WOMEN’S OPEN: Matthew gets Golden endorsement

BY BRENDAN JAMES at THE GRANGE GC

On the eve of the 1986 US Masters, American golf scribes were lamenting what the end of a great era as a 46-year-old Jack Nicklaus – the Greatest Golfer of the 20th Century – took his place in the field. They gave him next to no chance of winning.

Six years removed from his last victory of any real note, some journalists had tagged him ‘the Olden Bear’. Tom McCollister, the long-time golf writer for The Atlanta Journal-Constitution, went one step further.

Catriona Matthew has Jack Nicklaus in her corner heading into the weekend of the Women's Australian Open.
PHOTO: Morne de Klerk/Getty Images.

"Nicklaus is gone, done. He just doesn't have the game anymore. It's rusted from lack of use. He's 46, and nobody that old wins the Masters."

Nicklaus read the story and famously tore it out of the newspaper and pinned it to his Augusta National locker to use as inspiration before each round. He, of course, went on to win his sixth and final Masters four days later.

On the eve of this ISPS Handa Women’s Australian Open the focus was squarely on the super-talented group of teens who, many suggested, would dominate the leaderboard. The Tour veterans, with the exception of sentimental favourite Karrie Webb, were not mentioned in dispatches.

So when 46-year-old Catriona Matthew finished the second round with a share of the lead, it caught many by surprise but not the affable Scot.

“No, I’m not surprised,” said Matthew of her rounds of 67-69 to be eight under atop the leaderboard alongside England’s Holly Clyburn.

“I had a pretty good start (to the year) in the Bahamas in Florida. I’ve been playing well,” she added.

And watching from the other side of the world was Nicklaus. He jumped onto Twitter to offer his support.

“Hang in there and don’t give up, finish strong! Everyone wrote me off at 46!” the 18-time major champion tweeted.

Matthew, whose last victory was in the 2013 Scottish Open, said she wasn’t concerned that she was trying to win in a sport that is fast becoming a young woman’s game.

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“I think that’s the beauty of golf, you know you can play, it doesn’t matter what your age is really as long as you can still hit the golf ball and get it in the hole it doesn’t really matter. Age isn’t a barrier,“ Matthew said.

“To be honest it (age) is not something I think about. It’s just to go out there and try and play as well as I can. I don’t really think of myself as being 20, 25 years older than a lot of them. At the end of the day we’re just golfers, we’re out there trying to do our best.”

Karrie Webb is just two strokes from the lead, midway through the championship.
PHOTO: Morne de Klerk/Getty Images.

Matthews is no stranger to the Patricia Bridges Trophy, although she hasn’t touched it in some time ... 20 years to be exact. She won the Women’s Australian Open in 1996 at Melbourne’s Yarra Yarra Golf Club, beating Karrie Webb by three strokes. It was her first professional victory.

“Twenty years … that’s a bit of a shock because I hadn’t really thought about it being 20 years ago,” she smiled.

England's Holly Clyburn fired an outstanding seven under 65 in the second round.
PHOTO: Morne de Klerk/Getty Images.

The mother-of-two says she is playing better than she has for a long time and still has the same fire in the belly she had when she won this championship two decades ago.

“I would say my game is probably getting better actually,” she said. “I mean it has to, the standard’s improved so much over the 20 years.

“You’re always working on something, you’re never happy as a golfer. But it definitely feels I’m playing as well now as I was 10 years ago if not better.”

They’re daunting words for those players looking to win at The Grange this weekend.

Germany's Caroline Masson (71), China's Xi Yu Lin (67), South Korean Jenny Shin (70) and Japan's Haru Nomura (68) are one shot behind Matthew and Clyburn.

Webb, who has been answering age questions of her own this week, is well poised for a weekend charge with her second round 71 leaving her in outright seventh place at six under.

The five-time Australian Open Champion says her iron play wasn’t as sharp as day one but she managed to “hang in there” knowing really low scores were going to be hard to come by in the gusting winds of the afternoon.

“I really dug deep there for a couple of good pars, made some good par saves,” she said. “I wouldn’t say that I could have shot any better with the way I swung it.

“I don’t think four low scores is going to win this tournament. The course is challenging enough that you’re not going to go out there and shoot mid 60s every day.

A large gallery followed World No.1 Lydia Ko, who is four under.
PHOTO: Morne de Klerk/Getty Images.

“I just feel like I’m in a good position and I think Sunday is still forecast to be quite breezy and opposite direction wind, so it will be a challenging weekend.”

With the wind picking up and the course firming up even more, it will take a player with patience and a wise head to win this championship. And we all know where you will find a wise head … old shoulders.