The 2018 Ladies European Tour season comes to a climax this week with the Andalucía Costa del Sol Open de España Femenino at La Quinta Golf & Country Club in Malaga, Spain, on November 22-25.

European No.1 Georgia Hall leads the field of 96 players and is set to become the youngest ever player to win two Ladies European Tour Order of Merit titles. At just 22, she will be a year younger than Dame Laura Davies was when she claimed her second consecutive order of merit title in 1986.

Hall will also become the seventh multiple LET order of merit winner, joining an elite group containing Jenny Lee Smith, Dame Laura Davies, Dale Reid, Marie Laure de Lorenzi, Annika Sorenstam and Sophie Gustafson. She will earn a seven-year exemption for LET membership, until the end of 2025, and a cheque for €20,000.

The Andalucía Costa del Sol Open de España Femenino will mark Hall’s sixth LET tournament of 2018 and she will be looking for a second LET victory after winning her first major title in August, with a two-shot victory over Thailand’s Pornanong Phatlum in the Ricoh Women’s British Open, at Royal Lytham and St Annes Golf Club.

ENGSTRӦM LEADS ROOKIE RACE

Swedish schoolgirl Julia Engström leads the Rookie Ranking with 149.15 points after 11 events and is well positioned to become the youngest ever recipient of the award.

On Sunday, she will be 17 years, seven months and 29 days, whereas Charley Hull was aged 17 years, eight months and 17 days when she won the award on December 7, 2013.

There are four other women in the field who can deny Engström, including her closest challenger, Frenchwoman Manon Mollé, as well as Marita Engzelius, Karoline Lund and Piti Martinez Bernal.

WHO’S IN THE FIELD?

Two of Hall’s main rivals for the title are expected to be the Spanish star Azahara Muñoz, who has won the title each of the last two years, including last year at her home club, Guadalmina, and Anne Van Dam, who dazzled less than two months ago at Terramar Golf Club to win the Estrella Damm Mediterranean Ladies Open near Barcelona, for her second

There are 17 of the top 20 players competing in the final event of the year. Both No. 2 Caroline Hedwall and No.3 Jenny Haglund are winners this year, at the Lacoste Ladies Open de France and Lalla Meryem Cup respectively.
Rounding out the top 10 are No.4 Van Dam, No.5 Sarah Kemp, No.5 Becky Morgan, who claimed her maiden title in the Hero Women’s Indian Open last month, No.6 Christine Wolf, who finished second in India, No.8 Karolin Lampert and No.10 Olivia Cowan.

WINNERS ALL ROUND

There have been 14 different individual winners from as many events in 2018, with the addition of Linda Wessberg and Cajsa Persson, who combined to win gold medals in the European Golf Team Championships. Nine of those 16 winners are in the field: Hall, Morgan, Van Dam, Hedwall, Astrid Vayson de Pradenne, Haglund, Meghan MacLaren, Wessberg and Persson.

CHAMPIONSHIP FORMAT

96 players; 72 holes, stroke play.

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