The Crete Golf Club
The LET Access Series has reached an agreement with Crete Golf Club for the venue to host a new tournament for the next five years.
The venue will host the Crete Ladies Open from October 28-30, 2012 with a prize fund of €25,000. The Crete Golf Club is home to the only 18-hole golf course on Crete, the largest and most populous of the Greek Islands and the second largest in the eastern Mediterranean Sea.
Di Barnard, Tour Director, said: “It is excellent news that this exciting new tournament will be played at Crete Golf Club until at least 2016. Tour members and staff are thrilled to be paying their first visit to Crete and indeed to Greece and the venue will fit the occasion perfectly. The players will be in for a fantastic week competing on a high quality golf course in a Mediterranean climate and we are all looking forward to visiting this October.”
Mr Dimitris Kollaros, Managing Director of Crete Golf Club added: “It is a pleasure and a great honour for the Crete Golf Club to host the first professional golf event ever to take place in Greece. We are thankful to LET for trusting us in the midst of present trying times for our country. We plan to host some very successful and enjoyable events on the island of Crete for all participants.”
The Crete Golf Club has a mountain-style layout and is meticulously maintained and at the same time it provides an ideal venue for international tournaments. It hosted the EGA Mens’ Challenge Trophy with great success in July 2008, while for three consecutive years it also hosted the Aegean Airlines Pro-Am.
The course itself features expansive fairways hewn through rocks and ravines. Visitors soon realise that the emphasis is on accuracy, although the landing areas are generous enough to accommodate all but the most errant shots. All around the course, the golfer can enjoy stunning views, both of the mountains and the coastline some ten minutes drive away. It is a stunning backdrop to what will be a memorable event.
The course, which opened in 2003, has been built to international PGA standards by architect Bob Hunt, a member of the English PGA. Each hole has been constructed separately and in harmony with the surrounding landscape, providing panoramic views of both the mountains of Crete and the Aegean Sea.
The climate in the area is very mild all year round: The altitude ensures a light, cool breeze in high summer, making the game very pleasant, while in winter there is very little rainfall and the average temperature is between 15 – 20°C that rarely goes below 10°C on the coldest day.
The course is easily accessible located 24 kilometres from Heraklion Airport from where it takes only 25 minutes to reach by car.
About the LET Access Series:
The LET Access Series (LETAS) launched in 2010 as the official feeder tour to the Ladies European Tour. The objective of LETAS is to provide greater playing opportunities for female professional golfers. All female professional golfers and amateurs with a handicap of 3 or better are eligible for membership of LETAS, providing they are over 18 years of age. The top three players on the 2012 LETAS Ranking will earn membership of the Ladies European Tour for the 2013 season, while players in fourth to 15th positions will have the opportunity to progress to the final stage of LET Qualifying School, thereby skipping the first qualifying event. If the top three players are already exempt for the Ladies European Tour then the cards will be available to the next best players inside the top 10 on the 2012 LETAS Ranking. If a player in fourth to 15th position is already exempt to Final Qualifying School for the 2013 Ladies European Tour season, then the next non-exempt player down to 30th position on the 2012 LETAS Ranking will be offered a place at LET Final Qualifying School.
