The 2024 Magical Kenya Ladies Open, which is the opener of the 2024 LET season, takes place this week at Vipingo Ridge.
It is the fourth time the tournament has been held and will see 108 players tee it up in a 72-hole stroke play competition.
Following from Lalla Aicha Q-School in December last year, there will be 64 rookies on the LET for the 2024 season and 20 of them are teeing it up in Kenya.
The Tour has a schedule of 31 events in 20 countries across five continents and for many this if the first time they have been to Kenya.
It’s also a record year in terms of nationalities represented on the LET with 402 members representing 43 countries and there will be players making history this week.
Poland’s Dorota Zalewska, Panama’s Laura Sluman and Singapore’s Shannon Tan are the first players from their country to get full LET status and they are all making their debuts.
Zalewska explained: “It means quite a lot for Poland, but for me I feel like I’m just Dory. I’m a normal person, a normal player. I think at some point everyone was in that kind of situation. It’s cool, but for me personally it’s nothing too crazy to be the first player from Poland with a full LET card.
“It’s incredible here in Kenya. We have seen the zebras and monkeys, but we’re waiting for the giraffes because I have seen them at a zoo but never seen them in person. It’s incredible here, I love it.”
Singapore’s Tan went to Q-School as an amateur but ended the two weeks in the top 20 and made the decision to turn professional.
She said: “It was definitely a tough decision turning professional. I spoke to my coach about it and I was thankful that she supported my decision. There were a couple of factors I had to think about. Overall, I’m pretty happy with the decision that I’ve made too.
“It’s my first time in Kenya. I’m really excited about it. Before coming here, I was excited to begin with, so now that I’m finally here, I’m going to play my practice round in an hour or two. I’m just excited to see what the course is like. I’ve heard about the course, but I want to see it. I have heard they’ve got animals, so that will be interesting.”
While Sluman, who has been a professional since 2017, decided to come to try the LET after playing on the Epson Tour for the past few years and is the first Panamanian.
She added: “It’s a great honour, I’m so excited to be here on this Tour and represent Panama. I’m super excited. I decided I was going to try the LET and if I did well at Q-School, I figured I was supposed to be here. I’m super excited to have the opportunity to play out here. I’m excited for the schedule, to see the world, it’s awesome.”
The first round begins at 7.45 am (local time) on Thursday February 8 with the final tee time being at 1.38 pm (local time).
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