'Realistic' Catriona Matthew rules out
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trying to qualify for Open at St Andrews

FROM THE SCOTSMAN NEWSPAPER
By Mark Garrod
Supermum she may be, but Catriona Matthew draws the line at getting involved in a battle of the sexes.
The 40-year-old Scot's amazing victory at last year's Ricoh Women's British Open – just 11 weeks after giving birth to her second daughter Sophie – entitles her to try to qualify for the Open at St Andrews this July.
But Matthew has not given a moment's thought to the possibility of becoming the first woman to attempt it.
"I really don't see the point," said Matthew, from North Berwick but now in Singapore for the HSBC Women's Champions event. "You've got to be realistic – we can't hit it as far and can't compete distance-wise (with the male pros).
"I've always loved playing St Andrews (she was seventh in the 2007 Women's Open there), but I've not heard any talk of anybody wanting to do it. (The idea of) Women in the Open has kind of drifted away."Michelle Wie's performance at the US Tour's Sony Open six years ago – aged 14 she missed the cut by only one shot – led to a change in the rules for the Open from 2006. Now anybody finishing in the top five at any of the women's majors can enter regional qualifying, but not one player has tried yet.
Wie always seemed the likeliest to give it a go, but the more she tried in men's events the more she struggled and, for the time being at least, the 20-year-old has given up. Not that any top woman player would have given much consideration to it this year if they studied the Open Championship entry form.
The regional qualifying is at 16 courses around Britain on Monday, June 21 and the LPGA Championship, the second of their own majors, starts in New York three days later. There appears to have been a mistake made on the form in any case. It states that the top five in New York that week can enter a qualifier ... which has already taken place!
Those who think the men-only Royal and Ancient Club do not really want women playing the Open will point to this as evidence. Matthew is excited enough about the possibility of challenging for more major honours in the women's game. Her record last year was played one, won one.
Her defence of the Women's British Open starts at Royal Birkdale on July 20, but before that comes the Kraft Nabisco in California from April 1 to 4, the LPGA Championship and then the US Women's Open at Oakmont from July 8 to 11.
Her pregnancy and then the birth of Sophie last May prevented her playing those three last year and to win at Lytham so soon afterwards was one of the golfing stories of the year. So stunning, in fact, that many would like to have seen her a contender for the BBC Sports Personality of the Year award.
"I thought a nomination would be the best I could do, but unfortunately not," says Matthew. "It's always tough to compare sports, but it was nice to be there."
The age of her two children – Katie is three – will mean a re- assessment of her career with husband-caddie Graeme in a few years, but for the time being it is all systems go. And she is still pinching herself that she now has one major under her belt.
"The plan after the birth was to go and play about 10 tournaments, just to get back in the swing of it, thinking that this year would be really starting again."
Her return came at the Evian Masters in France in July and after the drama of having to escape from a hotel blaze there (her husband suffered burns), the Women's Open was just a week later.
"The fire was one of those things that are always worse when you look back and think what could have happened," she said.
"At the time you just react and rush out. Then later you think 'My God, that could have been a lot worse'."
At Lytham her week could not have been any better. Her second-round 67 included back-to-back eagles, one of them a hole in one, and an inward 30 which stands as a record for any competition male or female on the famous links.
"It's been very busy since, but I would not change it for anything," she said.
The New Year brought an MBE and she is hoping to hear soon when the ceremony at Buckingham Palace will take place.
"When I was second at the Kraft Nabisco I was getting to the stage where you think you might never have a better chance to win a major," she said. "So to do it two years later in front of a British crowd was just incredible."
+The full article above appears in The Scotsman newspaper.