LET announces 24-event 2020 schedule
Left to right: European Tour Executive Director Keith Pelley, Ladies European Tour Chair Marta Figueras-Dotti, Ladies European Tour CEO Alexandra Armas, European Solheim Cup Captain Catriona Matthew and LPGA Commissioner Mike Whan together at the LET’s headquarters at Buckinghamshire Golf Club in England, for an historic board meeting, on Friday.
The new-look Ladies European Tour will see its members play for a combined prize fund of almost €18 million in 2020 — an increase of €4.5 million on 2019.
The 2020 schedule will feature 24 tournaments, including 15 in Europe, in addition to August’s Olympic Games in Tokyo, Japan.
The Race to Costa del Sol, offering €250,000 between the top three finishers on the official ranking, will commence with the Australian Ladies Classic Bonville in February and conclude with the Andalucía Costa del Sol Open de España Femenino in November, the latter having doubled its prize fund to €600,000.
There is no Irish event named though there is a “UK event” confirmed for August 6-9, which is likely to be hte ISPS Handa World Invitational at Galgorm Castle and Massereene when European Tour/Challenge Tour and LET players tee it up in separate events on the same courses for equal prize money.
AlexaHowever, the 2020 LET schedule includes two new events in Sweden - the €1.5 million Scandinavian Mixed Hosted by Henrik & Annika and the Creekhouse Ladies Open. There is also a new $1 million event in Saudi Arabia, The Saudi Ladies Championship, as well as the Mithra Belgian Ladies Open, the Dutch Ladies Open and the VP Bank Swiss Ladies Open.
The 15 events in Europe also include the Jabra Ladies Open, La Reserva de Sotogrande Invitational, Estrella Damm Mediterranean Ladies Open, The Evian Championship, Aberdeen Standard Investments Ladies Scottish Open, AIG Women’s British Open, TIPSPORT Czech Ladies Open and Lacoste Ladies Open de France, as well as a new event in the United Kingdom.
The significantly improved schedule has come about thanks to the new LPGA-LET Joint Venture, with a new Board of Directors working together to grow the opportunities for LET Members, especially in the continent of Europe.
Chaired by LPGA Commissioner Mike Whan, the new Joint Venture Board includes six Directors from the LET (Marta Figueras-Dotti, Eleanor Givens, Catriona Matthew, Liz Young, Justin Abbott and Alastair Ruxton), four Directors from the LPGA (Commissioner Mike Whan, Liz Moore, Kathy Milthorpe and Mike Nichols), one from The R&A (Chief Executive Martin Slumbers) and one from the European Tour (Chief Executive Keith Pelley).
“The LET and the LPGA only began working together in September 2019, but we’ve been blown away with the results in the first 90 days and the positive response from across the golf industry,” said Whan.
“With overall purse increases and seven new events, our athletes will have more opportunities for success. It’s exciting to think what we can accomplish after a full year of working with our new Board. We have a long way to go, but I’m so happy to say that this is the best position that European women’s professional golf has ever been in.”
LET CEO Alexandra Armas commented: “I want to thank all the federations who have shown their belief in our new team and vision, but also recognise the important contribution of our existing event Promoters and sponsors, whose long-term support and commitment is immensely valuable to our organisation. What we have achieved in the last 90 days in incredible and this is just the start of a new direction for the LET.”
Victorious 2019 Solheim Cup captain Catriona Matthew OBE believes that the LET will hit new heights in 2020.
She said: “I committed myself to playing on the LET in Europe last year and I couldn’t be more excited about what’s been achieved over the last 90 days to improve the schedule. This is a tour that existing players and those joining for the first time should be proud to be part of. I’ll be keeping an eye on some of the exciting young players coming through as we look ahead to retaining the Solheim Cup in Toledo next year.”
Solheim Cup player Anne van Dam is happy to be involved as an ambassador for the new Dutch Ladies Open, which will be played at her home course, Rosendealsche Golf Club, in Arnhem.
