UniCredit Ladies German Open Part 1

More great weather in Germany and my first chance to get my new 500W Bowens lights and battery pack into action. I have been waiting to use these on tour for a while now so it was great to have a small par 3 course adjacent to the main golf club where I could se the kit in anger for the first time. I had a fun time shooting a few of the rookies, and tried to vary the shots away form golf a little and ended up with a series of shots with Dewi-Claire Schreefel from Holland playing air guitar with her golf club as in the pic.

I was lucky with the weather as well with the blue sky and a few white clouds giving the impression she is flying through the sky. Also found out that at full power the lights will balance out shooting directly into the sun, so more shots to follow :)

Portugal Ladies Open & a bit of Surfing.

Portugal hailed another week of great weather on the LET, as well as Ashleigh Simon's second win of her career. The incredibly hilly course at CampoReal 40 Kms north of Lisbon made for some interesting photography. Some of the walks between green and tee demanded a shuttle service!

By way of a change, off course activities on Sunday morning included a surfing lesson for Stacey Keating and Danielle Montgomery by 2008 Ladies Portuguese Champion Filipa Prudencio. It was a great experience to shoot a different sport and stand in my shorts knee deep in surf . The photo is of Filipa taking off on a wave once the surfing rookies were ashore.

Turkish Delight for Christel

Christel Boeljon won the Turkish Airlines Ladies Open in beautiful weather at the National Golf Club in Belek, Antalya.

We were lucky to be hosted by the Calista Hotel, which was a great place to spend a few hours after the tournament, being an all inclusive hotel.

This was Christel's first stroke play victory on the LET, she won the team event, the Euro Nations Cup with Marjet Van Der Graaff, and as such she has a 3 year exemption on the LET, oh, and a €37,500 cheque.

European Nations Cup.

This event is one of my favourite of the year, the venue, La Sella Resort, Denia, Spain, is great with the hotel right on the course. The format of the competition and the off course entertainment organised by Deporte and Business make this week for both the players and press alike. Swedes Anna Nordqvist and Sophie Gustafson retained the title that they won last year but only just. They were chased to the last by the English pairing of Laura Davies and Melissa Reid. Above is a photo of the victorious Swedes with their caddies and national coach.

Moroccan Adventure

The Lalla Meryem Cup in Morocco, heralded the start of the LET spring season, and, to be honest, it was great to get out in the sun again although the 38 degree wind blowing off the desert was a little warm. Zuzana Kamasova of Slovakia became the first Slovakian to win an LET event and proved to be a very popular winner.

The back story to the event is pretty good as well. Zuzana failed to get her full card at school in 2010 and had stated that it was a dream of hers to get her full card and maybe win an event. She was playing in Morocco on an invitation from the only female Moroccan professional, Maha Haddioui, who herself has been invited to the Slovakian open that is hosted by Zuzana. Zuzana's win gives her a 3 year exemption as well as a start in the prestigious Evian Masters

Updates...

Apologies for the lack of updates since last year, hopefully I will be back on track as of this week. I've had a busy winter which started off in December with graduation photography at CICM followed closely by the Dubai Ladies Masters at the Majilis course, Congrats to Iben Tinning of Denmark for wining her final professional stroke-play event.

Straight from Dubai to LET final stage Q school at La Manga, which is always a tense and exciting time where Sweden's Caroline Hedwall took line honours. I had photographed her a number of times in the past as she had a fairly decent amateur career including winning the best amateur at the British Open in Sunningdale. I am sure she has a bright professional future ahead of her.

January started with photographs at a winter wedding for pro golfers Rebecca Coakley and Shane Codd in Ireland, and then back to portrait and product photography as well as some time off :)