Staff WriterIf golf tournaments were hotels, the La Sella Open would be the sort of place where the pillows are fluffed, the minibar is free, and someone’s already put your favourite snacks on the bedside table.
For the second year running, the Dénia-based event has been voted Best Player Services on the Ladies European Tour, picking up the award at the season-opener in Buckinghamshire and underlining its status as the gold standard for how a modern women’s event should look and feel.
The trophy was handed over at a slick awards evening hosted by presenter Iona Stephen, where six gongs were dished out: Best Player Services, Best Course Condition, the LET Sustainability Leadership Award, the LET Ace Award, the LET Elevate Award and the big one, Tournament of the Year. In a relatively short life, the La Sella stop has already made itself very much at home on that list.
A tournament built entirely around the player
From day one, the blueprint for the La Sella Golf week has been simple: make life as easy as possible for the people actually hitting the shots. That started with a bold call – there is no pre-tournament pro-am. Sacrilegious to sponsors, perhaps, but bliss for players trying to fine-tune their games rather than their small talk.
Instead, the La Sella Open week is built as a kind of performance bubble. On-site accommodation, joined-up logistics, sensible shuttle services and catering that treats athletes like, well, athletes, all add up to a pressure-free environment where the only thing anyone has to worry about is which side of the hole to miss it on.
Then there’s the money. The event boasts Spain’s largest ever women’s prize fund at €1 million, a statement figure that says plenty about how seriously the tournament takes its place on the LET schedule. Even better, those who don’t make the cut don’t leave with empty pockets; their costs are reimbursed and covered, another small but significant detail that has made the event popular in locker rooms across the tour.
It’s that culture of care that helped the event, after its debut in 2023, to be voted Tournament of the Year by the players themselves. Now, with a second consecutive Best Player Services award, the La Sella Open looks less like a one-off and more like a template.
Planting roots – literally – for women’s golf
Of course, tournaments aren’t just built on courtesy cars and good coffee. La Sella is already busy creating its own traditions, and these ones come with dirt under the fingernails.
Recent initiatives include a Champions Garden, where each winner plants a tree in a dedicated corner of the course. The champion also writes a letter to the following year’s winner – a handover note from one part of the tournament’s history to the next.
It’s part time capsule, part pep talk, designed to inspire future champions and to symbolically link the event to the long-term growth of women’s golf. Long after the last putt drops each year, those trees will still be standing, quietly marking out the story of the La Sella Open one ring at a time.
A teenager sets the standard
On the course, the bar has been set just as high. Last year, Canadian teenager Anna Huang turned up, looked around, and decided that age and experience were vastly overrated.
The nerveless 16-year-old produced a wire-to-wire victory to lift her first LET title, handling the pressure with the casual ease of someone choosing a playlist rather than playing for a career-changing win. Her performance grabbed attention far beyond Spain, with fans around the world tuning in to see if she could keep her composure all the way to Sunday. Spoiler: she did.
Huang’s breakout win, staged against the backdrop of a tournament so clearly built for the players, has only added to the event’s reputation as a stage where future stars can flourish.
“A tremendous honour for everyone at La Sella”
For the team behind the scenes, the latest award is more than just a shiny piece of silverware. It’s evidence that the little things are being noticed.
Carlos Garcia, Director at La Sella Golf, said:
“Winning Best Player Services again is a tremendous honour for everyone at La Sella. Our team works year-round to ensure that every player feels supported, comfortable, and able to perform at their best.”
He knows exactly whose opinion matters most in this business.
“To be recognised by the players themselves on the LET stage means a great deal, and it reflects the passion and attention to detail our staff bring to the tournament each year.”
That attention to detail is what has pushed the La Sella Open to the front of the queue when players and caddies talk about their favourite stops on tour – not just because it’s a beautiful place to play golf, but because it feels like an event that genuinely understands what their working life is like.
After the Solheim Cup, all eyes on La Sella
The fourth edition of the tournament will be staged in September, hot on the heels of the Solheim Cup, one of the crown jewels on the women’s golf calendar. By then, the spotlight on women’s golf will be shining brighter than ever – and La Sella will be ready to catch that light.
With its mix of elite competition, serious prize money, player-first thinking and those slowly growing trees in the Champions Garden, the La Sella Open isn’t just another week on the LET schedule. It’s becoming a benchmark – a reminder that when you look after the players properly, the golf tends to look after itself.
For schedules, ticket information and the latest updates, full details are available via the tournament’s official channels.
