Mireia Prat
The race to make the Ladies European Tour heats up this week with the Grecotel Amirandes Ladies Open, which will be the third last event of the season on the LET Access Series, the feeder tour to the LET.
With just this week’s event and the Costa Blanca Ladies Open to play before the 2013 season finale at The Mineks Ladies Open in Turkey, the intensity will go up a notch at Crete Golf Club in Hersonissos, which is hosting the 54-hole stroke play tournament from October 24-26.
Last year’s tournament at the same venue marked the Tour’s inaugural visit to Greece, when Austrian Christine Wolf took the title on the first play-off hole. The first two days were cancelled due to strong winds reaching 77 miles per hour, but much more favourable, clear and sunny skies are expected this week.
Wolf has returned to defend her maiden title and is part of a strong field of competitors, which includes all of the top 20 players on the LETAS Order of Merit. Barcelona’s Mireia Prat, who won the Ocho Golf Ladies Open in Galicia in early May, leads the LETAS Order of Merit and is already assured of earning one of the five LET cards available for next season.
Patricia Sanz Barrio, Nicole Broch Larsen, Chrisje de Vries and Fabienne In-Albon currently occupy second, third, fourth and fifth spots respectively, with Pamela Feggans, Caroline Martens and Monica Christiansen just outside the top five and with their sights set on making inroads into the top five in Crete.
A field of 70 golfers from 21 different countries will tee up in the Grecotel Amirandes Ladies Open, including eight tournament winners from this year.
In addition to Christiansen, Prat, Feggans, Broch Larsen and In-Albon, the 2013 champions in the field include Heather MacRae, Lauren Taylor and Hannah Ralph.
At the close of the 2013 LETAS season, the top five players on the 2013 Ranking will earn membership of the Ladies European Tour while players in sixth to 20th positions will have the opportunity to progress to the final stage of Lalla Aicha Tour School for 2014.
