British No.1 Bronte Law hopes to deliver some ‘knockout punches’ in the AIG Women’s British Open at Woburn this week.
The world No.22 from Stockport is looking for her first major title after winning the Pure Silk Championship presented by Williamsburg two months ago and explained how adopting boxing psychology has already made big changes to her game this year.
Her dad, Tim, a successful self-made businessman who Law describes as her biggest inspiration and whom she talks to every day, is a prolific reader of sports psychology books and passes the knowledge to his daughter.
Speaking ahead of her fourth appearance in the championship, Law said: “Basically, obviously when you’re a boxer, the goal is to hit those knockout punches, right, but sometimes it’s not that easy. So you might have to play defence at certain times and wait for your chances to, you know, take the punch.
“On the golf course, you can’t just go out and attack it all the time and you have to play defensively and dodge those punches and ultimately take your chances when you get them. You know, if you do take a punch, sometimes you have to play a little bit defensively before you can throw another punch back. We try and adopt that as much as possible.
“A lot of times, if I make a bogey, actually, afterwards, you’ll see, like a make a string of birdies together. Sometimes you take that hit and it kind of motivates you, and ultimately it kind of pushes me on a little bit.”
Although not a boxer, Law’s dad is clearly competitive and a driving force in her life. “He’s more interested in watching golf now (than playing). He makes me play once a year and I have to give him like 16 shots or something, and he tells everyone that we played off scratch,” she said, with a smile. “We halved last time. I think I was like 8-under for something. But we still tell everyone that we halved and played off the same tees.
“Any advice that he gives me, I really try and take it on board and I know that he does it to really help my career. Any advice he gives me, we talk it through and I really try and adopt that into my golf game.”
Law tied for 22nd in the Evian Championship last week and hasn’t yet played a practise round on the Marquess Course at Woburn due to her Easyjet flight from Geneva being cancelled on Monday, but she feels ready to contend.
“Obviously I played last week, played some really good golf, and the fact that it’s back-to-back majors for me, I think is going to be beneficial because I’m very pleased with how I’m hitting the ball and can kind of carry that momentum into this week. If you’re not playing well, then yeah, it might be an issue because you haven’t had much time to work on your game.”
She is hoping to follow in the footsteps of the defending champion Georgia Hall by becoming the second English winner in as many years, but is also trying to impress the European Solheim Cup captain, Catriona Matthew, as she needs one of four captain’s picks available to qualify.
“Until the team is picked, I can prove myself to Catriona, and I have that intent this week, of doing the same. It’s been a goal of mine all year to make sure that I get on that team, hence, why I went to LET Q-School at the start of the year. You know, obviously a major last week, a major this week, I’ll just going out there and play my best. Hopefully I can follow Georgia’s footsteps from last year.”
Law starts her first round at 11.54 on Thursday, in the company of Matthew and past U.S. Solheim Cup competitor Cristie Kerr.
