After a conversation with Pádraig Harrington, Anna Foster is mindful to not put too much pressure on herself ahead of her second KPMG Women’s Irish Open appearance on the O’Meara Course at Carton House.
At February’s Lalla Meryem Cup where the Ladies European Tour and PGA Tour Champions shared the same venue, Harrington offered to take Lauren Walsh, Olivia Mehaffey and LET rookies Foster, Sara Byrne, and Annabel Wilson out to dinner.
The 53-year-old would have handed over nuggets of priceless advice for Ireland’s budding young stars but they may have been surprised to learn that the three-time major champion and 2007 Irish Open winner found playing on home soil a huge challenge.
Last year, Foster made her professional debut at the KPMG Women’s Irish Open and narrowly missed the cut in front of a large support from her home club Elm Park. She admits that she felt the weight of expectation while playing on home turf – a lesson she is keen to learn this week.
“Pádraig Harrington told us at the start of the year that he found the Irish Open to be one of the toughest events of the year for him because of the home pressure and support and like all of that,” explains Foster who secured the first top-5 finish of her rookie campaign last week in Germany.
“It’s true and I felt that last year but being able to experience that will stand to me and this year now my main goal is to enjoy myself and see what happens after that.”
Last year’s KPMG Women’s Irish Open was a completely new experience for Foster but playing in front of crowds is now something she relishes and last week’s Amundi German Masters gave her a taste of what’s to come in Kildare from Thursday.
“We’ve had some events where we have had a lot of good crowds. In Germany it had a big crowd with lots of German players and it gave a sense of what is to come this week.
“I played with two German girls on the Saturday and the fans were so proud of them and that gives me something to look forward to this week where I get the louder cheers than my playing partners so it is cool to be playing in front of crowds, that’s what we want to be doing.”
Foster can also free herself up more this week having all but secured her status on the LET for next season as last week’s share of fourth place moved her to 31st in the Order of Merit.
“Going into the last week I didn’t have too many expectations just knew I was playing solid golf and waiting for it all to click together so it was nice to see the week come together and get the result I have been trending towards the last few weeks.
“Sometimes you can feel like you are playing great golf and it doesn’t show up on the scorecard so it’s about staying patient and going out to not shoot a score and just play golf, just hit the ball, find it, hit it again and stay in the present.
“Looking back now I am really pleased with how the week went and able to free up a bit going forward, I am in a comfortable position on the order of merit and I don’t have to put myself under pressure.”
A record of sixteen Irish women are set to tee it up on Thursday morning with hopes of a first home winner high as Leona Maguire and Lauren Walsh are fancied to contend.
Foster is one of seven professionals competing this week. Having earned her LET card at Q-School last December alongside Byrne, Wilson and Canice Screene, she believes having an Irish camp on tour has been beneficial for everyone.
“We all want each other to do well and we are happy when someone plays well but you want to be that person as well some weeks. It’s great to have each other pushing each other to get better and it’s been that way for the last seven or eight years with all of us so it’s nothing new.
“To have all the girls playing solid golf it’s nice to see more than one Irish flag up on the leaderboard.”
The 23-year-old is excited to test her game against some of the world’s best players with Charley Hull, Anna Nordqvist, Madelene Sagstrom and Georgia Hall in the field.
“I’m really looking forward to it,” she continues. “The way that they are putting out the event on social media it looks really big and exciting. A lot of the girls on the LET are really excited for it and it will be nice to have a lot of home support, Elm Park support with me and Emma playing.
“Trying to treat the week like every other event just with the bonus of some home support.
“I didn’t get to play the first few in Dromoland but everyone I spoke to thinks it’s one of the best events of the year. Definitely with the girls on the LET playing well this year, it’s not just the likes of Leona and Charley that’s bringing everyone, it’s a really good field.”
Nine Irish amateurs are in the field this week including the Women’s European Team Championships squad while Beth Coulter and Aine Donegan came through the Golf Ireland pyramid alongside Foster, Byrne, Wilson and Walsh.
Foster believes in order to keep the hamster wheel turning in Irish women’s golf, it’s vitally important to make golf as fun as possible to encourage more children to take up the game and avoid the teenage drop off that has plagued women’s sport for so long.
“The group that I was part of, we were really lucky to have each other and I don’t think we realised it then. Just having other girls is the biggest thing. I know that Golf Ireland are doing a lot to get golf into schools and getting it all started. It is getting better.
“Make it as fun as possible when you are like under 15 or something, just make it fun it doesn’t need to be competitive. Golf Ireland are doing a good job of getting girls into golf.
“Getting them into it is fine but getting them to stay in it is probably the biggest thing, you see a drop off in that 15-17 age group, it’s a tricky time of life, the more girls that get started the more that will hang on to it.”
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