Royal Porthcawl

Few courses in the world can claim to have curbed Tiger Woods' brilliance but Royal Porthcawl - the venue for the 2025 AIG Women's Open - witnessed the rarest of bumps during the American's storied teenage years.

By the time he arrived in South Wales in 1995, Woods was well on his way to becoming a star of the game, but he put the ball out of bounds no fewer than three times during a Walker Cup singles match, with his conqueror, Gary Wolstenholme, proclaiming: 'it'll be on my tombstone: the man who beat Tiger Woods.'

It remains arguably the most famous day in the course’s history but that will all change next summer when the AIG Women’s Open comes to town for the first time.

The conclusion to this year’s Championship will take some topping following Lydia Ko’s dramatic final-round ascent but Porthcawl has a long history of the unexpected.

The first 18-hole course in Wales was laid out by Ramsay Hunter, the Scotsman chiefly responsible for devising Royal St George’s a few years previously.

The land initially comprised just the nine holes before it was decided in late 1895 to add another nine in light of growing demand but the only space available was 300 yards north and separated by a nursing home where Florence Nightingale had once worked.

The walk between the two nines became a point of contention and the northern half of the course was expanded to form the Championship course which is loved by golfers worldwide today, including five-time Champion Golfer, Tom Watson.

"It's all you want on a golf course. I like the way it sets up," he said. "There is not a weak hole on it. I fell in love with it the moment I saw it. It's a great test of golf."

A royal prefix was awarded in 1909 but it wasn’t after the World Wars that Porthcawl began to receive wider acclaim.

The very first Amateur Championship was held on the links in 1951, when American Dick Chapman, ‘the Ben Hogan of amateur golf’, triumphed after runner-up finishes in 1947 and 1950 with a convincing 5&4 win over Charlie Coe.

The British Masters followed in 1961 and Australia’s Peter Thomson came out on top before America claimed glory in the 1964 Curtis Cup.

The visitors’ success ended in quite dramatic fashion a year later when Michael Bonallack came back from six holes through 12 of a 36-hole final against Clive Clark.

Bonallack had pulled the margin back to three holes by the lunchtime break, and back in the clubhouse he recalled: “to pass the time I started sticking sixpences into the fruit machine. On about the fifth pull I won the jackpot. I made sure Clive knew about it. ‘Must be my lucky day,’ I told him.” He went on to win 2&1.

No fewer than seven Amateur Championships have been hosted at Porthcawl, with Duncan Evans the sole Welshman to taste glory amid torrential rain in 1980.

In recent years, the venue has played host to the Senior Open Championship on three occasions, with each being won by a German – two for Bernhard Langer and the most recent staging, in 2023, claimed by Alex Cejka.

The Germans' success would seem to bode well for Olympic silver medallist Esther Henseleit, who capped off a fine 2024 with her best finish at the AIG Women’s Open while also tying the record for the joint-low round in Championships staged at St Andrews.

Perhaps even more so than on the Old Course, where blustery conditions affected scoring, the class of 2025 will face a constant challenge from the wind and will likely need every club in the bag with holes facing into every point of the compass.

Overcome the elements, and the players will be able to enjoy a magnificent setting sloping down to the shore.

With the absence of sand hills usually found on links courses, the sea is visible from every hole making Porthcawl one of the most picturesque courses on the Championship rota and it is sure to prove a hit with the world's best next summer.