Patricia Meunier Lebouc has won the Ladies Austrian Open with a final round 68. The 27-year-old finished on 10 under par, one shot ahead of Trish Johnson, Lisa Hed and Anna Belen Sanchez.
This year's French Open champion started the day one shot off the lead on six under par and made steady movement up the leaderboard, whilst others fluctuated between good and bad.
After 10 holes it looked as if last year's German Open winner, Anne-Marie Knight, was going to add another victory to her name. The Australian eagled the par five 10th with a nine foot putt to go to 11 under par, three ahead of nearest rivals Lisa Hed and Kirsty Taylor.
But after a bogey at the 12th, followed by a disasterous double bogey when she duffed a chip at the par three 13th , and another bogey when she hit into the water at the 14th , Knight had fallen back down the leaderboard to seven under.
Whilst Knight was experiencing the highs and lows of a frustrating round, England's Trish Johnson was making a charge up the leaderboard with a back nine that included five birdies. Last year's two time winner shot a seven under par 65 to make her the clubhouse leader on nine under.
"I've been putting terribly recently and it has really damaged my confidence," Johnson said afterwards. "I was determined not to let it get me down today though and I ended up with my best round of the season. I looked at the leaderboard at 16 and saw that Knight had gone to 11 under and thought I was playing for second place. I then relaxed and sunk a 30 foot putt for birdie!"
It looked like nine was going to be enough to win until Lebouc started to consolidate on her score on the back nine. Over an hour behind Johnson on the course, Lebouc started to make her mark on the 14th.
"My five foot putt for birdie at 14 was very important as it took me to eight under and within striking distance of Johnson," the Austrian Open champion said after collecting the £15,000 cheque. "I didn't play very well from hole seven to 11 but Antoine kept telling me to just keep going."
Lebouc's husband Antoine was supposed to be at the qualifying for the British Open this week but due to a failure in the postal system he missed out and was consequently able to caddy for his wife.
"It made such a difference having him here," the five time Tour winner explained. "He helps me on the range and I am so much happier when he is here with me. He is my life so I am also happy for him as this makes it not quite as bad that he missed the qualifying."
Lebouc has now moved up into sixth position in the moneylist and fourth in the Solheim Cup rankings, making her a strong contender for a place in the team.
It was a special week for several of the top finishers. Sweden's Lisa Hed and Anna Belen Sanchez of Spain recorded career best placements in their joint second finish and Trish Johnson showed signs of a return to form which will be much appreciated in this October's Solheim Cup.
Sweden's Maria Boden won the amateur prize, finishing with a two over par 218 aggregate.
Scores:-
206 P Meunier Lebouc (Fra) 70 68 68 (£15,000)
207 T Johnson 72 70 65, L Hed (Swe) 70 68 69, A-B Sanchez (Spa) 71 67 69
(£7,225 each)
208 S Mehra (Ind) 71 68 69
209 L Kreutz (Fra) 75 68 66, E Esterl (Ger) 66 75 68, M Monnet (Fra) 70 69 70,
A-M Knight (Aus) 71 67 71, K Taylor 68 70 71, J Mills (Aus) 67 70 72
210 L Lambert (Aus) 74 67 69, J Head 72 68 70
211 L Fairclough 72 72 67, R Carriedo (Spa) 71 72 68, V Van Ryckeghem (Bel) 69
72 70
212 R Kirkwood 72 70 70, S Mendiburu (Fra) 71 70 71, S Arricau (Fra) 72 69 71,
C Hall 69 72 71, C Dibnah (Aus) 69 71 72
213 B Pestana (Rsa) 68 77 68, A Munt (Aus) 70 74 69, C Kuld (Den) 70 70 73, N
Fink (Aut) 70 69 74
214 G Scott (Nzl) 75 69 70, R Lautens (Swi) 73 71 70, S Head 74 70 70
215 S Eklund (Swe) 77 68 70, S Jelander (Swe) 73 71 71, G Sergas (Ita) 72 72
71, K Orum (Den) 73 71 71, K Poppmeier (Aut) 72 70 73, I Tinning (Den) 72 69 74,
I Maconi (Ita) 69 72 74, M Hedblom (Swe) 72 68 75
216 P Sterner (Swe) 72 75 69, S Sandolo (Swe) 74 71 71, F Dassu (Ita) 73 71
72, D Booker (Aus) 70 74 72
217 D Reid 75 72 70, J Van Hagen (Ned) 71 76 70, L Brooky (Nzl) 69 75 73
218 C Schmitt (Fra) 75 72 71, M Boden (Swe) 75 71 72
219 A Nistri (Ita) 71 75 73, K Lunn (Aus) 74 70 75
220 M Lojdahl (Swe) 76 72 72, R Hakkarainen (Fin) 75 72 73, M Hedberg (Swe) 76
71 73, A Rogers 73 74 73, M Burstrom (Swe) 73 73 74, J Leary (Aus) 73 73 74, J
Forbes 74 72 74, L Tadiotto (Bel) 77 68 75, N Karlsson (Swe) 70 74 76
221 H Hopkins (Aus) 72 72 77
222 S Gronberg Whitmore (Swe) 73 75 74, C Duffy 75 73 74, S Fischer (Aut) 76
71 75
223 N Flood (USA) 75 69 79
224 C Sjoblom (Swe) 75 73 76
225 L Ericsson (Swe) 74 74 77, L M Klarbach (Aut) 71 77 77, L Maritz (Rsa) 74
71 80
