Martin Dempster: Why future looks bright for Scottish women's golf

It wasn’t too long ago that you felt that the women’s game was a poor relation to men’s golf in Scotland, but not any more.

Not since the Women’s Scottish Open, which, with all due respect to those involved at the time, used to be a very low-key event, became part of the LPGA Tour schedule and now boasts a $2 million prize pot.

And not since the ante was upped with the Women’s Open, the event’s first visit to Muirfield this summer coinciding with it offering a record prize fund of $6.8 million.

Yes, of course, there’s still a long way to go before we can expect to see total parity in the game at the top level, but let’s not overlook progress.

Hannah Darling poses with the trophy following her victory in the R&A Girls Amateur Championship at Fulford last August. Picture: R&A via Getty Images.

VisitScotland recently announced a new long-term commitment to the Trust Golf Women’s Scottish Open and continues to work with the R&A to elevate the status of the AIG Women’s Open.

Make no mistake, that support, which has come on the back of a massive investment in a hugely-successful Solheim Cup at Gleneagles in 2019, should never be under-estimated.

If it wasn’t for Saudi Arabian backing of the Aramco Team Series, the Ladies European Tour wouldn’t be visiting England, where it has its headquarters, this year.

And, over the Irish Sea, the Irish Women’s Open had been off the schedule until it was announced that the event last won by Catriona Matthew in 2012 is making a welcome return this year.

Leona Maguire, of course, will be the main attraction at that, as will be the case when she tees up in Northern Ireland a month earlier in the ISPS Handa World Invitational.

Irish golf has been crying out for a star in the women’s game and the sky really is the limit for Maguire, who, on the back of a brilliant Solheim Cup debut last September, became the first Irish player to win on the LPGA Tour earlier this year and is now inside the world’s top 20.

Scotland, of course, has been lucky to have Catriona Matthew, in particular, doing a splendid job flying the Saltire at the top level of the game for a long time, while Kathryn Imrie and Jancie Moodie also tasted success on the LPGA Tour.

We’re now at the stage, though, where it would be beneficial to have players challenging again at the top level and, led by Gemma Dryburgh, the current crop of Scottish women professionals will be giving it their all on both the LPGA and LET over the coming months.

It could be some time yet before they are joined by Hannah Darling, but, if we are hoping to produce someone in the Maguire mould, then the 18-year-old Broomieknowe player and current world No 12 is certainly shaping up nicely on the US college circuit.

Louise Duncan, who thrilled the home crowd in last year’s Women’s Open at Carnoustie, also has an exciting future ahead of her, as do Lorna McClymont, a recent three-time winner in the R&A Student Tour Series, and Grace Crawford, who has already tasted success in her stint at a top junior academy in the Bahamas.

Both in terms of raw talent and top-class tournaments, the Scottish women’s game has probably never been in a better position.

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