A little less than 12 months ago, Beth Allen made golf history with a stunning victory at the Fatima Bint Mubarak Ladies Open, which was the first women’s professional golf event ever to be played in Abu Dhabi.
The American equalled the course record with a scorching final round of eight-under-par 64 at Saadiyat Beach Golf Club to finish with a 72-hole total of 21-under-par, before going on to seal the LET Order of Merit.
As Allen prepares for her second title defence inside a month, she will take confidence from her impressive form at the Lacoste Ladies Open de France, where she tied for ninth position and she is excited to be back on the Ladies European Tour.
A star-studded field boasting the world’s best female golfers will compete in the second Fatima Bint Mubarak Ladies Open, on November 1-4, among them, the recently appointed 2019 European Solheim Cup captain Catriona Matthew, making her debut appearance. She will be joined by fellow 2017 teammates Georgia Hall, Melissa Reid, Florentyna Parker and Emily Kristine Pedersen, as well as PING Junior Solheim Cup players Julia Engström and Amanda Linnér, who have received invitations to play.
Reid, who took the first title of the 2017 Ladies European Tour season, the Oates Vic Open in Australia, is looking forward to her return to the ocean-fronting course, along with Parker, who won the Estrella Damm Mediterranean Ladies Open in Spain in April and Klara Spilkova, the winner of this year’s Lalla Meryem Cup in Morocco.
Hall is looking for another superb performance after finishing in second position at last year’s Fatima Bint Mubarak Ladies Open, three strokes behind Allen and is also full of confidence after a further six top-10 finishes from eight appearances on the LET this season. The winner of the 2014 Open Generali de Strasbourg on the LET Access Series and the 2016 Victoria Open on the ALPG Tour came closest to claiming her maiden LET title last year in Abu Dhabi and is targeting nothing less than a win.
The FMBLO will also welcome back India’s Aditi Ashok, who, at just 17, became the youngest winner of the LET’s Lalla Aicha Tour School in 2015 and went on to win Rookie of the Year honours after two tournament victories in 2017. As the only Indian golfer to have played the Asian Youth Games (2013), Youth Olympic Games (2014), Asian Games (2014) and Olympic Games (2016), she will be looking for her third tournament victory.
Europe’s up-and-coming stars include the likes of Jenny Haglund, a graduate of the LET Access Series who is leading the race for the Rookie of the Year award, Inci Mehmet, Camille Chevalier and Frida Gustafsson Spang.
Adding more edge to the competition will be the experienced World Golf Hall of Fame inductee Dame Laura Davies, fellow English legend Trish Johnson and South African Lee-Anne Pace, who are all former winners of the Order of Merit.
Visitors to this year’s event will once again have the chance to see the game’s leading players on the Ladies European Tour (LET) competing for a shot at the US$550,000 (Dh2 million) prize pool. For further details on the FBMLO, visit www.fbmladiesopen.com.
