2011 Women's British Open


The 2011 Ricoh Women's British Open was held 28–31 July at Carnoustie Golf Links in Angus, Scotland. It was the 35th Women's British Open, and the 11th as a major championship on the LPGA Tour. This was the first time for the Women's British Open at Carnoustie, which previously hosted seven Open Championships, most recently in 2007.
Yani Tseng became the first to successfully defend her title at the Women's British Open as a major championship, four strokes ahead of runner-up Brittany Lang. She became youngest player, male or female, to win five major titles.

Exemptions and qualifying events

The field for the tournament was 144, and golfers gained a place in three ways. Most players earned exemptions based on good past performances on the Ladies European Tour, the LPGA and in previous major championships and top-ranked players in the Women's World Golf Rankings. The rest of the field earned entry by successfully competing in qualifying tournaments open to any professional female golfer or amateur with a low handicap.
There were 14 exemption categories for the 2011 Women's British Open. These included:

Made the cut

Missed the cut

Course

The 2011 course layout at Carnoustie Golf Links.
Hole123456789Out101112131415161718InTotal
Yards3943963203693584903811564063,2704033474051414674252134333863,2206,490
Par444445434364443543543672

Set-up

The par-72 course was set by the Ladies Golf Union at, shorter than the par-71 set-up for the 2007 Open Championship.
The short set-up of the course was criticized by several notable golfers and golf commentators. ESPN golf commentator and former LPGA pro Jane Crafter called the LGU "out of touch" with how current women players can play. Defending champion Yani Tseng commented that the famous hole number 18 was set up so that it "put all of the bunkers out of play, put all of the burns out of play." The course groundskeeper agreed that the women had been given "a watered-down version" of Carnoustie and that he did that intentionally after receiving too much criticism for a difficult set-up for the Open Championship in 1999.

Round summaries

First round

Thursday, 28 July 2011
PlacePlayerCountryScoreTo par
1Meena Lee65−7
2Brittany Lincicome67−5
T3Sophie Gustafson68−4
T3Caroline Masson68−4
T3Angela Stanford68−4
T3Amy Yang68−4
T7Na Yeon Choi69−3
T7Paula Creamer69−3
T7Caroline Hedwall69−3
T7Amy Hung69−3
T7Lorie Kane69−3
T7Song-Hee Kim69−3
T7Mika Miyazato69−3
T7Momoko Ueda69−3

source:

Second round

Friday, 29 July 2011
PlacePlayerCountryR1R2TotalTo par
1Caroline Masson6865133−11
T2Meena Lee6569134−10
T2Inbee Park7064134−10
T4Na Yeon Choi6967136−8
T4Se Ri Pak7264136−8
T4Dewi Claire Schreefel7066136−8
7Yani Tseng7166137−7
T8Caroline Hedwall6969138−6
T8Brittany Lincicome6771138−6
T8Mika Miyazato6969138−6
T8Amy Yang6870138−6

source:
Amateurs: Kang, Popov, Pretswell, Taylor, Foster, Meadow.

Third round

Saturday, 30 July 2011
PlacePlayerCountryR1R2R3TotalTo par
1Caroline Masson686568201−15
2Yani Tseng716666203−13
T3Catriona Matthew706968207−9
T3Inbee Park706473207−9
5Na Yeon Choi696772208−8
T6Sophie Gustafson687170209−7
T6Brittany Lang707069209−7
T6Se Ri Pak726473209−7
T9Paula Creamer697071210−6
T9Mika Miyazato696972210−6
T9Anna Nordqvist707169210−6
T9Dewi Claire Schreefel706674210−6
T9Sun Young Yoo717069210−6

source:

Final round

Sunday, 31 July 2011
PlacePlayerCountryR1R2R3R4TotalTo parMoney
1Yani Tseng71666669272−16392,133
2Brittany Lang70706967276−12231,065
3Sophie Gustafson68717068277−11161,746
4Amy Yang68707367278−10126,536
T5Caroline Masson68656878279−996,828
T5Catriona Matthew70696872279−996,828
T7Na Yeon Choi69677272280−870,695
T7Anna Nordqvist70716970280−870,695
T7Inbee Park70647373280−870,695
T7Sun Young Yoo71706970280−870,695

source:
Amateurs: Kang, Popov.

Scorecard

Final round
Hole123456789101112131415161718
Par444445434444354354
Tseng−12−12−13−13−13−14−14−14−14−14−15−14−13−14−14−14−15−16
Lang−7−7−7−7−7−7−8−7−8−8−9−10−10−11−11−11−12−12
Gustafson−7−7−7−7−7−9−9−9−9−8−8−8−8−9−9−9−10−11
Yang−4−4−5−5−5−6−6−6−7−8−8−8−8−9−9−9−10−10
Masson−15−14−13−13−13−13−12−12−12−11−10−8−8−8−7−7−8−9
Matthew−9−9−9−9−9−10−10−10−11−11−11−11−11−11−11−11−11−9

Cumulative tournament scores, relative to par