French Camille Chevalier won the Ladies European Tour's Rookie of the Year 2017 award as the best first year player and received an OMEGA watch following her performance at the OMEGA Dubai Ladies Classic.

Photo: DR

With a seasonal gain of € 64 in nine tournaments, she almost twice won the winnings of the Spanish Luna Sobron (ranked 000.98nd) and the Swiss Jenny Haglund (ranked 2rd).

The 23-year-old from Aix-en-Provence started the season slowly but gained considerable momentum with three consecutive top-30s since July then won the Hero Women's Indian Open title in November.

“It's amazing and I am moved to be named Rookie of the Year. My victory in India was probably my spotlight of the year. Winning as an individual is good, but winning surrounded by friends is so much better and that's what made things even more enjoyable, ” commented Camille Chevalier. “This award means that I have achieved my goals and I am happy with the improvement in my performance. I can't wait to find out what 2018 has in store for me. "

Camille Chevalier joins an elite roster of players, including four-time majors champion Dame Laura Davies, Trish Johnson, Helen Alfredsson, Annika Sorenstam, Karrie Webb, Suzann Pettersen, Anna Nordqvist, Carlota Ciganda, Charley Hull and Aditi Ashok, among others.

She is also part of the new generation of talented French players who succeed in professional golf and becomes the first French woman to win this award in 25 years, since Sandrine Mendiburu in 1992.

List of players elected LET Rookie of the Year

  • 1984 Kitrina Douglas £ 19,900.00
  • 1985 Laura Davies £ 21,736.00
  • 1986 Patricia Gonzalez £ 7,570.00
  • 1987 Trish Johnson £ 35,718.00
  • 1988 Laurette Maritz £ 29,362.00
  • 1989 Helen Alfredsson £ 20,355.00
  • 1990 Pearl Sinn £ 28,407.00
  • 1991 Helen Wadsworth £ 17,765.00
  • 1992 Sandrine Mendiburu £ 26,896.00
  • 1993 Annika Sorenstam £ 55,927.00
  • 1994 Tracy Hanson £ 44,205.00
  • 1995 Karrie Webb £ 90,556.00
  • 1996 Anne-Marie Knight £ 31,322.00
  • 1997 Anna Berg £ 19,333.00
  • 1998 Laura Philo £ 26,574.00
  • 1999 Elaine Ratcliffe £ 12,146.00
  • 2000 Giulia Sergas £ 21,335.00
  • 2001 Suzann Pettersen £ 129,546.00
  • 2002 Kirsty S Taylor € 52,903.90
  • 2003 Rebecca Stevenson € 70,065.38
  • 2004 Minea Blomqvist € 105,020.61
  • 2005 Elisa Serramia € 36,366.59
  • 2006 Nikki Garrett € 99,445.05
  • 2007 Louise Stahle € 79,678.66
  • 2008 Melissa Reid € 136,606.00
  • 2009 Anna Nordqvist € 100,966.44
  • 2010 In-Kyung Kim € 193,194.69
  • 2011 Caroline Hedwall € 278,528.87
  • 2012 Carlota Ciganda € 251,289.95
  • 2013 Charley Hull € 135,994.36
  • 2014 Amy Boulden € 83,982.17
  • 2015 Emily Kristine Pedersen € 171,688.41
  • 2016 Aditi Ashok € 206,664.97
  • 2017 Camille Chevalier € 64,002.98