(20 September 2010 – Benahavis, Spain)
rn
It had appeared that a back-nine disaster might ruin Laura Davies&apos title hopes for the second week in a row, however this time she bounced back immediately with two birdies on her way to collecting her 76th career title at the Open de España Femenin on Sunday. A final round of even par 71 gave Davies a two stroke margin over Australia’s Frances Bondad, England’s Rebecca Hudson and extroverted American Christina Kim.
rn
rnDavies went in to what turned out to be a remarkable final day with a two shot cushion over former ANZ Ladies Masters winner Lisa Hall with Swedish legend Carin Koch a further shot back in third. It appeared that the final round would be fought out between these three experienced campaigners. Unfortunately for Koch, after an opening hole birdie she couldn’t get anything going and could only manage to add a bogey and a double-bogey to her string of pars to finish in a tie for 12th.
rn
rnMuch to the leader’s surprise, a young lady from Sydney, Australia had joined the race for the title after posting a 6-under par score of 29 around the front nine. Bondad’s front nine included five birdies in succession from the 5th hole as she moved to 11-under par through the turn. She trailed Davies by three shots as the Englishwoman had posted three birdies on a flawless front nine to move to 14-under. Hall remained two back, herself playing the front nine in three-under par.
rn
rnThe drama was yet to unfold, but Bondad slipped back into a tie for third with two early bogeys on the back nine, while Hall also dropped a shot, leaving Davies a comfortable three shots in front with six holes to play. However, like last week when she found a horrible lie to take a triple bogey at the 11th, Davies hit an errant drive on the 13th hole, hit the cart path and ended up in the rocks. After taking three shots to extract the back on the fairway, she wound up with a quadruple bogey 8 to fall back into a tie for the lead with Hall who also made a bogey. Unfortunately for Bondad, she couldn’t capitalise on the errors being made behind her as she continued her roller-coaster round, mixing birdies on the 14th, 16th and 18th holes with a double-bogey at the 15th and a bogey at the 17th. For the day she only managed five pars but still managed to post her best result tying for second.
rn
rn
Davies again hit the cart path off the tee on the 14th hole but this time it was to her advantage and she posted a birdie which backed up with another on the 15th after she what she described as ‘the shot of the week,’ a two-iron from 235 yards into the par-5 15th. Hall was now two behind and in chasing birdies, made a double-bogey at the 16th to hand Davies the title falling four behind with just two holes to play.
rn
rnDavies could even afford a bogey at the last hole claiming the title at 11-under par, two shots in front of the fast-finishing trio in second place. Apart from Bondad, Kim fired a bogey-free 6-under par 65 while Hudson equalled Bondad with a 4-under par 67.
rn
rnDavies commented that her 76th career victory was one of her best saying, “After that 8, this is probably one of the best wins I’ve had in my life, because the pressure was on. People had already posted 9-under…so I had to do what I did, so it’s a nice feeling I have to say.” She also moved back to the top of the Henderson Money List, overtaking South Africa’s Lee-Anne Pace with five events remaining.
rn
rnApart from the stunning finish by Bondad to finish second, Nikki Garrett had solid week in an impressive run of late to tie for 17th at 5-under par. Rebecca Flood rounded out a solid rookie season on European soil, posting a 1-under par round of 70 to finish in a tie for 28th. Karen Lunn (T51) and Rebecca Coakley (T51) also made the cut.
rnThe players now have a break until the 22nd of October where the Tour moves to China for the €200,000 Sanya Ladies Open.
rn
Photos courtesy of LET.