(Tytherington, March 25 2003) The Ladies European Tour announced today that Sponsor Service, the Tournament promoters of the P4 Norwegian Masters and Danish Masters on the 2003 Ladies European Tour, recently filed for bankruptcy, which seriously jeopardised these two events.
But after discussions between the Tour and two new Tournament promoters, Ian Randell, chief executive of the LET, remains confident that the events will go ahead as scheduled.
“We are in the process of transferring the existing agreements to new promoters and they will be active in the market place over the up-coming weeks and we are confident that the necessary funding will be secured to safeguard the future of these tournaments,” said Randell from the Tour Headquarters in Cheshire.
“Keith Woods and Bjorn Westergaard, both formerly of Sponsor Service, have each taken the respective projects with them to their new companies and we are extremely confident that these events will go ahead as planned. It has been a worrying time for us over the last few weeks and everyone involved is working incredibly hard to rescue these events.
“I would like to extend our thanks to both Keith and Bjorn for their vision to ensure the Norwegian Masters is once again a qualified success and that the Danish Masters will be the ideal appetizer a week before The Solheim Cup in 2003.”
Westergaard, the chief executive of Danish SportsEvents added:
“The Danish Masters is now looking very positive after a great deal of uncertainty and we are going to continue with the hard work we’ve started. All of the staff at Danish SportsEvents and the members at Helsingør Golf Club are looking forward to welcoming the some of the best players in the world to Denmark and we are all positive it will be a wonderful event.”
And Woods, who was instrumental in the promotion of the inaugural P4 Norwegian Masters, added:
“Last year’s event was a resounding success and we had a world class winner in Laura Davies so it would be a shame not to continue with such a magnificent sporting spectacle for the people of Oslo and Norway,” said Woods.
“I must give credit to the members of Bogstad Golf Club in Oslo, who are both gracious hosts and partners in this venture. We are all working doubly hard to ensure the Norwegian Masters continues to be a success in both the Norwegian sporting calendar and the Ladies European Tour schedule.”
The Norwegian Masters is scheduled to take place from August 14-17 at Bogstad GC in Oslo and the Danish Masters is earmarked for 4-7 September at Helsingør GC.
