Four Team Ireland players – Rebecca Coakley, Tara Delaney, Martina Gillen and Hazel Kavanagh - are due to tee off on Thursday at the Open de España at Flamingos Golf in Benhavis - which is known as the ‘Tuscan garden’ – located at the Hotel Villa Padierna, where Michelle Obama holidayed last month in Spain.
Last year Becky Brewerton of Wales won the event by six strokes at Panoramica Golf and Country Club in Castellon to capture her second Ladies European Tour victory in her sixth season as a professional. Her victory contributed to her finishing third on the Henderson Money List and first on the Exemption Ranking, for which she earned category-two membership and a ten year exemption to the Ladies European Tour.
“It’s pretty tight in places and you’ve got to be accurate. The greens are soft and will take the ball. It reminds me in some ways of Desert Springs where I practise: although off the fairways isn’t desert, some of the holes are quite quirky and narrow. I like the course. It’s in good condition and it’s something different. Visually it’s lovely and you get some great views when you get to the highest points on the course. It’s a good fitness test as well as there are some big hills around.”
Brewerton, who has recorded four top ten finishes this season, will need to hold off some formidable players in the likes of Laura Davies, Sophie Gustafson, Azahara Munoz, Maria Hernandez, Trish Johnson, Melissa Reid, Lee-Anne Pace and Christina Kim if she is to successfully defend her title.
The presence of 15 of the top 20 players on the Henderson Money List makes the tournament one of the highest ranked fields in 2010 and there are 10 of this year’s event champions competing.
The €350,000 tournament, sponsored by the Costa del Sol Tourism Board and driven by the Royal Spanish Golf Federation (RFEG), is the third on the LET schedule in Spain this year.
The 5996 yards/ 5482 metres par 71 Flamingos Golf will host the Open de España Femenino for the first time with the support of the Royal Spanish Golf Federation (RFEG) and the Royal Andalusian Golf Federation.
