Golf Country Club de Bossey - Photo: DR

NV: Hello Diane Barnard. You are “Tour Director” for the LET Access Series and present at Bossey for the first edition of the Bossey Ladies Championship. How do you feel about the French stages of LETAS?

DB: Whether it's Bossey this week, Terre Blanche last April or the Jabra Ladies Open in Évian in June, we have three superb sites! In addition to the beauty of the place, I must also say that Bossey, very close to Geneva and its international airport, presents an ideal location for the players. Very easy to access. Regarding Terre Blanche, we have a fantastic place with the “European Tour Destination” label, a 5 star resort and this course which is an excellent test of golf. For the Jabra in Évian, we have a major course! And it was a very good thing that Mr. Franck Riboud and Danone decided this year that the LETAS stage would also be the Europe Qualification for The Evian Championship.

NV: With three tournaments, France is the country which organizes the most LETAS stages in 2017. Is there a limit?

DB: The maximum is four stages per country. Usually we have one or two stages. The rule is that to host a LETAS tournament, the nation must first receive a LET event. In France, it's the Lacoste Ladies Open de France, in October in Chantaco, in the Basque Country. A very beautiful event too, with Saint-Jean-de-Luz nearby and on a golf course steeped in history.

NV: Was the LETAS board surprised that Alexis Sikorsky (with Pitch & Play, his golf event company) requested a LETAS date for 2017 and managed to mount the event in such a short time at Bossey Country Club?

DB: It is true that everything was done very quickly, in just a few months. Alexis Sikorsky had already been in contact with the Ladies European Tour with a view to organizing a LET tournament in 2018. It was after that we discussed the possibility of this LETAS stage in Bossey. We understood that Alexis would organize this tournament this summer in Bossey, LETAS or not LETAS (laughs)! So it happened. And I'm delighted that we can give the players an additional tournament opportunity in this way. It was good news, great news. I had been able to meet Alexis at the German Open. His passion for golf is obvious. Already involved in the Senior Tour with the Paris Legends Championship in September at the Golf National, he has built a team with John Daly, Barry Lane and players like Meghan MacLaren, Sophie Powell and Kelsey MacDonald. Her involvement in golf, first with men and now with players, is great news.

NV: Is it surprising for you that France, which does not yet have the reputation of being a great country of golf culture, is hosting three LETAS stages this year?

DB: But you are going to host the Ryder Cup in 2018 !!! And above all, I must say that the French Golf Federation has really played the game of LETAS since the creation of this circuit of the second European division. I remember the first tournament we had on the calendar. It was in February 2010 at La Nivelle. Unfortunately, a rare occurrence in the Basque Country, it had snowed! We had to cancel and postpone the event in June! Since then, the support of the FFGolf has never declined. Jean-Lou Charon, the French President, does a fantastic job for women's golf too.

NV: What are the objectives of LETAS in terms of number of annual tournaments and endowments for each of these tournaments?

DB: With the Bossey Ladies Championship, we will have 13 tournaments in the 2017 calendar. The maximum possible is 20 tournaments but the goal in the future would be to have between 15 and 18 tournaments. Sounds like a good number to us. More dates would be too much for the players in terms of travel and hotel costs. Each tournament, as here in Bossey, costs them 600, 700, even 800 euros ... For Prize Money, the prize money per tournament must be from 40 euros minimum to 000 euros maximum. But if Alexis or another organizer wants to raise the endowment one day, we will think about it (laughs)!

To know more : http://bossey-ladies-championship.com/