Abu Dhabi on Ladies Tour radar

Dubai: The Ladies European Tour (LET) chief believe Abu Dhabi could become one of the future stops on the Tour, but admits no discussions have been initiated yet with the UAE capital.

Both Dubai and Abu Dhabi currently host a leg of the men's European Tour in the form of the Dubai Desert Classic and Abu Dhabi Golf Championship, respectively, while the LET conducts just one event on UAE soil, the ongoing Dubai Ladies Masters (DLM), which ends at the Emirates Golf Club today.

LET executive director Alexandra Armas admits the opportunity to host another tournament on the Emirates' shores does exist and she is waiting to see what the future holds.

"At the moment, we haven't started any discussions, but I'm aware that there is a lot of opportunity with the number of events happening there [Abu Dhabi]," said Armas.

"Abu Dhabi has recently added a Men's Tour event, so it [an LET event] is something that we'll be definitely looking at in the future. We're keen on building playing opportunities here and obviously it would make a lot of sense because the Middle East is sort of becoming the hub for golf. It is something that will hopefully be a direction for the future."

Dubai is set to host the richest tournament in the history of the sport, the $10 million (Dh36.7 million) Dubai World Championship in 2009, with the top 60 players on the Order of Merit that year assembling here for the November showdown. The move will also witness the Order of Merit being rechristened as the Race to Dubai.

The LET, however, is planning no such change to its structure as, according to Armas, the DLM "conceptually" serves as the Tour's end of the season tournament. "I think this tournament [DLM] works out as our end of season tournament at the moment," Armas said.

Climactic finish

"We have a sponsor for our Order of Merit and technically it's all decided in our final tournament. So, I guess, conceptually at least, it works the same and right now we are not discussing restructuring all of that and having a special finale. But I guess it's something that would be quite interesting as a climax to the end of the season." The Tour is set to grow in terms of more venues being added to next year's calendar. And it has gotten Armas excited about the future.

"We are announcing the new schedule next week and hope to increase the number of tournaments from 25 to 28. So there are going to be a few additions, a few good tournaments and a few new places in Europe like Turkey and Germany.

"We are in discussions with other venues possibly in Asia and South America; I think it's going to be a very positive season and another step in the right direction."