The Ladies European Tour season gets into full swing this week with the €242,000 Tenerife Ladies Open at the spectacular Abama Golf Resort from April 27-30, where Frenchwoman Ludivine Kreutz defends the title against yet another high class field in the Canary Islands.
It is the first European stop on the 2006 schedule and just over a year since Kreutz claimed her second Ladies European Tour title at Golf Costa Adeje, winning by two shots over Germany’s Miriam Nagl.
Many of the players who contested the 2005 event will be doing their best to relieve Kreutz of her crown including the 2004 champion Diana Luna of Italy and the in form Welsh woman Becky Brewerton.
Kreutz, 32, from Paris, won’t be dethroned too easily. She is the current number one in the New Star Money List after finishing tied for sixth in the Tour’s first full field event of the year: the Australian ANZ Ladies Masters. The Frenchwoman is in fine form following last season’s two wins on the Ladies European Tour and her debut Solheim Cup appearance and she is certainly looking forward to getting back into competitive tournament golf.
“I’m really excited to be going back to defend my title in Tenerife and it would be great to win the tournament twice,” she admitted. “This year I want to win again, collect as many Solheim Cup points as possible and to be in contention at the majors, maybe even win one of them.
“I'm still working on my flexibility and it's helping me with my technique. I have a better feel to my swing, which is helping me to feel more confident and I'm really excited to be getting back into the full season.”
All four past tournament champions are competing in this, the fifth Tenerife Ladies Open.
Diana Luna of Italy, who won in 2004, tied for third place with Wales’ Eleanor Pilgrim last year. Germany’s Elisabeth Esterl, who won in 2003 and Spaniard Raquel Carriedo, who won the inaugural event in 2002, are both hoping to repeat their past performances. Esterl, who is now Chairman of the Ladies European Tour’s Players’ Council, secured her second Tour title at the 2004 KLM Ladies Open, while Carriedo, winner of the Ladies European Tour’s 2001 Order of Merit, aims to add a fifth Tour victory to her resume in this rare appearance.
Carriedo, 34, from Zaragoza, is playing on an invitation after retiring from competitive golf at the end of 2004 to start a family. She gave birth to her first son, Arturo, in June last year after marrying a childhood friend from her home town.
Catrin Nilsmark, The 2003 and 2005 European Solheim Cup Captain, and England’s Trish Johnson, also add their considerable presence at the Abama Golf Resort.
In addition, eight of last year’s winners will tee up including Australian Shani Waugh, Sweden’s Cecilia Ekelundh and England’s Kirsty Taylor.
The Abama golf course is set in a stunning location high above the Tenerife coast line with outstanding panoramic views of the Atlantic Ocean and neighbouring islands.
The course is one of Dave Thomas’ most challenging to date with many holes cut through avenues of some 25,000 palm trees and 22 lakes. There are hidden hazards, narrow fairways and some mammoth undulating testing putting surfaces. The course requires accuracy, length and solid iron play and it is a player with wise course management skills, a deft putting stroke and a good imagination who will rise to the top come Sunday.
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