A four-time winner on the LET, Ashok holed out for eagle from the bunker on the par-5 18th as she made the turn.
India’s Aditi Ashok has already established herself as one of the hottest players in golf this season. After opening the Ladies European Tour season with a victory at the Magical Kenya Ladies Open, Ashok finished third the next week in Morocco and now leads the Aramco Saudi Ladies International by two strokes.
Ashok’s head-turning back nine (her front nine) at Royal Greens Golf and Country Club included five birdies and an eagle. She followed that opening 29 with a 37 on a windy afternoon to shoot 66 and take the lead over World No. 1 Lydia Ko at 13 under par.
Ko followed her opening 64 with a 69 and sits tied with American Lilia Vu (66) at 11 under.
“I think it was just whenever I stepped to the ball, I just knew the ball was going in,” said Ashok of her clinic on the greens early one. “Just one of those days where everything works in your favor.”
A four-time winner on the LET, Ashok holed out for eagle from the bunker on the par-5 18th as she made the turn.
As for this impressive early-year form, Ashok said she worked on her driving quite a bit in the offseason, trying to increase her swing speed. She finished last season 99th on the LPGA’s CME points list. The top 100 keep their cards.
“Just went to the gym a lot,” she said. “I guess after last year, I traveled so much I lost some weight, so I was trying to gain that weight back.
“I’m nowhere near what I want to be. It’s a work in progress.”
— Aramco Saudi Ladies International (@AramcoLadiesInt) February 17, 2023
Ko, who is playing in her first event as a newlywed, said the wind picked up so much that couldn’t widen her stance enough to stabilize her putter.
“I think on 16 I ended up making the putt,” she said, “but hit it so far off the middle of the club face there is probably no like control in that area. It’s just one of those days that you know it’s going to be tough. It’s tough for everyone.”
The Saudi Ladies International, a Ladies European Tour-sanctioned event, features 15 of the top 30 players in the Rolex Rankings. The $5 million prize fund now matches that of the men’s event in Saudi. It’s the largest purse in women’s golf outside of the majors and the LPGA’s season-ending CME Group Tour Championship ($7 million).
The LET’s Saudi-backed events, which total six in 2023, remain controversial given the wide-ranging human rights abuses Saudi Arabia has been accused of, especially toward women.
Former No. 1 Atthaya Thitikul tumbled down the board after a second-round 72 while Lexi Thompson rebounded with a 68 to move into a share of 22nd.
Hannah Green, Linn Grant, Gabriela Ruffels, Anne van Dam, Jeongeun Lee6 and Meghan MacLaren were among those who missed the cut.
The World No. 1 fired an 8-under 64 in the opening round of the Aramco Saudi Ladies International to co-lead.
Lydia Ko picked up where she left off in 2022 – on top. The World No. 1 fired an 8-under 64 in the opening round of the Aramco Saudi Ladies International to co-lead with Pajaree Anannarukarn.
“It’s cool to see I have an officially under par round as a Mrs.” said Ko, who closed the 2022 season with victory at the CME Group Tour Championship and a host of year-end accolades.
From there she married her sweetheart, Jun Chung, Dec. 30 at the Myeongdong Cathedral in Seoul.
“I had a few weeks to prepare. for this one, but I played a lot of golf, maybe a bit too much golf, on my honeymoon,” said Ko. “But my husband loves golf and that’s something that we can mutually do together, so we took advantage of that. And actually, thanks to him it made my transition into off-season practice a lot easier.
“Yeah, if somebody said, hey, you’re going to play eight rounds of golf over two weeks on your honeymoon I probably would’ve laughed at that person, but it became reality and I had so much fun.”
She even recorded an ace alongside Chung on her honeymoon.
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Ko, who won this event in 2021, recorded eight birdies on Thursday at Royal Greens Golf & Country Club in a bogey-free round, noting that she felt really confident with her putter. The Kiwi started the season with a new caddie, hiring veteran David Jones for the season.
