WPGA INTERNATIONAL CHALLENGE 2019 Preview & 4 to watch
Date: 12/09/19
Location: Stoke By Nayland, United Kingdom
Course: Stoke by Nayland Hotel Golf & Spa
Prize Fund: € 35,000
Rounds: 3
With three tournaments of the LET Access Series season to go things are definitely hotting up! this is how the top 10 on the Order of Merit looks heading into the event.
The top five players will earn membership of the Ladies European Tour for the 2020 season, while players in sixth to 20th positions will head to the Final Stage of Ladies European Tour Qualifying School.
This week the venue is the Stoke-by-Nayland Hotel Golf and Spa in Suffolk which always attracts a strong field and is the only event of the season in the UK.
Last year saw a thrilling 3 way battle on the final day between Manon De Roey, Lydia Hall and Felicity Johnson, all in the same group and all going head to head. It was Manon De Roey who finally defeated 2017 champion Lydia Hall in a playoff on the par 3 18th.
There are a lot of LET Access Series winners in this field this week so it should be a great event and head down to Stoke By Nayland if you get the chance. Below we look at 4 players who could be lifting the trophy come Saturday.
Hayley Davis (England)
Hayley, currently leads the order of merit and is locked in a battle with another of our 4 to watch this week Sanna Nuutinen. The two are clear of 3rd place and now with only 3 events remaining every point will be crucial .
Hayley, in her last 4 starts has finished 5th, 3rd, won the Bossey Ladies Championship and then finished runner up in her last event. She has 7 top 10's in her 12 starts this year.
She finished 33rd here last year and is up to 352nd in the world, she also had success last week at Thorpness in a LET charity day.
Sanna Nuutinen (Finland)
Sanna, is going head to head with Hayley for the Order of Merit.
She has had 3 top 5's in her last 5 starts including a win at the Czech Ladies challenge and a runners up spot at the Czech Ladies Open. Sanna, was 31st last time out in Sweden and finished 16th here last year and 26th 2017.
Up to 367th in the world it will be great if the two of them are near the top of the leaderboard come Saturday.
Laura Murray (Scotland)
Laura, is on a good run of results at the moment on the Access Series finishing 7th, 7th and 5th in her last 3 starts which has seen her rise to 12th on order of merit A good result here would see her rise into the top 10 and push for the top 5 positions.
Her best result came at the Saint Malo Mixed Open where she finished runner up. She was 25th here last year and 12th in 2017.
Alice Hewson (a) (England)
Amateur Alice is currently ranked 17th in the world amateur rankings and she played in the British Open last month where she impressed although missing the cut.
She won the European Amateur Championship in July just before the Open beating a very strong field. She also finished 10th in the first ever Augusta National Women’s Amateur, an event which had the very best amateur players from around the world.
I walked quite a few holes watching Alice at the Open and It will be interesting to see how she plays this week because she definitely has the game to challenge and we have seen amateurs do rather well this year on the Access Series.