By Ulrike Krieger
Alexandra Försterling (23) has been looking forward to this tee for a year. Because the only tournament of the Ladies European Tour (LET) in Germany, the Amundi German Masters in the Golf- und Counrty-Club am Seddiner See, takes place right in front of her Berlin front door.
Försterling is one of the greatest hopes in German women’s golf and is playing her first year as a professional on the LET: “I’m trying to enjoy everything and have a lot of fun. And of course it should also be sporty. A top 5 placement here in Berlin would be great. Hopefully I can use my home field advantage.”
When it comes to advantages, women in golf are unfortunately still at a disadvantage.
Försterling, who watches Harry Potter films in her spare time and devours the books, explains: “I think I speak for many of my colleagues here. If I could conjure up something like Harry Potter, it would be this: women’s tournaments should be pushed even more and it would be nice if there were no longer any differences to the men and we could get the same prize money for the same game. “
Here at the Amundi German Masters (worth 300,000 euros), the winner receives 45,000 euros in prize money. For comparison: At the men’s Porsche Open in Hamburg (worth 2 million dollars) 14 days ago, the winner received a whopping 315,000 euros – seven times as much.
The high-flyer from the Golf-Club-Wannsee (lives and trains since studying in Arizona/USA) still has fun. Försterling doesn’t play for the money. Even as a small child, they took their golf-playing parents with them to the course, and at first they still had toys with them in the golf cart: “But then I wanted to have my own clubs pretty quickly.”
At the age of 14 she met her great role model Martin Kaymer at the Ryder Cup in Gleneagles. She was invited to the Junior Cup: “He praised me: ‘Maybe you’ll play better than I do’.” From then on, Alexandra was even more enthusiastic about her sport. At her school in Berlin’s Tempelhof district, she was often teased: “They all had no idea and thought golf was a sport for old men.”
The tournament runs until Sunday (June 18). Tickets are available from 10 euros. At the weekend, the day ticket costs 20 euros. Children up to and including the age of 17 receive free entry.