Professional women’s sport resumes with tournament at Brokenhurst Manor

BROKENHURST Manor Golf Club will host the re-opening of professional UK women’s sport since the coronavirus lockdown.

The club will host a one-day tournament on 18th June which will include stars such as 2018 Women’s British Open champion Georgia Hall.

The competition, which was created by Ladies European Tour golfer Liz Young and Brokenhurst Manor head professional, Jason MacNiven will take place behind closed doors.

Although the Ladies European Tour did not sanction the tournament, the LET have supported the competition which is open to all UK female professionals.

Liz Young told the A&T that she is thrilled to be back on the course: “I am so excited to compete again, especially on my home course. It’s been a long time just to practise and not compete. One of the main reasons for organising this event was to get the professionals competing again.”

She added that she had received help from the club to get the event together: “We wanted to increase the visibility of women’s sport, especially women’s golf. Obviously, in these times, the event will be behind closed doors, but the media can play a big role in helping us get the message out there that extremely talented women are ready to compete.

“Myself and Jason MacNiven, the new head professional at Brokenhurst Manor had conversations about how we could help the women’s game and together we thought of this idea.

“This event would not have been possible without the amazing support of Jason and his team at Golf Principles and the golf club.”

Liz also outlined several rules that will be implemented to abide by social-distancing measures: “As this is a professional event, it will be behind closed doors and caddies will only be allowed if they are from the same household as the player.

“We will have volunteers that will walk with each group to rake bunkers, and we will have a volunteer on each hole that will be in charge of the flag. All players will follow government guidelines.”