LET announces one-million-dollar event
The Ladies European Tour schedule in 2013 will feature a one-million-dollar event as the World Ladies Championship in China has significantly raised the prize fund for the second edition.
The tournament will be played March 7-10 at Mission Hills Resort in Haikou, Hainan, with the purse increased from $600 000 to $1 million US dollars.
The unique tournament features an individual strokeplay element, with an $800 000 US prize fund and a team competition with a purse of $200 000.
Players can qualify for the event based on the world rankings, China LPGA Tour and Ladies European Tour order of merits. All participants in the tournament will get to compete for individual prize money.
The country teams will be made up of the two highest ranked players in the field and their individual scores will be added for the team event.
The first edition of the World Ladies Championship was a great success, played on a world class venue and a very strong competitive field of 108 players from 23 countries represented in the individual event and 19 teams representing their countries. In 2012 the individual event was won by Feng Shanshan and China won the overall team event represented by Feng and Yiling Ye.
Feng said: “I am really looking forward to defending at Mission Hills Resort Haikou as I really enjoyed the inaugural edition. It was such a successful week for me winning in front of my home fans and I have many great memories so hopefully I can retain both titles next year.”
The Ladies European Tour’s Executive Director Alexandra Armas commented: “I am thrilled to announce this prize fund increase as it really serves to demonstrate what a quality tournament this is and how successful the inaugural event was in 2012. Mission Hills Resort Haikou is the perfect venue to stage an event of this magnitude, with fantastic golf courses, luxury hotels and fabulous entertainment and all of the services you would expect from a first class resort. The players all thoroughly enjoyed the experience and I would like to thank Mr Tenniel Chu for making everyone feel so welcome and for his highly valued support of women’s professional golf.”
