Suzann Pettersen will return to compete on the Ladies European Tour. The Norwegian is, together with Anne Van Dam, one of the additions announced by the organisers of the Andalucía Costa del Sol Open de España presented by Oysho. Both will be at the Campo Europa de La Cala Resort, in Mijas, from 26 to 29 November, in the tournament that will bring the European circuit season to a close.
The presence of Pettersen has a significance that goes beyond adding another illustrious name to the list of participants. The Norwegian announced her retirement in September 2019, immediately after sinking the putt at Gleneagles that gave Europe the Solheim Cup. That was her farewell: a collective victory decided with the final stroke of a career that included 15 LPGA Tour titles and two majors.
Since then, Pettersen has only played one more official tournament, the Aramco in Jeddah in 2022. Why is she returning at this moment, at 45? The answer is simple: the Nordic golfer wants to compete again and, above all, aims to take part in the senior tournaments organised by the LPGA Tour. To do so, she needs to compete again and the Open de España opened its doors wide with an invitation. Before the event at La Cala, Pettersen will also play the Aramco in South Korea next week.
Pettersen reached world number two and won the 2007 LPGA Championship and the 2013 Evian Championship. She played nine editions of the Solheim Cup as a player before later taking on the European captaincy.
Indeed, the team competition explains a large part of her connection with the Costa del Sol. At Finca Cortesín 2023 she led the continental side that retained the trophy with that 14-14 tie against the United States, culminating in Carlota Ciganda’s victory over Nelly Korda. A year later she repeated as captain in Virginia. Now she will return with the clubs to face the tour’s players again. She also has a house on the Costa del Sol. She will feel at home.
“I have very special memories of Spain. It is a place that means a lot to me after everything we experienced at Finca Cortesín and I am really looking forward to returning to compete in the Open. It will be fantastic to meet up again with many players, enjoy that competitive feeling once more and be part of a tournament with so much tradition within European golf”, Pettersen explains in the statements provided by the organisers.
Van Dam returns to a championship she has won twice
The other signing announced is Anne Van Dam, whose relationship with the Open de España is based, above all, on her results. The Dutchwoman won the editions of 2018, at La Quinta, and 2019, at Aloha. She shares with Carlota Ciganda and Azahara Muñoz the record of two victories in the championship.
To that double she added a runner-up at Las Brisas in 2023, another reason to mark the Spanish tournament among her favourite events.
“The Open de España has always been a very special tournament for me. Winning twice here is part of some of my best memories as a professional and I am very much looking forward to returning”, Van Dam says in the statement. She has not competed since August, just before the Solheim.
The Dutchwoman, a five-time winner on the Ladies European Tour and an Olympian with the Netherlands, will arrive at La Cala at a different stage of her career, after becoming a mother this year. Her return to competition already took place in April, at the Aramco Championship in Las Vegas, eight weeks after the birth of her daughter. November will therefore be her reunion with the Open de España within this new personal and sporting phase.
Van Dam has also had responsibilities off the ropes this season. She was part of Anna Nordqvist‘s team of vice-captains at the Solheim Cup in Bernardus and also took on the European captaincy of the PING Junior Solheim Cup, two particularly significant roles in the year the competition visited her country.
The Open thus adds two different stories to its season finale: Pettersen’s return to competition and Van Dam’s comeback to a championship where she has already lifted two trophies. For the Dutchwoman, La Cala will also offer the opportunity to seek a third victory that would leave her alone at the top of the roll of honour.
