Dimmock and Torrance Plan for Royal Reception

England’s Annabel Dimmock is hoping that memories of her career best third-place finish in last year’s Lalla Meryem Cup will spur her on to more success this week over the Blue Course at Royal Golf Dar Es Salam in Rabat.

Annabel is bringing her boyfriend Dan (below, left) as her caddie and his father Sam Torrance (below, right) won the men’s Hassan Trophée II tournament in Morocco in 2006.

The victorious 2002 European Ryder Cup captain has told the pair to ‘bring home the dagger!’ referring to the exquisitely decorated trophy for the winner of the Hassan Trophée II, being played by the male European Tour players concurrently the Red Course at Royal Golf Dar Es Salam this week.

Dimmock will be looking to take home the equivalent prize awarded to the Lalla Meryem Cup champion: a beautifully bejewelled golden purse worth more than €100,000.

The 21-year-old Wentworth player attended a sparkling prize giving 12 months ago alongside the event champion Klara Spilkova and second placed Suzann Pettersen, in the presence of HRH Prince Moulay Rachid, Chairman of the Association Trophée Hassan (ATH) and President of the Royal Moroccan Golf Federation.

She said: “I had such a great experience here so I am hoping to go one or two places better this week with Dan as my caddie. He also caddied for me at The Queens presented by Kowa last year and we had such fun on the course. He makes me laugh and enjoy my golf and that always makes you play better!”

Although Dan followed his friend Steven Brown and Annabel when they played together in the 2014 Sunningdale Foursomes, the pair met in a nightclub in Ascot around a year ago and Dan offered to buy Annabel dinner if she had a top-10 finish in Morocco. A top-5 finish meant that they enjoyed several dinners together on her return to the UK and they officially became an item during the BMW PGA Championship.

Dan, a former scratch handicap golfer who now works in property development, is a great practice partner for Annabel and the pair often practice together at Wentworth.

This week will mark Annabel’s fifth start on the LET in 2018 and follows a tie for ninth place at the Investec South African Women’s Open last month. A solid performance would also lift her up from 46^th place on the LET order of merit.