May 16, 2015 – The Ladies European Tour (LET) is leading the way in experimenting with the way golf is consumed. The pioneering move is one of a tranche of innovations aimed at boosting the profile of the sport both on television and at the event and has been met with enthusiasm from broadcasters and commercial partners.

Breaking with the traditional Sunday finish will ensure that the tournament receives extended live television coverage on Sky Sports and Golf Channel and will be watched in 60 countries worldwide.

The story comes after the LET recently announced a new ten-year deal with premier watchmaker Omega, and a lucrative extension to its broadcast deal with Sky Sports in UK.

Dame Laura Davies (England): “I think it’s a great idea, a great innovation, because we get live TV, which we crave for. We don’t get it, the men get it. It’s awkward, because if you play both tours like I do, you miss two tournaments. It’s hard to miss two for one. For the European players it’s great because if it happens more and more the TV coverage would presumably up the profile and it would help everything, so it’s a very good idea.”

Amy Boulden (Wales): “I think it’s a great idea, especially for TV reasons as we’re getting more coverage. At the moment we’re competing with both men’s tours and the LPGA so it’s quite hard for people watching at home. I think it’s great for our tour and to get noticed. I think it’s a great idea and hopefully if it goes well this week we can get a few more events like this.”

Gwladys Nocera (France): “For us, it doesn’t change anything because we have to play the Pro-Am and the four rounds. I think it’s a good idea to give it a try, see how it goes and if we get more viewers on TV. If it’s helpful for the tour I think we should do it more often. If not then at least we will have tried. I hope there will be enough crowds, as if we’re not finishing on the weekend it’s different. If we can get more TV I think it’s good and we have to see after this week how it works and make a decision after.”

Patricia Sanz Barrio (Spain): “I think it’s a great idea that we’re moving to Wednesdays because there are not many other sports on TV so hopefully it will become the most important sport on Wednesdays and I think it’s a great opportunity and idea for women’s golf to be more important and popular around Europe.”

Marion Ricordeau (France): “I think this tour deserves to be known better and we are the first ones to try it. For us, it doesn’t make a big difference but for other people it is getting in their mind that we can play good golf also on Monday, Tuesday, Wednesday. It will probably result in more tournaments like this and I think it’s beautiful to play during the week, starting on a Sunday. Hopefully it’s going to bring more sponsors and more tournaments.”

Carly Booth (Scotland): “I think it’s quite nice, especially as we’ve just come from China. I had those extra three days at home just to recuperate and now I’m here I think it was very much needed. Hopefully this will help with more TV viewers and it’s a nice change.”

SOCIAL MEDIA

Wednesday isn’t usually an exciting day, but next week it will be! Throughout the Turkish Airlines Ladies Open, LET players will be supporting the campaign by using the hashtags #LETwednesday and #LOVEwednesday to tweet what they love about Wednesday and the final round of LET tournaments.

Join the campaign at Twitter.com/LETgolf and Facebook.com/LadiesEuropeanTour.