Marianne Skarpnord
Norwegians Marianne Skarpnord, Caroline Martens and Cecilie Lundgreen are among the top players that will tee it up at Hauger Golf Club, Oslo, in the Ladies Norwegian Challenge from Wednesday 4th – Friday 6th July.
The field also includes the current LET Access Series order of merit leader, Marion Ricordeau from France, second ranked Pamela Pretswell from Scotland and third ranked player, Russian Anastasia Kostina.
There are 17 different nationalities represented by the field of competitors, including those from as far afield as the United States, Australia and India.
Norway will be represented by five women professionals and 16 leading amateurs. Sweden has the largest representation with 56 players in total.
Norwegian Marianne Skarpnord is the most successful player in the field with two tournament victories on the Ladies European Tour, where she is ranked 19th on the 2012 ISPS Handa order of merit with a season best tie for second in Morocco.
Local player Caroline Martens has made three cuts from seven events this year in her first full season on the LET while and Cecilie Lundgreen recently earned her first professional win at the Kristianstad Åhus Ladies Open in Sweden.
Frenchwoman Marion Ricordeau won the Terre Blanche Ladies Open at the beginning of the season and will be looking to keep the momentum going along with Pamela Pretswell, who recently won the Ljungbyhed Park PGA Ladies Open in Sweden and Anastasia Kostina, who won the GolfStream Ladies Open in Ukraine.
The top three players on the 2012 LETAS Ranking will earn membership of the Ladies European Tour for the 2013 season and those three aforementioned will be looking to cement their places for next year.
Format of play for the Norwegian Ladies Challenge is 54 hole stroke play competition with a cut to the leading 25 players and ties after 36 holes.
The field will compete for a total purse of €25,000 in an event that will be staged by the LET Access Series and the Nordea Tour in cooperation with the Norwegian Golf Federation.
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. See more information on the official website, www.letaccess.com.
About the Norwegian Golf Federation:
Norwegian Golf Federation (NGF) is the third largest federation within Norwegian sports. With a total of 122,000 memberships spread over 184 golf clubs, the federation facilitates golf offers regardless of age, skills and preconditions. NGF has the responsibility and authority to develop the Norwegian elite golf through Team Norway Rio ’16 as well as age-specific national teams.
