The Ladies European Tour (LET) returns to South Africa for the first of two tournaments this week with the Joburg Ladies Open taking place.
Staged at Modderfontein Golf Club in Johannesburg, 132 players from 28 nations will tee it up in a 72-hole stroke play competition from March 1-4.
The tournament marks the fourth event of the 2023 LET season with the Tour having had a one-week break after the Aramco Saudi Ladies International.
Last year saw the first co-sanctioned edition of the Joburg Ladies Open between the LET and the Sunshine Ladies Tour, and it was Linn Grant who clinched her maiden title on Tour and set her up for the year.
From there the Swede went on to have an excellent 2022 ultimately winning the Race to Costa del Sol, Rookie of the Year, and Players’ Player of the Year titles.
Players who did well in last year’s tournament have returned with Switzerland’s Kim Metraux (second place) in the field along with home favourite Nicole Garcia and England’s Alice Hewson (tied for third place).
American Kelly Whaley finished in sixth place in 2022 and is back to improve on that result as are South Africa’s Stacy Lee Bregman and Alexandra Swayne of the U.S. Virgin Islands, who both finished T7.
England’s Hewson is the top-ranked player on the 2023 Race to Costa del Sol this week as she sits in fourth place on 387 points from the first three events having finished T2 in Kenya and had top-10s in Morocco and Saudi Arabia.
There are no fewer than 19 South Africans teeing it up this week with LET Order of Merit winner Lee-Anne Pace leading the line alongside Garcia, Bregman, and Casandra Alexander – who leads the Sunshine Ladies Tour Order of Merit.
The full tournament entry list can be found here.
Follow all the action on @LETGolf on Instagram and Twitter and Ladies European Tour on Facebook and YouTube – #RaiseOurgame #JoburgLadiesOpen.
