Emma Nilsson
Sweden’s Emma Nilsson leads the season-long race for the Ladies European Tour Access Series Order of Merit title heading into the last event of 2018, but Spanish pair Noemi Jimenez and Elia Folch still have the chance to sneak past her to become the best golfer of the year.
These three are part of a field of 108 competing in the Santander Golf Tour LETAS El Prat, to be played in Barcelona from November 8-10, bringing another exciting LETAS season to a close.
Jimenez and Folch would need to finish second or better to leapfrog Nilsson if the Swede missed the cut, so she can’t celebrate just yet.
Nilsson said: “I’m looking forward to the tournament very much and I’ll just do my best and hopefully that’ll be enough to shoot some good scores.”
Nilsson’s season highlight was her victory in the Belfius Ladies Open, combined with two runner-up finishes in the Terre Blanche Ladies Open and the Viaplay Open. She has recorded six top-10 finishes from 10 starts so far, but is particularly pleased with her consistent results.
She said: “I’m quite happy with my year, I’ve made the cut in 22 out of 23 tournaments played on LET, LETAS and Swedish Golf Tours, so I feel that my game has been quite steady, which I’m happy with. I also have a win on LETAS in Belgium which was fun!
“It will be nice to play on a new venue, I’ve never played El Prat before, but I’ve heard good things about the course, so I’m looking forward to playing it.
“To win the Order of Merit would be really cool. My goal at the beginning of the season was either to finish in the top 80 on the LET Order of Merit or to finish in the top 5 on the LETAS Order of Merit to improve my category on the Ladies European Tour for 2019. I have already guaranteed a top 5 finish on the LETAS Order of Merit and I’m very happy with that, but to win the Order of Merit would be something special and I’ll do my best to do so.”
While much of the attention will be on the top of the ranking, there are still a number of players who have the chance to earn a Ladies European Tour card for the 2019 season. The leading five players, not otherwise exempt, will earn LET membership, while the players in positions 6 to 20 on the LETAS Order of Merit will have the opportunity to advance directly to the Final Stage of the LET’s Lalla Aicha Tour School.
With the Ladies European Tour’s season-ending Andalucía Costa del Sol Open de España Femenino scheduled for November 22-25, the players will have to wait for the LET 2019 Exemption Ranking to be published before confirming their place on the LET next year.
With so much to play for and more drama guaranteed, all eyes will be on El Prat when the action begins on November 8, as the next generation of golfing superstars battle to finish inside the top five in the race to earn promotion to the Ladies European Tour.
