Pace back to defend her title at Turkish Airlines Ladies Open

BELEK

South African golfer Lee-Anne Pace will defend her Turkish Airlines Ladies Open title in the tournament which starts at the National Golf Club today.

South Africa’s Lee-Anne Pace has returned to the National Golf Club to defend her title at the 6th edition Turkish Airlines Ladies Open, which tees off today.

The four-day event in Belek is more lucrative than ever and this year’s event will be broadcasted to hundreds of millions of people across the globe.

“I am very excited to return to the National [Golf Club] as I really enjoy playing there,” Pace said in a recent interview published on the Ladies European Tour’s (LET) official website. “We always get treated so well at this tournament and hopefully I can defend my title.”

Pace highlighted the challenges of the course, which she believes is a difficult one. “It’s very tight and therefore your driving [game] and short game need to be really good,” Pace said.

Several other top players will join Pace in this year’s competition to battle it out for the total prize money of 250,000 euros. The entry list for the tournament include Britain’s Laura Davies, whose career earnings make her one of the world’s top paid female athletes with earnings of $8.7 million on the Ladies Professional Golf Association (LPGA) tour and 4 million euros on the LET.

Two other great professional players of recent years, Sophie Gustafson of Sweden and Trish Johnson of Britain, will also be vying for the title.

Past winners will also be at the tournament to claim another trophy, such as Holland’s Christel Boeljon who clinched back-to-back titles in 2011 and 2012, and 2010 British champion Melissa Reid. Charley Hull will also be looking to follow her success in Morocco with a second straight LET win. 

The Turkish Airlines Ladies Open is the 6th tournament on the Ladies European Tour this year. It will feature an international field of 126 golfers from 32 different countries, which will include four amateurs from Turkey.