“The wind is such a big factor on this golf course,” she said, “so when it’s playing to your advantage you kind of want to use that.”
The Saudi Ladies International, a Ladies European Tour-sanctioned event, features 15 of the top 30 players in the Rolex Rankings. The $5 million prize fund now matches that of the men’s event in Saudi. It’s the largest purse in women’s golf outside of the majors and the LPGA’s season-ending CME Group Tour Championship ($7 million).
The LET’s Saudi-backed events, which total six in 2023, remain controversial given the wide-ranging human rights abuses Saudi Arabia has been accused of, especially toward women.
Last season’s LPGA Rookie of the Year, Atthaya Thitikul, is one stroke back along with recent LET winner Aditi Ashok and Jung Min Hong. Ashok won the Magical Kenya Ladies Open earlier this month and followed it with a third place last week in Morocco.
A total of 13 major champions are in this week’s field, including Lexi Thompson, who opened with an even-par 72 with bogeys on two of the par 5s. Three-time major winners In Gee Chun and Anna Nordqvist opened with a 70 and 75, respectively.
Nordqvist, one of several female professionals personally sponsored by Golf Saudi, recently told the Swedish news agency TT that she had ended her deal with the Saudis. Nordqvist wore an Aramco Team Series hat when she won the 2021 AIG Women’s British Open at Carnoustie and had the Golf Saudi logo on her sleeve.
Nordqvist said her decision to part ways had to do with the backlash she received from the partnership, and that she will continue to play in Aramco-sponsored events throughout the season.
“It didn’t really turn out the way I thought it would,” Nordqvist told TT in an interview.
“I need to think about myself and I haven’t felt good about this,” she said, adding: “I wasn’t really prepared to get such an incredible amount of hatred and mean comments from people who don’t even know me.”
Abstaining from events backed by the PIF would cripple an LET player’s chance to make a living.
Three years ago, Meghan MacLaren took a rare and bold stance against playing in the first women’s professional golf event ever held in Saudi Arabia, saying that competing in the Kingdom didn’t fit with her values. The 28-year-old Englishwoman withdrew over concerns that the country was “sportswashing” its human rights record.
As the presence of Saudi Arabia money continues to grow in women’s golf, however, MacLaren’s stance has evolved.
This week the three-time winner on the Ladies European Tour is one of 120 players who will tee it up in the Aramco Saudi Ladies International, which features a $5 million purse, the highest prize fund in women’s golf outside of the majors and the LPGA’s season-ending CME Group Tour Championship.
Considering that nearly a dozen events on the LET schedule last year featured purses below 300,000 euros, a non-major purse at $5 million offers a life-changing opportunity for many in the field, which features 60 Ladies European Tour players, 50 from the top 300 in the Rolex Rankings and 10 sponsor invites.
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The winner at Royal Greens Golf & Country Club in King Abdullah Economic City will receive $750,000.
“At some point, you have to reconcile,” said MacLaren. “This is my competitive nature and my profession versus how do I want to live my life? What do I want to stand up for?
“You have a voice to a certain point, but also, the better golfer I am and the more recognizable golfer I am, the louder I can use that voice.”
As things currently stand, abstaining from competing in events backed by the Kingdom’s Public Investment Fund would cripple an LET player’s chance to make a living and keep her card on that tour.
In addition to this week’s Saudi Ladies International, which features the same size purse the men played for earlier this month in Saudi, there are five stops around the world in the LET’s Aramco Team Series. Total prize money for all six Saudi-backed events on the LET is $10 million.
With two majors accounting for $13.8 million in prize money, Saudi money represents more than 40 percent of what remains.
“At the end of the day, money is power,” said MacLaren. “We live in a world where that is the truth, and you can’t get around that. How you choose to use that money will say a lot about who you are as a person.”
The Saudi Ladies International field will feature 15 of the top 30 players in the world, including No. 1 Lydia Ko and Lexi Thompson, who won an Aramco event last fall in New York. Thompson will not play in the LPGA events in Thailand and Singapore the following two weeks.
