(5 July 2010 – Tenerife, Spain)
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England&aposs Trish Johnson had her fair share of luck during the final round, but the 44-year-old did enough to hold on for the Tenerife Ladies Open title finishing on 14-under par. A final round of 2-under par 70 secured Johnson a one-shot victory over Frenchwoman Virginie Lagoutte-Clement, with another Frenchwoman, Anne-Lise Caudal a further shot back in outright third.
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By the end of the third round where she fired a superb 6-under par 66, Johnson had moved to 12-under par and forged a three-shot lead over Lagoutte-Clement, England’s Melissa Reid a further shot back at 8-under par and Caudal another shot back at 7-under par. Midway through the final round, the three shot lead had disappeared as Lagoutte-Clement went out in 3-under while Johnson played the front nine in even par.
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Johnson’s luck started early on the back nine. After putting her drive out-of-bounds on the par-5 10th hole, she managed to hole her 5th shot from the bunker for an amazing par. Up ahead, Caudal eagled the same hole to pull within one shot. From there, it looked like a three-way tussle 
between Johnson and the two players from France as Reid couldn’t get anything going and had slipped back to 7-under.
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On the 11th hole Johnson made a putt from off the green for par to remain at 12-under whilst Lagoutte-Clement made a bogey at the same hole and again at the next to fall two behind. Caudal made her run, following up her eagle on the 10th with back-to-back birdies on the 12th and 13th holes to take the lead at 13-under. Lagoutte-Clement got herself back into the mix with an eagle on the 13th. Johnson used all her experience to regain the lead with a pair of birdies on holes 14 and 15. That would be her last birdie but the 16th proved to be the turning point of the tournament. On the par-4, Johnson’s tee shot actually cleared a wall to go out of bounds, bounced on a footpath and returned back in bounds. She made par there, finished with two more pars to finish at 14-under par. Caudal had fallen out of contention with a bogey at the 16th while Lagoutte-Clement could only make a birdie at the last when she needed an eagle.
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The title was Johnson’s 16th on the LET and her first since the 2007 BMW Ladies Italian Open. She has also won three times on the US LPGA. After her round, she said, “It’s fantastic. I’d like to say I thoroughly enjoyed the day but I’ve got to be honest: I didn’t really. Really I was pretty lucky, because the back nine: ten I played so badly, putting it out of bounds. I holed a fantastic bunker shot; (then) holed a putt from off the green on 11 for a par. I was hanging in a little bit.”
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Karen Lunn followed up her win at last week’s event in Portugal with another solid performance, finishing in a tie for 9th at 6-under par. Lynnette Brooky posted her best result of the season finishing two shots behind Lunn tied for 14th while Stephanie Na, in only her second start since the Australian events, bounced back from an opening round of 77 to finish tied 19th at 2-under par. Rebecca Flood (T27), Nikki Garrett (T29), Kate Combes (T42), Frances Bondad (T51) and Mianne Bagger (T51) all made the cut in what was another solid week for the ALPG Members.
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Photos courtesy of LET.