Claire Dowling has been appointed the Royal and Ancient Golf Club’s first female captain, 12 years after the club opened membership to women.
Mr Dowling was nominated by past captains and will serve as captain of the University of St Andrews from 2026 to 2027.
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She will begin her one-year term following a traditional driving-in ceremony on the first tee of the Old Course on Friday, September 25th.
Ms Dowling was one of the first women to join the club, signing up after membership was voted into place in 2015.
She has served on the club’s rules and general committees, served as vice chair of both organizations, and currently serves on the membership committee.
As an amateur player, Dowling represented Great Britain and Ireland in the Curtis Cup four times, and was part of the 1986 team that recorded its first victory over the United States on American soil with a 13-5 victory at Prairie Dunes.
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She captained Ganton’s GB&I Curtis Cup team in 2000, but the team lost 10-8. He has also managed the Vagliano Trophy team and the Irish team.
Born and raised in Dublin, she represented Ireland in home internationals from 1979 to 1992 and appeared in six European Team Championships.
She won the Irish Championship five times, her first in 1983, the British Women’s Open Amateur Stroke Play Championship in 1986 and the Spanish Amateur Championship in 1987.
Mr Dowling is also chairman of England Golf’s Handicap Course Ratings Committee and has officiated at the British Open seven times, including at Royal St George’s in 2021, when she and her husband Peter, a former district judge, became the first married couple to officiate in the same championship.
