BALLYGALGET’s Beth Coulter says she is excited to join the growing number of Irish golfers in the women’s professional game this summer.
The 21 year-old will turn professional after competing in her second Augusta National Women’s Amateur in April.
During her amateur career to date, Kirkistown Castle member Coulter has recorded top-10 performances in both the Irish Women’s Open Stroke Play and Irish Women’s Close Championships, as well as representing Ireland at a host of major tournaments.
She was part of the Curtis Cup winning team in 2024 as Great Britain and Ireland put an end to a run of three consecutive United States victories, and will hope to be involved again for this year’s contest with Great Britain and Ireland seeking to win the trophy on US soil for the first time since 1994.
The former Ballygalget camog missed the cut on her debut at the Augusta National Women’s Amateur last year, but believes that experience will stand her in better stead this time around.
She told BBC Sport: “Last year everything was so new, exciting and overwhelming. Now I know how the week runs and am a bit more comfortable in that environment.
“It is a really big year,” she added. “Augusta coming up, turning pro in the summer and the Curtis Cup, hopefully, so it’s a really exciting few months.”
Currently 60th in the Women’s Amateur Golf Rankings, Coulter is in her final semester of a golf scholarship at Arizona State University. As she prepares for the transition into the professional ranks, she hopes to ‘lean on’ friends who have recently made the switch.
“Growing up playing camogie, the dream was to be winning All-Irelands with Down in Croke Park and that has now shifted to being a professional athlete in golf,” she explained.
“I think it’s really cool that we [Ireland] have so many girls on the LET (Ladies European Tour) and LPGA (Ladies Professional Golf Association) – that wasn’t the case when I started playing.
“We have about nine or 10 girls from Ireland playing professional golf on really high up tours, so I am really lucky I get to do something I love as my job.”
