Dame Laura Davies, the former women’s world number one golfer, will captain the Ladies European Tour team in ‘The Queens presented by Kowa,’ an exciting new match play event at Miyoshi Country Club in Japan.
The 52-year-old four-time major champion has accepted the challenge to play and lead eight other women in the inaugural tournament in Aichi prefecture on December 4-6.
“It’s a one of a kind tournament and I’ll enjoy being part of it,” said Davies, Britain’s most successful ever golfer with 79 official titles. “I love Japan and that’s one of the reasons I wanted to go.”
The tournament involves teams of nine players representing four of the major women’s golf tours recognised by the official world rankings: the Ladies European Tour, LPGA Tour of Japan, Korean LPGA Tour and Australian Ladies Professional Golf Inc.
The opening two days of the three day tournament will feature fourball and foursomes match play, with eight players from each team competing each day. The final day of singles match play will see all nine players compete.
Davies, who made 12 appearances for Europe in The Solheim Cup from 1990 to 2011, continued: “As a playing captain, you put your team out in order and have a bit of fun. I don’t think there’s too much involved and so when I was asked I said yes straight away. I can see myself playing in the fourball and I’ll drop out of the foursomes. I’ll just make sure everyone plays with someone they get on with. When it gets to Sunday and the singles it’s like every woman for herself and you’ve just got to get a point on the board and beat the opposition. I think it sounds like good fun.”
LET CEO Ivan Khodabakhsh said: “The Ladies European Tour is delighted that Laura has accepted the role of Captain for the first edition of ‘The Queens presented by Kowa.’ Laura is a sporting icon whose popularity transcends borders and golf. We would like to thank the sponsors, Mainichi Broadcasting Systems Inc. and the Kowa Company Ltd, for their valuable support of this new tournament. Everyone at the Ladies European Tour is extremely excited to be involved and cannot wait for the event to tee off.”
The tournament will be broadcasted live on television globally on days two and three. The total prize money will be an impressive 100 million yen (approximately 741,525 euros). The winning team will take home 45 million yen (333,656 euros) plus a further 1 million yen to donate to the charity of their choice.
The nine players representing the Ladies European Tour will comprise Davies as the selected captain, the leading six eligible players from the LET Order of Merit and the next two leading eligible players from the World Rankings. The team will be finalised later this month.
