Ladies European Tour

Ladies European Tour
Current season, competition or edition:
Current sports event 2016 Ladies European Tour
Sport Golf
Founded 1979
Countries Based in Europe.
Schedule includes events outside Europe, in Asia, Africa, and the United States.
Most recent champion(s) England Charley Hull
(2014 Order of Merit winner)
Most titles England Laura Davies (45)
Related competitions European Tour
Official website LadiesEuropeanTour.com

The Ladies European Tour is a professional golf tour for women which was founded in 1979. It is based in England. Like many UK-based sports organisations it is a company limited by guarantee, a legal structure which enables it to focus on maximising returns to its members through prize money, rather than on making profits for investors. The tour is run by a Board of Directors and a Players' Council. Most of the players on the tour are European, and the largest non-European contingent by far comes from Australia.

History

The U.S.-based LPGA was founded in 1950, but women's professional golf was slower to get established in Europe. In 1978 the Women's Professional Golf Association (WPGA) was formed as part of Professional Golfers' Association of Great Britain and Ireland and a tour was established the following year.

In 1988 the tour members decided to form an independent company, the Women Professional Golfers' European Tour Limited. This new company moved away from the PGA's headquarters at The Belfry and set up its own headquarters at the Tytherington Club in Cheshire. In 1998 the Tour changed its name to European Ladies' Professional Golf Association Limited and again in July 2000 to its current name, Ladies European Tour Limited. In 2008 the tour relocated to offices at the Buckinghamshire Golf Club, which is just outside London.[1]

Getting a women's tour established in Europe was not easy. Whereas men's tour golf in Europe developed in parallel with that in the United States, the women's tour had to compete against a well established rival in the U.S. LPGA Tour from its foundation. In 2005 the tour dismissed its fifth chief executive in eight years as it continued to find it very difficult to compete effectively against the LPGA Tour for players and media attention, even in its home continent.

However it then entered a period of growth, adding six new events in 2006 and 2007. A record 26 official money events were scheduled for the 2008 season, which also saw the introduction of a new team competition called the European Ladies Golf Cup. Also, for the first time in several years, the LET scheduled an event opposite one of the LPGA's majors, with the ABN AMRO Open held opposite the LPGA Championship. The schedule dropped to 23 official money events in 2009, but increased to 25 for 2010. In both years, the Ladies Open of Portugal was scheduled opposite the LPGA Championship.

The current President of the Women's Golf Association of India, Kavita Singh has been appointed to the LET Board as one of its non-executive directors for a period of three years.[2]

Tournaments

The 2014 schedule was announced on 7 December 2013 with 22 events counting toward the Order of Merit (the biennial Solheim Cup, held in odd-numbered years, is also an official LET event).[3] The total of events has been roughly stable since 2010; the peak was 28 in 2008. The two richest events by far are The Evian Championship (historically the Evian Masters) and the Women's British Open, which are co-sanctioned by the LPGA Tour and have prize funds of roughly €2.4 million and €2.2 million at January 2014 exchange rates (fixed at US$3.25 million and 3 million) respectively. The next-richest is the Women's Australian Open, co-sanctioned by both the ALPG Tour and LPGA Tour, with a prize fund of about €900,000 (fixed at US$1.2 million). Three other events (in Morocco, England and Dubai) have prize funds of €450,000 to €500,000, with the remainder having prize funds of between €200,000 and €400,000. Total prize money in 2014 Order of Merit events is expected to approach €12 million.

Unlike in men's golf, the European and American tours do not share a common set of majors, although the Women's British Open and The Evian Championship are currently recognised as majors by both organisations. The significance of this is limited as the LPGA Tour is so dominant in global women's golf that "women's majors" usually refers to the LPGA majors, even in Europe.

2016 schedule and results

Past tour schedules

Individual LET tournaments have purses fixed in a mixture of Australian dollars, British pounds, euro, New Zealand dollars and U.S. dollars, so year on year changes in the total prize fund reflect exchange rate fluctuations as well as prize fund movements in constant currencies.

Year Ranking
tournaments
Countries[4] Total purse [5]
2014 23 18 €$11,502,840
2013 22 17 €10,870,618
2012 24 19 €11,806,680
2011 25 20 €11,182,500
2010 25 21 €11,055,525
2009 21 16 €9,940,358
2008 28 21 €11,647,814
2007 24 18 €10,563,950
2006 20 16 €9,674,536
2005 18 14 €7,875,255
2004 15 10 €7,298,245
2003 14 10 €7,442,162
2002 14 10 €7,626,724

Order of Merit and seasonal award winners

The Order of Merit is awarded to the leading money winner on the tour, though for some years in the past a points system was used. The Player's Player of the Year award is voted by the members of the Tour for the member they believe has contributed the most to the season on the Tour. The Rookie of the Year (known as the Bill Johnson Trophy from 1999 to 2003 and now the Ryder Cup Wales Rookie of the Year) is awarded to the leading first-year player on the Order of Merit rankings.

