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| The 2012 Lacoste Ladies Open Stacey Keating with Ryder Cup Captain Jose Maria Olazabal |
Facts & figures:
- Dates: from Thursday 26 to Sunday 29 September 2013
- Venue: Golf de Chantaco (par 70 – 5,577 metres)
- Field : 78 players
Twelve months after a successful first edition at the Golf de Chantaco, the Lacoste Ladies Open de France will take place this year again at the Lacoste family home course in the Southwest corner of France. Offering a prize money of €250,000, the 26th staging of the tournament will gather 78 of the best European players from 26-29 September.
Scheduled two weeks earlier than in 2012, the Lacoste Ladies Open de France will be held in the very first days of autumn on the magnificent Golf de Chantaco, set upon the hills overlooking the city of Saint-Jean-de-Luz in the heart of the Basque country. The club, now presided by Véronique Smondack, the grand-grand-daughter of founder René Thion de la Chaume and the grand-daughter of tennis champion René Lacoste and his wife Simone, winner of the 1927 British Ladies Amateur, will host the event for the second straight time in its long and prestigious history. The course, a remarkable Harry Colt masterpiece laid out in 1928, is not long by modern standards, but this 5,577 metres, par-70 always prove a stern and spectacular golfing challenge for the best players on the Ladies European Tour.
78 of them will tee off in the tournament’s 26th edition, bidding to succeed 2012 champion Stacey Keating of Australia. It goes without saying that all the best local golfers will carry the ambition to emulate the only 3 Frenchwomen to win their national open: Marie-Laure de Lorenzi (1988, 1993 and 1995), Patricia Meunier-Lebouc (2000) and Stéphanie Arricau (2004). The 19th event on the 2013 Ladies European Tour schedule, the Lacoste Ladies Open de France is also the last to be held on European soil. This strategic position at the end of the calendar, added to a prize money of €250,000, should attract the very best golfers on the LET.
On the sponsors side, Lacoste warmly welcomes the arrival of Richard Mille. The Swiss watchmaker, a house established in 2001, has signed a three-year agreement as a major partner of the Lacoste Ladies Open de France, and will give its name to the traditional pre-tournament pro-am on Wednesday 25 September.
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