Three-time major winner Anna Nordqvist was one of several female professionals personally sponsored by Golf Saudi. She recently told the Swedish news agency TT that she had ended her sponsorship deal with the Saudis. Nordqvist wore an Aramco Team Series hat when she won the 2021 AIG Women’s British Open at Carnoustie and had the Golf Saudi logo on her sleeve.
Her decision to part ways, however, had to do with the backlash she received rather than any moral conflict.
“It didn’t really turn out the way I thought it would,” Nordqvist told TT in an interview.
“I need to think about myself and I haven’t felt good about this,” she said, adding: “I wasn’t really prepared to get such an incredible amount of hatred and mean comments from people who don’t even know me.”
Nordqvist still plans to compete in this week’s event in Saudi Arabia and others on the LET schedule, citing her need to get in four LET events before August to be eligible for the Solheim Cup.
“It was never about money for me,” she continued. “I wanted to do something for ladies’ golf and especially for the European Tour.”
Nordqvist released a follow-up statement to those comments on Monday, noting that the Aramco team was fully supportive of her decision.
“I will always fight for women’s golf,” she wrote on Instagram. “This decision doesn’t change the respect I have for what the Aramco Team Series has done for the women’s game.”
MacLaren, one of the most thoughtful players in the game, has been “hyperaware” of the moral complications of playing for Saudi money since the beginning and still wrestles with how she feels.
“For some people,” she said, “it’s a lot easier to just not ask those questions in the first place.”
MacLaren has since taken a closer look at how other sports have dealt with similar issues, noting that she still backs her favorite British football team, even though they’ve been bought by the Saudis.
“Everywhere you look there’s red lines and conflict of interest,” she said, later adding: “For me, every decision that I make feels like it has a lot of complications attached to it, but not everybody thinks as introspectively as that.”
Alex Morgan, a popular forward on the U.S. women’s national soccer team, recently told reporters at the SheBelieves Cup that she found it “bizarre” that FIFA was considering bringing on Visit Saudi as a sponsor for the 2023 FIFA Women’s World Cup.
“I think it’s bizarre that FIFA has looked to have a Visit Saudi sponsorship for the Women’s World Cup when I, myself, Alex Morgan, would not even be supported and accepted in that country,” she said. “I just don’t understand it.”
Teammate Taylor Kornieck added that U.S. Soccer believes in partnering “with people who align with our values best.”
In recent years, the laws in Saudi Arabia have changed to allow women to travel abroad and drive a car. However, the male guardian system that’s still in place requires a male relative’s permission to marry, divorce or leave a prison.
Saudi activist Omaima Al Najjar, now a surgical doctor living in Ireland, was a prominent blogger who took part in the right-to-drive campaign in Saudi and fled when she felt the risks were too great. It’s still too dangerous for her to return now.
“It’s important to remind the women who are participating in this tour,” Al Najjar told Golfweek by phone last year, “that the Saudi women activists who made those changes happen are still on trial, being prosecuted, banned from activism and banned from traveling.”
Al Najjar wants players to speak out not only about the activists, but the conditions of many migrant workers in Saudi Arabia. Women come from developing countries to work in the kingdom as maids and often have their passports confiscated as they are made to work seven days a week with no set schedule, “which is a sort of slavery,” Al Najjar said.
Meanwhile, Saudi-born women are fleeing the country, she continued, despite recent reforms because there are no safe houses in the Kingdom for victims of domestic violence.
“There’s an issue of killing women in Saudi,” said Al Najjar, “and a lot of husbands kill their wives or a lot of fathers kill their daughters and the Saudi authorities do not do much about it.”
These are the issues Al Najjar hopes that LET and LPGA players who compete in Saudi Arabia will speak out against, even it means financial loss.
To this point, female golfers who compete for Saudi money have received far less attention and criticism than what male players who joined LIV have faced. MacLaren said her honest answer to that disparity is that people don’t care as much. The profile of women’s golf is so much smaller compared to men’s golf, she continued, noting that there aren’t 15 journalists at press conferences asking tough questions.