YearOrder of MeritPlayer of the YearRookie of the YearLowest stroke average
2015 China Shanshan Feng €399,213 Denmark Nicole Broch Larsen Denmark Emily Kristine Pedersen China Shanshan Feng 69.78
2014 England Charley Hull €263,097 Wales Amy Boulden Norway Suzann Pettersen 70.25
2013 Norway Suzann Pettersen[6] €518,448 South Africa Lee-Anne Pace England Charley Hull Norway Suzann Pettersen 68.20
2012 Spain Carlota Ciganda[7] €251,290 Spain Carlota Ciganda[7] Spain Carlota Ciganda[7] China Shanshan Feng 69.00
2011 Japan Ai Miyazato €363,080 Sweden Caroline Hedwall Sweden Caroline Hedwall Norway Suzann Pettersen 69.36
2010 South Africa Lee-Anne Pace €339,518 South Africa Lee-Anne Pace South Korea I.K. Kim Norway Suzann Pettersen 69.75
2009 Sweden Sophie Gustafson €281,315 Scotland Catriona Matthew Sweden Anna Nordqvist Scotland Catriona Matthew 70.83
2008 France Gwladys Nocera €391,840 France Gwladys Nocera England Melissa Reid Norway Suzann Pettersen 68.60
2007 Sweden Sophie Gustafson €222,081 Germany Bettina Hauert Sweden Louise Stahle Sweden Sophie Gustafson 70.96
2006 England Laura Davies €471,727 France Gwladys Nocera Australia Nikki Garrett Sweden Annika Sörenstam 68.33
2005 Denmark Iben Tinning €204,672 Denmark Iben Tinning Spain Elisa Serramià England Laura Davies 70.35
2004 England Laura Davies 777.26 pts France Stéphanie Arricau Finland Minea Blomqvist England Laura Davies 70.31
2003 Sweden Sophie Gustafson 917.95 pts Sweden Sophie Gustafson Australia Rebecca Stevenson Sweden Sophie Gustafson 69.93
2002 Spain Paula Martí 6,589 pts Sweden Annika Sörenstam England Kirsty S. Taylor Sweden Sophie Gustafson 70.59
2001 Spain Raquel Carriedo 10,661 pts Spain Raquel Carriedo Norway Suzann Pettersen Scotland Catriona Matthew 70.08
2000 Sweden Sophie Gustafson 8,777 pts Sweden Sophie Gustafson Italy Giulia Sergas Sweden Sophie Gustafson 71.21
1999 England Laura Davies £204,522 England Laura Davies England Elaine Ratcliffe England Laura Davies 70.50
1998 Sweden Helen Alfredsson £125,975 Sweden Sophie Gustafson United States Laura Philo England Laura Davies 71.96
1997 England Alison Nicholas £94,590 England Alison Nicholas Sweden Anna Berg France Marie-Laure de Lorenzi 72.20
1996 England Laura Davies £110,880 England Laura Davies Australia Anne-Marie Knight France Marie-Laure de Lorenzi 71.39
1995 Sweden Annika Sörenstam £130,324 Sweden Annika Sörenstam Australia Karrie Webb Sweden Annika Sörenstam 69.75
1994 Sweden Liselotte Neumann £102,750 n/a United States Tracy Hanson Sweden Liselotte Neumann 69.56
1993 Australia Karen Lunn £81,266 n/a Sweden Annika Sörenstam England Laura Davies 71.63
1992 England Laura Davies £66,333 n/a France Sandrine Mendiburu England Laura Davies 70.35
1991 Australia Corinne Dibnah £89,058 n/a Wales Helen Wadsworth England Alison Nicholas 71.71
1990 England Trish Johnson £83,043 n/a United States Pearl Sinn England Trish Johnson 70.64
1989 France Marie-Laure de Lorenzi £77,534 n/a Sweden Helen Alfredsson France Marie-Laure de Lorenzi 70.84
1988 France Marie-Laure de Lorenzi £109,360 n/a South Africa Laurette Maritz France Marie-Laure de Lorenzi 72.30
1987 Scotland Dale Reid £53,815 n/a England Trish Johnson Scotland Dale Reid 72.70
1986 England Laura Davies £37,500 n/a Spain Patricia González England Laura Davies 72.09
1985 England Laura Davies £21,735 n/a England Laura Davies
1984 Scotland Dale Reid £28,239 n/a England Kitrina Douglas Scotland Dale Reid 73.01
1983 Scotland Muriel Thomson £9,225 n/a n/a England Beverly Huke 74.98
1982 England Jenny Lee Smith £12,551 n/a n/a n/a
1981 England Jenny Lee Smith £13,518 n/a n/a n/a
1980 Scotland Muriel Thomson £8,008 n/a n/a n/a
1979 Scotland Catherine Panton £4,965 n/a n/a n/a

Notes and references

  1. "About the Ladies European Tour". Ladies European Tour. Retrieved 17 December 2011.
  2. "Kavita Singh is first Indian woman on LET Board of Directors". The Times of India. 9 July 2012.
  3. "The 2014 Ladies European Tour Schedule Announced" (Press release). Ladies European Tour. 7 December 2013. Retrieved 29 October 2014.
  4. Individual events counting towards the Order of Merit only. England, Scotland, Wales and Northern Ireland counted separately.
  5. Individual events counting towards the Order of Merit only. Excludes team events and qualifying school.
  6. "Pettersen wins ISPS HANDA Order of Merit". Ladies European Tour. 7 December 2013. Retrieved 7 December 2013.
  7. 1 2 3 "Carlota Ciganda wins the LET’s 2012 Rolex Rookie of the Year Award". Ladies European Tour. 20 December 2012. Retrieved 7 February 2013.

See also

External links

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