(23 August 2010 – East Lothian, Scotland)
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Virginie Lagoutte-Clement of France watched the leaderboard as challengers fell by the wayside to hand her an unexpected victory on the Ladies European Tour. A final round of 1-under par 71 saw her finish at 1-over par 217, which was good enough for Lagoutte-Clement to collect her first title since the 2006 Finnair Masters. Two-time winner this season Lee-Anne Pace finished with a flurry to tie for second with the English pair of Trish Johnson and Sophie Walker, both of whom made a bogey at the last hole.
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rnOn a difficult golf course, in cold and windy conditions, it was a case of who could hold on the longest on the final day, with any one of 10 players in with a chance with 9 holes to play. The day began with Korea’s Jeehae Lee, at 2-under par, holding a one stroke advantage over Johnson. A chasing pack of 6 players was two shots back at 1-over par which included ALPG Members Rebecca Coakley and Nikki Garrett, while Lagoutte-Clement began the day at 2-over par.
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rnLee began her round badly with a double-bogey at the first hole and finished the front nine at even par. Johnson had made a fantastic start with an eagle at the 6th and a birdie at the 7th to move to 4-under par, however that was tempered as she was one of the many competitors to make bogey at the 9th hole. Lagoutte-Clement had also played the front nine in fine style with birdies at the 2nd and 4th holes adding to her eagle at the 6th. She also made bogey at the 9th to be at 1-under par through the turn.
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rnThe big mover on the final day was Coakley who notched 3 birdies and a bogey on the front side to also move to 1-under par. She added birdies at the 10th and 11th holes to move to the lead after Johnson dropped shots at the same holes. Lagoutte-Clement moved to 2-under par with a birdie at the 11th hole but it appeared her chances were gone as she made three bogeys in a row from the 14th hole to fall back to 1-over par. Meanwhile Walker was playing stead golf to remain in the mix at 1-over par through 9 holes and then continued to make pars.
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rnThe carnage began on the 14th hole from where Johnson made back-to-back bogeys to fall back to 1-over par. Next in line was Coakley who made a disastrous quadruple bogey on the 15th, followed by a double-bogey at the 16th and a bogey at the 17th to drop seven shots in three holes and eventually finish in a tie for 8th.
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rnWith Lagoutte-Clement in the clubhouse at 1-over par, both Walker and Johnson came to the 18th tied for the lead, however both could only manage a bogey to hand the title to the Frenchwoman. Afterwards she said, “I’ve been waiting for this for a long time. I’m so happy I don’t have the words to explain. Normally I play badly on links. I’m happy to have battled my demons with the links.”
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rnLast week’s winner, Pace finished with birdies at the 10th, 12th, 14th, 16th and 18th holes to post by far the best nine holes of the tournament to finish in second place and take over the lead in the Henderson Money List. She now leads England’s Melissa Reid by nearly €14,000, a lead she looks to extend this week in Finland with Reid not playing.
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rnCoakley was the best of the ALPG contingent saying “Obviously I’m disappointed but more with my luck.” It was however her best finish of a consistent season in which she now sits 41st on the Money List. Nikki Garrett failed to fire in the final round with a 4-over par 76 seeing her finish in a tie for 10th. Frances Bondad and Kate Combes tied for 37th at 14-over par, while Dana Lacey-Johnson was one shot back in 43rd and Karen Lunn finished 44th.