The 2016 LET Access Series is set for a dramatic climax when the Santander Golf Tour LETAS La Peñaza makes its debut as the season-ending tournament at Club de Golf La Peñaza in Spain from October 20-22.
The event will be the final counting event to decide the exemptions available for the 2017 season. The top five players on the 2016 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 the Lalla Aicha Tour School.
The inaugural tournament, with a prize fund of 35,000 euros, will be staged at the resort-style facility just outside Zaragoza city, with the magnificent golf course surrounded by swimming pools, tennis courts, paddle and other facilities amongst its more than 90 hectares of land.
LET Access Series Director Di Barnard welcomed the Tour’s newest tournament, one of 15 across nine countries on the 2016 LETAS schedule and said: “We are delighted to add the the Santander Golf Tour LETAS La Peñaza to the LETAS schedule and to end the season at La Peñaza. It’s a wonderful venue and will be a great test for the players to finish the year. On behalf of all of our players, I would like to thank Club de Golf La Peñaza and La Nuez for their collaboration. I believe this will contribute positively to the development of elite level female golf in Spain, a nation with a proud history of producing great talents in the women’s game.”
Among the players competing in the event, which is also part of the Spanish national professional tour, will be as Scotland’s Michele Thomson, a winner on LETAS in 2015, as well as 2016 winners Carolina Gonzalez Garcia of Spain, who won the ASGI Ladies Open in Switzerland, Marion Duvernay of France, who won the Ribeira Sacra Patrimonio de la Humanidad International Ladies Open in Spain and Jenny Haglund, who won the Norrporten Ladies Open in Sweden on home soil.
Inaugurated in 1973, the course is a par 72 of moderate difficulty, designed by Mr. F. W. Hawtree. A comprehensive reform of the greens in 1999, carried out by IGD (Jose Maria Olazabal), has resulted in a technical test, which rewards the precise and accurate player. One of the course’s main defenses is the region’s typical “north wind.”
Although surrounded by a dry and arid landscape, the course is a true “oasis in the desert” with a variety of lush green vegetation which has matured over more than 40 years. Along with the technical challenge, this will provide a stunning visual spectacle for the 84 players in the field.
