The LET players have travelled to Finland this week for the Åland 100 Ladies Open by Alandsbanken at a new venue, the spectacular Ålands Golf Club, in Kastelholma, Åland.
The international tournament will take place on the beautiful Åland archipelago, on the grounds of Kastelholm Castle, over the hugely popular Castle Course which has been fully renovated and opened again for play in 2020.
With such a strong contingent of 19 Finnish players in the field of 117 competitors, there are high hopes for a home winner.
Elina Nummenpaa (pictured above) is in a rich vein of form having recorded a career-best tie for third place in the Didriksons Skaftö Open on Sunday and feels ready to tackle one of the best courses in Finland.
“It’s an awesome course. It’s my first time ever playing on this golf course and I had just heard rumours that this is the best golf course in Finland. I think that’s true, it is certainly one of the best courses. It’s beautiful, the condition is great and the layout is fantastic,” she said.
“I expect it will be windy, so I will need to work on having a solid contact and being more aware of the distances than usual. The greens are super slopey so I’m doing all I can to stay focused and do well this week.”
The 2022 Jabra Ladies Open champion Tiia Koivisto, the highest ranked Finnish player on the Race to Costa del Sol, (pictured above), at 11th, is visiting the island for the first time and her parents joined her on the 10 hour ferry ride from Helsinki to come and watch her play.
She said: “I’m going to try and go for it this week, it would be awesome to get a win here. It’s really beautiful and it looks like a challenging course, especially if it’s going to be windy.
“I played five tournaments in a row so it was nice to have a week off last week, I still feel a bit tired now but I think I’ll be alright once the tournament starts. It was really nice to have the week off and be at home.
“The tournaments over the summer were quite big for me – two majors then two co-sanctioned events – they were a great test for me and to see what I need to improve on in my own game.”
Fellow Finn Ursula Wikstrom (above) tied for second in this tournament last July, behind compatriot Matilda Castren, whose triumph enabled her to go on to play a key role as a member of Europe’s victorious Solheim Cup team. Wikstrom, who has eight runner-up finishes in her 295 LET tournament appearances in total, also tied for second at the 2008 Finnair Masters behind fellow Finn Minea Blomqvist and in 2005 behind Lisa Holm Sorensen. She will be playing for her first victory in 19 years on the LET this week.
Meanwhile, Karina Kukkonen (pictured below) is also hoping to do well. “It’s funny, it’s a home tournament, but I’ve never been here before,” said Kukkonen. “My parents are coming and they have been here before, so it will feel like home to them.
“This week will be a challenge for everybody because the wind is going to be strong and but it might not come from the same direction on each hole as what it says on paper, so sometimes you’ll be playing with it, sometimes against it. I feel more confident in my game and I have one of my coaches, Niklas Dahlgren, carrying my bag, so we have already made a lot of improvements.”
Explaining the strength of Finnish golf at present, Kukkonen added: “Our national team does a good job and recruits players when we are young, so you have goals and plan ways to reach them. We meet up at camps and see each other on tour, so of course there’s competition between us, but we’re not out of our comfort zone and that’s when you play your best.”
The other Finnish LET members looking to be crowned “Queen of the Castle” include Noora Tamminen, who enjoyed a team victory in the recent Aramco Team Series – Sotogrande, Emilia Tukiainen, Emily Penttila, Linda Osala and Niina Liias, as well as Krista Bakker, (below), who is joined in the field by her younger sister, Katri, who will be playing as an amateur.
Completing the Finnish line-up are professional invitees Kerttu Hiltunen and Anna-Karin Salmen as well as amateurs Emma Lindman, from Åland, Tia Teiniketo, Emilia Väistö, Henni Mustonen, Ella Mäki-Tanila and Aada Rissanen.
The 54-hole tournament gets underway at 8.45am on Thursday and the winner will be crowned on Saturday.
