Georgia HALL (GBR) woke up on Monday morning after a sleepless night as the new British Open champion, the world’s number 10 golfer and the leading player in Europe.
A television interview request meant a 05:00 alarm call, and there was a huge backlog of emails and social media messages to read, but soon her thoughts switched to the 2018 European Golf Team Championships at the Gleneagles PGA Centenary Golf Course alongside Laura DAVIES (GBR) on Wednesday 8 August.
“I’m extremely happy to play here this week,” she said. “I’ve never played here before. I’m looking forward to playing with Laura and hopefully we can win. That will make it two very good weeks.
“Just because I won the British Open doesn’t mean I’m going to change all my plans. I am going to stick to the tournaments I was going to play in anyway.
“It’s going to be fun playing with Laura. She’s a great person. She has a good sense of humour. I’m just going to go out there tomorrow and enjoy the round with her and try to play some good golf as well.”
Stepping back on the golf course will be a welcome relief for HALL after the distractions of the previous few days.
“I had a better sleep last night and a bit of a lay-in today,” she said. “I still feel a bit tired. There was a lot of fatigue and emotion from the last week.
“I was awake at five. I couldn’t really sleep [on Sunday, after winning the British Open]. I couldn’t believe what happened.
“I had the trophy on the table [in her hotel room]. I said to Harry [her boyfriend] last night: ‘That trophy has been in so many big people’s rooms’. I look at the names on there and think: ‘My name is going to be on there’. I want it on there again already.”
HALL now hopes her Open victory will inspire a new generation of young golfers.
“I couldn’t believe how many young boys and girls were there, wanting my picture and cheering my name,” she said. “Hopefully I can be a good role model for the little ones and hopefully they can take up golf now.”
