Céline Herbin, winner of the Lacoste Ladies Open de France 2015 - © P.Ballet / ASO

Thirteenth of the nineteen regular tournaments in the 2016 Ladies European Tour calendar, the Lacoste Ladies Open de France is one of the unmissable events of the season for golfers from the Old Continent. This year again, it is the last tournament to be played in Europe, before the final sprint of the circuit in Asia and the Middle East. For the fifth consecutive year, it will take place at the Chantaco golf course, stronghold of the Lacoste family in the Basque Country, and will offer a global endowment of 250 euros.

Seventy-eight players will take the start of the 26th edition of the French national open, which was created in 1987. Among them, the defending champion, Céline Herbin, who does not hide her joy at returning to the land of her first triumph among the pros: “I am really happy to come back to Chantaco golf course to defend my title. This victory obviously pushed me to the top: my 2016 season was extremely positive with obtaining my full card on the American circuit for 2017. So I arrive this year at the Lacoste Ladies Open de France serene and proud to have achieved the main objective of my season, and ready to give everything to defend my title! "

The 33-year-old player will be one of the headliners of a French contingent of nineteen representatives, in which we will find two of her colleagues playing on the LPGA Tour in the United States: Joanna Klatten and Perrine Delacour. The Basque public will, as always, be able to count on the presence of Gwladys Nocera, European number one in 2008, holder of fourteen trophies on the LET, and selected for the recent Olympic Games in Rio in August. Isabelle Boineau, winner in July of the Scottish Open and current number 4 in the order of merit, will be keen to give a little more sparkle to her magnificent season.

With no less than twenty-one nationalities represented, the tournament field has a very international allure. Among the foreign stars, the English Laura Davies and Trish Johnson, winners of 45 and 19 trophies respectively on the LET, will be despite their fifty years past two of the most serious contenders for victory. Finally, the American Beth Allen, current European number one, and the young Danish trio of Nicole Broch Larsen, Emily Kristine Pedersen and Nanna Koerstz Madsen, will also be among the players to watch.

List of players entered for the Lacoste Ladies Open de France: Click here

More information on www.opendefrancefeminin.fr