Sweden's Sophie Gustafson has won the Waterford Ladies Irish Open by one shot from French rookie, Marine Monnet. Three behind Monnet at the turn, Gustafson powered her way down the back stretch to go to six under par and win her third title of the year.
Only one person bettered Gustafson's three under par 69 on the final day at Faithlegg Golf Club. The powerful Swede took advantage of the benign conditions to make a dramatic finish to the £100,000 event.
"I thought I had a chance of winning," the 26-year old said afterwards. She started the day on three under, four behind Monnet, and as the rest of the field fell away it became a two horse race with the French player clinging onto her lead.
It took Gustafson 14 holes to make up the four shot deficit, with a birdie four at the par 5 14th bringing her level for the first time.
"My aim was to keep her within sight and then take her on the back nine," the 1998 Irish Open champion explained. "There are three par fives in the back nine which is to my advantage."
An approach shot to 18 inches for birdie by Monnet at 15 pulled her back in front again, but a bogey two holes later meant the two were neck and neck going down the last.
The 362 yard 17th played a crucial role in Gustafson's victory. A dog leg right, whilst Monnet played an iron to the corner the Swede hit her driver over the trees, giving herself a 100 yard advantage off the tee.
Monnet was unable to reach the green with her approach and dropped a shot when she failed to get up and down from a bunker. Gustafson meanwhile had two putts for her par.
Two good drives at the last and it was left to Gustafson to hit a perfect 6 iron to four feet for her birdie, whilst Monnet just missed her 15 foot putt to equalise.
To see her first victory slip away from her was made even worse by the fact that she will now miss out on next week's Evian Masters, a tournament she was told she could only play in if she won in Ireland.
Gustafson had already guaranteed her place in the tournament by winning the Ladies Italian Open in May. A win in the Chick-fil-A in the USA four weeks earlier makes her the one to beat on Tour at the moment.
Five shots back from Monnet tied in third place on level par were England's Trish Johnson, Vibeke Stensrud of Norway, Karen Pearce of Australia and Germany's Elisabeth Esterl.
Laura Davies had a level par 72 to finish alone in seventh place on one over.
A popular winner of the amateur medal was Ireland's Suzie O'Brien who had a level par finishing round to end the tournament on eight over par.
282 S Gustafson (Swe) 71 71 71 69 (£15,000)
283 M Monnet (Fra) 67 71 71 74 (£10,150)
288 E Esterl (Ger) 73 72 73 70, T Johnson 70 77 71 70, K Pearce (Aus) 71 71 75
71, V Stensrud (Nor) 66 74 76 72 (£5,035 each)
289 L Davies 69 72 76 72, L Hed (Swe) 70 73 73 73
291 J Head 72 73 74 72, N Fink (Aut) 68 73 74 76, G Sergas (Ita) 72 71 73 75
292 P Sterner (Sweden) 75 73 76 68, M Hjorth (Sweden) 68 73 81 70, L-W Lin
(Taiwan) 71 73 75 73
293 L Tadiotto (Bel) 72 74 76 71, L Brooky (Nzl) 68 73 79 73, W Daden 73 69 77
74
294 I Tinning (Den) 73 76 75 70
295 N Moult 76 73 74 72, L Lambert (Aus) 75 71 76 73, S Eklund (Swe) 72 72 78
73, B Pestana (Rsa) 74 72 76 73, A Berg (Swe) 72 71 78 74, A Gottmo (Sweden) 70
74 77 74, A Rogers 75 73 73 74 74, S Head 71 71 76 77
296 L Kreutz (Fra) 76 74 75 71, S O'Brien 73 74 77 72*, R Lautens (Swi) 73
77 74 72, A-M Knight (Aus) 73 73 77 73, L Navarro (Spa) 73 73 77 73, M Hageman
(Ned) 74 74 74 74
297 S Arricau (Fra) 74 71 80 72, C Schmitt (Fra) 73 76 75 73, S Mendiburu
(Fra) 77 73 74 73, S Dickens 73 75 75 74
298 L Maaref (Tun) 73 72 75 70, S Dallongeville (Fra) 69 78 78 73, M Adamson
(Rsa) 69 76 78
299 M Hedblom (Swe) 74 73 81 71, T Surface 74 76 76 73, K Orum (Den) 71 75 80
73, R Kirkwood 75 72 76 73, A Munt (Aus) 73 70 82 74, J Van Hagen (Ned) 78 71 76
74
300 K Taylor 75 74 80 71, S Sandolo (Fra) 72 75 80 73, C Hall 74 75 78, S
Mehra (Ind) 77 69 80 74, M Verspieran (Fra) 73 72 79 76
301 J Forbes 74 74 79 74, I Maconi (Ita) 76 74 76 75, M De Boer (Ned) 76 74 76
75
303 D Booker (Aus) 76 73 79, R Hakkarainen (Fin) 75 73 79 76, K Tebbet 74 76
75 78
304 C Kuld (Den) 75 72 80 77, N Flood (USA) 74 75 77 77
305 E Poburski (Ger) 77 72 79 77, S Bennett 74 73 77 81
