Preview: Magical Kenya Ladies Open

The Ladies European Tour (LET) tees off its 2024 season this week at the Magical Kenya Ladies Open. This year the LET has 29 official tournaments which will be played in 19 countries across five continents!

The season opener takes place on the Baobab Course at Vipingo Ridge in Mombasa. As well as negotiating the course, the field of 108 players will also have to keep a lookout for local wildlife, including zebras, giraffes and monkeys who roam the course. The 72-hole stroke play competition will have a cut to the top 60 professionals and ties after 36 holes and has a prize fund of €300,000.

This year also marks a record number of nations being represented on the LET which is emphasised this week with players coming from 36 nations across six continents.

There are 20 rookies in the field with 14 players making their LET debut. This also includes some firsts for the LET with Laura Sluman from Panama, Dorota Zalewska from Poland and Shannon Tan from Singapore all securing LET tour cards for the first time for their respective countries.

Ahead of her debut Zalewska said:

“It means quite a lot for Poland, but for me I feel like I’m just Dory. I’m a normal person, a normal player. I think at some point everyone was in that kind of situation. It’s cool, but for me personally it’s nothing too crazy to be the first player from Poland with a full LET card.

“The reception was massive. I was not expecting that, but I think that’s just me. It was really big, and everyone was supporting me and asking and all the messages saying thank you and even right now before this tournament, I have received a few messages that made my day. It’s nice."

Another rookie, who is making her first start as a professional, is Annabell Fuller. Women & Golf spoke to her last week where she revealed that it will be her first time in Africa, so a number of firsts for the English player.

Aditi Ashok will not be back to defend her title this week but she will be teeing it up for the first time this season on the LET next week at the Saudi Ladies International.

In the UK, you can watch coverage between 12:00-15:00 GMT on Thursday 8th February to Saturday 10th February and 10:00-13:00 GMT on Sunday 11th February via Sky Sport Golf. You can also watch interviews and highlights from the tournament via the LET YouTube channel.

View the live leaderboard here.