The 2024 season of the Ladies European Tour is set to begin with the Magical Kenya Ladies Open, which will take place from 8 to 11 February at the beautiful Vipingo Ridge course in Kilifi County, Kenya. This tournament will feature only one Italian representative, Alessandra Fanali.
The spotlight is on three players who made a strong impression in last year’s Race To Costa del Sol: Diksha Dakar from India (third place), Ana Pelaez Trivino from Spain (fifth place), and Alexandra Forsterling from Germany (eighth place).
These talented athletes are prepared to challenge a competitive field of participants. Other players in the competition include Gabriella Cowley, Lily May Humphreys, Meghan MacLaren, Liz Young, and Bronte Law from England; Nuria Iturrioz from Spain; Lee-Anne Pace and Nicole Garcia from South Africa; Tiia Koivisto from Finland; Manon De Roey from Belgium; Nataliya Guseva from Russia; Magdalena Simmermacher from Argentina; Olivia Mehaffey from Northern Ireland; Katja Pogacar and Ana Belac from Slovenia; and Elena Moosmann and Chiara Tamburlini from Switzerland.
After a successful season, Alessandra Fanali aims to build on her achievements, which include five top-ten finishes and a team victory in the Aramco Team Series Riyadh during her first season on the Ladies European Tour. She secured her “card” by finishing 46th on the money list and is now ready to continue her growth and capitalize on her positive experiences.
The prize money for the tournament totals 300,000 euros, promising an exciting competition. Kenya’s geography is diverse, stretching from the low and sandy coast of the Indian Ocean to its inland regions. This East African country is crossed by the equator and experiences various climates, from desert areas in the north to plateaus with forests and savannahs in the central south.
Long mountain ranges traverse the nation, with the Rift Valley being its most prominent morphological feature. Kenya is also home to freshwater and saltwater lakes, as well as numerous hot springs and geysers. However, it has few notable rivers, with the Tana and Galana being the most significant. The coastal strip spans over 400 km and is followed by an arid and steppe plateau region. The central plateau rises to altitudes between 1,500 and 3,000 meters and is divided by the Rift Valley, which forms the basin of Lake Turkana (or Rodolfo).
On the sides of the Rift Valley, there are impressive volcanic massifs, including Mount Kenya (5199 m), one of Africa’s highest peaks, and Mount Kilimanjaro (5895 m) on the border with Tanzania. The plateau slopes westward towards Lake Victoria and northward, where a vast desert plateau occupies the territory.