Reality Better Than the Dream for Rising Welsh Star Darcey Harry

Welsh golfer Darcey Harry dreamed of teeing it up in the AIG Women’s Open at her home club Royal Porthcawl, but now the moment is here she is finding the reality even better than those dreams.

She will be playing alongside two major champions in Georgia Hall and Jennifer Kupcho, teeing off at 12.21, but she has found some surprises despite the familiar surroundings.

The first surprise was that there are a couple of tees she has never played off before despite being a Royal Porthcawl member for the last six years, the second that none of her competitors have tried to tap into her local knowledge

“Already it's been pretty incredible being here, but no one's asked me for any inside knowledge, which I'm a bit surprised by,” she admitted in her pre-event press conference in the AIG Women’s Open media centre.

“It doesn't really feel like it's at home because there's so many people here and usually Porthcawl is very quiet.

“There's lots of crowds out here already, I can see today. It's kind of nerve-wracking, I have to say. Whatever happens, it will be so nice to finally play a competition on my home golf course.

“There's a few tee boxes I've never played off, yesterday going out and playing the course it was like, ooh, I never knew this was here.

“The greens are a bit quicker than I'm used to, and the course is definitely playing a lot longer than I've ever played. But there's a lot of lines off tees I think are quite crucial to know where to hit it to get in the best places. I think that will definitely be an advantage.

“The whole setup is way bigger than I ever thought. Everything is amazing: The players' dining area, the clubhouse is fantastic, the food is absolutely phenomenal, and the bolognese, which is my favourite meal, is amazing. I'm very happy this week.”

Harry will have plenty of support when she heads out around lunchtime on the first day of this season’s final Major championship, alongside former AIG Women’s Open winner Hall and former Chevron champion Kupcho.

“When I saw the groupings, I was really excited to play with Georgia,” said Harry. “I was only a junior at the time when Georgia won a few years ago. It was so inspirational seeing her do it. The whole country was so excited when a British player won.

“It's going to be great with playing with such an inspirational player and looking forward to having a chat on course with her and Jennifer as well, she's a major winner too. That will be nice to have a week learning off those girls.”

Harry is in her first year as a professional after a successful amateur career as part of the Wales Golf squads, qualifying for the AIG Women’s Open with her debut win at the Hulencourt Women’s Open in Belgium on the Ladies European Tour.

“It's definitely a first week for me having so many people coming out to watch. I'm sure lots of people will be out there saying well done and keep going, which will be very nice for me,” she said.

“I think it's very different. I'm looking forward to having the support that I've probably never really had crowd-wise before. So I will just embrace it and kind of take a learning from it all, just be grateful that people are out here to support the game.

“It's definitely way better than I ever expected. I didn't really expect all these tents and it to be so busy. They've got the course in absolutely phenomenal condition.

“It's really lovely to have such good feedback from other players as well. You never want to turn up to your home course and have people not like it. You also want people to say it's a challenge because you don't want people coming here and saying it's easy.

“The weather is supposed to get quite windy on the weekend, and all week is supposed to be quite windy. That's really nice to see the course play up to its full potential, and it will be a really good challenge for the week.”

That win in Belgium meant Harry qualified to play in the Evian Championship, so this will be her second experience of golf’s Major Championships.

“I definitely got rid of all the major nerves at the Evian,” she admitted. “I played the Scottish Open last week as well, and that's a co-sanctioned LPGA event as well.

“I kind of thought my game would be nowhere near close to the LPGA players, but I think what I took is play as well as you can and you'll be able to compete with them, and I'm not a million miles away.

“The girls were a lot more consistent. They're really good to play with. It's a really big learning curve playing with those players in the past few weeks.”

Harry is delighted with the positive feedback from the world’s top golfers, with several revealing Royal Porthcawl is one of the most picturesque golf courses they have ever played.

“I think it's the views,” said Harry. “You can see the ocean from nearly all 18 holes of the course. A lot of people have given really lovely feedback about how friendly all the Welsh people are. It's been really nice for them to get insight on the Welsh culture, which is really huge for us in Wales.

“I think it's a country that not many people even knew is a country before they came here. Certainly everyone's got a smile on their face here, and I think it's making the Welsh people proud.”

The AIG Women’s Open will be played at Royal Porthcawl from 30 July – 3 August 2025. Tickets to watch the world’s best golfers in action are available to purchase from £45 at aigwomensopen.com with children under 16-years-of-age free when accompanied by a paying adult.  

For more information about the AIG Women’s Open, please visit www.aigwomensopen.com.