(9 August 2010 – Killeen Castle, Ireland)
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It would appear that Sweden&aposs Sophie Gustafson has a love affair with Ireland&aposs golf courses as she picked up her sixth title on Irish soil at the AIB Ladies Irish Open. A final round of 6-under par 66 saw her edge ahead of Korea’s In-Kyung Kim and Norway’s Marianne Skarpnord who tied for second. England’s Melissa Reid also fired a final round of 66 to finish in outright 4th while Australia’s Katherine Hull fired the round of the tournament, an 8-under par 64 to rocket up the leaderboard to finish outright 5th.
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rnGustafson (6-under) began the final round in the penultimate group trailing overnight leader Kim (9-under) by three shots. The Swedish pair of Anna Nordqvist and Linda Wessberg sat on 8-under par with Skarpnord, while another Swede, Pernilla Lindberg was 5th at 7-under.
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rnThrough nine holes, Gustafson had picked up a shot on Kim; however it could have been anything as she mixed 5 birdies, 3 bogeys and a par to go out in 2-under. Kim was the steadier with two birdies and a bogey to move to 10-under. Of the other players Wessberg and Nordqvist dropped a shot each to be three behind, while Skarpnord remained at even par for the day and two shots adrift. It was set up for a thrilling finish with nine to play.
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Gustafson joined the lead when she made an eagle at the 454-yard par-5 12th hole. Meanwhile Skarpnord was also making a move with birdies at the 11th and 13th holes to also move to 10-under. Gustafson moved into the lead by herself after a birdie at the 14th hole. Behind her, Kim made a bogey at the same hole and the big-hitting Swede’s lead was one shot over playing partner, Skarpnord.
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rnSkarpnord joined Gustafson in the lead with a birdie at the 15th hole, a feat matched by Kim who was now one behind with three to play. All three players made par at the 16th before Kim joined the lead with a birdie at the 17th. At that time, Gustafson and Skarpnord had played their second shots to the 18th. Skarpnord missed her putt while Gustafson rolled in her 10-feet downhill birdie putt to take the outright lead. Kim could only manage to par the 18th and the title was Gustafson’s.
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rnGustafson now has four Irish Opens to her name (1998, 2000, 2003 and 2010), and also won the 2003 BT Open and 2000 TSN World Cup on Irish soil. It was her 24th individual title worldwide. Afterwards she commented on the last putt saying, “Being able to make that putt was fantastic because I’ve been struggling with my putting, so that was very, very nice,” Gustafson added. “I think I’ve been playing better than my recent results have shown, so that was very pleasing being able to play so well.”
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rnApart from Hull, two other ALPG Members finished in the Top-20 with Rebecca Coakley in a tie for 17th at 4-under and Nikki Garrett, tied 19th at 3-under par. Also making the cut were Rebecca Flood and Frances Bondad who finished in a tie for 43rd at 3-over par while Kate Combes was three shots further back in a tie for 58th.
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Photos courtesy of LET.
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