Camilla Lennarth and Lina Boqvist have announced their intention to lift the team trophy for Sweden when the World Ladies Championship gets under way this week at Mission Hills Dongguan in China.
Lennarth, winner of the 2014 Allianz Ladies Slovak Open, is joined by one of the game’s rising stars who posted a season-best tie for third in Pilsen last summer from 12 starts in her rookie year on the LET.
Boqvist previously played on the LET Access Series where she claimed one victory and finished second on the Order of Merit in 2014.
“I can’t wait to start my 2016 season at Mission Hills Resort Dongguan, where I’ll be making my tournament debut in the World Ladies Championship. I enjoyed playing in two tournaments in China last year so I feel that between myself and Camilla, we have a great shot for both the individual and team titles. We are very passionate about representing Sweden in the event,” Boqvist said.
Lennarth added: “I’m very excited to be representing Sweden in the World Ladies Championship with Lina. The team element is something we are very passionate about and I’m sure that the Olazabal Course will provide a great test. After finishing tied for third in the recent RACV Ladies Masters in Australia, I feel that my game is in great shape and I’m really looking forward to playing at Mission Hills.”
The make-up of the 126-woman field includes 40 players from each of the Ladies European Tour, China LPGA Tour and Korean LPGA Tour as determined by their 2016 Exemption List as well as six invited players.
The format is 72 holes of stroke play, with individual players competing for the US$700,000 prize fund. The top world-ranked two players from each country as of 1st January will compete for the team prize fund of US$100,000, using combined stroke play scores.
First played in 2012, the list of former champions reads like a who’s who of women’s golf, with great names such as Shanshan Feng, Suzann Pettersen, Inbee Park and So Yeon Ryu having lifted the individual trophy. Feng led China to victory in the inaugural team competition but Korea has dominated the last three years.
