Woad the focus as Women's Open heads to Wales

The winner of this week's AIG Women's Open will receive $1,462,500, which is about £1.1m

The AIG Women's Open begins at Royal Porthcawl on Thursday with much of the pre-tournament focus on Lottie Woad.

New Zealand's Lydia Ko is the defending champion heading into the final golf major of the year.

But the build-up has been dominated by talk of Woad, who has emerged as British golf's most exciting prospect.

Remarkably, the 21-year-old is the bookmakers' favourite to claim her first major victory - despite the fact this is just the second event of her professional career.

But if she is to triumph, England's Woad must see off the finest players in the women's game.

The 49th Women's Open, which runs until Sunday, 3 August, is the first men's or women's major staged in Wales.

It has been billed as the biggest women's sporting event staged in the country - thanks to a combination of the tournament's status, its reach and the quality of the field.

There will be live BBC radio commentary and text coverage of all four days of the tournament, as well as reaction and analysis on the BBC Sport website and mobile app.

BBC Sport has signed a new multi-year agreement with The R&A, securing broadcast rights for the Women's Open from 2025 until 2027.

The deal guarantees free-to-air access for UK audiences, with coverage spanning radio commentary and coverage on Radio 5 Live, 5 Sports Extra and BBC Sounds, digital clips across the BBC Sport website, app, and social media platforms as well as TV highlights on BBC Two and iPlayer.

Woad to spearhead home challenge?

Woad finished 10th in last year's Women's Open, when playing as an amateur

Woad's status as favourite is the result of a spectacular run of form which began with a resounding victory in the Irish Open - when she was still an amateur - in early July.

She then finished just a shot outside the play-off at the Evian Championship, missing out on £400,000 in prize money at the fourth women's major of the year because of her amateur status, before turning professional and winning on debut at last week's Scottish Open.

Should Woad, from Surrey, claim victory once more this weekend, she would be the first British woman since Georgia Hall in 2018 to win a major and only the second since Catriona Matthew 16 years ago.

Charley Hull, another of the home contenders this week, describes Woad's recent progress as "absolutely unbelievable".

"I played with her in the practice rounds in Ireland and I played with her in the first two rounds last week, and at the minute I feel like she's playing with such confidence she can't miss a shot," Hull said.

"I think it's great to see. She's a breath of fresh air for the game."

Hull, who at 20th is the highest-placed Briton in golf's world rankings, has long been regarded as England's best hope of major success.

Hull, in 20th, is four places above Woad in the women's golf world rankings

Hull's preparations for the 60th major of her career have been far from ideal, with the 29-year-old forced to withdraw from the Evian Championship after collapsing on the course.

Hull said she lost four kilograms in the past three weeks because of illness - and that she has also been hampered by a back injury.

While she is now feeling better, Hull says the ailments have had an impact on her swing.

"I'm not hitting it the best coming into this week, which is very frustrating because it's an event I've been looking forward to playing all year," she said.

"I've just got to go out there with what I've got. I'm not going to let it beat me up too much."

There are two Welsh players in the field, with Porthcawl member Darcey Harry playing in her first Women's Open - with boyfriend and professional golfer Jacob Skov Olesen as her caddie - having made a promising start to life on the Ladies European Tour this year.

Lydia Hall, a former Porthcawl club champion, is the second local in the 144-player field having come through final qualifying earlier this week.

Who are the leading contenders?

Nelly Korda finished in a tie for second in the Women's Open at St Andrews last year, two shots adrift of Lydia Ko

Aside from Woad, world number one Nelly Korda is among the fancied players despite the fact that she is yet to triumph in 2025.

The two-time major winner finished in a tie for second behind Ko at St Andrews last year - but has brushed off the notion that it might be important to her to add a Women's Open victory to her list of global successes.

"I feel like I don't really have anything more to prove to people ever," the 27-year-old American said.

"For me it's just I'm passionate about the game. I love playing in these kind of conditions, testing my game, and getting to play against the best players in the world."

Thailand's Jeeno Thitikul, the world number two who is in impressive form, is another of the favourites this week along with Australia's Minjee Lee, winner of the Women's PGA Championship - the third major success of her career - last month.

This year's other major winners, Mao Saigo of Japan, Sweden's Maja Stark and Grace Kim from Australia, are also competing on the south Wales coastline.

Royal Porthcawl's chance to shine

The 2023 Senior Open was played in dreadful weather conditions at Royal Porthcawl

Celtic Manor hosted the Ryder Cup in 2010, but this will be the grandest individual golf tournament played in Wales.

Royal Porthcawl has hosted the Amateur Championship seven times, the Curtis Cup in 1964 and the Walker Cup in 1995, when a United States team including Tiger Woods were beaten by Great Britain and Northern Ireland.

The Welsh links was also the stage for the Senior Open in 2014, 2017 and most recently in 2023, when Alex Cejka beat Padraig Harrington in a play-off after both players had finished at five-over-par in a tournament played in, at times, brutal weather conditions.

The forecast looks much better for this week, though there should be enough wind to make it a factor on the only course in Wales where there is a sea view from every hole.

"The views from the golf course are absolutely breathtaking," Korda said.

"But you can definitely tell that when the wind kind of picks up here, it's going to be a really, really hard test."

Like many others in the field, Ko has spent the early part of the week trying to familiarise herself with a course that few know well.

There is even a change for the members watching on, as the regular 18th hole is being played as the first - with the usual first becoming the second, and so on - due to the logistics and infrastructure involved in hosting a major.

"There's not many people in the field that have played here before, so it's like a clean slate and nobody really has an advantage," Ko said.

"Regardless of whether you're the defending champion or you qualified through the qualifier, I think it's going to be a really tough week."