(El Golf Platja de Pals, Costa Brava, Girona September 21, 2005) – The top players from the Robe di Kappa Ladies European Tour have assembled for the last tournament of the season, The Catalonia Ladies Masters, which starts tomorrow at Golf Platja de Pals on the Costa Brava, in Spain.

Defending Champion Karine Icher

Last year’s Catalonia Ladies Masters Champion, Karine Icher from France, is defending her title against an exclusive field that includes the top 25 players from the Money list, eight invitations and three qualifiers.

In the field there are four members of The 2005 European Solheim Cup team and five tournament champions from the 2005 LET calendar.

They include French players Ludivine Kreutz and Gwladys Nocera, Denmark’s Iben Tinning, Trish Johnson and Kirsty Taylor from England and Cecilia Ekelundh from Sweden.

At last year’s tournament, Icher upstaged her competitors with an outstanding nine shot margin of victory over her compatriot Stephanie Arricau and Spaniard Paula Marti, finishing at 17-under par 190, for the LET’s lowest ever 54-hole total.

This year, Tinning, a five time champion who won her third tournament of the year at the Nykredit Masters three weeks ago, is among those who will battle it out for the title.

With €199,456.24 earned in prize money so far on the LET this season Tinning is set to take the top spot on the 2005 LET Money list, which will be decided at the end of the tournament.

The Ryder Cup Wales Rookie of the Year Award, the prize for the best newcomer to the LET, will also be announced at this week’s 54-hole event, which ends on Saturday.

Spaniard Elisa Serramia currently leads the race, ahead of Denise Simon from Germany. The 21-year-old from Barcelona, whose best finish in her first year on Tour was tied seventh at the Samsung Ladies Masters in Singapore, lives just an hour and a half drive from this week’s venue. Serramia is one of eight Spanish players competing in the tournament, headed up by 2002 European Solheim Cup team member and Order of Merit winner Paula Marti.

Marti, Serramia, Nuria Clau, former British amateur champion Marta Prieto, Ana Larrañeta, Sara Beautell and 2003 European Solheim Cup team member Ana B. Sanchez form the home challenge, along with the 15-year-old amateur Carlota Ciganda.

Ciganda, who hails from Ulzama GC in the north of Spain, has an outstanding amateur record. The 2004 European Amateur Champion, Spanish Amateur Champion and Young Masters Champion, was paired with Marti and two other huge stars of Spanish sport in the pro am tournament today; Joan Laporta, the President of Barcelona Football Club and the tennis player Alberto Berasategui.

Ciganda was also a member of the 2004 European Junior Ryder Cup and the 2005 Junior Solheim Cup teams and tied for 52nd place at the Weetabix Women’s British Open in July.

But Icher, who has experienced six top tens in fifteen starts on the LPGA Tour this season, is the one to beat come Saturday.

The French woman arrives straight off of a fifth place finish at last week’s John Q. Hammons Hotel Classic in America and is full of confidence as she returns to Europe for the first time since the Scandinavian TPC Hosted by Annika in August.

“It’s good to come back to Europe but I’m here to defend my title,” said the 26-year-old from Chateroux, whose best finish of the season on the LPGA Tour was second at the MasterCard Classic honoring Alejo Peralta in Mexico.

“That good finish put me inside the top 90 before the re-ranking,” she said, adding: “My goal is now to win an LPGA tournament and to win a major championship.”

Firstly, she will be looking to add a fifth tournament victory to her resume at this week’s Catalonia Ladies Masters. The first Catalonia Ladies Masters was staged in 2003 with a field of eight players. It is now a fully sanctioned event including 36 of the best players on the LET.