Former champion Catriona Matthew has announced that she will be playing in her final Women’s Open on the Old Course at St Andrews this week.
Marking her 31st appearance in the major championship, the 2009 champion will wave goodbye to her home fans in the home of golf with her husband, Graeme, as her caddie.
Her stated goal is to make the cut, largely so that her teenage daughters, who return to school on Thursday, can watch her play over the weekend.
At 54, Matthew is eligible to play in the Women’s Open until she’s 59, but has decided that she doesn’t want to play if she’s not competitive. She will celebrate her 55th birthday  on Sunday.
“I have no illusions. I’m not going to be winning the event, but I think a goal for me this week would be to try and make the cut. You don’t want to come and keep playing in the event when you’re not competitive. It just felt being in St Andrews, in Scotland, the Home of Golf, what better place to play my last one?” she said.
When asked if she will make an emotional farewell on the Swilcan Bridge, she added: “I don’t know about that; I’m still kind of competitive.
“I think probably in a way, it will be a little bit of a mixture of relief, knowing myself that this will be the last one I’m going to play in. Obviously, you’ll be a little sad that you’re not in the event. It’s so big now and it’s such a buzz when you come to these events to play in them. But I’ve realised, you’ve just got to, at 55, you’re not going to be competitive enough as I want to be. Everything comes to an end.”
Matthew made her debut in the Women’s British Open, as it was known then, in 1994 at Woburn, playing as an amateur, alongside Trish Johnson, with her mum as her caddie. She has recorded eight top-10 finishes in the championship, including the highlight, her victory at Royal Lytham in 2009, just 11 weeks after giving birth to her second daughter.
“I think at the time in 2009, 11 weeks after I’d had Sophie. Obviously the second one was a little bit easier so it was easier to come back, but at the time you just get on with it and you don’t really realise. It’s probably not until you look back and reflect on it you think, God, how did I do that?”
The double-winning European Solheim Cup captain, who led Europe to victory in 2019 and 2021, and also made nine appearances as a player, will be grouped with 2023 and 2024 US Team Captain Stacy Lewis and Australian Hall of Famer Karrie Webb for the first two rounds, playing at 7.33am from the 10th on Thursday.
Matthew’s leadership legacy will continue when she leads the GB&I Curtis Cup Team against the United States side at Sunningdale in England next week. On Tuesday, she played a practise round with GB&I team member Lottie Woad.