“In terms of how golf is covered,” she said, “I don’t think the exposure is the same, and therefore, the criticism isn’t to the same level.”
MacLaren, an eloquent and frequent blogger, recently posted about her decision to compete in Saudi Arabia on Twitter, and said the public response to her decision, which was mostly positive, caught her by surprise.
“I will always believe it is better to look rather than to look away,” she wrote, “but the world is more powerful than single individuals with limited scope for change. Using these competitive opportunities and doing what is necessary to be the best golfer I can be is quite probably my best route to increasing my platform voice, and financial status.
“What I then choose to do with that platform, voice and financial status will hopefully make this world a better place in the long run … and that will always be my aim.”
The 2023 Ladies European Tour season begins this week with the Magical Kenya Ladies Open, the first of 30 events on a schedule that boasts a record-setting 35 million euros (roughly $38 million) in prize money. Meghan MacLaren, a three-time winner on the LET, is grateful for the perspective of what tour life was like only a short time ago, when the schedule was half that size and it was possible to finish 20th on the money list and still lose money.
Players voted in late 2019 for the LPGA and LET to form a joint venture partnership, with the goal of using shared resources to strengthen the struggling tour, increasing playing opportunities in Europe in particular.
“If we hadn’t had that partnership when COVID hit,” said MacLaren, “I think a lot of us know that things would be drastically different now, and the tour might not be operating at all, and I don’t think that’s a stretch to say.”
Of course, something else happened around that time to strengthen the LET: the investment of Aramco and the Public Investment Fund.
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In addition to this month’s Aramco Saudi Ladies International on the LET, which features a $5 million purse, there are five stops around the world in the Aramco Team Series. Total prize money for all six Saudi-backed events on the LET is $10 million.
With two majors accounting for $13.8 million in prize money, Saudi money represents more than 40 percent of what remains.
The LET now finds itself in a position to attract more players to its tour, players to its tour, which stands in stark contrast to a short time ago, when many fled to what’s now the Epson Tour seeking opportunities.
The minimum purse on the LET this season is 300,000 euros. Last season, there were 11 events with purses below that mark. MacLaren looks at the La Sella Open in Spain and its $1 million purse as a strong sign of positive momentum given that a sponsor outside of Aramco put up a seven-figure purse.
What’s more, the schedule has a better logistical flow.
There are three years left on the LPGA-LET joint venture contract, and the possibility of the LPGA merging with the LET has been a point of conversation for many months now. It was expected that LET players would vote late last year on the merger, but that never happened.
The two sides, it would seem, are still working out the details of what a potential merger would look like.
“So at this point we didn’t ask for a vote on the merger. We went on a tour, a listening tour, to hear from the LET players and things that have worked well for them, things that they need, areas of investment that they still are looking for and then talked to our LPGA players,” said LPGA commissioner Mollie Marcoux Samaan, when asked about the matter last November at the CME Group Tour Championship.
“For us, we just want to make sure that there are clear pathways for women’s golf, and that the best players in the world can make a living and live their dreams through golf.”
Players on both tours are interested in understanding more about the long-term vision for both tours. It’s important to many LET players that their tour retains its identity. That its future potential with sponsors – like Aramco, for example – isn’t at all curtailed by the LPGA.
One veteran player said that after Marcoux Samaan and another tour official came over to speak with LET players in separate meetings last year, many had their minds eased about financial concerns. Some remain skeptical, she said, but it would seem that more would vote in favor of a merge.
An LPGA official said there’s nothing new to update on the matter since the CME; multiple requests by Golfweek to speak to LET officials went unanswered.
LPGA players want to know more details, such as the number of cards that would go to top LET players and where those players would they rank on the LPGA priority list compared to Epson Tour graduates.
South Africa’s Ashleigh Buhai got her start on the LET and believes the competition on that tour now is as strong, if not stronger, than the Epson Tour.
