Major championship season ends in style this week, with the world’s best taking on St Andrews in The Women’s Open, with Stacy Lewis the most recent winner of the event at the Old Course.
St Andrews has not hosted The Women’s Open since 2013, when Lewis birdied her final two holes to win by two and secure her second major title. The US Solheim Cup captain will be in the field this week as she admitted that it may be her final opportunity to play St Andrews in a major.
The last eight major championships have been won by eight different players, with the likes of Nelly Korda and Amy Yang amongst those to have triumphed this year. Meanwhile, Lilia Vu is looking to defend her title after winning at Walton Heath last year.
But it is another player who appears to be top of Lewis’ list of candidates to win in Scotland in the coming days.
Stacy Lewis picks her favourite to win Women’s Open
Speaking on Fried Egg Golf, Lewis suggested that the form of Lydia Ko – who won an Olympic gold medal before finishing ninth at the Scottish Open – makes her the standout contender to come out on top.
“I think Lydia would be hard to not pick, has the short game, has the ability to control ball flight. So creative, but I think that’s the most important thing there, to be able to control ball flight and pick and choose, and being smart more than anything,” she said.
“I really think local knowledge on that golf course is really important. So I think it’s going to be the player that embraces that, that tries to get some local knowledge, whether it’s from their caddie or getting a local caddie or getting someone that has played there before, I’d be hard pressed to not pick Lydia to be honest.”
Lydia Ko’s past record in the final major of the year
Ko is also amongst the players to have played in the previous Women’s Open at St Andrews, with the New Zealander finishing in a tie for the low amateur 11 years ago.
She has since gone on to win two major titles. But her form in the Women’s Open does not exactly jump off the page, with just one top 10 in her last eight appearances. She has also missed two cuts in that time.
Her two top 10s in the event have come at Turnberry and Muirfield, which does perhaps bode well given that they offer a much more similar test to St Andrews than Walton Heath or Woburn – the two courses where she missed the cut.
And with her recent form, it is not entirely surprising that Lewis believes that Ko is the one to beat this week.
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