Number Crunching

May

21

2012

Number Crunching

Now that we’re through 6 tournaments, it’s time to bring out the inner geek and take a quick look at early season stats on the Ladies European Tour.

Overall the play in 2012 has been much more consistent than in previous years. In 2011, if I’m not mistaken, only one LET regular made the cut in all of her starts in 2011 – England’s Mel Reid. In 2012, through 8 tournaments, 41 players have have the cut in all of their starts (two starts or more, includes LET Final Q School).

Melissa Reid stopped by Hazlemere Golf Club to cheer on her friends that were competing in the event (Poodle)

Melissa Reid (England) stopped by Hazlemere Golf Club to cheer on her friends at the 2011 LETAS Ladies Open

Dutch Delight

Have to begin with last week’s winner Christel Boeljon of the Netherlands. Three starts on the LET in 2012, three cuts made – 100%, and two wins. Ok, if you follow womens golf, you probably knew that already. But bet you didn’t know that fellow dutchwoman Marieke Nivard has had three starts and hasn’t missed a cut on the LET so far in 2012. Time for the dutch media to give all of the dutch ladies golfers a bit more coverage, don’t you think?

Marieke Nivard (Netherlands) teeing off from the 18th during the final round at the 2012 Turkish Airlines Ladies Open

Models of Consistency

Five starts for Spain’s Carlota Ciganda (incl LET Final Q school), 3 top 10′s. More impressively has made the cut in all five tournaments. Carlota has to be the odds-on favorite for rookie of the year. Fellow spaniard Tania Elosegui is also off to a good start at 4 for 4. Just a matter of her putter catching fire for Tania to fully regain the form that earned her a spot on the 2009 Solheim team.

Carlota Ciganda (Spain) near the 10th tee during the final round at the 2012 Turkish Airlines Ladies Open

Six

Four top 20′s in six starts for France’s Sophie Giquel-Bettan (incl LET Final Q school). Has made the cut in all six. Five other french women are also at 100% – Joanna Klatten, Lucie Andre, Anne-Lise Caudal, Caroline Afonso, and Cassie Kirkland. Virginie Lagoutte-Clement and Gwladys Nocera are clipping are their heels, both having missed only once in 2012.

Sophie Giquel-Bettan (France) teeing off from the 16th during round 3 at the 2012 Turkish Airlines Ladies Open

High Climber

Another name not widely known (yet) is Anais Maggetti of Switzerland. The young swiss earned her card at La Manga in January and hasn’t looked back. She’s 3 for 3 in making the cut in her starts and is starting to move up the leaderboard as she adjusts to this higher level of competition. Watch for her to crack the top 20 this week in Germany or next week in Holland.

Anais Maggetti (Switzerland) teeing off at the start of her final round at the 2012 LET Q school

Cuts are not the be-all end-all of golf stats of course. All it takes is the wrong sound at the wrong moment to turn a round on its head. But it can be an indication of consistency and form. And it is fun to look at the numbers once in a while.

German Ladies Open

Very curious to see this week’s Unicredit German Ladies Open at Golfclub Gut Hausern in Markt Indersdorf (near Munich). Weather predictions (as of this writing) look very good – sunny, humid w/ chance of afternoon thunderstorms. Very similar to last year actually. Defending champ Diana Luna has had great form the past few events and looks ready to defend her title. At Gut Hausern last year, Luna delivered one of the strongest performances I’ve ever seen - nothing worse than a par over four rounds of competition.

We’ll once again be trying to do a bit of live tweeting from the tournament, so follow us on Twitter for the live updates. And of course check back here for photos after each round.

Diana Luna at the 2011 German Ladies Open (Poodle)

Diana Luna (Italy) with the trophy at the 2011 Unicredit German Ladies Open

Golfstream Ladies Open, Kiev Ukraine

Very very sorry to be missing this week’s LET Access Series tournament, the Golfstream Ladies Open. It’s the first womens professional golf tournament to be held in the Ukraine. Great to see, given the growing popularity of the game in central & eastern europe. And the first of many such tournaments in the CEE region, we hope.

There are lots of great golfers competing in Kiev this week including Anastasia Kostina, Galina Rotmistrova, Benedicte Toumpsin, Heather MacRae, and Laurence Herman. If you haven’t been to a LETAS tournament, we highly recommend getting out to see one.

Very best wishes to all of the golfers who made the trip to Kiev, and big thanks to the organizers and sponsors for creating these great playing opportunities in womens golf.