“They’ve got to test themselves and still try to keep (their card) over here,” said Buhai. “That’s the hard part. But you’ve proven that you can play and compete at a high level; I don’t see why not.”
Sweden’s Madelene Sagstrom, who is a member of both tours, said last November at the CME she believed both sides are looking for more communication.
“Until we know what it would mean,” she said, “it’s really hard to make up your mind.”
MacLaren looks at the fracturing that has taken place in men’s golf and feels it would make sense for the women’s tours to be more closely aligned.
“God help us if there’s a LIV women’s tour,” said Liz Young, an LET veteran and board member. “I just don’t think any tour is strong enough to fight that.”
Young would also like to see the LET and LPGA merge, citing that her No. 1 goal as a board member is to make it easier for players to make a living.
“Hopefully we can get to that point where we can be as one,” said Young. “Because I think that’s the best for golf.”
Of course, what’s squarely in the middle of all of this is the question marks that surround doing business with the Saudis. The Aramco events remain controversial given the wide-ranging human rights abuses Saudi Arabia has been accused of, especially toward women.
As it currently stands, the LPGA can somewhat distance itself from Aramco while being part of an alliance. But should the LET fall completely under the umbrella of the LPGA, some observers question if existing and future LPGA sponsors might choose to distance themselves from the LPGA because of Aramco’s large presence. And if so, how many?
On the other hand, LET players might wonder how much the LPGA could hold them back from bigger purses at Aramco events. Could the PIF pump so much money into the LET that it one day becomes the LPGA’s rival?
The flip side to that, of course, is that the LET becomes so dependent on Saudi money that it couldn’t survive without it. And there’s no telling how long the Saudis will want to remain so heavily invested in women’s golf.
It remains a time when there seem to be far more questions than answers, even from a philosophical standpoint.
“We’re constantly talking about hypotheticals,” said MacLaren.
The 28-year-old Englishwoman has become one of golf’s most thoughtful players. MacLaren took a hard stance early on, skipping Saudi events over sportswashing concerns. Playing in Saudi Arabia, she said, didn’t fit with her values.
Now, she has committed to playing in the big-money Aramco Saudi Ladies International later this month. MacLaren said she didn’t come to the decision lightly, but as Saudi Arabia continues to bolster its presence in golf and other sports, she had to take another look.
“At some point you have to reconcile,” said MacLaren, “this is my competitive nature and my profession versus how do I want to live my life? What do I want to stand up for?
“You have a voice to a certain point, but also, the better golfer I am and the more recognizable golfer I am, the louder I can use that voice.”
So while she’s still wrestling with tough questions, MacLaren has decided that staying in the game – playing in the big events – is the best way for her promote change.
“At the end of the day, money is power,” said MacLaren. “We live in a world where that is the truth, and you can’t get around that. How you choose to use that money will say a lot about who you are as a person.”
To this point, LET players competing for Saudi money have received far less attention and criticism than what male players who joined LIV have faced. MacLaren said her honest answer is that people don’t care as much. The profile of women’s golf is so much smaller compared to men’s golf, she continued, noting that there aren’t 15 journalists at press conferences asking tough questions.
“In terms of how golf is covered,” she said, “I don’t think the exposure is the same, and therefore, the criticism isn’t to the same level.”
Grant played a limited LPGA schedule last year for the same reason as she is not vaccinated against COVID-19.
Linn Grant will begin her 2023 season in Morocco next week on the Ladies European Tour. One of the most promising young players in the game, Grant was forced to play a limited LPGA schedule last year because U.S. travel restrictions won’t let her in the country as she is not vaccinated against COVID-19.
Grant, who is currently No. 28 in the Rolex Rankings, will be able to compete in the LPGA’s upcoming Asian swing, but her agent, Pelle Krüger said they’re not optimistic that she’ll be able to compete in the year’s first major, the Chevron Championship.
Tennis star Novak Djokovic was not able to compete in the U.S. Open last summer for the same reason.
