(5 September 2011 – Wiener Neustadt, Austria).jpg)
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Swedish sensation Caroline Hedwall landed her third Ladies European Tour title in her rookie season overnight. In the end, a superb final round of 8-under par 64 saw her come from seven strokes behind overnight leader Kaisa Ruuttila to win the UNIQA Ladies Open presented by Raiffiesen in Austria. Frenchwoman Caroline Afonso finished in the outright runner-up spot, four shots adrift of Hedwall. A quartet of players tie for third: Melissa Reid (England), Linda Wessberg (Sweden), Giulia Sergas (Italy) and Ruuttila.
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rnHedwall, the 22-year-old from Barsebäck in Sweden opened with a 73 to trail by six shots going into the weekend and added a 67 on Saturday to sit seven behind with one round remaining.
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rnAfter winning the LET’s Final Qualifying School in December, Hedwall won the New South Wales Open on the ALPG Tour on her professional debut in January. With wins in Slovakia and Finland in May and June respectively, she now has three LET titles from 15 starts and is the first player to win three LET tournaments as a rookie since Trish Johnson in 1987.
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rn“It’s been an unbelievable year. I just try to enjoy myself and have a good time: that’s what I do. I try to have fun and it works,” said Hedwall, who was recently selected by Captain Alison Nicholas to represent Europe at The Solheim Cup, taking place in Ireland in a fortnight.
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rn“I did play very solid yesterday and I did leave a lot of shots out there. I missed two really short putts, so it felt like it should have been eight under yesterday. I felt like, if I can keep playing this solid I might have a low round coming. It was just nice that I could pull it off."
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rnOn the final day, Ruuttila, who started at 11-under par had established a four stroke lead after six holes, but dropped back to nine under with a bogey at the seventh followed by a double on the ninth hole.
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rnHedwall carded three birdies on the front nine at the second, fourth and eighth holes. She added another at the 11th, and followed that with an eagle at the par-four 12th, where she reached the green and holed a 15-foot putt. By that stage she had joined the leaders at 10-under par. She took the lead for the first time in the tournament with tap-in a birdie at the 15th hole.
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rnThe quietly spoken star-in-the-making had a hiccup at the par-three 16th when she hit her tee shot over the green and duffed her chip shot, having to hole a 15-footer for bogey to stay in front.
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rn“I hit a bad chip and holed the putt, so I felt like it was a sign that I would finish strong,” said Hedwall, who proceeded to hole from five and four feet for birdies on the two closing holes respectively, effectively sealing the victory and first prize of €30,000. “I just enjoyed the moment and didn’t really think about it. I just know that I can make birdies and I did,” she said.
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rnIt was a good week for the ALPG Members with four players finishing inside the Top-15. Karen Lunn was the best, finishing in outright 7th at 5-under par. She was followed by Stacey Keating and Nikki Garrett (both tied for 8th) while Rebecca Flood stuttered at the end to finish in a tie for 12th after at one stage being 4th and just three strokes from the leaders. Rebecca Codd (T17), Lynnette Brooky (T32), Frances Bondad (T43) and Danielle Montgomery (T48) also made the cut.