Spanish Solheim Cup star Tania Elosegui will lead a quality field of international competitors at the first event on the LET Access Series this week.
The 28-year-old from San Sebastian will be swinging into nearby Biarritz in France for La Nivelle Ladies Open, which takes place over three rounds from Thursday 11th February.
A leading player on the Ladies European Tour, Elosegui, who earned her first LET title last year in the Netherlands, recorded the most top ten finishes on the LET in 2009, with eight. She was a runner-up three times and finished third twice.
She is looking for her first victory of the season at La Nivelle as she warms up for her 2010 campaign, which will see her traverse both sides of the Atlantic, playing on the LET and the LPGA Tour.
She said: “I have decided to play in La Nivelle Ladies Open because I think it’s a great warm up for Australia. Competition is the best practice and there is no better opportunity to do so for me than La Nivelle; I live half an hour from the golf course! It will be a practice week. As a golf professional, I will try to do my best and win obviously but it will be more practice than competition. I’ve heard the field will be strong moreover.
“I think it’s great to have a second tour with access to the LET. It will improve the level of the players competing on it and for that reason the level of the LET. It will give the opportunity to players who don’t have their full card to play more.”
As a local player, she knows what to expect from the golf course and added: “I have played at the venue before because I played in La Nivelle’s team when I was a teenager so I know the golf course pretty well. It’s a fun golf course, not long but can be challenging. There are a lot of doglegs so it requires you to move the ball both ways, from right to left and left to right. It was a long time ago and I played quite a lot of rounds on that golf course, so there were some good days and some bad.”
The tournaments on the 2010 LETAS schedule initially are La Nivelle Ladies Open at Golf de la Nivelle near Biarritz, due to take place from 11-13 February; Terre Blanche Ladies Open at Golf de Terre Blanche near Nice, scheduled for 31 March-2 April and the Dinard Ladies Open, due to be played at Dinard Golf Club near Rennes from 15-17 April, each with prize money from €25,000 to €30,000.