In January, the U.S. government extended its existing COVID-19 restrictions, which require international visitors to be fully vaccinated against the virus, to April 10. Kruger told Golfweek that while they’re still trying to obtain a pass for special circumstances, they don’t foresee things opening up until at least early May. The Chevron is slated for April 20-23.
On Monday, the Biden administration announced plans to end both the national emergency and public health emergency declarations on May 11.
Grant won four times on the LET in 2022, including the history-making Scandinavian Mixed, in which she beat the men on the DP World Tour. She also topped the season-long Race to Costa del Sol.
In six LPGA starts last season, Grant carded four top-eight finishes and a T-19 at the AIG Women’s British Open.
Worst-case scenario, Grant will play in all the LPGA events held outside the U.S. (around 10 or 11) and add in the same number of LET events in between.
Sweden is one of eight countries that qualified for the Hanwha LIFEPLUS International Crown, which will be played May 4-7 at TPC Harding Park in San Francisco. The top four Swedish players in the Rolex Rankings as of April 3 will qualify for the event. Grant is currently the second-highest ranked Swede, behind Madelene Sagstrom (25th).
Players will compete for a $5 million purse, with the winner earning $750,000.
The Aramco Saudi Ladies International has announced that 13 major winners will be included in this year’s field, highlighted by World No. 1 Lydia Ko, Lexi Thompson, In Gee Chun, Danielle Kang and defending champ Georgia Hall.
The event, which is the presented by Saudi Arabia’s Public Investment Fund, takes place Feb. 16-19 at Royal Greens Golf and Country Club and features an upgraded purse of $5 million. More LPGA stars are expected to be announced in the coming weeks.
The 120-player field will feature 60 Ladies European Tour players, 50 from the top 300 in the Rolex Rankings and a maximum of 10 sponsor invites. The winner will receive $750,000.
The tournament’s purse is up from $1 million last year and now matches the men’s event, the PIF Saudi International powered by SoftBank Investment Advisers, which will be held Feb. 2-5 at Royal Greens.
“Equal pay in golf has been something that all of us in the women’s game have wanted for so long,” said Thompson in a release, “so seeing that huge prize purse increase at the Aramco Saudi Ladies International presented by PIF to match the men’s tournament was extremely heartening. For us, it’s always been about feeling equal and we are all focused on growing the game to leave in a much better place for future generation of female golfers.”
In addition to the Aramco Saudi Ladies International, the 2023 LET schedule also features the Aramco Team Series, comprised of five events staged across the globe. Winners of those events last year include LPGA players Bronte Law, Nelly Korda and Thompson.
The LET’s Saudi-backed events remain controversial given the wide-ranging human rights abuses Saudi Arabia has been accused of, especially toward women.
The 13 major winners in the Saudi Ladies International field boast 18 major titles between them.
Chun, a three-time major major winner, will make her first trip to Saudi Arabia later this month.
“I’m excited to finally visit Saudi Arabia,” Chun said in a release. “I’m also looking forward to an event that is expected to elevate women’s golf in all parts of the global community. It will definitely be a great early season challenge with a very strong field competing.”
Added Hall: “It’s a massive boost for the women’s game, and it also goes beyond golf as it’s what women in sport deserve. We are all thoroughly grateful to Golf Saudi for what it’s doing for women’s golf.
The Ladies European Tour begins its 2023 season this week with the Magical Kenya Ladies Open.
Here are the 13 major winners set to play later this month in Saudi Arabia (with world ranking):
This year’s Solheim Cup in Spain requires that European players be members of the LET.
Not long after LPGA Q-Series wrapped up in December, another marathon Qualifying School took place in Spain at La Manga Club for the Ladies European Tour. For Australia’s Gabriela Ruffels, it marked a second chance at a tour card after she missed the registration deadline for the final stage of LPGA Q-Series.
Ruffels, the former USC standout and U.S. Women’s Amateur champion, finished eighth at LET Q-School to earn her card for the 2023 season. She’ll also have full status on the Epson Tour.
A pair of Germans topped the board after 90 holes as Polly Mack and Alexandra Försterling finished knotted at 15 under. Mack also tied for 15th at LPGA Q-Series earlier in the month to earn status for 2023.
