Rebecca Coakley, Tara Delaney, Martina Gillen and Hazel Kavanagh of Team Ireland make their way to Lisbon this week to take part in the Ladies Open de Portugal at CampoReal Golf Resort in Turcifal.
Sweden’s Johanna Westerberg defends the title at the 54-hole tournament, which starts on Friday, after defeating last year Spain’s Tania Elosegui by holing a stunning bunker shot for birdie at the first extra hole in a sudden death playoff at Eagle Residence and Golf on the Algarve.
Now, 12 months later, she is looking forward to testing her game on the Donald Steel designed course located in central west Portugal, north of Lisbon. The venue, which opened in 2005, is located in an area considered the garden of Portugal and is hosting a Ladies European Tour event for the first time
Westerberg is one of 108 players in the field hoping to earn the €30,000 first prize as well as a place in next month’s major events, the Ricoh Women’s British Open and Evian Masters, presented by Societe Generale, in France.
Top ranked players in the field include last week’s Deutsche Bank Ladies Open champion Lee-Anne Pace of South Africa, the ABN AMRO Ladies Open winner Florentyna Parker from England and Anja Monke of Germany, who won the Lalla Meryem Cup in Morocco.
They are joined by the outstanding new Australian talent Kristie Smith and resurgent South African Ashleigh Simon as well as last week’s runner-up, Scotland’s Vikki Laing
