England’s Georgia Hall had reason to celebrate after collecting both the Ladies European Tour’s Order of Merit and Players’ Player of the Year Awards at a glittering awards dinner following the Omega Dubai Ladies Classic.
The 21-year-old from Dorset wrapped up the Order of Merit with earnings of €368,934.60 from 10 tournaments and was presented with a beautiful diamond encrusted OMEGA watch and a cheque for €20,000.
Hall recorded seven top-10s on the LET in 2017, two of those in European Major Championships. Her season started strongly with a tie for third in the World Ladies Championship in China and she then tied for fourth in the Lalla Meryem Cup in Morocco. She posted a tie for ninth in the Aberdeen Asset Management Ladies Scottish Open and then shared third place in the Ricoh Women’s British Open at Kingsbarns Golf Links, marking her out as one of Europe’s rising stars.
Her debut as a rookie in The Solheim Cup, where she played in all five matches, proved her class on a global stage, with her performance beamed to more than 530 million households and watched by 124,426 spectators at Des Moines Country Club in Iowa.
She then tied for 10th place in the fifth Major, the Evian Championship in France, before posting a fourth-place finish in the Andalucia Costa del Sol Open de España Femenino and second in the Fatima Bint Mubarak Ladies Open in Abu Dhabi.
Reflecting on the season, she said: “It’s been a long year and I’m so happy to be able to win it. I think I’ve played great this year and I’ve had some really good results. It was one of my targets at the start of this year and I’m over the moon. The Solheim Cup was huge for me and to finish third at the British Open was big. Second in Abu Dhabi, I love it there, so it was nice to go back and this is one of the biggest moments in my career, winning the Order of Merit.”
Winners of the Order of Merit
1979 Catherine Panton-Lewis
1980 Muriel Thomson
1981 Jenny Lee Smith
1982 Jenny Lee Smith
1983 Muriel Thomson
1984 Dale Reid
1985 Laura Davies
1986 Laura Davies
1987 Dale Reid
1988 Marie-Laure Taya
1989 Marie-Laure de Lorenzi
1990 Trish Johnson
1991 Corinne Dibnah £89,058.00
1992 Laura Davies £66,333.00
1993 Karen Lunn £81,266.00
1994 Liselotte Neumann £102,750.00
1995 Annika Sorenstam £130,324.00
1996 Laura Davies £110,880.00
1997 Alison Nicholas £94,589.00
1998 Helen Alfredsson £125,975.00
1999 Laura Davies £204,522.00
2000 Sophie Gustafson £208,288.00
2001 Raquel Carriedo £160,441.00
2002 Annika Sorenstam €455,567.99
2003 Annika Sorenstam €286,991.24
2004 Annika Sorenstam €368,264.22
2005 Iben Tinning €204,672.62
2006 Laura Davies €471,727.42
2007 Sophie Gustafson €222,081.47
2008 Gwladys Nocera €391,839.58
2009 Sophie Gustafson €281,315.00
2010 Lee-Anne Pace €339,517.77
2011 Ai Miyazato €363,079.68
2012 Carlota Ciganda €251,289.95
2013 Suzann Pettersen €518,448.81
2014 Charley Hull €247,616.69
2015 Shanshan Feng €399,213.41
2016 Beth Allen €313,079.27
2017 Georgia Hall €368,934.60
Players’ Player of the Year (voted for by the LET membership)
1995 Annika Sorenstam
1996 Laura Davies
1997 Alison Nicholas
1998 Sophie Gustafson
1999 Laura Davies
2000 Sophie Gustafson
2001 Raquel Carriedo
2002 Annika Sorenstam
2003 Sophie Gustafson
2004 Stephanie Arricau
2005 Iben Tinning
2006 Gwladys Nocera
2007 Bettina Hauert
2008 Gwladys Nocera
2009 Catriona Matthew
2010 Lee-Anne Pace
2011 Caroline Hedwall
2012 Carlota Ciganda
2013 Lee-Anne Pace
2014 Charley Hull
2015 Nicole Broch Larsen
2016 Beth Allen
2017 Georgia Hall
