Rose Ladies Series: Women need support of male golfers - Liz Young

England's Charley Hull is among the 45 women playing in Thursday's first event of the Rose Ladies Series

Fresh from his third placed finish in Texas, England's Justin Rose prepares for his second tournament back after lockdown with at least half an eye on what is happening with the women's game in his native Hampshire.

Brockenhurst Manor Golf Club stages the inaugural tournament in the Rose Ladies Series, set up following backing from the men's Olympic champion. Among the field are Solheim Cup stars Charley Hull and Dame Laura Davies as well as the most recent Ladies European Tour (LET) winner Alice Hewson and Meghan MacLaren.

The original idea came from LET player Liz Young along with Brockenhurst Manor professional Jason MacNiven. "I was just wanting to get the girls playing again, competing, we all miss it," Young told BBC Sport.

A pool of entry fees of £125 each was going to be used to create a prize pot for the 18 initial entrants, who had been starved of competition by the coronavirus lockdown.

"It was literally going back to old fashioned golf; turning up, putting money into a prize pot and then divvi-ing it up at the end after the scores," Young added.

Rose's wife, Kate, heard about the project and her husband needed little persuasion to add his support. "He was really excited about it and wanted to help the women in the UK," Young said.

"I had a call with Kate and things snowballed, it suddenly became a series. Justin put his name to it, he's put money behind it."

Rose, who plays the Heritage event on the PGA Tour at Hilton Head starting on Thursday, is reported to have put in £35,000 which was matched by retailer American Golf as momentum for the project gathered.

"It just seemed really unfair to Kate and I and we felt there was an opportunity to step up and help," said Rose, who finished a stroke outside a play-off, won by Daniel Berger, in the Charles Schwab Challenge at Colonial last Sunday.

It has subsequently been revealed that the former world number one has split with Sean Foley, his coach of the last 11 years.

Thursday's Brockenhurst Manor women's tournament is now a 45-player field and is the first of eight events at a string of English venues that includes Royal St George's in Kent, which was due to stage this year's Open Championship.

In recent week's English LPGA player Mel Reid called for more support of the women's game from their male counterparts. Young is delighted Rose is backing not just her project but female golf in general.

"I really think it was needed," she said. "We need to work together, the men's and the women's game.

"We need the support of the men, they have the high profile and we need them behind us to get our game up to their level."

All of the events will be behind closed doors and will comply with social distancing protocols.

The second tournament is at Moor Park on 25 June before moving to Buckinghamshire Golf Club on 2 July, Royal St George's on 9 July, JCB Golf and Country Club on 16 July, Bearwood Lakes on 23 July and The Shire London on 30 July.

The two-day Rose Ladies Series Grand Final is set to be held at two venues on 6-7 August. The Berkshire will host the opening round with the second being played at Wentworth's West Course, which is the home of the European Tour's flagship event the PGA Championship.

"We are the same as the men," Young said. "We are professional golfers and we want to compete. We've had the same time gap off as the men and we just want to get out there and play."