MEGHAN MacLAREN'S EARLY 65 IS OVERTAKEN
BY DAAN HUIZING IN JORDAN MIXED OPEN
BY DAAN HUIZING IN JORDAN MIXED OPEN
Multiple Ladies European Tour winner Meghan MacLaren, who created headlines last month when she highlighted golf’s gender pay disparity, let her golf do the talking today when she fired an opening seven-under-par 65 at Ayla Golf Club in Aqaba, to hold the clubhouse lead in the innovative Jordan Mixed Open presented by Ayla, a mixed gender event where men and women golfers are playing in the same field, for the same prize.
MacLaren held a two-stroke clubhouse lead over former Ryder Cup player Barry Lane, Miguel Angel Martin and Rafael Gomez from the Staysure Tour, as well as Pep Angles from the European Challenge Tour, after the first morning at the spectacular Red Sea venue, but European Challenge Tour player Matt Ford was closing in on six-under after 12 holes.
Five further players were in the clubhouse on four-under-par, including Stacy Lee Bregman and Camilla Lennarth from the Ladies European Tour, Peter Fowler from the Staysure Tour and Challenge Tour duo Cormac Sharvin and Oliver Farr.
There are 40 players from each of the Ladies European Tour, over 50s Staysure Tour and European Challenge Tour, plus three high-level amateurs, chasing the trophy.
MacLaren’s father, David, who was involved in setting up the event in his role as European Tour Deputy Chief Operating Officer and Head of the Staysure Tour, was able to walk the course and watch the group featuring Meghan, European Challenge Tour player Calum Hill and Peter Fowler on Thursday.
“He pretended he was out there watching the Staysure Tour player Peter Fowler, but I don’t think anybody believes that. He enjoys watching my golf and he has been instrumental in putting this event together, so I think it was great for him to be out there and see how we compare playing alongside each other,” Meghan said.
It was certainly a great display of golf to watch. The 23-year-old from Northamptonshire, who successfully defended her Women’s New South Wales Open title last month, reeled off eight birdies and a bogey. She started with a pair of birdies, followed by two more on the par-4 sixth and 10th holes respectively. Her only blemish came on the 11th, but she made three consecutive birdies from the 13th and added another at the long 17th hole.
“I drove the ball really well and that took most of the danger out of play. I putted well, even though I missed a couple of chances early on. After that, I was reading the greens well and I think I could have had a couple more at the end there, but you can’t argue with that,” she said.
“Given everything I’ve talked about over the last few months, it is nice to back it up, but I didn’t want to put any extra pressure on myself. I’ve been saying to everybody that the girls’ standard of play will show if the course is set up properly. I’m just happy with how I’ve played and if that puts me near the top against the guys, then that’s just a bonus, really.”
David MacLaren said that he was pleased to see such a wide spread of competitors from each circuit in contention, as the layout was specifically set-up to ensure that the players could compete over an equal playing field.
LINK TO SCOREBOARD
SCOTS' SCORES
68 Ewen Ferguson (T11)
70 Carly Booth, Duncan Stewart (T25)
71 Scott Henry (T45)
74 Craig Ross, Calum Hill, Kylie Henry (T80)
79 Kelsey Macdonald (T118)
Field of 123 players
in 10-year history
The LET Access Series (LETAS) will field the strongest schedule in its history as it celebrates its 10th year in 2019. The series will feature 20 tournaments in nine countries across Europe, an increase from 13 last year. Total prize money also sees a significant increase to over €1 million, up from €590,000 in 2018.
An exciting development for the 2019 LETAS season will see the top 55 players updated after each event throughout the series in a season-long campaign called the ‘Road to La Largue’.
The brand-new format for the LET Access Series sees the newly added La Largue Ladies Championship installed as the season finale, with a prize fund of €80,000.
There are five Ladies European Tour (LET) cards and 15 places to the final stage of the LET Tour School to play for in the tour’s closing event at Golf Club de La Largue with the leading 55 players on the Order of Merit battling it out for the coveted prizes on the beautiful French course from October 4 – 6.
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2019 LETAS Schedule:
April 5 – 7: Terre Blanche Ladies Open - Golf de Terre Blanche, Domaine de Terre Blanche, France (€40,000)
May 3 – 5: VP Bank Ladies Open - Gams-Werdenberg Golf Club, Switzerland (€45,000)
May 15 – 17: Neuchatel Ladies Championship - Neuchatel Golf & Country Club, Saint-Blaise, Switzerland (€40,000)
May 23 – 25: Jabra Ladies Open * - Golf Club de Evian, Evian-les-Bains, France (€150,000)
May 29 – 31: Lavaux Ladies Championship - Golf de Lavaux, Switzerland (€50,000)
June 6 – 8: Viaplay Ladies Finnish Open - Messilä Golf, Lahti, Finland (€40,000)
June 13 – 15: Skaftö Open - Skaftö Golf Club, Fiskebäckskil, Sweden (€50,000)
June 20 – 22: Montauban Ladies Open - Golf de Montauban l'Estang, Montauban, France (€40,000)
June 27 – 29: Belfius Ladies Open - Cleydael Golf & Country Club, Aartselaar, Belgium (€40,000)
July 4 – 7: Saint Malo Golf Open # - Saint Malo Golf Resort, Le Tronchet, France (€45,000)
July 11 – 13: Ribeira Sacra Patrimonio de la Humanidad International Ladies Open - Augas Santas Balneario and Golf Resort, Spain (€35,000)
July 17 – 19: Santander Golf Tour LETAS Valencia - Club de Golf Escorpion, Betera, Spain (€35,000)
August 1 – 3: Czech Ladies Challenge - Golf Resort Konopiště, Czech Republic (€35,000)
August 8 – 10: Anna Nordqvist Västerås Open - Västerås Golf Club, Västerås, Sweden (€35,000)
August 14 – 16: Bossey Ladies Championship - Association du Golf & Country Club de Bossey, France (€40,000)
August 23 – 25: Tipsport Czech Ladies Open * - Golf Resort Karlštejn, Liteň, Czech Republic (€120,000)
August 29 – 31: Scandic PGA Championship - Allerum Golf Club, Helsingborg, Sweden (€42,000)
Sept 12 – 14: WPGA International Challenge - Stoke by Nayland Hotel Golf & Spa, Leavenheath, England (€35,000)
Sept 25 – 28: Rügenwalder Mühle Ladies Open - Golf Club Am Meer, Bad Zwischenahn, Germany (€40,000)
Oct 4 – 6: La Largue Ladies Championship - Golf Club de LaLargue, Mooslargue, France (€80,000)
* denotes dual-ranking event
# denotes mixed event
Labels: JORDAN MIXED OPEN
posted by Colin |
See story on its own page | Thursday, April 04, 2019
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