(22 March 2010 – Mohammedia, Morocco)
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Germany&aposs Anja Monke finished a one-shot victor at the inaugural LET event in Morocco, the Lalla Meryem Cup. Her three round total of 8-under par 208 saw her finish in front of Sweden’s Carin Koch with Frenchwoman Virginie Lagoutte-Clement a further shot back in outright third.
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rnMonke, who had her card on the LPGA last year, started the final round at 5-under par, one shot behind Koch in a tie with England’s Melissa Reid and Scotland’s Vikki Laing. Through the opening nine holes, it looked like it would be Koch’s tournament after she reeled off three straight birdies from the 4th hole to reach 9-under. Her nearest challenger was Laing who had played solidly for 1-under through the first nine holes to reach 6-under par. Monke had dropped a shot to be five shots behind on 4-under par.
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rnMonke made her move early on the back nine with birdies at both the 10th and 12th holes, while Koch was playing steady par golf. Through 12 holes, Koch remained at 9-under with Monke, Reid and Laing all on 6-under. Laing moved to 7-under with a birdie at the 13th before disaster struck with a double bogey at the 14th. She would notch another double on the last hole to fall to a tie for 6th at 4-under par. Reid also struck trouble on the closing holes, dropping shots at the 16th and 17th to tie Laing in 6th.
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rnThe tournament took the twist that Monke was looking for when she almost made albatross at the par-5 16th, tapping in for eagle to reach 8-under par. Behind her, completing a three-shot swing, Koch stumbled with a bogey at the 15th hole leaving the two players tied for the lead. Monke made two pars to finish, which in the end, was good enough after Koch made another bogey at the 17th to fall one behind and could only manage a par at the last to hand victory to Monke.
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rnIt was Monke’s third LET tournament victory after she won the 2008 Open de France and Dubai Ladies Masters and afterwards she commented, “It is a surprise because I only practised in the winter in the snow in Germany. I even practised some bunker shots out of the snow.”
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rnAsked about her thoughts after the near-albatross she said, “If you have a three-footer for eagle it helps. I saw the scoreboard behind it, that I equalled Carin’s result at that time. Of course she still had to play number 16 which is a birdie hole, but I thought, ‘I am close and we’ll see what we get.’ I got it!”
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rnThe win leaves Monke second on the Henderson Money List, behind only Laura Davies who performed so well in the Southern Hemisphere swing, winning the inaugural Pegasus New Zealand Women’s Open and placing second at last week’s Handa Women’s Australian Open.
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rnStephanie Na was the only ALPG Member to make the cut, finishing in a tie for 28th at 1-over par total 217. She was disappointed with her final round of 4-over 76 after heading into the final day in a tie for 10th at 3-under par. With only a conditional card, a Top-10 would have secured her a place in the field at the next event in Turkey. She sits in 32nd on the Money List and is looking for a re-rank in May after the German Open.
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rnThe LET doesn’t resume until the 22nd of April with the Communitat Valenciana European Nations Cup in Spain where Karrie Webb and Karen Lunn will represent Australia in the limited field team format.