Ines Laklalech made history in 2022 when she became Morocco’s first ever Ladies European Tour (LET) winner. This week she is one of five home stars teeing up at the Lalla Meryem Cup.
The 27-year-old took to the course in last year’s edition, finishing in a tie for seventh alongside Norway’s Madelene Stavnar. The 2024 season saw a further two top-10 finishes in South Africa and London at the Investec SA Women’s Open and the Aramco Team Series, respectively. Laklalech will be hoping to further improve on her performance to kickstart her 2025 season.
“I’m really happy to be back this year with some new goals, and I’m ready to again,” she said.
Last summer also saw Laklalech tee up at the Paris 2024 Olympics where the Moroccan was a flag bearer for her home nation – adding another highlight to her season.
“When they announced it to me, I was just I was asking myself, is this real, and then being on the boat for the opening ceremony was just amazing. Holding the flag and it trying to spot the Moroccan flags in the in the crowd was so great to see. I’m really grateful to have experienced this,” she said.
Laklalech will be teeing it up for the third time in this tournament and is looking forward to playing on home soil. Friends and family of the Moroccan will be in attendance over the next few days, making the most of a tournament close to home.
She continued: “I’m approaching this week with the same mentality – I’ll take one shot at a time and try to enjoy it as much as I can, especially playing at home. I know the course more and more every year because I know how it plays. The swing is getting better every year. I’m putting in the work, gaining more experience, so makes me feel more confident about what I’m trying to do.
“I think it’s going be an extra booster playing on home soil this week. Two years ago when I first played here, I didn’t know what to expect and you have to deal with the extra pressure of playing at home. Then I think I learnt from that last year, and it was a much better. I was doing my thing, having fun on the course, and I’m just trying to do the same thing this year.”
Laklalech will be playing alongside four other Moroccans in the field this week. “Golf in Morocco is trending in the right direction,” she says three years on from her historic victory in France. “We’re seeing more and more female golfers. I think the Federation are doing a great job in also growing the game, and we have an amazing facility here to practice. We’re very lucky and hopefully it keeps getting better and better.”
The home favourite is hoping to continue improving her swing for 2025 and become more precise with her wedges. “It’s just practice, practice, practice. I wasn’t too happy with my putting stats last year so that’s definitely another area I’d like to work on,” she explained.
Laklalech will tee up at 13:40 local time tomorrow in round one alongside Slovenia’s Pia Babnik, winner and India’s Diksha Dagar.
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