Women's British Open championship tees off at Royal Troon

A major golf tournament gets underway at Royal Troon in Ayrshire today.

The AIG British Women’s Open takes place between Thursday 20th and Sunday 23rd August 2020.

Laura Davies will mark her 40th appearance by hitting the opening tee shot of the contest.

She's among a large group of British players in the field with Catriona Matthew, Georgia Hall and Charley Hull also playing.

Royal Troon Club Historian Douglas McCreath says, “It focuses Ayrshire as the centre in the world of golf. This is a wonderful place to come and this is a reminder that we can cope with any crisis at any time and still put on a fantastic major event.

“It’s a boost for the town and the area. The local people will get the advantages of that because these people will come back as visitors eventually and that is good for us all."

But world number one Ko Jin-young and world number three Park Sung-hyun are among the players who have not travelled to Royal Troon due to the coronavirus pandemic.

Former champion Stacey Lewis says, “I think it's a little bit of a shame, truly I do. You want the best players here. You want to compete and win against truly the best players, but you certainly have to understand with everything going on in the world.

“I believe in Korea they have a major there next week and so that's probably a lot of the reason that a lot of those girls decided to stay there. You know, you can't fault them for that.

“For the girls that are here, it's a major championship. It counts just like any other major championship in the years past and going forward. So for us here, I don't think it really matters.''