LET Order of Merit
Current season, competition or edition: 2017 Ladies European Tour
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| Sport | Golf |
|---|---|
| Founded | 1978 |
| Countries | Based in Europe. Schedule includes events outside Europe, in Oceania, Asia, Africa, and the United States. |
| Most recent champion(s) |
 Beth Allen(2016 Order of Merit winner) |
| Most titles |
Laura Davies (45) |
| Related competitions |
European Tour |
| Official website | LadiesEuropeanTour.com |
The Ladies European Tour is a professional golf tour for women which was founded in 1978. It is based at Buckinghamshire Golf Club near London in England. Like many UK-based sports organisations it is a company limited by guarantee, a legal structure which enables it to focus on maximising returns to its members through prize money, rather than on making profits for investors. The tour is run by a Board of Directors and a Players' Council. Most of the players on the tour are European, with members from more than 40 different countries internationally. The tour operates tournaments across five continents globally.
The U.S.-based LPGA was founded in 1950, but women's professional golf was slower to get established in Europe. In 1978 the Women's Professional Golf Association (WPGA) was formed as part of Professional Golfers' Association of Great Britain and Ireland and a tour was established the following year.
In 1988 the tour members decided to form an independent company, the Women Professional Golfers' European Tour Limited. This new company moved away from the PGA's headquarters at The Belfry and set up its own headquarters at the Tytherington Club in Cheshire. In 1998 the Tour changed its name to European Ladies' Professional Golf Association Limited and again in July 2000 to its current name, Ladies European Tour Limited. In 2008 the tour relocated to offices at the Buckinghamshire Golf Club, which is just outside London.
Getting a women's tour established in Europe was not easy. Whereas men's tour golf in Europe developed in parallel with that in the United States, the women's tour had to compete against a well established rival in the U.S. LPGA Tour from its foundation.
A record 26 official money events were scheduled for the 2008 season, which also saw the introduction of a new team competition called the European Ladies Golf Cup. Also, for the first time in several years, the LET scheduled an event opposite one of the LPGA's majors, with the ABN AMRO Open held opposite the LPGA Championship. The schedule dropped to 23 official money events in 2009, but increased to 25 for 2010. In both years, the Ladies Open of Portugal was scheduled opposite the LPGA Championship. In 2010, the LET Access Series (LETAS) was launched as the official development tour.
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