England’s Emily Price is happy to be back on home soil as she gets set to return to competition after a back injury a few weeks back forced her to stop playing on tour.
After a second-place position at the Montauban Ladies Open, the 23-year-old was forced to withdraw from the Amundi Czech Ladies Challenge but is excited to play two weeks at Ramside Hall Golf Club for the Link Series events.
Speaking about the last few weeks in recovery Price said: “Yeah, I’ve been good. I pulled my back on the tour a few weeks ago, so I had a couple of weeks off just to recover.
“But I’m back to full fitness now and here for the rest of the season. So, I’m excited.”
Price has never played the course before so is excited for the two weeks ahead.
“I’ve not actually played here before, obviously I’m English and when the course was announced, we were kind of like, where’s that? What is that?
“Yet it looks like a nice spot. I’m excited to see it on the practice round today.
“It should be good here on home soil.”
Price sits in eighth position, just outside the top six, on the Order of Merit but is determined to come back strong but knows not to put too much pressure on herself.
“I’d always like to be chasing for the top end of the leaderboard; however, I think after a few weeks off I just need to get back in the groove of it and see what I can do out here.
“It’s more me against the golf course and if I can beat the golf course every round then I’m sure I’ll be in good shape.
“I have been playing on the course in the last week or so, but it’s been mostly visiting the physio, range and building up my load.
“So, we’ve taken it gradual, you know and been sensible about it.
“It will be the first proper time on the course for a couple of weeks. So, it should be interesting for me.”
Price returns to tournament form tomorrow at 12:26pm alongside Austria’s Katharina Muehlbauer and New Zealand’s Wengyung Keh.
Another Great British and Irish player, Wales’ Jordan Ryan is looking to build on her strong performance last year going into this year’s edition of the Link Series at Ramside Hall Golf Club.
The 25-year-old from Newport played well in 2022 to finish the tournament in tied fourth position.
This year she would love to use that experience to perform even better.
Speaking about Ramside Hall Golf Club Ryan said: “I really like this course, I played last year and played well so it contains lots of good memories.
“It suits me and it’s nice on the eye. However, it is playing a bit different to last year, it was really firery last year but it’s quite soft now.
“We’ve obviously had a lot of rain but we’re looking forward to it.”
Ryan who turned professional in 2021 and represents Parc Golf Club, has struggled this year with her best performance being at the Montauban Ladies Open where she placed tied 47th.
Yet the Welsh player is determined to change her season around starting with these two weeks in County Durham.
“I want to do the same, if not better than last year, I have a clear plan for each hole which is like last year, but I will use slightly different clubs off the tees as the course plays longer this year.
“Other than that, I just want to enjoy it more than anything especially as the season has been a little bit of a struggle so far.
“I haven’t really been enjoying it so far, but I am looking forward to this week and to the events a lot closer to home.
“I have no expectations; I just want to enjoy golf again.”
Ryan gets her tournament underway at 10:58am, playing alongside Nigeria’s Georgia Iziemgbe Oboh and the Netherland’s Lizzy Peters.
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