LET Tour School moving to Morocco

Amelkis Golf Club in Marrakech, Morocco The Ladies European Tour season will culminate with a visit to Marrakech, Morocco, this year, when both stages of Tour School for 2013 will be held over two weeks from December 6-17, 2012. Al Maaden Golf in Marrakech, Morocco Two spectacular courses, Al Maaden Golf and Amelkis Golf Club in Marrakech, will host the first stage from December 6-9 and then the Final Stage from December 13-17. The top 30 players and ties will earn their full playing privileges for the 2013 Ladies European Tour. As part of an agreement with Hassan II Golf Trophy Association (ATH), which also organises the Trophée Hassan II and Lalla Meryem Cup tournaments on the European Tour and Ladies European Tour respectively, the LET qualifying tournament has been renamed the Lalla Aïcha Tour School in honour of Her Royal Highness the Princess Lalla Aïcha, His late Majesty Hassan II's sister and the aunt of King Mohammed VI. It is particularly fitting given that Her Royal Highness Late Princess Lalla Aïcha contributed enormously to the development of women’s golf in Morocco and had always supported the feminist cause. The first Arab woman ambassador, to London from 1965-1969 and then to Rome from 1970-1973, Her Royal Highness the Princess Lalla Aïcha had participated in the Hassan II Golf Trophy and Lalla Meryem Cup since the 1970s and played 18 holes every day until she passed away in September, 2011. Alexandra Armas, Executive Director of the Ladies European Tour, said: “On behalf of the Ladies European Tour I would like to express how pleased we are to be returning to Morocco after such a successful visit for the Lalla Meryem Cup in Agadir in March and once again we are honoured to have the patronage of the Royal Family. Chaired by His Royal Highness the Prince Moulay Rachid, The Hassan II Golf Trophy Association, a non profit sport association established in 2002, contributes to the development of national golf and aims the promotion of the Kingdom of Morocco as a premium golf destination. “Marrakech is the perfect place to host the Lalla Aïcha Tour School, with fantastic weather, high quality golf courses, hotels and superb hospitality. We are very excited and look forward to working with ATH again to make the experience as pleasurable as possible for the competitors,” added Alexandra Armas. The LET Tour School has produced a number of noteworthy winners in recent years, not least Anna Nordvist and Caroline Hedwall, who went on to claim impressive tournament victories and represent Europe at The Solheim Cup. Jodi Ewart was the most recent winner and is enjoying a stellar debut season in 2012.   Last year was the biggest Tour School in LET history with 241 entrants, which included 165 non members, representing a total of 43 different nationalities worldwide. The majority of entrants came from England and the USA, followed by Sweden and France and then Australia, Spain, South Africa and Scotland. There were entrants from nine nations not previously represented on the Tour and in alphabetical order they were Brunei, Chile, China, Estonia, Kazakhstan, Latvia, Mexico, Namibia and Nigeria. This year’s Lalla Aïcha Tour School is expected to attract an even more diverse list of competitors and entries will open in early July.