– The season kicks off this Wednesday on the Ladies European Tour. It has been a long wait. It’s been just over two months since the Andalucía Costa del Sol Open de España that closed the course last year at the Real Guadalhorce Golf Club. The grand opening is high-profile, in Saudi Arabia, with a tournament distributing five million dollars. It is the most important tournament, economically speaking, on the LET calendar. In other words, the regular season’s major arrives right at the start. No warm-up. The name of the championship is PIF Saudi Ladies International.
– The participation is also high-level, as it could not be otherwise considering factors such as there being no event this week on the LPGA Tour, the juicy prize pool it offers, and the fact that the top 300 in the world rankings can participate. That being said, beyond the Spanish players, whom we will discuss shortly, in Riyadh are: Charley Hull, Rio Takeda, Nasa Hataoka, Hye Jin Choi, Andrea Lee, Celine Boutier, Albane Valenzuela, Ariya Jutanugarn, Yani Tseng (who became a member after her victory last year), Danielle Kang, Shannon Tan, Akie Iwai, or Ingrid Lindblad, among others.
– However, players of the calibre of Jeeno Thitikul, last year’s winner here and World Number One, Nelly Korda, Number 2, Minjee Lee, or Lydia Ko, who also won this tournament twice, are notably absent.
– The Spanish representation is numerous and strong. It is led by Carlota Ciganda, who is starting her season. The Navarrese skipped the LPGA Tour champions’ tournament to prepare more thoroughly for this event in Arabia. It will be her first official competition since she got married at the end of last year. Additionally, there are Nuria Iturrioz, Luna Sobrón, and Ana Peláez, who qualified through last year’s LET ranking, as well as Julia López, who enters via the top 300 of the world ranking, and Carol Chacarra, Blanca Fernández, and Marta Sanz, who have received one of the ten invitations held by the tournament. Marta Martín is currently the first reserve.
– In total, 120 players will compete for victory over four days, from Wednesday to Saturday. After the second round, a cut will be made with the top 60 and ties.
– The tournament will be held at the Riyadh Golf Club, the same course that hosted the opening of LIV Golf last week. The layout is the same, although the holes are arranged differently. The women play it the same as the members of the Arabian course, while for the LIV event, the order is completely altered. For example, last week the par 5s were holes 3, 6, 10, and 13, and this week with the women, they are 2, 5, 12, and 15. The holes are the same, but the playing order is modified.
– Obviously, they also play different distances. This week’s course is significantly shorter than the LIV one. Specifically, it has been shortened by more than 600 metres. The LET tournament will be played on a course of 6,221 metres.
