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Australian Alison Whitaker recorded her best finish on the Ladies European Tour finishing tied for 4th, 5 shots behind winner Caroline Hedwall, at the Uniqa Ladies Open presented by Raiffeisen, played in Wiener Neustadt in Austria, Sunday.
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Whitaker shot rounds of 67, 68 and 73, a total of 8 under par to finish tied 4th with Linda Wessberg (Sweden) and Anne-Lise Caudal (France).
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The highlight of the final round for the 26 year old Victorian was her holed 3rd shot for an eagle on the 18th.
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Hedwall returned to tournament play following hip surgery which kept her away from the game for two months. She had little expectation at the start of the week, but her rounds of 67, 66 and 70 showed she had lost none of her game nor competitive nature as she cruised to a four shot win.
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“I’m very happy and especially coming back from injury. This is more than I could have hoped for. I definitely wasn’t expecting to win and I just wanted to make the cut when I came here but I found my game and played really well,” Hedwall said.
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The 23 year old Swede struggled on the greens at the start of her final round but soon stamped her authority with four consecutive birdies from the sixth, to establish a four stroke lead.
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The lead didn’t diminish despite playing the back nine in one over par. Veteran Laura Davies and Swede Mikaela Parmlid both put together final rounds of 4 under par 68’s but never really threatened the leader. Playing in the groups ahead of Hedwall, their impressive final rounds earned them a share of second place. Hedwall made a par on the last to seal her fifth Ladies European Tour win and the €30,000 first prize.
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Other Australians in the field included Stacey Keating (T23), Rebecca Artis (T33) and Frances Bondad (T45).
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Click here for the final results.
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