Graeme Matthew, who caddies for his wife, burnt his foot trying to escape from the building and had to be treated in hospital for his injuries.

Mrs Matthew, ranked 19th in the world, was staying with her husband in a hotel close to Lake Geneva when the fire broke out yesterday morning.

The couple were forced to run through the flames to escape from the building, where they were staying during the female-only Evian Masters contest.

Mrs Matthew told The Herald last night: “It was a total nightmare. We were in our room and at first we thought the noise was heavy rain. Then I opened the door and there were flames leaping everywhere. We had to run through them and we were very lucky to get out. The place is burnt down.

“Fortunately, my clubs were at the course, but we’ve lost a lot of clothes and other stuff.”

The couple have two children Katie, two, and Sophie, two months, who normally travel with the couple but on this occasion were at home with their grandparents in Scotland.

In January this year, Mrs Matthew won the inaugural HSBC LPGA Brasil Cup 2009 when she was five months pregnant.

As she reflected on the fire, Mrs Matthew said: “ This is my first tournament since having Sophie – definitely not what I wanted.”

Mrs Matthew was born in Edinburgh, but grew up in North Berwick and learned to play on the Children’s Course and North Berwick West Links. She had a successful junior and amateur career, becoming Scottish Girls champion in 1986 and Scottish under-21 Stroke Play champion in 1988 and 1989.

She studied accountancy at Stirling University, one of the few universities to offer golf scholarships.

While a student, Mrs Matthew worked on the Children’s Course at North Berwick collecting ticket money and in the evening would stand by the March Dyke, a stone wall crossing the 3rd and 16th fairways on the West Links, checking if the passing golfers had paid their green fees.

In 2007, the golfer recorded six top-10 finishes and crossed the $5m mark in career earnings. That year she made her fourth appearance on the European Solheim Cup Team and recorded six top-10 finishes, also winning her third event on the Ladies European Tour (LET) at the Scandinavian TPC.

The Evian Masters is played on the southern shore of Lake Geneva, in a wooded park overlooking the water. Despite the drama of the night, Mrs Matthew bravely went out on the course the next morning but finished down the field after an opening 74.

She made a slow start and dropped a shot at the short second, her round interrupted by a thunder and lightning storm for more than an hour. Mrs Matthew did pick up shots at the seventh and ninth, but also had four bogeys.

The only Scot in the elite 90-strong field, she is hoping to use Evian and next week’s Ricoh Women’s British Open at Royal Lytham and St Annes to prove she is ready for next month’s Solheim Cup.