(9 January, 2011 – Branxton, NSW).jpg)
rn
Rachel Bailey, from the Blue Mountains secured her second Xstrata Coal Branxton Pro-Am win after finishing at 5-under par, total 139. Her margin of victory was three shots over Victoria’s Stacey Keating who was playing in her first professional tournament. Also playing her first tournament was Victoria’s Jessica Parker who finished outright third, a further shot behind Keating.
rn
Bailey had shared the overnight lead at 2-under par with New Zealand’s Sarah Nicholson and Queensland’s Sarah-Jane Smith. However, it was Keating who made the early headlines following up her first round of 77 with a new tournament record of 7-under par 65 in the morning to own the clubhouse lead at 2-under par. Her round included three eagles which included holing her second shot from 120 metres on the tough par-4 8th hole.
rn
.jpg)
With 20 players within three shots of the lead heading into the final round, it was anyone’s tournament. However, the tough afternoon conditions made scoring difficult and only Bailey could break par to continue her good recent form. She made the most of her round on the front nine posting birdies at the 3rd, 4th, 6th and 8th holes to go out in 4-under par and open up a commanding lead over her nearest rivals.
rn
As the wind picked up during the afternoon, Bailey started to make a few mistakes and came back to the field with bogeys on the 10th and 13th holes before steadying the ship with a birdie at the par-5 14th. Another bogey at the tough 16th hole saw her lead reduced to two shots by a revitalised Sarah-Jane Smith, who posted birdies on the 14th and 15th holes.
rn
It all turned sour for Smith whose rounds came to a shuddering halt with a double-bogey at the 16th and the tournament was Bailey’s who narrowly missed a birdie putt at the last hole. Afterwards, she said, “It’s a great start to the season. I just hope I can continue this sort of the form when we get to the bigger tournaments.”
rn
Click here for the final scores.
rn