NEW SCOTTISH LADIES OPEN TOUR RECEIVES STRONG SUPPORT

NEWS RELEASE

Ryder Cup player Paul Lawrie is one of the backers behind a new Scotland-based women’s golf tour which will be open to all lady professionals and single figure handicap female amateurs – and not just from Scotland.

The Paul Lawrie Golf  Centre  Scottish Ladies Open Tour will be a mini-circuit of 13 one-day 18 hole events and one 36-hole championship competition finale. It will be held at a variety of links and inland courses.

The experimental, developmental tour, which has been given a £1,000 grant and a “good luck” message by R&A Golf  Development official Alison White, will tee off at Marriott Dalmahoy, a one-time Solheim Cup venue,  in April and end back at the Edinburgh venue in late October.

The Paul Lawrie Golf  Centre, at Ardo, Banchory Devenick on the south side of the River Dee, is a joint investment by Lawrie, Aberdeen Asset Management chief executive Martin Gilbert, and Aberdeen hotel owner Stewart Spence.  

A driving  range with a nine-hole par-3 course and restaurant, it will be substantially upgraded over the next few months.

The sponsorship of the new ladies’ tour is a move to raise the public awareness of  the golf centre’s facilities while at the same time providing a competitive stepping stone to lady pros and low handicap amateurs trying to raise their game to play on the Ladies European Tour.

No Scottish player got through the recent LET Q School.

Said Stewart Spence, who helped Muriel Thomson and later Paul Lawrie himself in their early days as tour pros:

"Paul,  Martin and I agreed that this was something that deserved our support, giving us the chance to widen the scope of what we already do, Paul with his Foundation competitions for boys and girls and his Foundation team which includes amateur international Laura Murray, Martin with his Aberdeen Asset sponsorship of the Ladies Scottish Open, etc."

Alan Tait, Director of Golf at Marriott Dalmahoy who won the Doug Sanders world boys' title at the Kings Links as a teenager, said:

“I am absolutely delighted to support this series of events.

Our country, not just Scotland, needs such a tour to help develop players, pros and leading amateurs.

“Unless they are already on the LET, there is very little for the women to play in. 

“From personal experience in setting up the Xltec and Optical Express Tours in recent years, I,  more than most, understand the frustration that our leading players face when trying to find a competitive platform to improve their skills and also their mental performance.

“We had 10 women from around the UK play on the aforementioned tours and I know how much they enjoyed getting a card in their hand and also have the chance to play for a little prize-money. 

“I have always said that our female golfers will only get better when they get to play in a competitive environment regardless of the size of prize-funds. 

“Having the backing of Paul Lawrie, Martin Gilbert and Stewart Spence is a terrific start for the PLGC Scottish Ladies Open Tour and I am optimistic that with their support, the series of events will grow in the next few years.

“I am 100% behind the initiative.”

Nicola Melville, the only female PGA golf teacher at St Andrews, will be the public face of the PLGC SLOT. She and veteran North-east golf writer Colin Farquharson have done the spadework and it will be Nicola who will be at the sharp end on competition days.

With a minimum of 30 entries and PLGC sponsorship of £1,000 per event (rising to £2,000 for the SLOT championship),  the prizefund would normally be around £2,500.  Entry fee is £50 – no membership fees required – and all the entry fees will go into each prize fund. The higher the number of entries, so the prizefunds will increase.
Amateurs will be able to win prize vouchers up to the amateur limit of £500 in value.

“We need entries from England, Wales, Ireland and the Continent to create prize funds that will make it worthwhile for players to make long journeys, " said Farquharson

“Male pros have several tiers of competition they can pursue.  For lady pros it’s the LET, its developmental tour  LETAS – and that’s it, not forgetting that WPGA players have some one-day events. We are hoping that we will get entries from WPGA members.

“This is a low-budget tour. But it’s a start in the right direction. I feel we are plugging a gap. Maybe next year we can expand to two-day 36-hole events and spread our wings farther afield with venues. We aim to be a player-friendly tour and we will be listening to what the competitors have to say to us about the way ahead."

Meville and Farquharson are waiting for the LETAS 2013 Schedule  to be released.

“We hope to attract LETAS competitors  so we have to avoid their dates when we finalise ours,”  said Farquharson who is hoping to stage events at courses such as Deeside, Trump International, Carnoustie, Downfield, Blairgowrie, Gleneagles, The Duke's, Fairmont St Andrews and Haggs Castle.
The winner of the PLGC Scottish Ladies Open Tour Order of Merit after the championship competition at Dalmahoy in October will win a free flight to Morocco and free hotel accommodation for the Ladies European Tour Q School Stage 1, courtesy of Menara Travel.
The amateur winner will earn a free holiday, up to the value of £500, at Gleneagles Village.
 
+You can read more about the PLGC SLOT on its website:
 http://www.scottishladiestour.co.uk/

PLGC SCOTTISH LADIES OPEN TOUR
 ENTRIES   PRIZEFUND  FIRST PRIZE   PRIZE LIST
     20           £2,000               £750              Top 8
     25           £2,250               £850              Top 9
     30           £2,500               £950              Top 10
     35           £2,750               £1,000           Top 10
     40           £3,000               £1,050           Top 11
     45           £3,250               £1,100           Top 12               
     50           £3,500               £1,200           Top 13
     55           £3,750               £1,300           Top 14
     60           £4,000               £1,350           Top 14