Catriona Matthew and the legend of Supermum: 'There was a lot of hype'

The legend of Supermum was established even before Catriona Matthew claimed the Women’s British Open of 2009. The mere fact the Scot contended for the major, 11 weeks after giving birth to Sophie and 11 days following a dramatic escape from a fire-hit chalet, was enough. The best stories have happy endings; Matthew prevailed at Royal Lytham & St Annes. She had arrived in Lancashire with ambitions only of making the cut.

Matthew’s immediate downplaying of her achievement was notable. It was left to those covering the event to articulate the extraordinary circumstances. “I suppose at the time you don’t really think about it, you just get on with what you are doing,” Matthew says. “You are focused on golf. I ended up playing better than I anticipated then got right into it at the weekend. You go into playing mode, being competitive. At the time I didn’t appreciate it was only 11 weeks; when you look back, when you think about it, you realise it probably was quite amazing.

“For the next week there was a lot of hype about it. When you are playing, the adrenaline keeps you going but afterwards everything sinks in … then you collapse.”

Matthew’s smile explains fond memories. She was then 39 and, with her husband, Graeme, as caddie, this marked her maiden – and hitherto only – major triumph. This week Matthew will return to Lytham for the first time as the marquee women’s golf event in Britain does likewise. “For a British person to win the British Open? It’s the one you want,” she says. “If I’m going to win only one major, that would be a pretty nice one to have. It’s funny, my mum had been feeding Sophie through the night that week so it was into Monday morning and time for her 3am feed. I was feeding Sophie, mum just woke up anyway so she joined me for a cup of tea. It was back to reality apart from this time, the trophy was sitting there too.”

Matthew had recalled a “speedy” four-hour labour for her second daughter, with the North Berwick resident back on a golf range within five weeks. British Open build-up had included an appearance at the Evian Championship in France, where a further layer of drama unfolded. “We were in a two-level chalet, built into the hillside,” Matthew recalls. “It sounded like rain outside, then we opened the door and there were flames. We ran outside, there was no fire alarm, we were shouting ‘Fire! Fire!’ at 10pm.

“It was the kind of building you were always going to get out of but another player, Amy Yang, and her dad had to jump out of their balcony. We stupidly went back in to get our passports and a few things so Graeme burnt his feet. The fireman got my watch, I had left it on the bedside table; he said five minutes later the ceiling was down in our room.”

Any notion that the golfing gods were warning Matthew to return to full-time domestic life was readily shrugged off. She departed Lytham almost £200,000 richer and as Scotland’s only women’s major champion, as remains the case today. “It wasn’t until I hit the tee shot off the last that I knew I’d won,” Matthew says. “It was a nice walk from there. I hit a nice tee shot, missed the bunkers and knew I’d won with a three-shot lead. I was happy to hack it up towards the green.”

She will return to Lytham, understandably, with a spring in her step. “I definitely want to go there and do well. I don’t want to turn up not thinking I can.”

If nine years hardly feels like sufficient time for a broad changing of attitudes, Matthew senses an identical feat would be treated differently in 2018. She has no complaints whatsoever about that; this down-to-earth working mum, who just happens to operate in a sporting environment, has never courted publicity.

View image in fullscreen

“At the time it felt as though it was widely recognised but that’s nine years ago now. I think women’s sport has really come on leaps and bounds. I’d include golf in that,” says Matthew. “If it happened now, there would have been even more attention. You can see that with Serena Williams playing at Wimbledon. It felt like I got a lot of exposure but, if it was now, I think there would be more. It would be a much bigger thing, even nine years later, which I think is a good thing; it shows how sport has evolved.

“That’s not why I play golf. I play to try and see how good I can be – that has always been the case – and to compete against the best in the world. It’s easy to sit here when you have done well and say how much you enjoy it but obviously, when you are starting out, keeping your card and how much money you earn is important. I think if a Scot won it now, it would have more impact just because women’s sport is better recognised in the media. Nine years ago you would very rarely have seen football, cricket, netball on television and now you see a lot more. You see more ladies’ golf events. There wasn’t the same exposure back then. Now there seems to be a push to be seen the same way as men.”

Matthew, who has always played mainly on the LPGA Tour in the United States, still competes for 22 weeks per year. Sophie and her 11-year-old sister, Katie, are members at Gullane Golf Club in East Lothian. “As they are getting older, I almost find they need you more, they want you home more,” Matthew says. “It does get more difficult as you get older but we have grown up together as a family so in a way it is kind of accepted; that’s what I do.”

Matthew’s bigger picture relates to Solheim Cup captaincy. She will lead Europe against the United States at Gleneagles next year. A comprehensive defeat for the Europeans in Des Moines in 2017 triggered understandable negativity regarding the state of the women’s game in this continent.

“Obviously at the time it was really disappointing; we got pretty well beaten,” Matthew admits. “But we smashed them in Colorado [in 2013] and they came back and beat us the next time. I think we have a lot of good European players; if they happen to be playing well at the time, we have a good chance..”

No such discussion can pass without a nod to the sparse schedule on offer for Ladies European Tour players. “Everyone wants to see more events,” says the 48-year-old. “I don’t know all the ins and outs but I know they are in talks to have more events hopefully for next year. It is tough if you play only once every few weeks to get any momentum.”

Matthew, at least, has significant experience of defying all odds.