“You said: go train a little – and do it in the sun” – that’s how Laura Fünfstück sums up the attractive “assignment” of the Ladies European Tour (LET). Since last week, the native of Langen, whose sporting home is the Neuhof Golf Club, has been swinging the club in Dubai with many tour colleagues from all over the world. With a negative corona test, the athletes did not have to go into quarantine.
The 26-year-old professional golfer has fond memories of the largest city in the United Arab Emirates because she finished third in the LET tournament there at the beginning of November last year. Two of the three rounds were held in the dark under floodlights, the big ray of hope from a German point of view was Laura Fünfstück, who almost managed a hole-in-one in round two.
Her strong final spurt in the preseason also adorned a sixth place in Saudi Arabia in mid-November. For the first time the LET made a stop in the Middle East. In the overall ranking of the LET, Laura Fünfstück stood out in tenth place as the best German player. In the previous year, four players from Germany made the top ten; the Hessin finished ninth.
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In order to be one of two German players to take part in the Olympic Games in Tokyo this year – if they take place in times of the corona pandemic – she would have to take another leap forward. Laura Fünfstück currently has successor status as 209th in the world rankings. Well in front of her are Sophia Popov, who won a major tournament with the British Open in 2020 as a shooting star and the first German player, and Caroline Masson, who competes on the North American professional tour LPGA.
To be there in Japan is “not impossible for her. But that also depends on how many tournaments I can play in the coming months, ”says Laura Fünfstück, who was part of the German national team at four European championships and one world championship. The exact time when the LET will start this year has not yet been determined. But she has firmly resolved to be one of the three best players on the tour for the first time at the end of the accounting period. She is also aiming to qualify for the LPGA by the end of this year with the aim of being able to compete there in 2022. Then you have “a major-like level almost every week. As a professional, you want to be long-term, ”says Laura Fünfstück about this sporty upgrade.
She has now had two full professional years at LET. Players who are already in their early 50s also take part in the tour. “If you stay healthy and want to maintain this lifestyle”, you can do it for almost a lifetime, says Laura Fünfstück. In the past golf season she won prize money of around 80,000 euros. That sounds like a decent amount, but don’t forget the deductions.
According to Laura Fünfstück, these include: the tournament costs, the entry fee, the flights, the accommodation, the food and possibly a caddy of your own, which can cost 2000 euros plus bonus per week. In order to save money, many players form travel groups. During the Corona crisis, however, this form of cooperation became more difficult due to the requirements. As for clothing and rackets, she has a product sponsor. However, there are many players at LET who have to pay for both themselves. “Some of them even have part-time jobs when they are at home.”
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