(Madrid, Spain)
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Frenchwoman Gwladys Nocera secured her fifth title of the year on Saturday, taking out the Madrid Ladies Masters by four shots from Spain’s Paula Marti, with Scotland’s Catriona Mathew finishing a further shot back in outright third place. Nocera fired rounds of 72, 69, 67 for a 54-hole total 11-under par 208 at the Casino Club de Golf Retamares, just outside Madrid.
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After beginning the final round with a slender one shot lead over Marti and Korea’s Amy Yang, Nocera stumbled with a double bogey at the first hole to fall two shots behind hometown favourite, Marti who made a birdie at the same hole. However, from there it was all Nocera. After the early slip-up she reeled off five birdies in the next six holes to both seize the lead and effectively condemn her challengers to playing for second. Yang mixed 5 birdies with 5 bogeys in an even par round as her expected challenge never really got off the ground, while Marti played solid golf in a bogey free 3-under par 70, but she also never really challenged the Frenchwoman down the stretch. Mathew’s round was similar, making a couple of late birdies to sneak into outright third.
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Nocera’s remarkable final round of 6-under par 67 included nine birdies, a bogey and the double at the first. Through nine holes her lead was two over Marti and she was able to coast home with further birdies at 10, 13, 17 and 18. It was her 10th LET tournament victory and the €100,000.00 winner’s cheque sees her move to the top of the New Star Money List with €382,605.00 in season earnings. After her victory Nocera mentioned the money list, saying, “It’s big for me because that was the plan at the beginning of the year. It is a big thing for me and I’m just happy I did it.”
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New Zealand’s Lynn Brooky was the only ALPG representative in the limited field event, finishing well with a final round 3-under par 70 to leave her in a tie for 19th at 2-over par total 221. The players will now have a three week break before heading to Asia at the end of October with events in China, Korea and India before the final event in Dubai.