This Friday marks the start of the first of five Aramco Team Series of the Ladies European Tour scheduled for 2024. It takes place in Tampa, Florida, on the Feather Sound Country Club course. It has a purse of one million dollars and the defending champion is the Spanish Carlota Ciganda. However, with nuances. She won the Florida Aramco in 2023, but it was played in another city and on another course, specifically at the Trump International in West Palm Beach. She defends the title, but the territory is unknown.
Carlota leads a large Spanish expedition of eight players. Accompanying the Navarrese are Fátima Fernández Cano, Carmen Alonso, Nuria Iturrioz, Teresa Toscano, Marta Sanz, Ana Peláez and María Hernández. As you know, the LET tournaments sponsored by Aramco feature an individual mode, the usual one, and another for teams made up of three professionals and one amateur.
This week we will have a completely Spanish team in contention, captained by Nuria Iturrioz and escorted by Carmen Alonso and María Hernández. In addition, Carlota and Ana Peláez are also captains, while Fátima has been chosen by the Italian Alessandra Fanali, Teresa by the Dane Broch Estrup and Marta has joined the team of the Swedish Caroline Hedwall. It is the first tournament of the Aramco Series season. The last one in 2023 was in Saudi Arabia and the team competition was won by the one led by Carlota Ciganda. Hopefully we can continue that sequence this week.
In addition to the presence of the eight Spaniards, the tournament features top-notch players such as Charley Hull, Lexi Thompson, Megan Khang, Brittany Lincicome, Anne Van Dam or Marina Alex. In any case, the main protagonist is Sophia Popov. The German, winner of the British Open in 2020, returns to competition after 18 months absent. She has not played since August 2022. First she missed several tournaments due to a shoulder injury and then she had her first child. He was born in June 2023.
The course is in very good condition and points to a fun week in terms of birdie production. It is normal to see very low cards, unless the weather conditions get complicated, something that is not expected.
The other four Aramco Series of the year will be played in Seoul, London, Riyadh and another location in Asia that is yet to be determined.
