Team LET brings mix of youth and experience

Posted on | by Bethan Cutler

The Ladies European Tour team for The Queens presented by Kowa this year brings together a blend of youth and experience, with two returning players in Catriona Matthew and Nanna Koerstz Madsen joined by seven fresh faces in rookie professional Nuria Iturrios, Isabelle Boineau, Georgia Hall, Becky Morgan, Florentyna Parker, Linda Wessberg and first-time Captain Trish Johnson.

The team has the most victories of the four tours, with a combined total of 63 titles between the nine members, including 23 for Johnson and 10 for Matthew.

30/11/2016 Ladies European Tour 2016: The Queens presented by Kowa, Miyoshi Country Club, Aichi, Nagoya Japan. 2-4 December. Isabelle Boineau and Nuria Iturrios celebrate hitting the ball close in match play format during a practice round. Credit: Tristan Jones
 Isabelle Boineau and Nuria Iturrios celebrate hitting the ball close to the flag in foursomes practise on Wednesday.

Korea the team to beat

With the highest ranked player in the field as their captain, Jiyai Shin, who is the world number 24, as well as the second highest ranked in Jin Young Ko at world number 28, the KLPGA team has an average world ranking of 50 and will definitely be the favourite on paper.

The KLPGA team finished second behind Japan in 2015 and they have three returning players in Seon Woo Bae, Min Sun Kim and Ko, along with six fresh faces.

Japan will have home advantage

The JLPGA Team led from start to finish to win the three day match play event in 2015 and although they are the second seeded team in terms of average world ranking points, they have home advantage and history on their side.

Not only are they the defending champions, they have three returning players from the victorious 2015 team in Erika Kikuchi, Shiho Oyama and Ayaka Watanabe. Ritsuko Ryu, the world number 38, has taken the reigns as captain from Momoko Ueda.

30/11/2016 Ladies European Tour 2016: The Queens presented by Kowa, Miyoshi Country Club, Aichi, Nagoya Japan. 2-4 December. Florentyna Parker and Georgia Hall of England celebrate a biridie in match play against Becky Morgan and Linda Wessberg during a practice round. Credit: Tristan Jones
Florentyna Parker and Georgia Hall of England celebrate a birdie in foursomes practise against Becky Morgan and Linda Wessberg.

Team ALPG Playing the Underdog Role

The Australian Ladies Professional Golf Tour is the fourth team in terms of average world ranking points and is bringing back five players from the 2015 event in returning Captain Rachel Hetherington, Whitney Hillier, Sarah Kemp, Katherine Kirk and Sarah Jane Smith. Newcomers are Cathryn Bristow, Lauren Hibbert, Stacey Keating and Su-Hyun Oh, who represented Australia in the Olympic Games.

Of Note:

Average age of teams

Team LET is marginally the oldest in this tournament (Avg: 32 years) next to Team ALPG with an average age of 31.

Team KLPGA is the youngest (Avg: 24) against JLPGA (Avg: 29).

Trish Johnson is the oldest player at 50 years, while Su-Hyun Oh is the youngest at 20 years.

Total wins (and average number of wins per player) per team

LET: 63 (7)

KLPGA: 61 (7)

JLPGA: 36 (4)

ALPG: 36 (4)

Average world ranking per team

KLPGA: 50

JLPGA: 85

LET: 187

ALPG: 374