Gold medal at 2016 Olympics would be a perfect swansong for Catriona Matthew

The North Berwick woman will be 47 when that event comes around and is under no illusion how difficult it will be to secure one of the 60 spots that have been designated by the International Golf Federation in a 72-hole stroke-play event.

The top 15 world-ranked players will be eligible, regardless of the number of players from a given country, and beyond that players will qualify based on world ranking, with a maximum of two from each country that does not already have two or more players among the top 15.

At present, Matthew, at No 21, is the highest-ranked British player in the women’s game. “Who knows, I could be thinking about stopping round about then?” she replied when asked about the Olympics in Brazil. “2016 is a long way off and I’m sure there will be a lot of players vying for that. But, at that stage in my career, it would be nice to play in an event like that and a Gold Medal would certainly be a nice way to finish off.”

It was suggested to the 2009 Women’s British Open champion that a pairing of herself and Luke Donald, the equally-consistent men’s world No 1, would probably be favourites if the IGF had decided on a mixed event instead of separate tournaments for men and women.

“It’s a pity that the format isn’t mixed,” she admitted. “But I suppose you look at a country like Norway, who would have (world No 2) Suzann Pettersen but would probably struggle to get a partner of similar standard.” Matthew has been a regular visitor to Brazil in recent years, winning the HSBC LPGA Cup there in 2009 and finishing sixth in the same event last year, but this year’s event clashes with the Aberdeen Scottish Ladies Open at Archerfield Links on 3-5 May.

“I will be defending my Scottish title,” she said in confirming her return to the East Lothian venue, where the home favourite recorded a ten-shot victory last August before going on to help Europe regain the Solheim Cup with a dramatic win at Killeen Castle in Ireland.

Her season starts in the Far East next month, when the LPGA Tour stages events in Thailand and Singapore, before making her first trip of the year to America for a three-event run that includes the first major of the season, the Kraft Nabisco.

In Europe, in addition to the Scottish Open she has pencilled in appearances in Ireland and Sweden as well, of course, as the Women’s British Open, which takes place slightly later this year – in mid-September at Hoylake – due to the London Olympics.

Matthew might also play in the Dubai Masters, the season-ending event, and believes the LET, under the stewardship of Alexandra Armas, its executive director, is doing a decent job, though she does agree with recent remarks by Laura Davies that there are too many events with prize funds around E200,000. “I think the Tour isn’t doing too bad at all, really,” observed the Scot. “In an ideal world we’d have bigger purses, but we could easily be losing events in these tough times.”

As well as being the country’s top player, Matthew is also a vice president of the Scottish Ladies Golfing Association. Wearing both her hats, she is keen to see the proposed merger of that body with the Scottish Golf Union go ahead this year. “I think it has to happen because it makes sense and once it does I think that will be good for the ladies,” she said. “They will maybe be able to get more resources.”

As she prepares to start her season, Matthew has taken great pride in seeing her male counterparts make a flying start to 2012, with Martin Laird finishing second in the PGA Tour’s curtain-raiser then David Drysdale and Marc Warren sharing third in the Joburg Open last weekend. “The more professional golfers we have doing well the better as that encourages more people to come into the sport,” she noted. “You can see that’s happened in cycling. Chris Hoy did well and now we’ve got Mark Cavendish and cycling is really taking off.”