Dublin-born Claire Dowling, one of the most decorated players in Irish amateur golf, will make history as the first woman to become captain of the prestigious Royal & Ancient Golf Club of St Andrews in its 272-year history when she assumes the role in September.
Dowling (née Hourihane), who played in four Curtis Cup matches for Great Britain and Ireland and won the Irish Close Championship on five occasions, will make the ceremonial captain’s drive from the first tee on the Old Course at St Andrews on September 25th after being nominated for the prestigious role by past captains of the club. The 2027 Open will be hosted by St Andrews during her tenure.
Among her playing achievements was featuring on the winning Curtis Cup team for GB&I against the United States at Prairie Dunes in Kansas in 1986, the first time any European golf team, men or women, had won on American soil.
Dowling – an honorary member of Woodbrook, her home club growing up, as well as Cork, Portmarnock and Copt Heath, her long-time club after moving to England in the 1980s – also served as a Curtis Cup captain and was one of the first women members of the Royal & Ancient Golf Club of St Andrews when the club ended its male-only membership policy in 2015.
In her post-international playing career, Dowling served in numerous significant roles as an official, including becoming the first woman to sit on the R&A’s Amateur Status Committee from 1997 to 2001 and subsequently qualified as a tournament referee, invited to join the R&A’s Rules of Golf Committee in 2015 where she was made Deputy Chair and also became a member of the Joint Rules Committee (with the United States Golf Association) in developing the update Rules of Golf in January 2019.
As a referee, Dowling has officiated at The Open Championship, the AIG Women’s Open, the Amateur Championship, the Walker Cup and the Arnold Palmer Cup.
Dowling is also an honorary life member of Golf Ireland and was awarded the Distinguished Services to Golf by the Irish Golf Writers’ Association in 1986.
“Claire has been a wonderful ambassador for Irish golf and her historic appointment as the first female captain of the St Andrews Royal and Ancient Golf Club is richly deserved. To see an Irish woman become the first female captain at, quite possibly, the most famous golf club in the world is a hugely significant moment and all at Golf Ireland wish her the very best in her tenure,” said Golf Ireland CEO Mark Kennelly in acknowledging the announcement.