The second World Ladies Championship takes place on the Sandbelt Trails course at Mission Hills’ luxury golf and leisure resort in Haikou on the tropical island of Hainan in southern China from March 7-10 this week.

This will be the fourth stop on the Ladies European Tour’s international 2013 schedule. With prizes totalling $600,000, the tournament gathers 108 of the best female golfers in the world including Korean world No.4 Inbee Park, Chinese world No.5 Shanshan Feng, world No.8 Suzann Pettersen of Norway and last year’s European No.1 Carlota Ciganda of Spain.

The Ladies European Tour is delighted to announce that Carlota Ciganda has won the 2012 Rolex Rookie of the Year Award. Ciganda is the first player since Laura Davies in 1985 to win the LET Order of Merit and Rookie of the Year Awards in the same season.

The 22-year-old from Pamplona in Spain was also voted 'Players' Player of the Year' for 2012, following her sensational results which included two victories in Holland and China, along with ten further top ten finishes from 19 tournaments played.

Carlota Ciganda holds a huge lead on the LET's Rolex Rookie of the Year standings and a slim margin over Caroline Masson at the top of the ISPS Handa Order of Merit.

The 22-year-old Spaniard from Pamplona could become the second youngest ever winner of the ranking if she can keep her lead after the final four events of the season. Laura Davies claimed both the order of merit and rookie title in 1985, aged 22 years and two months, while Carlota is just a few months older.

Australian Stacey Keating is looking to capture her third straight Ladies European Tour title as she plays in the China Suzhou Taihu Open beginning on Friday at Suzhou Taihu International Golf Club. The 26-year-old recorded back-to-back victories in her last two starts on the tour at the Tenerife Open de España and Lacoste Ladies Open de France, three weeks ago.

Now she hopes to tie Marie Laure de Lorenzi's 23-year-old record for most consecutive wins back-to-back after the Frenchwoman notched three straight wins on the LET in 1989.