Ladies European Tour on growth path
There is no question that the Ladies Professional Golf Association (LPGA) eclipses the Ladies European (LET) when it comes to media attention and fame game, but the latter has done well in
the recent past to boost its image not only in Europe, but also the United States and places like Australia and Thailand.
Without a doubt, there are only a few female players in the world who understand golf like former world number one Lorena Ochoa does. Ochoa, who hails from Mexico and held the number one spot
in the world rankings before retiring from professional golf in 2010, has something amazing to say about the current position of LET.
Sharing her thoughts at the Lacoste Ladies Open De France 2012 where she participate on officials’ invitation, Ochoa said that she is happy to see that the LET has made major strides in the
recent past and has been able to organise several prestigious tournaments
Although Ochoa recorded much of her success on the LPGA Tour, winning 27 tournaments, her appreciating the efforts of LET in boosting golf across the world reflects that Europe still has what
it takes to become the hot spot for women’s golf.
“You can see that now it’s a really global tour, they play in so many different countries and travel so much and they have players from so many different countries and that’s really positive
for the game,” Ochoa said.
Ochoa’s remarks regarding the LET give golf-crazy fans a glimpse of what the Tour has achieved over the years—and it also reflects that the coming years will see more improvement and a range
of new tournaments.
Once limited to only European countries, the Tour is now able to lure players from the United States and Australia.
The Lacoste Ladies Open De France 2012, held recently in France, provides an insight into how the Tour is capitalising on other region’s talent.
Stacey Keating, who belongs to Australia, took part in the Lacoste Ladies Open 2012. She won the event in an impressive style. However, what matters to the LET officials is that players like
Keating will inadvertently import the Tour’s image to their countries and other regions, which in turn will help them gain much-needed media attention and sponsors.
Ochoa knows media attention is something that can make things happen more effectively. “You get fans and sponsors and TV from many different parts of the world and I think you can see the
scores are really good,” the former world number one said of how players contributed toward LET publicity during the Lacoste Ladies Open De France 2012.
The Tour still has a long way to go before it can compare itself to the LPGA on the media front. In addition to popularity, player line-up will also play a pivotal part in putting the Tour
in the spotlight.
Although there are plenty of fan-favourite stars on the LET right now, the bigger share of audience still goes to the LPGA thanks to names like Yani Tseng, Na Yeon Choi, American Paula Creamer,
Lexi Thompson, Michelle Wie and Stacy Lewis.
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