She said: “It’s important to have an event in your country to help develop the game and inspire the next generation, just as I was inspired when I was able to watch and then play in the Dutch Ladies Open when I was young. The 2020 schedule is looking really strong and I’m so pleased to have an event in the Netherlands.”
Jeroen Stevens, Director of the Netherlands Golf Federation, said that the organisation is proud to have a new LET event, with van Dam as the event ambassador.
“The LPGA commitment toward the LET was what the NGF Board needed to commit to signing a three-year contract with the LET, to promote ladies’ golf in the Netherlands,” he said.
“We strongly believe that it is essential to have more female golfers, to grow the game of golf in our country. We are therefore convinced that we will prove in the coming years that investing in women’s golf is not only logical, from a diversity point of view, but also from the commercial perspective.
“We thank the LET and LPGA for giving us the opportunity to prove that golf is a sport for women, men and children of all ages.”
2020 LET Schedule
Date Title/Location - Euro/USD prize fund
Feb 20-23 Australian Ladies Classic Bonville, Bonville Golf Resort, Bonville, New South Wales, Australia 240,000*
Feb 27 – March 1 Women’s New South Wales Open, Dubbo Golf Club, New South Wales, Australia 210,000*
March 12-14 Investec South African Women’s Open, Westlake Golf Club, Cape Town, South Africa 200,000*
March 19-22 The Saudi Ladies Championship, Royal Greens Golf & Country Club, King Abdullah Economic City, Saudi Arabia 901,000*/$1,000,000
May 7-9 Jabra Ladies Open, Evian Resort Golf Club, Evian-les-Bains, France 200,000
May 14-17 La Reserva de Sotogrande Invitational, La Reserva Club de Sotogrande, Sotogrande, Spain 300,000
May 29-31 The Mithra Belgian Ladies Open, Naxhelet, Wanxe, Belgium 200,000
June 4-7 Lalla Meryem Cup, Royal Golf Dar Es Salam (Blue Course), Rabat, Morocco 450,000
June 11-14 Scandinavian Mixed Hosted by Henrik & Annika, Bro Hoff Slott Golf Club (Stadium Course), Stockholm, Sweden 1,500,000
July 2-5 Dutch Ladies Open, Rosendealsche Golf Club, Arnhem, the Netherlands 200,000
July 16-19 Estrella Damm Mediterranean Ladies Open, Club de Golf Terramar, Sitges, Spain 300,000
July 23-26 Evian Championship, Evian Resort Golf Club, Evian-les-Bains, France 3,700,000*/$4,100,000
Aug 5-8 Tokyo 2020 Olympic Games, Kasumigaseki Country Club (East Course), Saitama, Japan N/A
Aug 6-9 UK Event Confirmed 991,500*/$1,100,000
Aug 13-16 Aberdeen Standard Investments Ladies Scottish Open, The Renaissance Club, North Berwick, Scotland 1,352,000/$1,500,000
Aug 20-23 AIG Women’s British Open, Royal Troon, Ayrshire, Scotland 4,055,000*/$4,500,000
Aug 28-30 TIPSPORT Czech Ladies Open, Golf Course Karlstejn, Liten, Czech Republic 200,000
Sept 3-6 Creekhouse Ladies Open, Kristianstads Golfklubb (Åhus Östra Course), Åhus, Sweden 400,000
Sept 10-12 VP Bank Swiss Ladies Open, Golfpark Holzhäusern, Ennetsee, Switzerland 200,000
Sept 17-20 Lacoste Ladies Open de France, Golf du Médoc (Chateaux Course), Le Pian-Médoc, France 325,000
Sept 24-27 Ladies European Thailand Championship, Phoenix Gold Golf & Country Club, Thailand 300,000
Oct 1-4 Hero Women’s Indian Open, DLF Golf & Country Club, Gurgaon, India 450,000*/$500,000
Nov 4-6 Omega Dubai Moonlight Classic, Emirates Golf Club (Faldo Course), Dubai, United Arab Emirates
260,000
Nov 12-15 Event Confirmed 300,000
Nov 26-29 Andalucía Costa del Sol Open de España Femenino, location TBC, Spain 600,000
*subject to currency exchange rates
