The Quick Verdict

The 2026 AIG Women's Open begins Thursday 30 July at Royal Lytham & St Annes. Nelly Korda and Haeran Ryu — the only two players to have won a major this year — tee off together at 8.42am BST on Thursday, alongside 2024 champion Lydia Ko.

Charley Hull plays at 1.26pm BST on Thursday and 8.42am BST on Friday, with Hannah Green and Brooke Henderson. That's a late-early draw, which is the exact opposite of what Korda's group gets.

All times below are BST. If you've seen figures like 1.30am floating around, those are US Eastern — same draw, different clock.

The marquee groups, round one

Time (BST) Group
8.31am Lottie Woad, Akie Iwai, Andrea Lee
8.42am Nelly Korda, Haeran Ryu, Lydia Ko
1.15pm Miyu Yamashita (defending champion), Jeeno Thitikul, Lauren Coughlin
1.26pm Charley Hull, Hannah Green, Brooke Henderson

Georgia Hall plays with Hinako Shibuno and France's Valentine Delon — the time for that group wasn't stated in anything I could get.

Round two, confirmed: Yamashita's group goes at 8.31am Friday, Hull's at 8.42am Friday. Both fall inside the early televised window.

One thing I can't tell you: Korda's Friday time. No source I obtained states it. The wave structure means it'll be an afternoon slot, but that's my inference from how the draw works, not a published time. Same goes for the full 144-player draw — I've only got the marquee groups, and I'm not going to invent the rest.

What the late-early draw actually means

This is the bit worth thinking about, and nobody's writing it.

Hull plays Thursday afternoon and Friday morning. Korda plays Thursday morning and, presumably, Friday afternoon. On a links course in Lancashire in late July, those are two genuinely different golf tournaments — different wind, different firmness, different green speeds, different rain if it comes.

Which half is better? Nobody knows, and I'd be suspicious of anyone who tells you they do.

Here's the honest position: the idea that one side of a links draw gets an edge is an article of faith in golf, and it's an empirical claim that nobody in this week's coverage has actually tested. There's no wind forecast in any of it, no historical scoring data broken down by wave at Lytham, nothing. It's a real variable. It just isn't a predictable one until Thursday morning, and possibly not until Friday night.

What you can say is that Hull, who is chasing a first major in her own country, does not share a draw half with the world number one. If the weather splits the field, they'll be split with it.

Why the groups look like this

Worth noticing: the two morning marquee groups sit at 8.31 and 8.42, and both fall inside a new early broadcast window running 9am to 1pm — three extra hours of live coverage per day for the first two rounds, announced by the R&A back in April.

The two afternoon marquee groups then flip into that same window on Friday.

So Woad, Korda, Yamashita and Hull are all guaranteed to be on television in the expanded slot across the two days. That's a scheduling decision as much as a sporting one, and it's fine — but it's the reason the draw looks so neat, rather than coincidence.

The purse, and a figure to ignore

The prize fund is a record $10 million, with $1.5 million to the winner. The R&A announced it in April, up $250,000 on last year's $9.75 million, and CEO Mark Darbon noted it was the sixth consecutive year of increases.

At least one preview currently online gives the fund as $9.5 million with $1.425 million to the champion. That matches neither this year nor last — Yamashita took $1,462,500 in 2025. Go with $10 million.

A small thing nobody has pointed out: the winner's share is 15 per cent of the purse in both years. $1,462,500 of $9.75m and $1,500,000 of $10m are the same slice. The pot grew; the split didn't move.

For scale on how fast this has changed: when the championship was last at Lytham in 2018 and Georgia Hall won, the total fund was $3.25 million. It's roughly tripled in eight years.

The full payout breakdown below first place hasn't been published yet.

About that "Grand Slam"

You'll read that a Korda win completes a career Grand Slam. It's nearly right, and the nearly matters.

She has four majors. A win here would be her fourth different championship, which is conventionally what the career Grand Slam means. But women's golf has five majors, and the Evian would still be outstanding — a full sweep of all five is what the championship's own writers call the Super Slam.

Golf.com is the only outlet I found that flagged this, describing a win as one that would "technically" give her the career Grand Slam. That word is carrying the weight.

She's also never won this one. Her best is T2 in 2024.

Two groups worth watching that aren't the headline ones

Georgia Hall, Hinako Shibuno, Valentine Delon. Hall won here in 2018, the last time the championship visited Lytham. Shibuno won it in 2019. Two champions and a French player in one group, and nobody's made anything of it.

Yamashita, Thitikul, Coughlin at 1.15pm. The defending champion, alongside a player who won the Smyth Salver at Royal Lytham eight years ago — the low amateur prize, at the last Women's Open held here. Thitikul has been back at this golf course before, with her name already on something.

The course

Per Golfshake, Royal Lytham is a par 70 measuring 7,094 yards with 174 pot bunkers. Single source on those numbers, so treat them as approximately right rather than gospel — though the bunker count is the sort of thing Lytham is famous for and I've no reason to doubt it.

Field of 144. Championship runs Thursday 30 July to Sunday 2 August.

FAQ

When does Nelly Korda tee off?

8.42am BST on Thursday, with Haeran Ryu and Lydia Ko.

When does Charley Hull tee off?

1.26pm BST Thursday and 8.42am BST Friday, with Hannah Green and Brooke Henderson.

When does the defending champion play?

Miyu Yamashita goes at 1.15pm Thursday and 8.31am Friday, with Jeeno Thitikul and Lauren Coughlin.

When does Lottie Woad play?

8.31am BST Thursday, with Akie Iwai and Andrea Lee.

What's the purse?

A record $10 million, with $1.5 million to the winner.

Where and when is it?

Royal Lytham & St Annes, Lancashire, Thursday 30 July to Sunday 2 August 2026.

Would a Korda win be a career Grand Slam?

It would be her fourth different major, which is conventionally counted as one. Women's golf has five majors, so the Evian would remain.

Has Charley Hull won a major?

No. Her T2 at Royal Porthcawl last year was reportedly her fourth runner-up finish in a major.

Why do some listings show times after midnight?

Those are US Eastern. The times above are BST.

GOLFRAW's Take

The draw is the story and it's being reported as a listing. Hull is going for a first major, at home, in front of a crowd that badly wants it, and she's been handed the half of the draw the world number one isn't in. That's not a conspiracy — it's a hat being drawn — but it means the two of them could play meaningfully different golf courses for two days before anyone can compare them properly. The rest of it is scheduling doing its job. Four marquee groups, all landing inside a new broadcast window, on both days. Somebody sat down with a spreadsheet and made sure of that, and good on them. What I'd watch for on Thursday morning: whether the wind gets up before the afternoon wave goes out. If it does, and Hull is grinding round in it while Korda has already signed for a 68 in the calm, we'll all be talking about the draw by Friday lunchtime. If the weather stays flat, none of this mattered and you can ignore the last four hundred words.