Rebecca Coakley of Team Ireland will look for improvement in her fortunes at the Finnair Masters this week after her disappointment of the final day of the Aberdeen Ladies Scottish Open where she lost the lead to allow Virginie Lagoutte-Clement secure her third career victory on the Ladies European Tour.
In Finland Coakley joins the rest of the Team Ireland contingent of Tara Delaney, Martina Gillen and Hazel Kavanagh.
Minea Blomqvist, Virginie Lagoutte-Clement and Lisa Holm Sorensen, the 2008, 2006 and 2005 champions are seeking to win the event for the second time.
The 2008 champion, Minea Blomqvist, would be a popular home winner and she held off the challenge of fellow Finn Ursula Wikstrom two years ago to claim her second Ladies European Tour victory, before the birth of her first child, a son called Elmeri Aku Mikael Kakko, in late March.
The 2005 champion Sorensen, from Denmark, recorded a season best tie for ninth in Germany this year and is searching for her second LET title, having come closest with a tie for third in Norway last year. Other former event champions not competing are Bettina Hauert (2007) and Beatriz Recari (2009).
The previous winners of the Finnair Masters are joined by five of this season’s champions, led by South Africa’s Lee-Anne Pace, who has won twice on Tour this year, at the Deutsche Bank Ladies Swiss Open and S4C Wales Ladies Championship of Europe a fortnight ago.
Pace just missed out on another Ladies European Tour victory with a share of second place at last week’s Aberdeen Ladies Scottish Open. However, the 29-year-old Mossel Bay professional moved to the top of the Tour’s Henderson Money List for the season with earnings to €218,529.93 from 16 tournaments.
Germany’s Anja Monke, the 2010 Lalla Meryem Cup champion in Morocco, did not play in the 2009 Finnair Masters but from 2005 to 2008 she made significant year-on-year improvements, with a tie for 7th at the 2008 event.
Australian Karen Lunn, the 2010 Portugal Ladies Open winner, will tee up in Finland for the sixth time hoping to earn the winner’s cheque for €30,000 from the €200,000 prize fund.
England’s Trish Johnson, who shared runner-up spot last week in Scotland, will be targeting her second title of the season following her 19th career win last month in Tenerife.
There are 11 Finnish players in the field of 108 competitors and the five amateurs include Caroline Hedwall of Sweden, who won the Smyth Salver as the leading amateur at the recent Ricoh Women’s British Open.
In total, 22 nations are represented in the field and India’s Sharmila Nicollet and the Japanese duo of Asuka Tsujimura and Mayumi Nakajima are among those players invited to compete by the event sponsor.
The sixth edition of the Finnair Masters takes place over 54 holes from Friday to Sunday, with a cut to the leading 50 professionals and ties after 36 holes.
