AIG Women’s Open 2025: Royal Porthcawl proves major credentials

Royal Porthcawl has hosted the Amateur Championship seven times, as well as the Curtis Cup in 1964 and the Walker Cup in 1995.

It has also been the stage for three Senior Opens, in 2014, 2017 and 2023, but the Women’s Open was on a different level in terms of the tournament’s status, its reach and the quality of the field.

This was Royal Porthcawl’s moment in the sun – and the wind, plus some rain, although not as much as there might have been – and the south Wales links shone.

Maureen Madill, the former Ladies European Tour player turned pundit from Northern Ireland, went as far as suggesting that Porthcawl had eclipsed Royal Portrush, the scene of the men’s Open Championship last month.

“I have been walking around this week and I have to say – and I will probably never get back into Ireland after I say this – I think the course is in better condition than Royal Portrush was for the Open two weeks ago,” she said during BBC radio coverage over the weekend.

“That’s me. I will not be allowed across the Irish Sea now.

“But I am in awe. I have been looking at these glorious greens, the structure of the bunkers, the sweeps, the hollows, the shadows… it’s absolutely glorious.”