Coulter returns to Augusta

***FOR WEDNESDAY MORNING USE***

 

By DARAGH SMALL

 

This County Down family have already produced a European gold medal in athletics, and All-Ireland titles in GAA, while this week they dream of glory in Augusta.

It is the second year that Beth Coulter will attempt to win the Augusta National Women’s Amateur and follow in the footsteps of the likes of Lottie Woad and Rose Zhang.

Five different Major champions have played in this event and the 22-year-old Kirkistown golfer has big ambitions of her own, as she sets out on her professional career this summer.

She will turn professional after the Curtis Cup in Bel Air Country Club this June, but there are still plenty of amateur highlights in 2026, including a European Ladies’ Team Championship in Slieve Russell, and her return to Augusta this week.

“Even if you don’t play golf, so many of my friends know what the Masters is, it’s one of the coolest places in the world, not just in golf, but in sport,” said Coulter. 

“Getting the opportunity to play there was insane, it’s top of everyone’s bucket list and being able to do that with 70 of the best players in the world was really, really special. 

“To think I was that little girl, when I was 8 or 9, and didn’t know that I was playing or I could play golf or I could be good at it.

“Then suddenly I’m there with the 70 best players in the world, it was really, really cool.”

Despite being 74^th in the latest World Amateur Golf Rankings and a cousin of Irish 1,500m track star, Ciara Mageean, GAA comes first in the Coulter household. The family are steeped in Ballygalget with Beth’s father, Conall, chairperson in the club.

Beth Coulter was first introduced to sport through camogie and played it right up until a few years ago, when she was fast becoming one of the top prospects in women’s amateur golf.

“You’re thrown straight into it (GAA) where I live. No one in my family plays golf, where I grew up no one plays golf,” said Coulter. 

“Everyone was playing hurling and camogie and then the local pro, Neil Graham, he came into our primary school for an after-school activity. There were nine of us just before Easter, joined as an after-school activity and on the last week of the six weeks you got to go on to the golf course. 

“I’d never been on a golf course, never thought about a golf course or thought about golf, and just took it up from there.”

Coulter also played soccer and tag rugby and her hand-eye coordination meant she took to the game of golf quickly. She claimed the AIG Irish Girls’ Close in 2019 and went back-to-back in 2021 and 2022.

Coulter also won the women’s equivalent in 2022, a year after she represented Ireland at a European Ladies’ Team Championship. She went on to play at the World Amateur Team Championship, while she has also competed in a Vagliano and Curtis Cup.

This summer she will come full circle when she competes in Slieve Russell, the last of the brilliant team from Royal County Down, all of whom have since gone professional.

Lauren Walsh joined the LPGA Tour this year after a brilliant run on the LET, which included 11 top-10 finishes. That paved the way for her 2021 European teammates: Anna Foster, Annabel Wilson and Sara Byrne, all joining the paid ranks last year.

Áine Donegan also moved on at the end of 2025 and now Coulter is preparing for life on Tour.

“2021 was my second Irish Girls’ Close and going back-to-back in that after Covid was a huge goal,” said Coulter. 

“Growing up seeing all those girls winning, I remember when me and Sara competed for the plate in Kilkenny, I thought Julie McCarthy was the coolest girl in Ireland. She was always winning regional titles and then she won that year down in Kilkenny.

“Wanting to be like those girls and having those to look up to was huge, and that’s when I really started taking golf more seriously and not training as much with the camogie. I was still playing senior camogie but I was missing training for golf. 

“Having those years before coming to Arizona gave me a lot of confidence. It was exciting and then trying to break into the women’s team and Curtis Cup was the next thing on the horizon, it was really cool.”

 

 

Ireland finished runners-up in qualifying that week in Royal County Down but missed out narrowly against Italy in the quarter-finals. It was the start of something special for those players.

“We always talk about that, there was nine or ten of us and we’re all still really good friends,” said Coulter.

“We met up in Dublin over Christmas and hearing about all those girls at LET Q-school and then Lauren at LPGA Q-school, getting their cards. For me, fortunately, I was always two or three years younger. That was so nice because it matured me quickly and gave me someone to lean on. 

“I’ve been asking them about sponsors, what do you think about this Q-school? What do you think about that? Coming from somewhere like Ireland, it’s so nice to have girls that we’re friendly with and can stick together. 

“Áine and Anna were in Australia sending me snaps every morning from the beach, or with kangaroos and koalas. I texted them: ‘guys, I really hope we can do this together next year’. 

“It’s really exciting that you have that bond because growing up playing camogie, having friends around you is always so important and I’ve always tried to bring that to golf. 

“Knowing that I have something like that definitely makes jumping into being a pro a little bit easier.” 

Coulter is in her final semester at Arizona State University and she has pinpointed a few dates on the calendar, before she turns professional. This week’s ANWA is a huge opportunity to begin turning the page on the right note.

Few golfers get the opportunity to play in Augusta twice and last year’s experience will be a huge bonus.

“It was just absolutely insane,” said Coulter.

“To get the invite, it was on the cusp of the last few weeks and months coming into the last WAGR update and then to get one was so, so cool.

“Then to actually get there, the experience, photos and everything just doesn’t do it justice. It’s so cool. Coming there for the first time when all the other girls have been there playing the event. You are a little bit on the backburner because they have that experience, know how the week works.

“The experience was absolutely insane. It was so cool getting to play Augusta on the Friday with Lottie when she was leading, and me and Patience went out and had a birdie game, had so much fun. 

“That’ll hopefully stand us in good stead for the second year. We know how everything works, where everything is, getting those extra rounds in Champions Retreat to try and make the cut is really important.

“I’ll be able to treat it more as a golf tournament than an experience.” 

 

 

 

ENDS