Meanwhile, the resurgent Karrie Webb, who claimed the season’s first major, the Kraft Nabisco Championship, always plays well in the UK. She was a popular winner of the British Open in 1995, ‘97 and 2002 and the Australian former World no.1 would be a strong bet for another solid finish on Royal Lytham’s extremely difficult and heavily bunkered links course.

Royal Lytham puts a premium on course management and the recent McDonald’s LPGA Championship winner Se Ri Pak from Korea could be the one to master it. She finished second to Annika at the British Open last time it was staged at Royal Lytham in 2003.

The defending champion, 25-year-old Jeong Jang, also from Korea, has the low ball flight ideally suited to the typically windy conditions associated with links golf and would dearly love to repeat her success of last year at Royal Birkdale but the young Americans Paula Creamer, Natalie Gulbis and 16 year-old sensation Michelle Wie will be in the field and doing their best to put an end to her hopes of glory.

European no.1 Gwladys Nocera from France, a double winner on the Ladies European Tour this year and a former Solheim Cup player, will be making her presence felt, as will Mexico’s Lorena Ochoa, a two-time victor on this season’s LPGA Tour in America.

The strong British challenge is headed by Karen Stupples, who won the Championship at Sunningdale in 2004, plus the evergreen Laura Davies, the champion in 1986. A British winner on home soil would be a fabulous result, but if not at Lytham, there will at least be two more chances in the Welsh
and English Opens.

Two week’s after the Women’s British Open tournament officials will welcome the best of European golf back to Wales for another golfing extravaganza. This time the patriotic Welsh galleries will be supporting their own stars, the two Becky’s: Morgan and Brewerton; the Welsh number one and two respectively.

At the exposed Machynys Golf Course on the Bristol Channel, which can be devilishly difficult in strong winds, they will be battling against Kirsty Taylor, the English woman who mastered the course last year. Taylor posted an 11-under-par 61 en route to her first tournament victory and will be hoping to repeat the feat again this summer.

Then follows the Ladies English Open where the formidable Swede Maria Hjorth will be looking to become the first player ever to win a Ladies European Tour event three times in succession. There are plenty of talented English players who could potentially claim their national crown but they will face a stern task in dethroning Hjorth, who has made the title her own over the last two years.

The excitement and anticipation is already building towards three fantastic events and UK fans can look forward to three weeks of outstanding women’s professional golf in the coming months. If you haven’t bought your tickets yet, head down to any of the superb venues for the tournament weeks and prepare to be impressed. Metronomic swings, 290 yard drives and sub-par rounds will leave you totally inspired to get out on the golf course. With a little luck – who knows - you may even improve your own game.