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Another German player, Aline Krauter, tied for 17th to earn LET status after taking a share of third at LPGA Q-Series. Krauter played collegiate golf at Stanford alongside Albane Valenzuela, a Swiss player who now also has status on both the LPGA and LET. Valenzuela finished 68th on the CME points list in 2022 to retain a full LPGA card.
Other notables who earned LET cards include former UCLA standout Emma Spitz (T-6) and Scotland’s Louise Duncan (T-17).
A total of 24 players secured Category 12 membership for 2023 while 28 players clinched Category 16 membership.
This year’s Solheim Cup in Spain requires that European players be members of the LET. In 2021, Matilda Castren memorably had to win on the LET to be eligible for Catriona Matthew’s team. She did so in dramatic fashion on home soil in Finland.
It’s possible that someone from this year’s LET Q-School could play her way onto Team Europe for the first time.
Anna Nordqvist, Caroline Masson, Caroline Hedwall and Jodi Ewart Shadoff all won LET Q-School before representing Europe on multiple occasions in the Solheim Cup.
The top two players from the LET Solheim Cup points ranking will qualify for the team along with the top six players from the Rolex Rankings who are not otherwise qualified. Suzann Pettersen will have four captain’s picks.
The Ladies European Tour will compete for a record-setting 35 million euros ($37M) in 2023.
The Ladies European Tour will compete for a record-setting 35 million euros ($37M) in 2023. The schedule of 30 events includes the $5 million Aramco Saudi Ladies International, presented by the Public Investment Fund (PIF). The February event will feature 60 LET players and 50 players from within the top 300 of the Rolex Women’s World Golf Rankings. It’s the largest purse on the LET outside of the majors.
There are once again six Saudi-backed events on the LET’s 2023 schedule, with the Aramco Team Series featuring five stops worldwide, each with a $1 million purse. The series will begin in Singapore March 17-19 and then head to Trump International in West Palm Beach, May 19-21. The LPGA does not have an event scheduled for that week, noteworthy given the number of top players who are either personally sponsored by Aramco or offered appearance fees.
Other Aramco stops include the Centurion Club in London, a yet-to-be-confirmed location in Asia in October, and one final leg in Saudi Arabia Nov. 3-5 at Riyadh Golf Club. The events remain controversial given the wide-ranging human rights abuses Saudi Arabia has been accused of, especially toward women.
The Aramco Team Series has recently held events in New York, with Lexi Thompson capturing the 2022 edition at last October at Trump Golf Links Ferry Point. This will be the first event held in Florida.
Trump International Golf Club began hosting the glitzy season-ending ADT Championship in 2001. In 2006, ADT presented the first $1 million winner’s check in women’s golf history to Julieta Granada. Former president Donald Trump was ever-present at the event and top players stayed at Mar-a-Lago Club.
“The LET has grown rapidly over the last three years and we have been oversubscribed for our recent Q-School, demonstrating the record level of interest,” said CEO Alexandra Armas in a release. “The LET now presents a platform for women to build a successful career and achieve their dreams in professional golf. We will continue to work hard to elevate the sport in Europe and around the world.”
Other highlights include the new La Sella Open in Spain as well as the Volvo Car Scandinavian Mixed, where Linn Grant made history last year as the first woman to win a DP World Tour event, crushing the field by nine strokes.
The LET season kicks off Feb. 2-5 with the Magical Kenya Ladies Open followed by the Lalla Meryem Cup in Morocco, back on the schedule for the first time since 2019.
The Ladies European Tour season ended with a banner day for Swedish golf.
The Ladies European Tour season ended with a banner day for Swedish golf as veteran Caroline Hedwall won for the first time in four years and three Swedes topped the season-long Race to Costa del Sol: 1) Linn Grant 2) Maja Stark 3) Johanna Gustavvson.
