Record prize fund for Ladies European Tour

The Ladies European Golf Tour has announced a record-breaking schedule featuring 27 events with a combined prize fund of more than £16.7 million.

That is an increase of £1.7m on the proposed 2020 schedule before the coronavirus pandemic and £5.2m up on the 2019 prize fund.

A total of nine new events have been created, although the first tournament is not until May, six months after the 2020 season ended.

The Ladies Scottish Open has also lost its title sponsor and a venue for the tournament has yet to be confirmed.

The Andalucia Costa del Sol Open de Espana will again play host to the season finale, with the £527,000 event deciding the Race to Costa del Sol, which offers a bonus pool of £220,000 between the top three players.

Meanwhile the men’s European Tour has added a new tournament, the Kenya Savannah Classic, to its schedule, creating a double-header in Nairobi.

The £875,000 event will take place from Tuesday March 23 to Friday March 26 at Karen Country Club and follows on from the Magical Kenya Open from March 18-21 at the same venue.

European Tour chief executive Keith Pelley said: “The addition of the Kenya Savannah Classic to our 2021 schedule offers vital playing opportunities for our members, while having two consecutive tournaments at Karen Country Club follows our strategy of playing in geographical clusters to reduce travelling as much as possible at the moment.”