The 2011 Ricoh Women's British Open was held 28–31 July at
Carnoustie Golf Links
Carnoustie Golf Links is in Carnoustie, Angus, Scotland. Carnoustie has four courses – the historic Championship Course, the Burnside Course, the Buddon Links Course and a free-to-play short, five-hole course called The Nestie. Carnoustie G ...
in
Angus, Scotland
Angus ( sco, Angus; gd, Aonghas) is one of the 32 local government council areas of Scotland, a registration county and a lieutenancy area. The council area borders Aberdeenshire, Dundee City and Perth and Kinross. Main industries include agr ...
. It was the 35th
Women's British Open
The Women's Open (originally known as the Women's British Open, and still widely referred to by that name outside the UK) is a women's major golf championships, major championship in Professional golf tours#Women's tours, women's professional go ...
, and the 11th as a
major championship on the
LPGA Tour
The Ladies Professional Golf Association (LPGA) is an American organization for female golfers. The organization is headquartered at the LPGA International in Daytona Beach, Florida, and is best known for running the LPGA Tour, a series of weekl ...
. This was the first time for the Women's British Open at Carnoustie, which previously hosted seven
Open Championships, most recently in
2007.
Yani Tseng
Yani Tseng (; born 23 January 1989) is a Taiwanese professional golfer playing on the U.S.-based LPGA Tour. She is the youngest player ever, male or female, to win five major championships and was ranked number 1 in the Women's World Golf Ranki ...
became the first to successfully defend her title at the Women's British Open as a major championship, four strokes ahead of runner-up
Brittany Lang
Brittany Lang (born August 22, 1985) is an American professional golfer who plays on the LPGA Tour. She has won one major championship, the 2016 U.S. Women's Open.
Amateur career
Born in Richmond, Virginia and raised in McKinney, Texas, Lang ...
. She became youngest player, male or female, to win five major titles.
Exemptions and qualifying events
The field for the tournament was 144, and golfers gained a place in three ways. Most players earned exemptions based on good past performances on the Ladies European Tour, the LPGA and in previous major championships and top-ranked players in the
Women's World Golf Rankings
The Women's World Golf Rankings, also known for sponsorship reasons as the Rolex Rankings, were introduced in February 2006. They are sanctioned by eight women's golf tours and the organisations behind them: Ladies Professional Golf Association (L ...
. The rest of the field earned entry by successfully competing in qualifying tournaments open to any professional female golfer or amateur with a low handicap.
There were 14 exemption categories for the 2011 Women's British Open. These included:
*The top 15 finishers (and ties) from the 2010 Women's British Open.
*The top 10
Ladies European Tour members in the Women's World Golf Rankings who did not finish in the top 15 of the 2010 Women's British Open.
*The top 30
LPGA Tour
The Ladies Professional Golf Association (LPGA) is an American organization for female golfers. The organization is headquartered at the LPGA International in Daytona Beach, Florida, and is best known for running the LPGA Tour, a series of weekl ...
members in the Women's World Golf Rankings who did not finish in the top 15 of the 2010 Women's British Open.
*The top 25 on the current LET money list not already exempt from the 2010 Women's British Open or the world rankings.
*The top 40 on the current LPGA Tour money list not already exempt from the 2010 Women's British Open or the world rankings.
*The top five on the current
LPGA of Japan Tour
The LPGA of Japan Tour is a professional golf tour for women organised by the Japan Ladies Professional Golfers' Association. It is the second richest women's golf tour in the world. The U.S.-based LPGA Tour is the most important women's tour, but ...
money list not already exempt from the 2010 Women's British Open or through the world rankings if they are also members of the LET or LPGA. (Note that these six categories have accounted for approximately 125 entries — or 5/6ths of the players in the final field.)
*Winners of any recognised LET or LPGA events in the calendar year 2011.
*The champions from the last 10 editions of the Women's British Open.
*The champions of the last five editions of one of the other three
LPGA majors.
Past champions in the field
Made the cut
Missed the cut
Course
The 2011 course layout at
Carnoustie Golf Links
Carnoustie Golf Links is in Carnoustie, Angus, Scotland. Carnoustie has four courses – the historic Championship Course, the Burnside Course, the Buddon Links Course and a free-to-play short, five-hole course called The Nestie. Carnoustie G ...
.
Set-up
The par-72 course was set by the
Ladies Golf Union
The Ladies' Golf Union (LGU) was the governing body for women's and girls' amateur golf in Great Britain and Ireland. It was founded in 1893 and was based in St Andrews, Fife, Scotland until merging with The R&A at the start of 2017.
Issett ...
(LGU) at , shorter than the par-71 set-up for the
2007 Open Championship.
The short set-up of the course was criticized by several notable golfers and golf commentators.
ESPN
ESPN (originally an initialism for Entertainment and Sports Programming Network) is an American international basic cable sports channel owned by ESPN Inc., owned jointly by The Walt Disney Company (80%) and Hearst Communications (20%). The ...
golf commentator and former LPGA pro
Jane Crafter
Jane Crafter (born 14 December 1955) is an Australian-American professional golfer and golf broadcaster for ESPN who played on the LPGA Tour. She has had dual citizenship in Australia and the United States since 2007. Her father Brian was also a pr ...
called the LGU "out of touch" with how current women players can play.
Defending champion
Yani Tseng
Yani Tseng (; born 23 January 1989) is a Taiwanese professional golfer playing on the U.S.-based LPGA Tour. She is the youngest player ever, male or female, to win five major championships and was ranked number 1 in the Women's World Golf Ranki ...
commented that the famous hole number 18 was set up so that it "put all of the bunkers out of play, put all of the burns out of play." The course groundskeeper agreed that the women had been given "a watered-down version" of Carnoustie and that he did that intentionally after receiving too much criticism for a difficult set-up for the
Open Championship in 1999.
Round summaries
First round
''Thursday, 28 July 2011''
source:
Second round
''Friday, 29 July 2011''
source:
Amateurs: ''
Kang (−3), Popov (+1),'' Pretswell (+2),
Taylor
Taylor, Taylors or Taylor's may refer to:
People
* Taylor (surname)
** List of people with surname Taylor
* Taylor (given name), including Tayla and Taylah
* Taylor sept, a branch of Scottish clan Cameron
* Justice Taylor (disambiguation)
Pl ...
(+4), Foster (+6), Meadow (+7).
Third round
''Saturday, 30 July 2011''
source:
Final round
''Sunday, 31 July 2011''
source:
Amateurs: Kang (+2), Popov (+11).
Scorecard
''Final round''
''Cumulative tournament scores, relative to par''
:
References
External links
*
LPGA.com- Women's British Open - microsite
{{coord, 56.497, -2.717, type:event, display=title
Women's British Open
Golf tournaments in Scotland
British Open
The Open Championship, often referred to as The Open or the British Open, is the oldest golf tournament in the world, and one of the most prestigious. Founded in 1860, it was originally held annually at Prestwick Golf Club in Scotland. Later th ...
Women's British Open
The Women's Open (originally known as the Women's British Open, and still widely referred to by that name outside the UK) is a women's major golf championships, major championship in Professional golf tours#Women's tours, women's professional go ...
Women's British Open
The Women's Open (originally known as the Women's British Open, and still widely referred to by that name outside the UK) is a women's major golf championships, major championship in Professional golf tours#Women's tours, women's professional go ...