(19 October 2009 – Milan, Italy)
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Norwegian, Marianne Skarpnord secured her second title of the season at the Italian Ladies Open in Milan on Saturday. Skarpnord beat England’s Laura Davies in a playoff after both players finished at 12-under par 204 in the 54-hole event. Spain’s Tania Elosegui came storming home with a 6-under par 66 to finish in outright third, two shots behind Skarpnord and Davies.
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rnSkarpnord and Davies began the final round at 9-under par, a one shot lead over local favourite Diana Luna and Austria’s Nicole Gergely and early on it looked as if Davies would cruise to a comfortable victory with all of her nearest rivals faltering early in their rounds. By contrast, Davies made an early surge with birdies at the 2nd, 3rd, 4th and 7th holes, offset by a double- bogey at the 6th to reach 11-under par at the turn. Skarpnord had fallen back to 6-under after 4 bogeys and a birdie.
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rnWith all the other contenders going backwards, it became a two-way battle when Skarpnord made a charge early on the back nine. This included four birdies in 5 holes from the 11th to get back within three shots of Davies with three to play. Both players made par at the 16th before Davies bogeyed the 17th to give Skarpnord a sniff heading up the par-5 last. It proved critical as the 23-year-old from Sarpsborg drained a 35-foot uphill putt for eagle while Davies could only manage a par.
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rnThe players returned to the 18th three times with Davies having the best of the opening two encounters, just missing makeable putts for the win. Skapnord managed a six footer the third time around to seal only her second career title, backing up her victory at the Deutsche Bank Ladies Swiss Open in May. Afterwards she explained how Petter, her boyfriend and caddie had given her a pep talk at half-way to get back in the contest, “I played good on the back nine every day. Petter said when we turned at the ninth and I was three over he said, “Okay the back nine is your host; we can play great there.” I like the holes and I did.”
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rnSkarpnord moved to fourth on the Henderson Money List with season earnings of €189,376.88, while Davies remained in 8th with €132,330.07. Sweden’s Sophie Gustafson continues to lead the race for the leading money winner with earnings of €273,615.00 from just 3 events.
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rnThe best of the ALPG contingent was Karen Lunn who finished with a fine final round of 5-under par 67 to climb up the leaderboard into a tie for 6th at 7-under par total 209. She moved up 3 places to 22nd on the Money List after a consistent season that has netted 2 Top-10’s and 3 further Top-20’s from 17 events. Bronwyn Mullins-Lane posted her best result of the year, finishing in a tie for 29th at 1-under par total 215.
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Photo by Paul Melville – Marianne Skarpnord
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