The Tenerife Ladies Open, taking place at Golf Las Americas in the Canary Islands from September 20-23 this week, will feature a glittering cast of former champions.
Melissa Reid: Returning to Tenerife
Melissa Reid will be in Tenerife looking to defend the title she won at La Quinta Golf on the Costa Del Sol last September, where she ended a stroke clear of Beth Allen, Lee-Anne Pace and Tania Elosegui.
Aside from Reid, who earned her fourth LET trophy in Prague earlier this summer, Laura Davies will be aiming for her third Spanish title having won in 2010 at Flamingos Golf and in 1986 at La Manga Club.
The 12-time Solheim Cup player has 45 victories on the Ladies European Tour and has won the order of merit seven times.
The English pair will be joined by Becky Brewerton of Wales, who won the 2009 title in Panoramica and Australian Nikki Garrett, who won in 2007 at Country Club Mediterráneo Castellón, a week after winning in Tenerife.
She also tied for second at the 2008 tournament.
Both Brewerton and Garrett are also fans of Tenerife, where they have also triumphed in recent history.
Brewerton won the Tenerife Ladies Matchplay at Golf Las Americas last June, a non-official LET event in which Garrett tied for second with Spain's own Carlota Ciganda. Brewerton has also recorded several top five finishes in Tenerife including three second place finishes in 2009, 2004 and 2003 as an amateur. Garrett won the Tenerife Open at Golf del Sur in 2007.
Other former winners of the Tenerife Ladies Open in the field include Trish Johnson (Buenavistas Golf Club, 2010); Felicity Johnson (Golf Costa Adeje, 2009), Rebecca Hudson (Golf Costa Adeje, 2008); Diana Luna
(Buenavista Golf Club, 2004) and Elisabeth Esterl (Golf Las Américas, 2003).
A total of 126 players, including 17 Spanish competitors, will compete over four days from Thursday to Sunday with a cut to the leading 60 professionals and those tied after the second round.
The Spanish contingent includes leading LET rookie Carlota Ciganda, who is expected to top the ISPS Handa Order of Merit when the ranking is updated after the Ricoh Women's British Open, where she tied for 17th place on Sunday despite she and her caddie Javi suffering from food poisoning throughout the championship.
Ciganda made her professional debut at Golf Las Americas in the Tenerife Match Play last year. In this, her rookie season, she has posted six top ten finishes so far including a maiden win in Holland.
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