(22 January 2012 – Canberra, Australia).jpg)
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It was certainly Karen Lunn’s week and she certainly put a punctuation mark on it with a monster eagle putt on the last to run out a four shot winner of the third ActewAGL Royal Canberra Ladies Classic. A final round of 3-under par 70 saw her finish at 12-under, with Victoria’s Vicky Thomas (68) in outright second position on 8-under par.
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Lunn began the final round with a commanding 3-shot cushion over England’s Kym Larratt and with nine holes to play, the lead had stretched to six shots and it looked all over. She had built that lead on the back of three birdies in a row from the 4th hole. Larratt hadn’t played badly but commented, “I hit the ball well but just couldn’t get the putts to drop.”
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From there, it would seem that it was just a coast to the finish for Lunn, but it certainly didn’t pan out that way. Thomas had started the day at 3-under par and made the turn in 1-under but seemingly a long way from contending. She added birdies at the 11th and 13th holes before an eagle on the 16th saw her apply a little pressure to Lunn. The leader had made bogeys at the 11th and 14th holes to drop to 10 under and her lead had been cut to two shots.
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Larratt came back into the reckoning with birdies at both 15 and 16 and she also had a chance to put some pressure on Lunn. Up ahead, Thomas made her own monster putt on the last to reach 8-under for the clubhouse lead. Lunn and Larratt were just about to tee off on the 17th when Thomas’ score was posted. After their tee shots, Thomas was right in the hunt with Larratt catching the trees on the right of the par-3 17th, while Lunn found the front right trap.
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What was to follow were two miraculous pars, Larratt nearly holing her 45m chip shot before tapping in for par, while Lunn blasted out to eight feet and drained the pressure putt for her par. It meant that she walked up the last with a two shot cushion and when Larratt found the front left bunker, the title was hers to lose. The years of traipsing the globe playing under pressure paid off as she calmly smoked a three-wood pin-high on to the par-5 18th for two. With a putt of at least 40 feet her caddie, sister Mardi, “thought she’d just cozy one up close.” However, it wasn’t to be as the ball never left the line of centre cup and rolled in for an eagle three to finish.
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That was that, and it was just left to Larratt to finish off. She made an unfortunate bogey to slip into a tie for 3rd with another Victorian in Stacey Keating (69). Local Nikki Campbell finished in outright 5th place after a final round of 72, while another Victorian rounded out the top-6 in Lindsey Wright (71).
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After accepting the trophy and the winner’s cheque for $19,500, Lunn commented, “I’m absolutely thrilled to win this event. It makes it even more special that Mardi was on the bag.”
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Hailing from Cowra originally, Lunn said, “My cousin was in the crowd and it was nice to see some familiar faces from Cowra in the gallery. It has just made the day even more special.”
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The ALPG Tour continues this week with the Bing Lee/Samsung Women’s NSW Open at Oatlands Golf in Sydney.
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