The 2009 champion Karen Stupples

North Wales golf fans will have the chance to create their own Ryder Cup fever when the top women’s players in Europe compete in Conwy a few weeks before the main event at The Celtic Manor Resort.

The £300,000 S4C Wales Ladies Championship of Europe will take place at Conwy (Caernarvonshire) Golf Club as part of the Ryder Cup Wales Summer of Golf programme, with many of the top names in European ladies golf, including Becky Brewerton looking for victory a few miles from where she learned to play at Abergele.

The event will be held from August 12th-15th, just seven weeks before The Ryder Cup stars arrive in Newport at the end of September, and offers another opportunity to watch the very best players competing in Wales.

“The Ryder Cup, itself, is what we have all been looking forward to for the last 10 years really – now we are finally nearly there it is nice to be involved a month or so before,” said Conwy Secretary, Aled Jones.

“I imagine that the nearer it gets the more Welsh golf fever will be building up, the TV coverage will grow and, hopefully, it will be reflected in the number of people coming to watch the ladies, at Conwy, in August.

“It is another feather in our cap and something different as well – we have had the Seniors and the European Amateurs playing here so it is nice to have something else just before The Ryder Cup.

“Becky Brewerton will be returning home and that will bring a lot of people in here, especially if she is competing high up on the leader board in the last couple of rounds.

“That will certainly boost the spectator numbers which have already proved to be good on the last two events we have staged here.

“It will be a good test for the ladies but a lot depends on the weather. We hope there will be a little bit of wind just to make it interesting.”

Former British Open champion Karen Stupples is expected to return to defend the title she won further down the North West Wales coast at Royal St David’s, Harlech, last year, while other star names who have regularly taken part in Wales include Laura Davies.

The prize fund is among the biggest on the Ladies European Tour and this year’s event is also being supported by Conwy County Borough Council.

The course is rated as one of the top links around – and among the toughest, especially the final three holes which always play a big part in every tournament.

It has hosted Ian Woosnam and Sam Torrance in the Ryder Cup Wales Seniors Open, many of the best European professionals in the final Open Championship qualifying event and top amateurs in the European Amateur Team Championships.

The Wales Ladies Championship has been played at Royal Porthcawl, Machynys, in Llanelli, and Royal St David’s before coming to Conwy this summer.

Ryder Cup Wales Chairman, John Jermine, said, “Since 2003 we have been able to take this event to our major courses throughout Wales and are delighted that Conwy has invited us to stage this prestigious championship at their marvellous course in this most beautiful part of Wales.”

“With over 80,000 youngsters introduced to golf and 41 new pay and play facilities opening across Wales we wanted to give everybody the opportunity to watch the best players in Europe playing on their local courses and we hope to see a record number of spectators at Conwy.

“All eyes will be on Becky Brewerton, who has played twice in The Solheim Cup, a local hero having learned the game at Abergele, just a few miles down the road.

“It will also be a wonderful opportunity for Breanne Loucks, from Wrexham, who made such an impression on the Ladies European Tour in her first year and there will be more Welsh interest in her fellow tour pro Lydia Hall.

“Other Welsh players include professionals Rhian Wyn Thomas, Jo Pritchard and Sahra Hassan, while North Wales is also represented by some very strong amateur players including Amy Boulden and Tara Davies.

“With The Ryder Cup being played in Wales in October this will be the biggest year in Welsh golf and hosting the S4C Wales Ladies event will ensure that Conwy will enjoy unprecedented exposure and further enhance the North Wales reputation as a premier international golfing destination.”