The Grand Slam season of women's golf is coming to a close on a much-admired course. The AIG Women's Open will be held from August 22 to 25 at the Old Course of St. Andrews, the "home of golf."

The AIG Women's Open is hosted by The R&A, with a total prize purse of $9 million and a championship prize of $1.35 million, making it one of the highest-paid women's tournaments of the year. The defending champion is world number two Lilia Vu. The Vietnamese-American won last year by six shots at Walton Heath Golf Club. It wasn't the Links, it was the heather.

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Amid persistent winds at St Andrews, 28-year-old British native Charley Hull shot a 5-under 67 on the Old Course to overtake Yin Ruoing, who started in the morning, and take the top spot on the AIG Women's Open leaderboard.

World No. 1 Nelly Korda, who started in the same group as Charli Hull, closed with two birdies for a 68 and was tied for second with Yin.

Defending champion Lilia Vu, the third member of the focus group, birdied the first hole with a long putt and finished with a 69 to share fourth place with five other players.

Olympic gold medalist Ko Baojing shot a 71 and was tied for 12th. Zhang Weiwei, Qian Peiyun and Zhang Siyang shot 72 and were tied for 18th place.

St. Andrews Old Course

The Old Course of St. Andrews is the oldest golf course in the world and has become the model for today's golf courses, hosting one of the most frequent courses of The Open Championship and hosting the oldest golf tournament every five or ten years. This year marks only the third time the Old Course has hosted the AIG Women's Open.

In 2007, the old course hosted the AIG Women's Open for the first time in history. At the time, Lorena Ochoa of Mexico shot a four-round 287 to take a four-stroke lead for victory. In 2013, Stacy Lewis shot an 8-under 280 to win by two shots. Lorena Ochoa has retired, and Stacy Lewis is entering the second half of her career and will return this year, and one of Stacy Lewis's big responsibilities will be to keep an eye on the Americans as she leads the United States against Europe in the Solheim Cup on home soil next month. After the end of the AIG Women's Open, the players of both European and American teams will be confirmed

Shanghai girl Yin Ruoning

Before Charlie Hull teed off, Shanghai girl Yin Ruoning was undoubtedly the brightest star of the old course. Teeing off on the 10th hole at the far end of the course, the former winner of the US Women's PGA Championship made back-to-back birdies on the 12th and 13th, and although she missed a shot on the 16th, she made her "favorite birdie of the year" on the famous "road hole" on the 17th.

In the long grass left, she hit a 7-iron into the green, hit a low fly ball that rolled up the slope, leaving a 10-foot birdie putt, and she scored. Then on the 18th hole, she cut right to the hole to catch the bird again.

After the turn, Yin made an 18-foot putt on the third hole and started with three birdies in a row, but came back with two bogeys, including a three-putt miss on the sixth.

"To come back from -4 under such tough conditions, I feel quite satisfied," Yin said. "I discussed a lot with my caddie and tried to treat the wind as a friend, which is to play with the wind."

Charli Hull saw Yin's score on TV before she went out and was surprised to see how the world No. 6 could shoot such a low score.

"I would definitely take the number she shot (-4) because on the range, the wind was just too gusty. I said to the coach: They could stop play at any time because they don't know if the ball will stop on the green, "said the British player.

Charley Hull

Then she shot even better. After bogeying the eighth, Hull birdied five of her final 10 holes.

The wind died down a bit as Hull played her final three holes, but it was still a great finish as she birdied the 18th to overtake Yin Ruoning in front of a huge local crowd.

She was also happy to beat the No. 1 and No. 2 players in her group. “It felt 100 percent good,” she said. “Nelly is a great ball striker and Lilia putts really well. Even when they bogeyed, you felt like everyone else must be having a hard time and you just had to stay in the moment.”

Charlie Hull certainly got off to a much better start at the Old Course than she did in Paris. At the Paris National Golf Club, she opened with an 81 and then finished eight under in the final three rounds to tie for 27th. If she had gotten off to a better start, she would have had a shot at a medal. However, it must be said that Charley Hull has been playing well since then. She finished fifth in the Scottish Women's Open last week, and now she has put herself in a good position to win her first Grand Slam.

"Today, I shot -5, and I have to say I played very solidly. The game was fun because I hit a lot of great, great shots," said Charley Hull.

Charley Hull's rise made local fans happy, Yin Ruoning's stability excited Chinese fans, and Nelly Korda's "return of the king" undoubtedly made American fans crazy.

World No. 1 Nelly Korda

In the first half of this year, Nelly Korda won 6 LPGA victories, which made her opponents extremely desperate, but her good form came to an abrupt end until she came to the "hometown of golf". The American girl also summed up her performance today very well: "You can't win the game on the first day, but you can lose it. I definitely put myself in a good position."

Other outstanding players

It must be said that Zhang Weiwei and Qian Peiyun also put themselves in a good position. Zhang Weiwei qualified for the AIG Women's Open for the first time through the Monday qualifying round. She had 4 birdies and 4 bogeys, and summed up the day like this: "I am still very satisfied with today's results. Indeed, this golf course is really difficult. We felt the wind blowing us all over and shaking us in the first few holes, but it was okay later because the wind was a little lighter.

The wind was very strong in the first nine holes, and I miscalculated some distances and made a few mistakes, but fortunately, there were no particularly big mistakes. The wind gradually became lighter later, and I also seized some opportunities, so I feel very satisfied today." Qian Peiyun made 3 birdies and 3 bogeys, taking a solid step towards her first promotion in the AIG Women's Open. She summed it up like this: "I really forgot a little, because there are too many things to pay attention to on each hole, and many holes were confused.

Fortunately, I had a caddy, otherwise I really didn't know where to play, because the wind here is too strong, and it's a bit tiring. In fact, this golf course is fine if you don't deviate to the right. As long as you play on the left, you will be away from the bunker or the OB." The AIG Women's Open is hosted by The R&A, and the total prize money has increased to US$9.5 million, and the championship prize money has increased to US$1.425 million accordingly.

Last words

The AIG Women's Open is the fifth and final women's major this year, including all 16 champions of the LPGA Tour this season, three gold, silver and bronze medalists from the Paris Olympics, and five amateur players. This week is also the last event for the European and American teams to compete for points in the Solheim Cup, and after this week, the Annika Grand Slam Award will be announced.