Holland’s Anne Van Dam claimed the Andalucia Costa Del Sol Ladies Spanish Open for the second year in a row at Marbella’s Aloha Golf Club. Picture by TRISTAN JONES

ANNE Van Dam from the Netherlands won the Andalucía Costa del Sol Open de España for the second straight year, collecting her fifth Ladies European Tour title at Aloha Golf Club, in Marbella, on Sunday.

Van Dam was three strokes behind Nanna Koerstz Madsen after the third round and the Dane was still one ahead standing on the 18th tee.

However, as the winds strengthened, Madsen hit an aggressive drive into the lake left of the fairway and then three-putted to run up a double bogey.

Van Dam used her four-iron to split the fairway, before playing up to the green and eventually rolling in a two-foot putt for par to seal the victory.

It was her second of the 2019 season, following her win at the ActewAGL Canberra Classic, in March.

“I did not expect that,” said 24=year-old Van Dam, who earned her third trophy in Spain, following her Estrella Damm Mediterranean Ladies Open and Andalucía Costa del Sol Open de España titles in 2018.

“That’s golf. It was a crazy day. If you would have told me at the beginning of the day that two under was enough to win, I would have said, okay, I’ll take it,” added Van Dam.

“It was a different day with harder conditions, a little bit of wind and it got really cold towards the end.

“Nanna is a good friend of mine and I would have loved to have beaten her in a play-off; that would have been a better feeling for me – but that’s golf.

“She took more of a risk hitting a driver off the tee and I’ve been hitting an iron off the tee there all week.”

Van Dam, the longest hitter on both the LET and LPGA Tours in 2019, took her driver out of her golf bag for the tournament, but admitted she is keen to be reunited with it in the near future.

“I’m not sure we’re going to keep that going, because I love to hit driver,” the Dutch Solheim Cup player revealed.

“But it was a different week and you didn’t need a driver much this week. I just stuck to my plan, even though it was hard to only hit three-wood sometimes.

“It was a game plan we made this week and it paid off. I had a three-iron and a four-iron I could use off the tee as well as a five-wood and a three-wood, so I had a lot of options from the tee and I think that paid off.”

Van Dam shot 13-under at La Quinta Golf and Country Club to win the title 12 months ago, winning by three shots.

A final two-under par 70 in breezy conditions was enough to seal the title once again, as the defending champion got to 13-under for the week.

Madsen wound up tied for second with India’s Aditi Ashok on 12-under and was clearly disappointed.

She had taken a two-stroke lead into the back-nine after holing her second shot for eagle on the ninth hole.

Although Madsen double bogeyed the short 13th to drop into a share of the lead with Van Dam, she had birdied the 16th to regain the advantage.

Madsen said: “I lost today – Anne didn’t really win. I played terrible and had three double-bogeys which cost me everything.

“On one hole, I had a wrong distance, then I pulled one and then on the last one, I played aggressively and had said that I would play driver, no matter what.”

Azahara Muñoz, who won the title in 2016 and 2017, tied for fourth place with Germany’s Olivia Cowan and Sweden’s Julia Engstrom, while the USA’s Cheyenne Woods, fellow American Christina Kim and Norway’s Marianne Skarpnord shared seventh.

•To see the final results of the Andalucía Costa del Sol Open de España click here.

The Buckinghamshire-based LET now moves south for the season-ending Magical Kenya Ladies Open, where Skarpnord is set to be crowned as the winner of the LET Order of Merit.

German rookie Esther Henseleit is the only player who could unseat her, should she secure her maiden win.

LET announces end of season Magical Kenya Open

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Costa del Sol and Andalucia’s Tourism organisation representatives with Ladies European Tour officials announcing the new LET Race to Costa del Sol and a bigger prize fund for the 2020 Open de España Femenino, at Marbella’s Aloha Golf Club. Picture by TRISTAN JONES

NEXT year’s Ladies European Tour Order of Merit will be branded the Race to Costa Del Sol while the season-ending Andalucía Costa del Sol Open de España Femenino, will see its prize fund increase from €300,000 to €600,000, it was announced today (Tuesday).

AFTER much speculation about the Ladies European Tour’s future since the Solheim Cup – amid reports of takeover talks with the LPGA – the major new sponsorship deal backed by the Spanish government’s Tourism departments has been agreed with the LET.

With continuing debate over the disparity of the prize money on offer in the women’s game compared to the male counterparts on the European Tour – who have played for $7.5million just for the winners of the last three events on the Race to Dubai – the doubling of a whole LET prize fund is still small beer when one player can win €2.7million alone by winning the final Rolex Series event of the season.

But in addition to the increased prize money at the final event of next year’s new Race to Costa del Sol, there will be a bonus pool for the top three LET players, with €125,000 going to the winner of the 2020 Order of Merit.

The players who finsh second and third on the money list will receive €75,000 and €50,000 respectively, in what is definitely a much-needed shot in the arm for those players looking to play on the world stage.

This year’s Andalucía Costa del Sol Open de España Femenino is being played at Aloha Golf Club, in Marbella, starting on Thursday.

It was at Aloha this week, that the Ministry of Tourism of the Junta de Andalucía, Turismo Costa del Sol, Acosol – Commonwealth of Municipalities of the Costa del Sol Occidental, and the municipalities of Benahavís and Marbella, unveiled their support for the new funding.

The Race to Costa del Sol will showcase the tourism excellence of both the Costa del Sol and Andalusia while providing a major incentive for the LET players.

Since the LET’s chief executive Mark Lichtenhein stood down in September, the women’s professional game in Europe has been in the hands of Alexandra Armas, who previously served as the LET’s executive director and chief executive, between July 2005 and December 2012.

The outgoing chief executive, who has worked in senior roles at the European Tour over the past two decades, helped overhaul the LET’s governance procedures to bring them into line with other professional sports, and review the Tour’s business model for 2020 and beyond.

Lichtenhein also helped bring in new tournaments, including new LET and LET Access Series events in Spain, France and the Czech Republic in 2019.

There has also been new formats tournaments with the 2019 Jordan Mixed Open featuring LET, Challenge Tour and Staysure players, plus the Dubai Moonlight Classic played under the lights in the United Arab Emirates.

The London recruitment firm seeking Lichtenhein’s successor has a brief to find a leader who can address the issue of increasing prize funds across the LET schedule and increasing the number of tournaments.

The new chief executive will be also responsible for leading the LET’s involvement in the 2023 Solheim Cup – working with the next so far un-named European host.

The LET declined to discuss reports in national newspapers about talks with the LPGA about strengthening the Ladies European Tour – but leaving it as a probable “feeder” tour with more of its top players like Georgia Hall and Charley Hull heading to the States and the Far East, where the LPGA is growing its own schedule.

But LET chairwoman Marta Figueras-Dott did praise the outgoing chief executive’s work in September.

She said: “There has been a significant transformation in the professionalism of the LET under Mark’s guidance.

“This has been a key stage in our development. I am delighted Mark will always have a link to the Ladies European Tour as one of our honorary members.”

•For live scoring at this week’s Andalucía Costa del Sol Open de España Femenino click here.

Former Ladies European Tour chief executive Mark Lichtenhein at the Solheim Cup – his replacement will need to work closely with the 2023 host venue. Picture by TRISTAN JONES

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