AIG Girls’s Open: Lottie Woad’s main highlight, Charley Hull’s dwelling hopes, Nelly Korda’s battle for No 1 and all you might want to know from Royal Porthcawl

The world’s finest feminine golfers are in Wales this week for the AIG Girls’s Open, the place Nelly Korda battles to maintain her world No 1 spot and Lottie Woad chases extra historical past.

Korda holds a slim benefit on the prime of the world rankings heading into the ultimate ladies’s main of the 12 months, dwell on Sky Sports activities, though Jeeno Thitikul can finish her 16-month stint as world No 1.

Woad arrives as one of many hottest gamers within the ladies’s recreation and makes her first main look as knowledgeable, with Charley Hull among the many different English gamers trying to impress.

Royal Porthcawl hosts the primary ladies’s main ever to be held in Wales, having beforehand been the venue for Walker Cup, Curtis Cup, the Beginner Championship, the British Masters and The Senior Open.

The primary 4 main champions of the 12 months are all set to be a part of a powerful subject, together with KPMG Girls’s PGA Champion Minjee, with Lydia Ko again as defending champion after final 12 months’s spectacular win at St Andrews.

Can Woad win once more? Will Korda lastly add to her victory tally? What else might occur this week? We have a look at among the potential storylines to observe…

It is nearly unprecedented for a participant to be the bookies’ favorite for an occasion so early of their skilled profession, however Woad finds herself in that place after a unprecedented run of outcomes.

Woad stormed to a six-shot victory on the KPMG Girls’s Irish Open on the Women European Tour, the primary novice winner on the LET since 2022, then produced a final-round cost to problem for a maiden main title on the Amundi Evian Championship.

The 21-year-old turned skilled after ending tied-third in France, then made historical past in her subsequent begin by claiming a three-shot victory on the ISPS Handa Girls’s Scottish Open – simply the third participant in historical past to win their first skilled begin on the LPGA Tour.

Woad’s fast rise over the previous few weeks – following a glittering novice profession – sees her contained in the world’s prime 25. She gained the Smyth Salver final 12 months because the lowest novice at St Andrews, however will she be lifting a unique trophy on Sunday?

Hull ‘underneath the radar’ for a breakthrough main?

English hopes are sometimes pinned on Hull, the 2023 runner-up who common contends in majors, though the sudden emergence of Woad has given her barely much less consideration heading into this 12 months’s contest.

Hull completed tied-Twelfth at each the KPMG Girls’s PGA Championship and the US Girls’s Open however was pressured to withdraw mid-round on the Evian Championship, the place she was “battling a virus” when she collapsed early in her opening spherical.

The 29-year-old was nonetheless not again to full health heading into final week’s occasion in Scotland, the place she felt “80 per cent” forward of ending tied-Twenty first, however now has one other alternative to earn an elusive main title.

Hull’s profession return of two LPGA Tour and 4 Women European Tour titles could seem low for a participant who has been among the many stars of the game over the previous decade. May this be the week she lastly lands the main many – included Hull herself, maybe – anticipated her to have gained by now?

Can Korda finish birthday week with main win?

Korda is trying to go one higher than her runner-up end finally 12 months’s AIG Girls’s Open, with the world No 1 nonetheless looking for her maiden win of the 12 months.

The American – who turned 27 on Monday – heads into the occasion as world No 1 for the second successive 12 months, though has but to match the dominant kind that noticed her win six occasions in a seven-event stretch final season.

Korda has not missed a reduce in over 13 months and has two runner-up finishes this season, together with on the US Girls’s Open in June, however has did not contend within the final two majors and produced her worst end of the 12 months on the Evian Championship.

The 2-time main champion was unable to construct on a quick begin to the ISPS Handa Girls’s Scottish Open final week, fading to fifth regardless of being two pictures off the midway lead, however confirmed sufficient to recommend a return to the winner’s circle is not distant.

Will main developments proceed in Porthcawl?

Every of the final 13 ladies’s majors have all produced totally different winners, whereas 5 of the final seven additionally being maiden main champions, with no participant capable of declare a number of majors in a 12 months since Lilia Vu gained this occasion in 2023.

Thitikul – who can transfer above Korda to world No 1 this week – continues to be in search of her maiden main title, having narrowly missed out in a play-off on the Evian Championship, whereas world No 6 Angel Yin is the subsequent highest-ranked participant with out a main.

Ko can turn out to be the primary participant since Yani Tseng to win back-to-back editions of the AIG Girls’s Open, with Tseng additionally the latest to win the occasion a number of occasions, though she has completed no increased than Twelfth in his first 4 majors of the 12 months.

The climate will play its half find this week’s main champion, with sturdy gusts anticipated via each match spherical and solely including to the problem dealing with the gamers on the hyperlinks in South Wales.

Sky Sports activities will as soon as once more have prolonged dwell protection from the ladies’s main finale, with seven hours of dwell motion for every match day and a particular preview present looking forward to the occasion.

Protection will start from noon for all 4 rounds, ranging from Thursday, whereas there might be a every day one-hour highlights present to look again at one of the best of the earlier spherical’s motion on Sky Sports activities Golf – now channel 406 for Sky clients.

Who will win the AIG Girls’s Open? Watch all through the week dwell on Sky Sports activities Golf. Dwell protection of the opening spherical begins on Thursday from noon. For Sky clients, Sky Sports activities Golf is now discovered on channel 406. Not obtained Sky? Stream the ladies’s majors and extra with no contract.