Sweden's Carin Koch has
won the Chrysler Open by four shots. Three ahead at the beginning of the final
day, Koch moved steadily forward to shoot a final round 69 and win her first
title on 11 under par.
"It feels great." was Koch's
reaction to the victory. Having never won outside of the Swedish Tour despite
coming second twice on the LPGA, she said her victory was an important one. "It
is good to know that I can play well for 72 holes and win a tournament," she
explained.
A course record 65 on the
third day at Halmstad Golfklubb established Koch as the player to beat going
into the final round, but with Catrin Nilsmark three behind and Laura Davies
four, it was never going to be a stroll in the park for the 29-year-old Swede.
After Nilsmark matched
Koch's birdie at the par five second with an eagle, the gap was already diminishing
and after the leader three putted the fourth from 20 feet, things were not looking
good for the Swede.
Koch was not to be put
off by one bad hole though and came back with a birdie at the fifth to re-establish
a three shot lead.
Another bogey at the sixth
took her back to eight under and it was not until the 11th that she really came
into her own.
A birdie four at the 11th,
followed by another at the 14th, aided by erratic play from the opposition, and
Koch began to pull away from the pack.
Koch's playing partner,
Catrin Nilsmark, was not showing such consistent form. Despite carding five birdies
and one eagle, six bogeys meant she was unable to catch her fellow Swede.
Making more headway was
England's Samantha Head who started the final day on three under par. Birdies
at the first, third and sixth took the 1999 Ladies Italian Open winner to six
under par after six, two behind the Swede.
Bogeys on seven and eight
pulled her back however and despite three more birdies on the back nine she was
unable to get closer than two. Four under par for the day, she was delighted
to finish the tournament with a knock in for birdie at the last, taking her to
seven under par, alone in second place.
"It was an amazing round,"
the 27-year-old said. "My birdie at the last was a nice way to finish. I'm really
pleased with how I played."
The big surprise of the
day came from Head's playing partner, Laura Davies. Tied on three under with
Head and Marina Arruti at the beginning of the day, the defending champion failed
to make the comeback everyone expected and had a disappointing 76 to fall back
to one over par, tied for 10th place.
In the end it was a comfortable
finish for Koch, who walked down the 18th confident in the knowledge that she
could take seven and still win the title and the £22,500 first prize.
Having narrowly missed
a place in the last two Solheim Cups the win holds even more significance to
Koch, who now seems a likely newcomer to the European team. That, she said, is
an important goal.
"It would be great to represent
Europe and get a place in the team," she said. "The last year I have felt that
my game has got better and I've started to relax and believe that things would
begin to happen soon."
277 C Koch (Swe) 70 73 65
69 (£22,500)
281 S Head 70 74 69 68
(£15,225)
284 S Gustafson (Swe) 74
68 73 69, C Nilsmark (Swe) 72 72 67 73 (£9,300 each)
285 M Arruti (Spa) 74 69
70 72
286 A Nicholas 73 72 73
68, C Sorenstam (Swe) 69 76 72 69
287 M Hjorth (Swe) 72 73
71 71
288 R Carriedo (Spa) 73 75 69 71
289 H Alfredsson (Swe)
72 75 72 70, J Van Hagen (Ned) 75 74 70 70, A Gottmo (Swe) 71 74 70 74, L Davies
75 70 68 76
290 L Navarro (Spa) 72
74 73 71, S Gronberg Whitmore (Swe) 72 72 74 72, I Tinning (Den) 73 69 75 73<291
F Dassu (Ita) 76 76 73 66
292 M Monnet (Fra) 74 77
73 68, K Pearce (Aus) 76 76 72 68, J Mills (Aus) 77 74 72 69, A-B Sanchez (Spa)
76 73 73 70, S Mehra (Ind) 74 76 71 71, P Sterner (Swe) 70 75 75 72, L Fairclough
72 73 75 72
