The Lalla Meryem Cup in Morocco is unlike any other golf tournament.
Co-located with the Hassan II Golf Trophy on the men’s European Tour at Royal Golf Dar Es Salam in the Moroccan capital of Rabat, last year Jenny Haglund and Alex Levy shared the same stage as they received their trophies from His Royal Highness Prince Moulay Rachid, Chairman of the Hassan II Golf Trophy Association and the Royal Moroccan Golf Federation, having won their respective tournaments on the Blue and Red Courses at the venue.
Under the High Patronage of His Majesty King Mohammed VI , the Hassan II Trophy Golf association, is organising the 46th edition of the Hassan II Trophy and the 25th edition of Lalla Meryem Golf Cup on April 25-28, where another pair of champion golfers will celebrate.
The Hassan II Golf Trophy and Lalla Meryem Cup share a long history that bears the imprint of the royal dynasty. The Hassan II Golf Trophy tournament was created in 1971 at the instigation of His Majesty Late King Hassan II, himself a true golf enthusiast. This was then joined by the Lalla Meryem Cup, which was first played in 1993. The tournaments became sanctioned by the men’s and women’s European Tours in 2010 and continue to showcase modern Morocco, attracting many tourists to the Kingdom.
Over the last nine years, the Lalla Meryem Cup has built a prestigious list of champions from as many countries: Anja Monke (Germany, 2010), Zuzana Kamasova (Slovakia, 2011), Karen Lunn (Australia, 2012), Ariya Jutanugarn (Thailand, 2013), Charley Hull (England, 2014), Gwladys Nocera (France, 2015), Nuria Iturrios (Spain, 2016), Klara Spilkova (Czech Republic, 2017) and Jenny Haglund (Sweden, 2018) begging the question whether the tradition will continue in 2019.
Morocco was the pioneer in terms of bringing men’s and women’s professional golf together, which helped to elevate golf into a new Olympic era in 2016, leading on to the creation of other exciting tournaments such as the European Team Championships, the Jordan Mixed Open and the GolfSixes, but the Lalla Meryem Cup remains amongst the top full-field Ladies European Tour events which attracts a high quality field each year.
In this Solheim Cup season, there will be extra incentive for the European players looking to qualify for Team Europe. However, don’t rule out the international players, such as home favourite Maha Haddioui, as she seeks a maiden title.
The Masters may have marked the start of the traditional summer golf season in the men’s game, but the Lalla Meryem Cup is just the beginning of an incredible summer for women’s golf in Europe.
