Sweden 's Cecilia Ekelundh is hoping to make Ladies European Tour history this week by becoming the first player to win a Tour event three times in succession as she sets out to defend the 54-hole €300,000 Estoril Ladies Open of Portugal at Quinta da Marinha Oitavos Golfe, which starts tomorrow.
Ekelundh claimed her first career title at the Aroeira-I course in Lisbon in 2004 and won again in 2005 at Gramacho in the Algarve after a thrilling final day battle.
In women's golf, Annika Sörenstam holds the all-time record for most consecutive wins in the same tournament after claiming the Mizuno Classic five times on the LPGA Tour from 2001 to 2005. England 's Laura Davies has won four times in a row and eight players, including Sörenstam, have achieved three successive wins in the same tournament in America . But no player has yet won three events back-to-back in Europe .
Ekelundh is determined to change that this week and the 28-year-old from Solvesborg is confident enough to suggest that she could emulate the World number one with a hat-trick of wins in the same event.
“I'd love to do it. There's something about Portugal I like and if I can get my play back in shape then I know I can win,” she said.
“It's a thrill to go back and see if you can do it again. When I won the first time I thought maybe it was just lucky but then the second time was really nice and I thought, ‘I know I can do this now'. I think there must be something in the water that makes me play well in Portugal .”
Ekelundh's form leading up to her defence has been mixed with her best finish of seven starts this season a tie for fifth in the French Open. She is currently 19 th in the New Star Money List but with her husband-to-be Johan Aronsson acting as her caddy again after their success in the Algarve last year, she is confident that she can get her game back together.
“Last year after shooting 77 in the first round I needed someone to cheer me up and he was there so hopefully he's my lucky charm,” she suggested.
Last year Ekelundh was 11 shots off the lead after the first round but she followed it with rounds of 66 and 67 to claim the title with a three shot margin of victory. French woman Ludivine Kreutz, who had already won once that season, finished second and her compatriot Gwladys Nocera tied for third with Australian Cherie Byrnes last year in the Algarve .
Ekelundh relishes playing in the kind of strong winds that the Quinta da Marinha Oitavos Golfe course on the coast of Estoril is sure to provide and if she can complete a hat-trick of wins this week, she is hoping to be given another diamond ring to add to the two she received for her last two victories. She and Aronsson have set their wedding date for New Years Eve and the ceremony will take place in a small church in their home town of Solvesborg , where Ekelundh's mother is buried. She is hoping to make the diamond rings into a wedding band.
But with French woman Nocera aiming for her third victory in eight starts this season and coming straight from her second win at last week's BMW Ladies Italian Open, Ekelundh will face a stern challenge in the week ahead.
Eight of Europe's top ten are playing in this week's tournament including four French players: Nocera, who has already won this year in Switzerland and Italy ; Stephanie Arricau, the 2006 KLM Ladies Open Champion; Kreutz, a three-time Tour winner and former Solheim Cup player; and Sophie Giquel, who finished runner-up last week in Italy .
Nocera, the European number one, is the woman to beat on the LET after five consecutive top five finishes in her last five appearances and is ripe for her third career victory.
In addition, there is the 2006 Spanish Open champion Lynnette Brooky from New Zealand and Finland 's Riikka Hakkarainen, who won the Tenerife Ladies Open in April, as well as Spanish rookie Tania Elosegui, who leads the Ryder Cup Wales Rookie of the Year race. Sweden's Linda Wessberg rounds out the current top ten places and Rebecca Hudson, who sits in eleventh position on the Money List, is also in the field and will be hoping for a strong finish to move her into the top ten.
The 2005 European number one Iben Tinning's results have dramatically improved in her first two appearances on Tour since she returned from maternity leave three weeks ago: she missed the cut at the KLM Ladies Open but finished in a tie for third in last week's BMW Ladies Italian Open. If the results continue to improve at the same astonishing rate, all the signs are that the Dane could soon return to the winner's circle.
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