Chiara Tamburlini is having a great rookie season on the Ladies European Tour (LET) having already won her maiden title.
The Swiss star stormed to victory at the Joburg Ladies Open winning by seven shots and has three further top-10 finished including T2 at last week’s Jabra Ladies Open.
It was Tamburlini’s compatriot Morgane Metraux who came out on top at Evian, but the 24-year-old had a great week and believes it showed the strength of Swiss golf.
“I loved it at Evian,” she said. “I know the course fairly well because I have played it before with the national team because it’s only three and a half hours from home. We were really lucky with the weather as well. It was really pretty. I had so much fun.
“Swiss golf is definitely up there. This year has been crazy on the LET and even on the men’s side.
“It really shows what Swiss golf has been doing for the last couple of years and that’s the merit for all the hard work we have been putting in the years prior and that’s really cool. It’s encouraging for the federation, for the players on Tour now and for the amateurs following behind us as well.”
Tamburlini sits at the top of the Rookie of the Year standings and is now third in the LET Order of Merit.
Having had such a spectacular start to the season, the LET Access Series graduate has had to reassess her goals for the year.
She explained: “At the beginning of the year, my goal was very much to keep my card and with that being ticked off already my goals have shifted. I will hopefully have the chance to play in Evian and I will be able to play in British and Scottish.
“That’s definitely some bigger tournament which are on the radar now where I want to try and get some good finishes and prepare well for those events. Being rookie of the year is my goal at the end the of the year as well.
“I know there’s a lot of golf left to go but that’s a goal of mine and then the other one is the Olympics, which isn’t only in my control. It also depends on how Morgane [Metraux] plays but it’s really sweet and cool to be thinking about the Olympics.
“If you asked me four months ago if I thought I could be playing in Paris I would have said hell no, no chance! That is really cool.”
After the Aramco Team Series Presented by PIF – Seoul, Tamburlini took a week off to recharge her batteries.
It’s been a whirlwind past month but having that week off has paid dividends with the LET winner feeling energised and excited for the rest of the season.
Although, with such great results, Tamburlini is still figuring out her expectations on herself and she just wants to have fun at this week’s Dormy Open Helsingborg.
“I took Germany off to recharge my batteries because I did feel like it was a lot,” said the Swiss star.
“The season has been a lot so far emotionally as well for me, now I feel so much more energised. It’s easier without the time change and travel and everything is a bit more familiar, you know the foods a bit better. I love it.
“Expectations get higher automatically so fast and it’s good to have high expectations, but you also need to reward yourself a little bit and give yourself a tap on the shoulder when you do something well.
“That’s something I’m trying to do when you tell yourself and encourage yourself that even though I didn’t win and I got so close to the win, I encouraged myself that I had a great week last week and that’s really what I’m trying to base it on this week.
“I have my best friend on the bag and she’s not a golfer, so no matter how it goes I know I’m going to have fun and that’s the key for me at the moment. That’s going to take my focus away from the golf for a bit and we will try to have fun and see what we can go.”
Follow all the action throughout the tournament season on our socials – @LETgolf on Instagram, TikTok and X, and Ladies European Tour on YouTube and Facebook – #RaiseOurGame #DormyOpenHelsingborg #HelsingborgOpen.
