The 2017 Ladies European Tour season begins on Thursday with the Oates Vic Open at 13th Beach Golf Links in Barwon Heads near Melbourne.
The 2017 Ladies European Tour season begins on Thursday with the Oates Vic Open at 13th Beach Golf Links in Barwon Heads near Melbourne: one of three new tournaments which have been added to the schedule for this yea
For the first time in history, the Ladies European Tour Members will compete for equal prize money with the men, as both the men’s and women’s Oates Vic Open fields will be playing for identical purses of AU$500,000 as part of a total prize fund of AU$1 million, which will increase to $1.3 million in 2018.
The women’s Oates Vic Open is a Golf Victoria event, co-sanctioned by the Ladies European Tour and Australian Ladies Professional Golf, while the men’s event is sanctioned by the ISPS HANDA PGA Tour of Australasia.
The players who will start their 2017 LET season at 13th Beach include the star performers of 2016: Order of Merit winner and Players’ Player of the Year Beth Allen from the USA, Rookie of the Year Aditi Ashok from India and Florentyna Parker of England, who will be joined by 2016 tournament winners Supamas Sangchan from Thailand, Isabelle Boineau of France, Nanna Koerstz Madsen of Denmark and Nuria Iturrios from Spain, as well as recent Solheim Cup players Melissa Reid from England, Sandra Gal from Germany and Caroline Hedwall of Sweden.
There are 10 Ladies European Tour Rookies making their debuts as Members. The winner of Lalla Aicha Tour School in December, Madelene Sagstrom, will be joined by fellow Swede Jenny Haglund and Spanish pair Maria Parra and Luna Sobron, who finished second, third and seventh on the 2016 LET Access Series Ranking respectively.
Joining LET Rookie Celina Yuan as part of a 48-strong Australian contingent are the Olympic players Minjee Lee and Su Oh, who both tied for eighth in the women’s golf competition at Rio 2016.
Richard Green and Marianne Skarpnord shared a rare golfing fairytale when they won the men’s and women’s Oates Victorian Open titles at the place they call home, 13th Beach Golf Links in Barwon Heads, Australia, two years ago in February, 2015.
Norwegian Skarpnord was the first to post her winning total of 13-under, with a three stroke victory over Holly Clyburn and Su Oh, before fiancé Green won the men’s title in a play-off against Nick Cullen.
The Oates Vic Open will be played from 9-12 February at 13th Beach Golf Links with two fields of 144 female players and 144 male players each vying for an equal prize purse of AU$500,000. The Beach and the Creek Course will host the event for the first two rounds, followed by the Beach Course only over the weekend.
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