following that bypasses traditional media. Still, large disparities remain. Born in Aberdeen, Ms Dryburgh played at Tulane University in Louisiana before turning professional in 2015, playing on various circuits including the Ladies European Tour (LET) before joining the LPGA Tour in the US in 2018. Now based in New Orleans, she's back in the UK to compete in the ISPS Handa Women's Scottish Open before moving on next week to the AIG Women's Open at Royal Porthcawl in Wales. The total purse for the Women's Open has roughly tripled since AIG became the title sponsor in 2019, reaching $9.5m in 2024. Last year's winner, Lydia Ko, walked away with $1.42m. Read more: By comparison, last week's Open winner Scottie Scheffler left Royal Portrush with a paycheque of $3.1m from a total purse of $17m. Ms Dryburgh's biggest financial win to date was a first place finish in the 2022 TOTO Japan Classic, earning her $300,000. This stacks up against annual outgoings ranging from $180,000 to $200,000 for expenses such as her caddie, travel, accommodation and tournament entry fees. "We have the same expenses as men," she said. "Obviously sometimes if they're making that much money they can fly private, etcetera, but on a base rate they are the same expenses and we're not making as much. 'It can be a discouragement but I would say on a positive note that since I turned pro, which was 10 years ago now, the prize money [for women] has gone up massively, especially the majors.' Read more: As a player director at the LPGA, Ms Dryburgh is among those representing the interests of her fellow competitors on the tour. She believes there are "big opportunities" to make further progress on financial parity under new LPGA commissioner Craig Kessler, who officially took over on July 15. "The more you can see us, the more you know who we are," she said. "I think women's sport has shown that, like recently in women's football. "If you actually get the eyes on it, people want to watch, and I think especially with women's golf because it's such a good product – you don't have to compare it to men's golf, it's its own product. I've heard from lots and lots of people who really, really enjoy watching us play, and I think they can learn a lot from the way we play the game."
USA Today
2 days ago
- Sport
- USA Today
Lottie Woad set to make pro debut at Scottish Open grouped with Nelly Korda, Charley Hull
Lottie Woad will make her pro debut this week alongside two of the biggest stars in the women's game – Nelly Korda and Charley Hull. The former top-ranked amateur turned professional last week after becoming the first to graduate from the tour's new LPGA Elite Amateur Pathway (LEAP) program. After finishing one stroke shy of the playoff at the Amundi Evian Championship, England's Woad makes her first appearance at this week's ISPS Handa Women's Scottish Open and will tee off on Thursday at 8:36 a.m. local time at Dundonald Links grouped with top-ranked Korda and compatriot Charley Hull, currently No. 19 in the world. "Going to be fun couple of days," said Woad. "Obviously two players that I look up to, so it will be cool." In addition to accepting LPGA membership, Woad also became a member of the LET following her emphatic six-stroke victory at the KPMG Women's Irish Open. She's now eligible for next year's 2026 European Solheim Cup team. Woad leaves college golf with one year left of eligibility at Florida State. The sport management major was recently named the Atlantic Coast Conference Women's Golf Scholar-Athlete of the Year. When asked whether she planned to continue her studies later this year or next spring, Woad said she hasn't yet decided. "I need to speak to academics on that and decide whether I want to do that," she said, "because obviously I want to put a lot of my focus into this." Rose Zhang continues to work on her Stanford degree after turning professional in the spring of 2023. Zhang has 40 units left in Palo Alto, California, and plans to take 20 in the fall and another 20 in the winter quarter, graduating in 2026. She has taken off the spring Asian swing the past two years to work on her studies. After this week's event in Scotland and the AIG Women's British Open at Royal Porthcawl in Wales, Woad's status gets her into the next string of domestic events on tour – plus Canada – and she'll make push to get into the fall's limit-field Asian swing.
Khaleej Times
2 days ago
- Sport
- Khaleej Times
This Week in Golf: Spotlight shifts to women and seniors as summer golf season builds
After all the excitement and drama of The Open and Scottie Scheffler's landmark victory, the attention of the golfing world now moves to both the women and the seniors. Women's golf now has three big weeks on its calendar, starting this week with the LET's $2 million ISPS Handa Scottish Women's Open at Dundonald Links, followed by the AIG Women's Open at Royal Porthcawl in Wales, boasting a $9.5 million purse, and then the $2 million PIF London Championship at Centurion Club. If players on the LET and from elsewhere are looking for a run of form, this is the time of year to find it. Senior golf is also being prominently showcased this week, co-sanctioned by both the Legends Tour and PGA Champions Tour, with the ISPS Handa Senior Open at Sunningdale Golf Club over the Old Course, Berkshire, England. All the legends of the game are in the field – last year's edition in 2024 was won by KJ Choi at Carnoustie Golf Links. One of our favourite events of the season at a most appropriate venue. It is certainly worth a visit or watch if you can. The total yardage of the golf course, with so much history, is this week being played at 6,682 yards. It sadly seems to be one of the golf courses that has perhaps been overtaken by its lack of length for modern men's professional golf. However, it remains a wonderful golf course for top amateur events as well as women's and senior golf—and, of course, the club golfer. If you ever get an opportunity to play there, do not decline the invite; you will not be disappointed. LIV Golf returns to the schedule with LIV Golf UK at JCB Golf & Country Club in England. Out of the 19 LIV Golf players in last week's Open field, 11 made the cut. Congratulations to all, especially Bryson DeChambeau, who opened with a 78 but still made it into the top 10 with some impressive golf over the last three rounds. Let's just hope that the weather remains kind in the UK – it does make a huge difference to all involved: players, caddies, spectators and organisers. But it has to break sometime. It is interesting to note that two of the main golf tournaments being played this week are sponsored and supported by ISPS Handa. What is ISPS Handa? It is a Japanese non-profit organisation, the International Sports Promotion Society, founded in 2006 by Japanese philanthropist Dr Haruhisa Handa. It aims to focus on the power of sport to promote hope, break down barriers and, overall, inspire people globally. ISPS Handa is a generous sponsor of many sports, especially golf, as well as archery, bowling, boxing, football, polo, rowing, rugby and swimming, with a strong focus on promoting blind and disabled golf. Sponsors and supporters are often not always given the recognition they rightly deserve. This week seems appropriate to thank ISPS Handa – well done to them and all other sponsors this week and every week – who make the game of golf and tournaments both sustainable and so special. This Week's Golf Schedule LIV Golf Event: LIV Golf UK Dates: Friday 25th – Sunday 27th July, 2025 Venue: JCB Golf & Country Club, England Purse: $25 million PGA Tour Event: 3M Open Dates: Thursday 24th – Sunday 27th July, 2025 Venue: TPC Twin Cities, Minnesota, US Purse: $8.4 million Ladies European Tour Event: ISPS Handa Scottish Women's Open Dates: Thursday 24th – Sunday 27th July, 2025 Venue: Dundonald Links, Scotland Purse: $2 million Legends Tour & Champions Tour Event: ISPS Handa Senior Open Dates: Thursday 24th – Sunday 27th July, 2025 Venue: Sunningdale Golf Club, London, England Purse: $2.85 million
