The 23-year-old English player claimed her maiden major crown by winning last year’s edition of the event at Royal Lytham & St Annes.

It followed a joint third-place finish the year before at Kingsbarns.

Hall is making her seventh British Open appearance this week and will be among the favourites to triumph on the Marquess' course at Woburn Golf Club. 

She had her replica trophy stolen from her car two months ago.

During a visit to London to have the names of the other champions engraved on the trophy, it was stolen from her car when her back window was smashed in.

It occurred around midday in broad daylight.

The trophy has yet to be recovered.

"I was on my own and nothing happened to me like that before, so I was a little bit scared," Hall said during a press conference with the original trophy sitting beside her.

"Some things happen like this in life and you just get on with it I suppose."

Hall has missed the cut in four of her last eight tournaments and finished tied for 37th place at last week's Evian Championship in Évian-les-Bains in France.

She started and finished well, however, at the Evian Championship, posting two-under-par rounds of 69.

Playing alongside Hall in the opening round is set to be fellow major champion Brooke Henderson, already a two-time winner in 2019. 

The Canadian recorded her best finish at a British Open in 2018, finishing tied for 11th place.

Hall's fellow Briton Charley Hull continues her quest for her first major title at her home course this week.

She also played unofficial host when the British Open was last played in Woburn in 2016, finishing tied for 17th place.

Among the other possible contenders is South Korea's Ryu So-yeon, a two-time major champion, who arrives at the final major of the season in search of her first win of the year.

The former world number one has had an up and down campaign in which she’s recorded just four top 10s, a rarity for one of the most consistent players on the Ladies Professional Golf Association Tour. 

This week, Ryu can lean on the success she has found in previous years at the British Open, where she has finished inside the top 10 four times, including tying for eighth place in 2016.

Compatriot Ko Jin-young resumes her chase for history as she looks to become the fifth woman to win three majors in a single season. 

The 24-year-old captured the ANA Inspiration and Evian Championship for her first major titles. 

She is making just her third appearance at the British Open, where she missed the cut last season but finished second when the event was played at Turnberry in 2015.