Tuesday, December 19, 2006

RECORD PRIZE FUND FOR
LADIES EUROPEAN
TOUR IN 2007
The Ladies European Tour’s executive director Alexandra Armas, pictured right, announced the 2007 Ladies European Tour (LET) schedule, which will feature a minimum of 25 events with prize money of more than 11.02 million Euros, the highest ever in LET history.
“The 2006 season has been a huge success with new events in Switzerland and Dubai and has laid the foundations that will enable the Tour to grow in the future,” said Armas.
“However, with four new events in 2007 and the return of the Solheim Cup to Sweden, I am confident that 2007 will be the Tour’s most exciting year to date.
“The Solheim Cup at Halmstad will be at the forefront of everyone’s mind throughout the season and let’s hope that Helen Alfredsson and her team can bring the Cup back to Europe.”
The four new tournaments in 2007 are: the MFS Women’s Australian Open at Royal Sydney, the De Vere Ladies Scottish Open at The Carrick on Loch Lomond, the Northern Ireland Ladies Open at Hilton Templepatrick Hotel and Country Club and the Madrid Ladies Masters in Spain, at a venue soon to be announced.
LIMITED FIELD IN MADRID
The inaugural Madrid Ladies Masters will be a limited field event which will feature a prize fund of Euros 400,000. The tournament will be organised and promoted by Double Match, who also promote the successful Catalonia Ladies Masters and the event will be supported by the Comunidad de Madrid.
The Madrid Ladies Masters, from October 5-7, will be the penultimate event of the season, but there will be a gap of fully two months before the end-of-the-season climax - the Dubai Ladies Masters from December 6 to 9.
COLIN FARQUHARSON WRITES:
The richest event of the LET season continues to be the Evian Masters from July 25 to 28 in France with a prize fund of Euros 2,287,457 which tops the Weetabix Women's British Open - to be played over the Old Course, St Andrews, from August 2 to 5 - with a prize fund of Euros 1,567,164.
There is only one tournament in England - the English Ladies Open at Chart Hills, Kent, from July 6 to 8. It is also the event with the LOWEST prizefund, only Euros 165,000.
The De Vere Scottish Ladies Open has only a marginally higher prize fund of Euros 200,000 - the same as several other events, including the Northern Ireland Ladies Open.
There is no question that the Ladies European Tour is getting stronger . After all, there were only 15 events on the LET schedule for 2004, compared with 25 this coming year.
It's just a pity that the prize money is nowhere near on a par with the men of the European Tour where a tournament winner's cheque is worth far more than the total prize fund for any single LET event, with the notable exception of the Evian Masters and the Weetabix Women's British Open.
Equal rights for women? That doesn't apply when it comes to sponsors and the low prize funds - in the main - they can get away with on the Ladies European Tour.

ANY COMMENTS? E-mail colin@scottishgolfview.com


The LET schedule for 2007 is:

JANUARY
19-21 Women's World Cup (Sun City, South Africa).
FEBRUARY
1-4 Australian Women's Open (Royal Sydney).
8-11 ANZ Ladies Masters (Royal Pines, Queensland).
MAY
3-6 Tenerife Ladies Open (venue tbc). Euros 275,000.
10-13 Spanish Women's Open (Mediterrrane CC, Castellon). Euros 275,000.
17-20 Swiss Ladies Open (Ticino, Switzerland). Euros 525,000.
TBC: Ladies Italian Open (venue tbc). Euros 400,000.
JUNE
1-3 Northern Ireland Ladies Open (Hilton Templepatrick, Belfast). Euros 200,000.
8-10 Dutch Ladies Open (Eindhoven). Euros 180,000.
15-17 Catalonia Ladies Masters (venue tbc). Euros 200,000.
21-24 French Women's Open (Anzin St Aubin). Euros 340,000.
JULY
6-8 English Ladies Open (Chart Hills, Kent). Euros 165,000.
13-15 Hungarian Ladies Open (Tata). Euros 200,000.
25-28 Evian Masters (Evian Les Bains) Euros 2,287,457.
AUGUST
2-5 Weetabix Women's British Open (Old Course) Euros 1,567,164.
9-12 Scandinavian TPC (Malmo). Euros 525,000.
16-19 Wales Ladies Championship of Europe (Llanelli). Euros 522,388.
24-26 SAS Masters (Oslo, Norway). Euros 200,000.
31-Sept 2 Finnair Masters (Helsink). Euros 200,000.
SEPTEMBER
6-9 Nykredit Masters (Helsingor, Denmark). Euros 200,000.
14-16 SOLHEIM CUP (Halmstad, Sweden).
21-23 De Vere Ladies Scottish Open (The Carrick on Loch Lomond) Euros 200,000.
27-30 Austrian Ladies Open (Vienna). Euros 250,000.
OCTOBER
5-7 Madrid Ladies Open (venue tbc). Euros 400,000.
DECEMBER
6-9 Dubai Ladies Masters (Emirates). Euros 500,000.

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