Camille Chevalier from France won the Ladies European Tour’s Rookie of the Year award as the leading first year player on the Order of Merit in 2017 and was rewarded with an OMEGA timepiece following her appearance in the OMEGA Dubai Ladies Classic.
With season’s earnings of €64,002.98 from nine tournaments, she earned almost double that of second placed Luna Sobron from Spain and third placed Jenny Haglund from Sweden.
The 23-year-old from Aix-en-Provence started the season slowly but picked up momentum with three consecutive top-30 finishes from July and claimed her maiden title in the Hero Women’s Indian Open at DLF Country Club in November.
“It’s amazing and I’m so excited to be named Rookie of the Year. My win in India was obviously the highlight of the year. To win as an individual is great but to win surrounded by all your friends is so much better and that is what made it so much more enjoyable,” said Chevalier. “This award means that I have reached some of my goals and I’m very happy with how I improved this year and excited to see what 2018 has in store for me.”
Chevalier joins an elite list of winners of this award including four-time Major winner, Dame Laura Davies, Trish Johnson, Helen Alfredsson, Annika Sorenstam, Karrie Webb, Suzann Pettersen, Anna Nordqvist, Carlota Ciganda, Charley Hull and Aditi Ashok, among others.
She is also part of the new generation of talented French players achieving success in professional golf and becomes the first Frenchwoman to win the accolade in 25 years, since Sandrine Mendiburu in 1992.
LET Rookie of the Year
1984 Kitrina Douglas £19,900.00
1985 Laura Davies £21,736.00
1986 Patricia Gonzalez £7,570.00
1987 Trish Johnson £35,718.00
1988 Laurette Maritz £29,362.00
1989 Helen Alfredsson £20,355.00
1990 Pearl Sinn £28,407.00
1991 Helen Wadsworth £17,765.00
1992 Sandrine Mendiburu £26,896.00
1993 Annika Sorenstam £55,927.00
1994 Tracy Hanson £44,205.00
1995 Karrie Webb £90,556.00
1996 Anne-Marie Knight £31,322.00
1997 Anna Berg £19,333.00
1998 Laura Philo £26,574.00
1999 Elaine Ratcliffe £12,146.00
2000 Giulia Sergas £21,335.00
2001 Suzann Pettersen £129,546.00
2002 Kirsty S Taylor €52,903.90
2003 Rebecca Stevenson €70,065.38
2004 Minea Blomqvist €105,020.61
2005 Elisa Serramia €36,366.59
2006 Nikki Garrett €99,445.05
2007 Louise Stahle €79,678.66
2008 Melissa Reid €136,606.00
2009 Anna Nordqvist €100,966.44
2010 In-Kyung Kim €193,194.69
2011 Caroline Hedwall €278,528.87
2012 Carlota Ciganda €251,289.95
2013 Charley Hull €135,994.36
2014 Amy Boulden €83,982.17
2015 Emily Kristine Pedersen €171,688.41
2016 Aditi Ashok €206,664.97
2017 Camille Chevalier €64,002.98
