Caption: Left to right: European Tour Executive Director Keith Pelley, Ladies European Tour Chair Marta Figueras-Dotti, Ladies European Tour CEO Alexandra Armas, European Solheim Cup Captain Catriona Matthew and LPGA Commissioner Mike Whan together at the LET’s headquarters at Buckinghamshire Golf Club in England, for an historic board meeting, on Friday.
Jan 24: The Ladies European Tour got the new decade going with a new look and a strong calendar that had 24 events with a purse of almost Euros 18 million, an increase of Euros 4.5 million on 2019, as per an announcement from the LET on Friday.
Fifteen of the 24 events will be held in Europe, while India and Thailand host an event each in Asia and the Olympic Games will be held in Asia in Tokyo. Saudi Arabia, Morocco and Dubai also have one event each.
France has three events, including the Evian Championship and Spain has three including the season-ending tournament. Australia has two events as does Sweden, which hosts the Scandinavian Mixed and Creekhouse Ladies Open. Scotland will have two, including the Women’s British Open this year. UK will have one more events, the sponsors of which have not been announced and another event has been confirmed in November.
The LET begins with the Australian Ladies Classic Bonville in February and conclude with the Andalucía Costa del Sol Open de España Femenino in November, the latter having doubled its prize fund to €600,000.
The new events on the 2020 LET schedule include two new events in Sweden – the €1.5 million Scandinavian Mixed Hosted by Henrik & Annika and the Creekhouse Ladies Open. There is also a new $1 million event in Saudi Arabia, The Saudi Ladies Championship, as well as the Mithra Belgian Ladies Open, the Dutch Ladies Open and the VP Bank Swiss Ladies Open.
The 15 events in Europe also include the Jabra Ladies Open, La Reserva de Sotogrande Invitational, Estrella Damm Mediterranean Ladies Open, The Evian Championship, Aberdeen Standard Investments Ladies Scottish Open, AIG Women’s British Open, TIPSPORT Czech Ladies Open and Lacoste Ladies Open de France, as well as a new event in the United Kingdom.
The New Race to Costa del Sol provides biggest-ever LET bonus pool will offer €250,000 between the top three finishers on the official ranking.
The significantly improved schedule demonstrates the immediate success of the new LPGA-LET Joint Venture, with a new Board of Directors working together to grow the opportunities for LET Members, especially in the continent of Europe.
Chaired by LPGA Commissioner Mike Whan, the new Joint Venture Board includes six Directors from the LET (Marta Figueras-Dotti, Eleanor Givens, Catriona Matthew, Liz Young, Justin Abbott and Alastair Ruxton), four Directors from the LPGA (Commissioner Mike Whan, Liz Moore, Kathy Milthorpe and Mike Nichols), one from The R&A (Chief Executive Martin Slumbers) and one from the European Tour (Chief Executive Keith Pelley).
“The LET and the LPGA only began working together in September 2019, but we’ve been blown away with the results in the first 90 days and the positive response from across the golf industry,” said Whan. “With overall purse increases and seven new events, our athletes will have more opportunities for success. It’s exciting to think what we can accomplish after a full year of working with our new Board. We have a long way to go, but I’m so happy to say that this is the best position that European women’s professional golf has ever been in.”
LET CEO Alexandra Armas commented: “I want to thank all the federations who have shown their belief in our new team and vision, but also recognise the important contribution of our existing event Promoters and sponsors, whose long-term support and commitment is immensely valuable to our organisation. What we have achieved in the last 90 days in incredible and this is just the start of a new direction for the LET.”
Victorious 2019 Solheim Cup captain Catriona Matthew OBE believes that the LET will hit new heights in 2020.
She said: “I committed myself to playing on the LET in Europe last year and I couldn’t be more excited about what’s been achieved over the last 90 days to improve the schedule. This is a tour that existing players and those joining for the first time should be proud to be part of. I’ll be keeping an eye on some of the exciting young players coming through as we look ahead to retaining the Solheim Cup in Toledo next year.”
2020 LET Schedule
*subject to currency exchange rates
| Date | Title/Location | Euro/USD prize fund |
| Feb 20-23 | Australian Ladies Classic Bonville, Bonville Golf Resort, Bonville, New South Wales, Australia | 240,000* |
| Feb 27 – March 1 | Women’s New South Wales Open, Dubbo Golf Club, New South Wales, Australia | 210,000* |
| March 12-14 | Investec South African Women’s Open, Westlake Golf Club, Cape Town, South Africa | 200,000* |
| March 19-22 | The Saudi Ladies Championship, Royal Greens Golf & Country Club, King Abdullah Economic City, Saudi Arabia | 901,000*/$1,000,000 |
| May 7-9 | Jabra Ladies Open, Evian Resort Golf Club, Evian-les-Bains, France | 200,000 |
| May 14-17 | La Reserva de Sotogrande Invitational, La Reserva Club de Sotogrande, Sotogrande, Spain | 300,000 |
| May 29-31 | The Mithra Belgian Ladies Open, Naxhelet, Wanxe, Belgium | 200,000 |
| June 4-7 | Lalla Meryem Cup, Royal Golf Dar Es Salam (Blue Course), Rabat, Morocco | 450,000 |
| June 11-14 | Scandinavian Mixed Hosted by Henrik & Annika, Bro Hoff Slott Golf Club (Stadium Course), Stockholm, Sweden | 1,500,000 |
| July 2-5 | Dutch Ladies Open, Rosendealsche Golf Club, Arnhem, the Netherlands | 200,000 |
| July 16-19 | Estrella Damm Mediterranean Ladies Open, Club de Golf Terramar, Sitges, Spain | 300,000 |
| July 23-26 | Evian Championship, Evian Resort Golf Club, Evian-les-Bains, France | 3,700,000*/$4,100,000 |
| Aug 5-8 | Tokyo 2020 Olympic Games, Kasumigaseki Country Club (East Course), Saitama, Japan | N/A |
| Aug 6-9 | UK Event Confirmed | 991,500*/$1,100,000 |
| Aug 13-16 | Aberdeen Standard Investments Ladies Scottish Open, The Renaissance Club, North Berwick, Scotland | 1,352,000/$1,500,000 |
| Aug 20-23 | AIG Women’s British Open, Royal Troon, Ayrshire, Scotland | 4,055,000*/$4,500,000 |
| Aug 28-30 | TIPSPORT Czech Ladies Open, Golf Course Karlstejn, Liten, Czech Republic | 200,000 |
| Sept 3-6 | Creekhouse Ladies Open, Kristianstads Golfklubb (Åhus Östra Course), Åhus, Sweden | 400,000 |
| Sept 10-12 | VP Bank Swiss Ladies Open, Golfpark Holzhäusern, Ennetsee, Switzerland | 200,000 |
| Sept 17-20 | Lacoste Ladies Open de France, Golf du Médoc (Chateaux Course), Le Pian-Médoc, France | 325,000 |
| Sept 24-27 | Ladies European Thailand Championship, Phoenix Gold Golf & Country Club, Thailand | 300,000 |
| Oct 1-4 | Hero Women’s Indian Open, DLF Golf & Country Club, Gurgaon, India | 450,000*/$500,000 |
| Nov 4-6
|
Omega Dubai Moonlight Classic, Emirates Golf Club (Faldo Course), Dubai, United Arab Emirates | 260,000 |
| Nov 12-15 | Event Confirmed | 300,000
|
| Nov 26-29 | Andalucía Costa del Sol Open de España Femenino, location TBC, Spain | 600,000 |
