Georgia Hall: Women's British Open champion's BBC Sports Personality omission poses questions for golf
- Published
Watch: Molinari named BBC's World Sport Star
It is a somewhat surreal experience following events at Sports Personality of the Year via social media while on a three-hour train journey. But it did bring into sharp focus how shoddily women's golf is regarded by the wider sporting public.
Trundling home on the rattler last Sunday night thoughts drifted to events in Birmingham. It was an evening when Francesco Molinari, Tiger Woods, Europe's Ryder Cup team and potentially Georgia Hall were in the frame for recognition.
Molinari emerged with the BBC's World Sports Star of the Year trophy after a public ballot which spoke volumes for the sport's overall popularity. However Hall's Women's British Open victory was deemed unworthy of a shortlist place for the main award.
This was a decision taken by an expert panel who, in fairness, faced an impossible task of distilling 2018's sporting achievers into a list of just half a dozen names.
Nevertheless, to anyone who witnessed 22-year-old Hall's stunning victory at Lytham last August, the Bournemouth star's omission seemed pretty unjust. Tweeting my dismay certainly prompted plenty of agreement from the golfing community and beyond.
The panel were judging on three main criteria - UK achievement on the national/international stage, representing the breadth and depth of UK sports and taking account of the impact of the achievement in question.
Hall certainly ticked the first two boxes, beating the world's best for one of the biggest prizes in a genuinely global sport. Golf also retains great popularity throughout the UK, as proven by the level of voting to recognise Molinari.
It is the impact issue that lets down the argument for Hall and it poses big questions for golf in general and the women's game in particular.
As was widely pointed out in the somewhat limited village of my Twitter timeline, had she been a British female tennis player winning at an equivalent level Hall would have been straight on to the shortlist.
But she isn't and the fact is women's golf does not pack the punch that it should. It is not seen by enough people and is not given the credit it deserves as an elite sport.
There were similar snubs for previous UK winners of the British Open, Catriona Matthew and Karen Stupples, so perhaps we should not have been surprised. Yet these are better times for female sport which gains so much more recognition these days.
That's why Hall's epic achievement edited to fewer than 10 seconds of air time at SPOTY was so disappointing. It simply feels as though women's golf is missing the boat while other sports are flourishing in this more enlightened era.
So, should we simply wail in despair or does golf need to take a look at itself, modernise and find ways to shake off its outdated image. The female game is much more than Tuesday morning tee times and a cosy game of bridge but that's not how it is seen.
Hall is a guest, along with Molinari, on the Christmas edition of The Cut podcast, which you will be able to listen to from Sunday, 23 December. You will hear a dedicated, forward thinking, modern, contemporary sportswoman far removed from the traditional image of "ladies" golf.
The young Englishwoman is no different from any of her contemporaries on the ultra competitive LPGA Tour. It is proper, tough, hard sport yet the message seems to get lost.
Hall's prize for winning the British Open was more than a million pounds less than the money Molinari received for his triumph in the men's equivalent. "We need to showcase women's golf a lot more so they can see we do work hard," Hall tells The Cut.
Molinari nodded in agreement. He said: "Sponsorship and everything follows from that. It is something that golf as a sport needs to address going forward."
Georgia Hall was the third British winner of the British Open since the event became a major championship in 2001
It is pretty simple stuff; golf and especially the women's game needs viewers. The absence of live terrestrial television coverage hampers growth and popularity - as cricket has also been finding.
But golf has priced itself out of the market that offers maximum exposure and other sports are benefitting instead. How does the game reverse the trend, and do the powers that be and the broadcasters want that anyway? It is difficult to know.
What is certain is that golf retains an enviable level of popularity among participants. Contrary to popular belief membership numbers are not falling off a cliff with around 4m UK golfers and around 1.5m weekly players compared with 825,000 in tennis.
Only 15% of golf club members are women despite initiatives to popularise the women's game such as 'This Girl Golfs'., external
The R and A has launched their Women in Golf Charter. But has it percolated down to the grass roots of the game or is it stuck in the mire of governing bodies?
Have actual golfers received this formal message that this is a game for all genders deserving of equal respect? As a journalist I know of the charter's existence but as a club golfer I would not have a clue it exists.
Challenges abound and the notion that golf is struggling to locate the right tracks forward is further polarised when a young Englishwoman winning the Women's British Open in brilliant fashion is an achievement that fails to gain the recognition it deserves.