You get well looked after at golf events these days. Just have a read, for instance, at this list of facilities, fixtures, fittings, perks, provisions and privileges on offer at this season’s AIG Women’s Open.
There was a concierge for lifestyle and travel requirements, a restaurant, a beautician, a purpose-built gym with complimentary training kit, a relaxation area with calming sounds and scents, a mobile cold plunge unit and a courtesy car service for the entire week of the championship.
All of this, of course was, just for the golf writers. After a hard day clattering away at the keys of the laptop, we do enjoy a revitalizing facial and manicure while braving an ice bath.
The players, on the other hand, are even more pampered. The aforementioned were part of a significant upgrade in competitor comforts for the final major of the women’s campaign at the Old Course in August which ended up winning the LPGA Tour’s Gold Driver award for the best player experience during 2024.
“We scored 9.8 on the player survey,” said Zoe Ridgway, the championship director of the AIG Women’s Open.
Presumably, it would’ve scored a perfect 10 out of 10 but someone must have spotted this correspondent leaping out of that bloomin’ cold plunge thingamabob like Archimedes shrieking ‘Eureka.’ It wasn’t ‘Eureka’ that was being gasped either.
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Anyway, the upping of the ante on player resources is all part of the general evolution of the championship into one of the biggest in the women’s game.
It’s a queer old difference from its inaugural staging back in 1976 when a couple of professionals put in their own money to allow them to play in what was an extension of the Ladies British Open Amateur Strokeplay Championship.
These days, the AIG Women’s Open boasts a whopping purse of $9 million with the winner waltzing off with a cheque for £1.35 million. As for all those off-course furnishings?
Day Two of the AIG Women’s Open at St. Andrew’s Old Course on August 23, 2024, in St. Andrews, Scotland. (Photo by Morgan Harlow/R&A/R&A via Getty Images)
“We have tried to go that extra mile with the Women’s Open regarding player facilities,” added Ridgway. “Most of the feedback on that is what sets us apart.”
From nutritional and dietary requirements, to darkened rooms where players can unwind or indeed weep, just about everything is catered for in this bespoke temporary structure of convenience that can be easily replicated at all the venues on the rota.
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“We have access to some very good professionals in different areas,” said Ridgway. “We work closely with Dr Andrew Murray (a leader in sports and exercise medicine) and he has his eyes on cutting-edge technology across the men’s and women’s games.
“We do skin screening and work with mental health, and he understands what players require on that front.
“We work with nutritional experts on menus for all nationalities while we provide the base foods for players to build their own menus, whether that’s from lean chicken, fish, vegetables and fruit.
“Pasta and egg stations were always popular at golf events but there’s now so much more consideration to what players eat as part of their overall performance.
“Golfers are very individual. They have their own ideas on travel, schedules, and their arrangements at events. We can’t always cater for every request but if there’s something we can do to benefit a player, then we’ll try it.
“Even little things, like a well-stocked bowl of sweets in the recording area is appreciated.”
Day Two of the AIG Women’s Open at St Andrew’s Old Course on August 23, 2024, in St. Andrews, Scotland. (Photo by Morgan Harlow/R&A/R&A via Getty Images)
Nothing, after all, eases the anguish of. signing for a damaging five-over 77 quite like a soothing sook on a Soor Ploom.
Ridgway cut her event management teeth with the ISM group and worked on stagings of the British Masters as well as tournaments on the Challenge Tour and Seniors Tour.
She had something of a baptism of fire when she joined the R&A for the AIG Women’s Opens in the covid years of 2020 and 2021.
“In 2020, it was a great unknown and we just had to adapt as the advice evolved,” she reflected. “But 2020 was simpler than 2021 because we were behind closed doors, and we were all tested and in the bubble.
“When we started to reintroduce spectators in 2021, we were working with all sorts of different bubbles. It was very complex.”
The AIG Women’s Open breaks new ground next year when it heads to Wales for the first time and the redoubtable links of Royal Porthcawl.
The ice bath and all those other accoutrements will be going too. So, does the championship director test drive the cold plunge?
“I go for a dip in the North Sea most weekends so that’s icy enough for me,” chuckled Ridgway.
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