Recipients of the inaugural Ladies European Tour Awards, for Celebrating the Green presented by Dow Tournament Sustainability Initiative, Best Player Services, Best Course Conditions, and Tournament of the Year accept their respective awards.
Representatives from five outstanding Ladies European Tour events accepted their respective awards at the 2024 LET Season Launch in London yesterday, in recognition of the most sustainable tournament, the tournament with the best player services, the tournament with the best course presentation and the best tournament on the 2023 schedule overall.
Carlos Padilla, Head of Global Sports Partnerships at Dow, presented the award for the Celebrating the Green presented by Dow Tournament Sustainability Initiative 2023 to the FREED GROUP Women’s Scottish Open presented by Trust Golf at Dundonald Links and the award was accepted by Jill Lederer, Vice President, Golf at IMG (below).
The FREED GROUP Women’s Scottish Open presented by Trust Golf became the first GEO Certified® Tournament on the Ladies European Tour, recognising the tournament’s leadership as a more sustainable golf event.
The distinction is awarded and assured by the international non-profit GEO Foundation for Sustainable Golf, and is based on the strength of commitment, breadth and depth of action, and range of tangible measured impacts across a broad sustainability agenda.
These included an extremely comprehensive approach – across venue operations; all aspects of event staging; legacies and multipliers; and communications.
- On energy, investing in expanding grid capacity eliminated all but one generator from the site.
- Water was sourced from the mains to remove the need to tanker water in and hydration points were made available for fans.
- A partnership with sustainable clothing brand Reflo ensured all guests, staff and volunteers wore uniforms made from recycled plastics, as were the caddie bibs.
- Comprehensive waste recycling ensured zero waste to landfill, with wood retained and reused by the club.
- Free entry was provided for anyone who cycled promoting sustainable transport.
- Full carbon footprint and measurement.
- And strong communications activations – on-site and media – carried sustainable actions and calls to action both on site and to the global audience.
- In addition, both the venue and event undertook third party verification against internationally recognised standards for sustainable golf, with additional awards and recognition for work with NGO partners to restore local habitats and rare species.
The LET is committed to recognising and promoting great sustainable work being done by the LET community as part of the Tour’s initiative LET Celebrating the Green presented by Dow in partnership with GEO Foundation for Sustainable Golf.
In addition, LET player and Board Member Liz Young presented the award for Best Player Services to the Aramco Team Series presented by PIF, Florida, which took place at Trump International, West Palm Beach, in the United States. The award was accepted by Michael Wood, Series Director, Aramco Team Series, Performance54 (above). The event received high recognition from players during the season for its high level of service available to members from onsite logistics, catering, shuttle services and overall player experience.
LET Director of Tournament Operations, Davide Lantos, presented the award for Best Course Conditions to Real Club de Golf Las Brisas and DLF Golf and Country Club, which hosted the Andalucía Costa del Sol Open de España and the Hero Women’s Indian Open respectively and were joint winners of the award. The promoters of the Andalucía Costa del Sol Open de España, Alicia and Iñigo Aramburu, Deporte and Business (above), accepted the award on behalf of Real Club de Golf Las Brisas.
The players voted for La Sella Open, which was held at La Sella Golf in Alicante, Spain, as Tournament of the Year 2023. The award was presented to Carlos Garcia, Director of La Sella Golf, by Alexandra Armas, LET CEO (below).
