Laura Davies leads Europe’s top-3 at Women’s Indian Open
By IANSTuesday, October 19, 2010
GURGAON - The top-three on the Ladies European Tour (LET) this year will take their battle to the wire as they clash in the Hero Honda Womens Indian Open golf beginning Nov 11.
The result at the $300,000 (Euros 225,000) event to be held at the DLF Golf and Country Club here could well decide the champion golfer in both Europe and Asia.
Laura Davies, who has won 78 titles worldwide including four Majors, is currently leading the Order of Merit on the Ladies Tour and will have to contend with Lee Ann Pace, from whom she took over the lead, and third placed-Melissa Reid as the trio lands in India early next month.
The winner of the season-long race for the Henderson Money List title will receive a Euros 20,000 bonus and a 10-year exemption to the Tour. So there is a lot at stake for the lady professionals from Europe.
Indias own Smriti Mehra and rising star, Sharmila Nicollect, who has won three times on Hero Honda Womens Indian Tour this year, will spearhead the local challenge.
Davies claimed her fourth victory of the season at the Open de Espana Femenino and now has Euros 269,743 against her name, but is a mere Euros 4038 ahead of Pace.
Pace, currently ranked second with three wins this season, is bidding to become the first South African in the Tours 32-year history to win the Henderson Money List.
Pace has also posted seven top-10 finishes, including three wins, this season and is just Euros 4,038 behind first placed Davies.
The Ladies Tour has five tournaments left on the 2010 schedule. All five are in Asia, and three of them also form part of the Ladies Asian Golf Tour, which has co-sanctioned the event in India.
The inaugural Sanya Ladies Open at Yalong Bay Golf Club in Sanya City is from Oct 22 to 24 and the subsequent stop will be at the Suzhou Taihu Ladies Open from Oct 29-31. Then there is the Korean Ladies Masters, which is only a part of the European Tour.
The Women’s Indian Open from Nov 11-13 is the final co-sanctioned tournament on European and Asian Tours. The season closes with the Omega Dubai Ladies Masters from December 8-11, the Grand Finale of the European Tour.
