Home star Anne van Dam is making her second Ladies European Tour (LET) start of the season after welcoming her daughter earlier this year.
The five-time LET winner teed it up in the Aramco Championship at Shadow Creek in Las Vegas just two months after baby Jo was born.
Van Dam is preparing to tee it up again, but this time it’s on home soil at the 2026 Dutch Ladies Open in The Netherlands.
Goyer Golf & Country Club is hosting the 54-hole tournament for the second consecutive year with a field of 132 players representing 36 nationalities vying to lift the trophy.
The Dutch star finished in a share of second place at the 2025 edition and is excited to experience another great week at home.
“It’s great,” she said. “The weather is fantastic this week and the course is in unbelievably good condition. It’s nice to play this week and I’m looking forward to it a lot. There’s always a lot of people coming out and watching, the Dutch fans are great. I’m excited.
“Last year I never thought I was actually going to win, so to come really close at the end was fun. To come from behind and have a chance and it was my best finish in the Dutch Open yet. That was super fun and a great memory and hopefully, this year I can do one better.”
It’s a big year for Van Dam on the golf course, as well as off it, as she is the European PING Junior Solheim Cup Captain and also a European Vice Captain for the 2026 Solheim Cup.
The 20th edition of the prestigious competition between the European and U.S. Teams will take place in The Netherlands for the first time with Bernardus Golf hosting from September 7-13.
Van Dam, who won the Solheim Cup in 2019, has doing a lot of work behind the scenes ahead of the Solheim Cup since she last played competitive golf including cycling the fan route from Den Bosch to Bernardus.
“I’ve had a lot of time at home with Josie which has been great,” she continued. “I’m definitely feeling better and better myself as the weeks go by. You can slowly start doing some other things again which is nice.
“I’ve been doing a lot of promotions with the Solheim Cup, and everything is getting closer and closer. Behind the scenes, there’s a lot of scoreboard watching, but other than that not much else other than being a mum.
“It’s been a lot of researching and watching scoreboards, which is fun, and especially with the juniors it’s the same players in the tournaments, but so much can change with the Solheim Cup team.
“One player making the cut or not sometimes changes everything. It’s looking at the scores and then all the consequences that it might have with how we might set the team up and pairings. We’ve been going through different scenarios and it’s fun, it’s like a big puzzle that you’re trying to put together.”
The Solheim Cup star will tee it up at 12.35 pm (local time) from the 10th tee on Friday June 19 alongside Germany’s Leonie Harm and French amateur Louise Uma Landgraf.
Her daughter Jo has made an appearance at the golf course this week, but with predicted warm temperatures she will likely stay inside and keep cool during tournament days.
However, van Dam is excited to enjoy her week on home soil and have the support of her friends and family.
She added: “Josie is here but with the heat this weekend, it might not be best to bring her out, so we’ll keep her happy inside. She was here yesterday which was nice. With me living in the U.S. full time, I don’t see family and friends that often, so just seeing them and spending time with them as well is great.
“My life has completely changed this year; I haven’t been out on course too many times. I am still adapting to that new role as a mum. I’m just going to use this week to enjoy being out here at home.”
The Dutch Ladies Open gets underway on June 19 and continues until June 21 at Goyer Golf & Country Club.
Keep up with all the action in The Netherlands on our socials– @LETgolf on Instagram and X and Ladies European Tour on Facebook and YouTube – #DutchLadiesOpen.