Hedwall defeated Switzerland’s Morgane Metraux with a birdie on the fourth playoff hole at the Andalucía Costa del Sol Open de España. Grant closed with a 65 to finish third and top the year-long rankings.
“I am just very relieved, very happy,” said Grant. “This is huge for Swedish golf, having Johanna as well at No. 3 on the rankings. I’ve had Carro [Hedwall] as a role model myself to just see her out there winning and getting that moment for herself is awesome as well.”
Hedwall, 33, posted a bogey-free 67 on Sunday to finish at 18 under. Metraux, who won earlier this season at the Ladies Italian Open, recently clinched her LPGA card for the 2023 season with a share of fourth at the Pelican Women’s Championship.
“I wasn’t sure I still had it in me,” said Hedwall. “It’s so nice to get it together and get this win. It has been a roller coaster to be honest. I had injury in 2014 that was really tough on me, and I had a hard turn on my self-confidence. That win in 2018 meant a lot to me.
“It was tough during COVID-19. I didn’t want to travel as much but now it’s more or less back to normal and it feels great. My game is coming together really nicely, and it was awesome to finish with that.”
A seven-time winner on the LET, Hedwall said making the 2023 Solheim Cup team in Spain will be a goal for next season. She has made four previous Solheim Cup appearances.
Grant won four times on the LET in 2022, including the history-making Scandinavian Mixed, in which she beat the men on the DP World Tour. Stark won three times on the LET this season, including the ISPS Handa World Invitational, a co-sanctioned event with the LPGA that gave her immediate tour status. Stark, who like Hedwall played collegiately at Oklahoma State, finished out the season on the LPGA, placing 52nd on the Race to CME Globe points list.
Grant earned LPGA status last year at Q-Series but was unable to compete on U.S. soil this season due to her vaccination status. The former ASU star still managed to compete in LPGA events around the globe, however, finishing 56th on the CME rankings. In six LPGA starts this season, Grant carded four top-eight finishes and a T-19 at the AIG Women’s British Open.
“Before we went out, my dad showed Charley a picture of me with her as a 10-year-old. It’s like a full circle, it’s a blessing.”
High school senior Chiara Noja won on the Ladies European Tour at the Aramco Team Series Jeddah, defeating her childhood idol, Charley Hull, in a playoff.
Noja, 16, carded a final-round 65 at Royal Greens Golf & Country Club to get to 13 under, while Hull birdied four of her last six holes. Noja, a powerful player who stands six feet tall, birdied back-to-back holes in the playoff to secure the title.
Earlier in the week, Noja joked that she needed to win so that she didn’t need more school after accidentally bringing the wrong books to study in Jeddah.
“I don’t think it’s sunk in quite yet,” said Noja of her victory. “I think the happiness will come later this evening. Before we went out, my dad showed Charley a picture of me with her as a 10-year-old. It’s like a full circle, it’s a blessing.
“I’ve worked hard over a lot of years now to be able to not back out of shots and commit to everything that I do and not be afraid to fail.”
The LET’s Aramco Team Series is comprised of five events staged across the globe. The Saudi-backed events remain controversial given the wide-ranging human rights abuses Saudi Arabia has been accused of, especially toward women.
Other Aramco winners this year include Manon De Roey, Bronte Law, Nelly Korda and Lexi Thompson.
Noja first played on the LET as a 14-year-old amateur at the Dubai event. After a second-round 86 sent her spiraling, however, she later admitted on Instagram that back at the hotel, she couldn’t imagine going back on the course for the final round.
“I was unable to deal with the pressure,” wrote Noja, “and the fact that millions of people were watching on TV, and consequently had a complete meltdown.”
She’s come a long way since then, with a victory and five additional top-three finishes on the LET Access Series this season, finishing second on the Order of Merit to earn her LET card for 2023.
A couple weeks later, she’s already won on that tour. Noja said she hasn’t a clue what comes next.
“I can’t even begin to fathom it,” she said. “I’m just going to try and relax tonight. Maybe have a burger and sleep, probably the best night sleep I’m ever going to get and see how I feel.”