(23 December – Murcia, Spain)
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German amateur Caroline Masson survived both Pre-Qualifying and Final Qualifying to win the Ladies European Tour&aposs Final Qualifying School at La Manga Club in Murcia, Spain, on Monday. Australian’s Kristie Smith and Kate Combes finished 2nd and tied 5th respectively to gain their full card for the 2010 season.
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rnMasson, a 20-year-old from the town of Gladbeck signed for a closing round of 66, 7-under par, to finish the four-round Final Qualifying School at 14-under-par, total 278. With extreme weather conditions prevailing over the Qualifying period, Masson played seven gruelling rounds in seven days. After securing her card she said, “I played pretty well from stage one and just made some more putts today so that’s why I scored a little better. It was solid,” said Masson, who attended Oklahoma State University for a year before leaving to concentrate on golf full-time.
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rnSmith, whose father Wayne had previously won the European Tour School at La Manga Club in 1986, finished with a final round of 3-under par 70 for a 12-under par total. Afterwards, she said, “Today was a good day. The whole two weeks that I was here were really good; I played solid for two weeks straight.”
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rnCombes, who went to qualifying school after winning the St Georges Basin Country Club Pro-Am at the end of November, also finished with a final round 70 to move into a tie for 5th at 9-under par total 283.
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rnStacey Keating (T44), Rebecca Flood (T46) and Vicky Thomas (T46) also made the final rounds of qualifying securing conditional status category 10. This will allow them minimal starts in 2010.
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rnThe 2010 LET season kicks off in the last week of February with the Pegasus New Zealand Women’s Open. This will be followed by the ANZ Ladies Masters and Handa Women’s Australian Open.