Dubai: Charley Hull and Gwladys Nocera will go head-to-head for the 2014 Ladies European Tour (LET) Order of Merit title in the season-ending Omega Dubai Ladies Masters at Emirates Golf Club here from Wednesday to Saturday.
Hull, who won the Rookie of the Year award at this stage last year, leads the money list on €247,616.69 (Dh1.1 million) and is just over €20,000 clear of next placed Nocera (€224,901.15) heading into the €500,000 finale.
Both golfers would win the Order of Merit with outright victory, but if Nocera were to finish second, third or fourth, Hull would need to be either third, eighth or 30th respectively to maintain her grip on the Order of Merit. If Hull were to miss the cut, Nocera would still have to finish in the top four to overtake her rival.
Veteran Frenchwoman Nocera, 39, comes into the event with confidence having won the Hero Women’s Indian Open in New Delhi last week. It was her first victory of the year and her seventh top ten finish this season.
Hull’s only win of the year came at the Lalla Meryem Cup in Morocco in March, but the 18-year-old Englishwoman followed that up with eight top ten finishes this season and is refusing to get overawed by Nocera’s recent good form.
“I won’t be bothering too much on what she’s doing because I’m here to win the tournament, not to beat Gwladys,” said Hull, who will be teeing off with Nocera and defending champion Pornanong Phatlum of Thailand at 7.30am on Wednesday.
“She won last weekend and that was a great tournament to win. It shows how much experience she’s got, and to win under pressure. If she gets top four this week, she can walk away with it.
‘No pressure’
“But I don’t mind playing alongside Gwladys. It doesn’t bother me too much. I’m playing the golf course and the rest of the players in the field. So I’m just going to go out there and have fun.”
Nocera, who won the LET Order of Merit in 2008, said her win in India last week had jettisoned her into overall contention late in the season, without much time to think about the prospect of winning overall honours.
“There’s really no pressure on me,” Nocera said. “It would be awesome to win it again but I will have to play really well.
“I don’t want to think about it too much. I want to play golf. The course is really good, it’s tough. The field is very strong, so I don’t want to think about something that will only happen if I play really well.
“It’s good because I have no stress. I’m not the one trying to keep the thing, I’m the one going for it. So, maybe, I’m in a better position.
“She’s [Hull] at the beginning of her career and I’m at the end of mine, so I want to tell her, just leave me, it’s fine, you will have plenty more [opportunities], but that’s not the way it works.
“I’m sure she wants it really bad, we all do, that’s why we play golf. We all want to win events and to win the Order of Merit.”
