Few players arrive in South Korea with more confidence, and excitement, this week than Belgium’s Manon De Roey as the Olympian tees up in her first event since winning the Investec SA Women’s Open.
It was a week to remember for De Roey in Cape Town as she outclassed the field at Erinvale Golf Estate to win by four shots and land her second Ladies European Tour (LET) title.
“I’m very happy with my win of course last week in Cape Town,” she said. “It does a lot because winning isn’t easy. So I’m very happy with my performance. It means that I can go to the [AIG Women’s] Open now! That was a big goal of mine, to qualify for the Open.
“It was quite windy in Cape Town, but as I said in my interviews at the time, I like to play in the wind because I like to shape the ball, especially from the tee. So I think the wind helped me a lot in that kind of way.”
Now in Seoul for the second Aramco Team Series presented by PIF event of 2024 – the same tournament she won in Bangkok in 2022 – De Roey is brimming with excitement as she looks to continue her winning momentum.
“I’m very excited to be here in Korea,” she said. “I didn’t know what to expect to be honest but I’m enjoying it day by day. I’ve already experienced Korean BBQ, I think everyone has! It’s nice but I don’t think I can eat it every day… maybe a couple of times this week. I’ll see if I can do some sightseeing on one of the days too.”
De Roey was in a vibrant mood on the fairways at New Korea Country Club on Wednesday as she played a practice round with England’s Ellie Givens, one of several close Tour friends who were quick to congratulate the Belgian with a champagne spray after her win in South Africa.
On the celebrations, De Roey said: “It means a lot. I feel like the LET is really like a family to me away from home. It’s nice to have so many friends on Tour, it would otherwise be really lonely. I think my closest friends are also on Tour because you’re always away from home, so it was really nice to have them there all together celebrating [with me].
“It was also really nice to go home straight after Cape Town. [But] I feel like every time I go home it goes so fast. I was never really at home. At night I went out for dinners a lot – I had a party on Saturday and then I came here on Saturday! So it was a quick turnaround.”
As for this week, De Roey now tees up as one of the star players having jumped to second in the Order of Merit, just X points behind leader Bronte Law.
On the race to be crowned the LET’s number one player, the 32-year-old said: “It [the Order of Merit] wasn’t really on my mind much. I mean I always want to finish as high as possible to give me another chance to get to the LPGA. I need to finish top-10 at the end of the year to do that. So winning the Order of Merit isn’t really on my mind but it definitely helps to be up there.
“I feel pretty confident about my game. There’s always work points, but I’m hitting the ball pretty good and I like the course [New Korea Country Club] this week. I think it suits my game. It’s quite long so I think that will be an advantage for me. I’m really excited for this week.”
Aramco Team Series presented by PIF – Korea gets underway on Friday morning. Follow the tournament @LETgolf on Instagram and X and Ladies European Tour on Facebook and YouTube – #RaiseOurGame #SeeTheImpact.
