First woman captain for The Royal and Ancient Golf Club of St Andrews
The Royal and Ancient Golf Club of St Andrews has announced Claire Dowling will serve as captain in 2026/27, having been nominated by the club’s past captains.
Dowling becomes the first woman to serve as captain and will begin her year in office after the traditional driving-in ceremony on the first tee of the Old Course on Friday, September 25.
A distinguished amateur golfer, she represented Great Britain and Ireland in the Curtis Cup on four occasions and was part of the 1986 team which secured the first win over the USA on American soil. Born and educated in Dublin, Dowling attended Dublin College of Catering and graduated from Trinity College in 1979 with a Bsc(Mgt) in Hotel and Catering Management.
She represented Ireland in the Home Internationals from 1979 to 1992 and played in six European Team Championships during that time. She also played for GB&I in the Espirito Santo Trophy on two occasions and six times in the Vagliano Trophy.
Dowling won five Irish Championships, the first in 1983, the Ladies’ British Open Amateur Stroke Play Championship in 1986 and the Spanish Amateur Championship in 1987. She reached the semi-final of what is now the Women’s Amateur Championship in 1981 and 1988.
After a successful playing career, she went on to captain the GB&I Curtis Cup team in a narrow 10-8 defeat to the USA at Ganton in 2000. She was one of the first women to become a member of The Royal and Ancient Golf Club in 2015 and served on the Rules Committee from 2015 to 2019, becoming Deputy Chair in 2017.
Dowling has acted as a referee at The Open on seven occasions, including at Royal St George’s in 2021 when, with her husband Peter – with whom she lives in Devon - they were the first married couple to referee at the same Championship.
She is also a member of East Devon and her current Handicap Index is 7.6.