Catriona Matthew

The 2009 AIG Women’s Open Champion, Catriona Matthew, has announced that she will play the event for the final time this week.

Matthew’s victory at Royal Lytham & St Annes came just 11 weeks after she gave birth to her second daughter, Sophie, and will always be remembered as one of the most remarkable triumphs in golf.

The 54-year-old remains the only player from Scotland to win a women's major championship and will bring an end to her AIG Women’s Open career on home soil this week.

"It just felt that being in St Andrews in Scotland, the home of golf, what better place to play my last one," Matthew said in a press conference this morning.

"In a way it's a mixture of relief, knowing it's my last one, I'll be a little sad not to be in the event, it's so big now, there is such a buzz when you come to these events to play in them.

"But I've realised that at 55, I'm not going to be as competitive as I want to be, so everything comes to an end.”

‘Beany’, as Matthew is affectionately known, has a relationship with the Championship which stretches far beyond her fairytale victory.

As a 23-year-old in 1993, Matthew made her debut in the Championship as an amateur, before the AIG Women’s Open was an LPGA-sanctioned event, with her mum on the bag at Woburn.

“I remember playing with Trish Johnson and at the time she was one of the top players in Europe, so that was quite a nerve-racking experience for me,” said Matthew, recalling her memories of the Championship.

“Perhaps my record hasn’t been as good as I would have liked. Before 2009 I think I tried too hard, put too much pressure on myself coming back, playing in Britain, in front of home fans, family and friends, so I’m delighted I managed to get the win one time.”

Matthew really began to make her mark in the Championship in 2001, finishing tied-third after winning her first event on the LPGA Tour earlier in the year.

She started superbly at Sunningdale, marking the occasion with a hole-in-one on the 15th hole in round two to take the outright lead and registered another ace on her return to the Berkshire venue three years later.

Heading into the Women's Open in 2009, Matthew was less than three months on from giving birth but with modest expectations, Matthew was able to play a brand of golf that was free-wheeling and spectacular as she powered to a three-stroke victory only to quickly resume her motherly duties.

“My mum and dad came down and mum did the 3am feed for Sophie throughout the week but on Sunday night, in the great celebration, I said that I would get up and feed Sophie.

“I remember mum and I sat at the kitchen table with a cup of tea with the trophy sitting there.”

Matthew has finished in the top-10 three times since, most recently in 2016, while her off-course role as a mentor has become more prominent, and Matthew watched on as Georgia Hall followed in her footsteps in 2018, winning her maiden AIG Women's Open at Royal Lytham & St Annes.

She has produced more memorable moments in recent years, notably as Team Europe captain for two tense Solheim Cup victories in 2019 and 2021, while she had the honour of hitting the first shot at the 2022 AIG Women’s Open at Muirfield.

She has long established herself as a legend of the AIG Women's Open and her legacy continues to grow with each passing year on and off the golf course.