In-form Swede Sophie Gustfason
had little difficulty securing her second title in the space of just three weeks
today as she strolled to a three shot victory in the Evian Tour's £100,000 Ladies
Italian Open.
Two ahead at the start of
the day, Gustfason posted one birdie in a flawless performance to finish with
an eight under par 284 aggregate over the challenging Poggio Dei Medici layout.
Halfway leader Valerie Van
Ryckeghem of Belgium holed a six-foot putt at the last to take a share of second
place with local favourite Sylvia Cavelleri, the Italian missing her own birdie
effort on 18 to finish alone in second.
"I didn't have too much
pressure on me today so I just tried to keep it steady and cash in on the fact
that nobody was making a charge," said Gustafson, winner last month in the LPGA's
Chick-fil-A Charity Championship in Georgia, USA.
Having started with three
straight pars, Gustafson made her solitary birdie at the fourth where she fired
a lofted sand wedge to about 10 foot before rolling in the birdie.
England's Trish Johnson,
playing in the last-but-one group of the day, put some early pressure on the
Swedish leader when she opened with a pair of birdies. But last year's runner-up
in this event was unable to maintain her challenge and had to settle for a 76
and a share of seventh spot.
"Even when Trish (Johnson)
made birdies at the first and second I wasn't too concerned because there were
still another 16 holes left and I knew a lot could still happen," added the 26-year-old
from Saro. "I didn't hit my irons too well, and really had only one other good
birdie chance, at the 14th, which I missed from about five feet."
In winning her fourth European
title, Gustafson became the first player - man or woman - to win on both sides
of the Atlantic this year, and generously gave praise to her American caddie
Chuck Hoersch.
"I've known Chuck for about
four years now, though he only started carrying my bag about two months ago,"
continued Gustafson. "We've been together for seven events now and won twice.
I feel comfortable with him and I think we make a good team."
The £15,000 first prize
moved Gustafson to the top of the Evian Tour Order of Merit with two just two
events down. It also gained her 40 Solheim Cup points, which puts her in sixth
place on the ranking.
Despite shooting a one over
74, England's Caroline Hall secured her highest finish since winning the 1995
Danish Open. The 26-year-old from Bristol finished at three under par and shared
fourth spot with Elisabeth Esterl of Germany, who carded a three under 70.
After a frustrating week,
England's Alison Nicholas recovered some ground with the joint-lowest round of
the day, a four under par 69. The 1997 US Open Champion finished in joint-12th
spot at one over the card.
Defending champion Samantha
Head of England made little impact on the weekend's action. After scraping past
the cut the identical twin had to settle for a share of 47th place at 10 over
par after closing with a 78.
