(Rome, June 2 2004) The Robe di Kappa Ladies European Tour makes it fourth Tour stop on European soil in 2004 for this week’s €275,000 BMW Ladies Italian Open, which starts Thursday at Parco di Roma GC on the outskirts of the Italian capital.

Ludivine Kreutz – defending champion

Kreutz admitted to having a poor year after winning at Poggio dei Medici last season and so far this year she has only made two cuts from five starts, with her best finish tied for 24th place in Portugal.

“I’m not playing the golf I know I can play,” said Kreutz, who as defending champion begins the event at 66-1 odds to retain her title.

“I want to play well again and I know I can compete at the top level. After a good season last year, it’s a bit disappointing. It was fantastic last year, it was just magic!”

And one player this year who is certainly showing plenty of magic and signs of an imminent victory is Becky Brewerton from Wales, who last week notched up her fourth top three since playing on the LET.

The 21-year-old from Abergele finished second two times as an amateur in 2003 in 2004, she has finished second in Tenerife behind Luna and in third place behind Arricau last week.

As is intimated by Brewerton’s pre-tournament odds of 10-1, making her joint favourite alongside Elisabeth Esterl from Germany, victory, according to the cognoscenti, is a matter of when and not if.