Sarah Schober
The top ten players on the 2016 LETAS ranking will be teeing up this week in the Azores Ladies Open, when the event returns to Golf de Batalha on the island of São Miguel, from the 30 Sept – 2 Oct. The venue has also played host to the European Senior Tour, PGA Euro Pro Tour and the PGA Tour Portugal, in addition to the SATA Azores Open.
There are just three events remaining on this year’s schedule, with the top 5 players on the LETAS Order of Merit progressing on to the Ladies European Tour for the 2017 season, and a further 15 players going straight to the final stage of the LET’s Lalla Aicha Tour School.
Austria’s Sarah Schober leads the 2016 ranking by a slim margin of 672 points from Spain’s Maria Parra, with 5,000 points available for the winner this week. The 24 year-old has enjoyed a very consistent season but is yet to record her first LETAS win. Two runner up placings have indicated that Schober’s first victory may not be far away.
Parra has just turned professional after a very successful amateur career. The 19 year-old left the amateur game ranked 4th in the world and finished in a tie for 44th place in last week’s LET Andalucía Costa del Sol Open de Espana Feminino, her first event as a professional. The young Spaniard has already enjoyed success in Portugal, winning the International Amateur Championship at the Montado Hotel & Golf Resort in Palmela earlier this year.
The sixth edition of the Azores Ladies Open will once again be supported by the Regional Government and organised by Stream Plan, who have great experience in organising sports events such as the Volvo Ocean Race and Dakar Rally.