Date: October 17, 2012
Author: Stacey Keating / Golf Australia

Stacey Keating blog: Completely overwhelmed

Well if I thought things couldn’t get any better, they did! I headed to France feeling good about my game, but still trying to keep my expectations low. We were there to play in the LACOSTE Ladies Open and wow, what a beautiful place Biarritz is in the south west of France! The weather was perfect and the food even better! Practice went well and I was looking forward to getting into the event. It was probably the best start to an event I could have hoped for with a course record, -8, 62 to lead by 4 shots! It was just one of those days where everything went my way. It was always going to be tough backing that up, but a +1, 71 wasn t too disappointing in the end after a bit of scrambling around. This put me 2 shots behind Diana Luna and still in a great position. Day 3 was a bit of a rollercoaster with birdies and bogeys flying around, and ended up signing for at -1, 69 to be 3 shots back with 1 round to play. I wasn t in the final group, but still felt a good round could see me near the lead. My final day couldn’t have got off to a better start. I birdied 4 out of the first 5 holes to tie things up with Diana. I made the turn at -5, yet still felt I would have to get a couple more. Without getting ahead of myself I continued my steady play through the tougher middle part of the course. I birdied 16 and 17 which, by the photos which were on the front page of The Age newspaper in Melbourne, show I was pretty pumped about it! Unfortunately I made a soft (probably nervous) bogey on the last and then the wait came. I was -6 for the day, -14 for the tournament, and tied for the lead, but Diana had one hole to play. She found trouble off the tee and was unable to salvage par to force a play off, which made me the winner! It&aposs an unbelievable feeling and little did I know my day was only going to get better. I got presented the trophy from European Ryder Cup captain, Jose Maria Olazabal and Lorena Ochoa! Two absolute icons of the game and something I will never forget. This week has been a little rest back at Darren s place in England and a lot of catching up with people, emails and phone calls, all great fun! I&aposm now on my way to Jakarta to play in the Indonesian Ladies Open, a Ladies Asian Tour event, before the 2 Ladies European Tour China events, and then back to Australia!!! (Slightly excited!) Thanks so much for all the calls, texts, emails and more in what has been a very overwhelming week and so much appreciated! Stacey Keating is a former National Squad member, two-time Ladies European Tour winner and current member of Golf Australia&aposs Rookie Professional Program. This blog can also be found at his website www.staceykeating.com.au . Follow her on Twitter @staceykeats