LGU SEND KELLY AND DANIELLE TO PLAY IN 

 LET ACCESS SERIES EVENT

LADIES GOLF UNION PRESS RELEASE

The Ladies’ Golf Union is breaking new ground in sending Curtis Cup player Danielle McVeigh (Royal Co Down Ladies) and Ladies British Open Amateur Champion Kelly Tidy (Royal Birkdale), pictured right, to compete in this week’s Ladies European Tour Access Series event, the Murcia Ladies Open, at La Manga Club, Murcia in south-east Spain.
The Access Series is the official “feeder” for the LET and the winner of the Series this year (to be announced after Dubai at the start of next month) will receive an LET Tour Card for 2011.
Because the LGU works closely with the LET on a number of initiatives, the LGU was offered two amateur places in the field for the Murcia Ladies Open which starts on Thursday.
Shona Malcolm, CEO of the LGU, explained the thinking behind encouraging two leading amateurs to play in a professional tour event:
“The LGU has become increasingly concerned at the number of top amateurs who turn professional, don’t make the grade and end up being lost to the game.
“We recognise that when players reach the standard required for inclusion in GB and I squads, many of them will have ambitions to turn professional, and we aim to make sure that they do that at the right time for them, when they are proven winners who have reached the very top of the amateur game and, importantly, when they have the right life skills and experience to help them on their way.
“In the last 18 months, we have been working in collaboration with the Ladies’ European Tour on a number of initiatives, the latest of which has afforded us the opportunity to send two squad members to participate in the Access Series event in Spain.

“Both Danielle, pictured left, and Kelly will have the chance to test themselves against the current crop of LET professionals, and to get a taste of life on tour – the good and the bad.
"We hope this will be the first of a number of taster opportunities for the top amateur players and that, through such exercises, the LGU can contribute in a positive way when players are deciding whether to remain as career amateurs or turn professional.” With players from 25 different nations in the field, representing countries as far afield as Argentina, Estonia, Morocco, Serbia and South Africa, the Murcia Ladies Open will be one of the most international tournaments on the LET Access Series circuit and overall there will be 17 amateurs in the field.