It was a stellar 2024 for Switzerland’s Chiara Tamburlini as she won three times in her debut season on the Ladies European Tour (LET). The triumphs helped her claim the Order of Merit, Rookie of the Year and Players’ Player of the Year triple.
Tamburlini is now looking to build on last year’s momentum for the first event of the 2025 season this week.
“I’m just looking forward to competing again,” she said. “I’m very excited to get back out there. I love being on the LET and I love the people that I’m surrounded with on a daily basis, and it’s just been a really special year. It’s a new year, a new week. I’m trying to carry the momentum into the new season but at the end of the day, it all starts from zero again this week.”
The Swiss played the course last year and is hoping for a better result this week.
“I played to here last year and it’s a tricky course. It’s probably the one of the more difficult courses that we play. It’ definitely narrow off the tee, some tough greens, but I think it’s a good challenge”, said Tamburlini.
The 25-year-old also earned Swiss female player of the year at her country’s end of season awards to cap off a historic 2024.
She continued: “It meant a lot because the other two players [Albane Valenzuela and Morgane Metraux] had really good seasons as well. We had a Swiss Golf celebration night so that was nice to see a lot of other players and reminisce on an incredible year. It was special.
“Sadly, Albane [Valenzuela] wasn’t there. She wasn’t able to make it, but she made a lovely video congratulating me that they played in front of everybody. That meant a lot as she said some really nice words. To hear that from someone that you just won an award over was really nice. Especially since I look up to her so much as well. She had an incredible year as well.”
Tamburlini will be using mostly local caddies for the 2025 tournaments and has Hassan on her bag this week.
“I’m going to go with locals again,” she explained. “In Saudi there are no locals so I’m going to have a professional there, Harry Ewing, who caddied at the AIG Women’s Open for me last year. Other than that, I’m not taking anybody to Australia and then I’m going to have my boyfriend on the bag for the Majors. I guess I’m here to keep my eyes open and see how it evolves with local caddies, but if I feel similar to how I felt last year, I think I’m just going stick with that for now.
“I like talking to people and this also helps keep me at ease as well. With locals, you can have a lot of good conversations. I enjoy it, getting to meet other people. You get to learn something about their culture as well. Their perspective on things. I think it’s kind of interesting.”
This week sees 20 rookies in the field, who are all in the same position as Tamburlini last year.
When asked about advice she would give to new players, she said: “Just try to have fun. I had a blast last year and I’ve really enjoyed meeting new people. Being on the road so much you need people around you, whether that’s the coaches, the players, I think that’s really important.”
Tamburlini will tee up at 12:50 local time tomorrow in round one alongside Thailand’s Trichat Cheenglab and England’s Bronte Law.
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