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Marti beats Carriedo
in playoff
Spain's Paula Marti won £18,000 for her first Tour
win at the La Perla Italian Open after beating compatriot Raquel Carriedo at the
first extra hole at Poggio dei Medici.
The 21-year-old Marti, from Barcelona, carded a final round 68 after beginning
the final day five shots behind Australian Corinne Dibnah, who led since setting
a new course record 65 in the first round.
The former Spanish Amateur champion, playing in only her fifth Evian Tour event,
set off in search of her maiden title in blistering form with a birdie-eagle-birdie
start, flying into contention.
Carriedo, looking to add to her Taiwan Ladies Open title, also began in sprightly
fashion with three birdies in a flawless front half of 34 to take the lead as
Dibnah racked up a double bogey at the 173-yard par three eighth, taking two to
get out of a plugged lie in the bunker.
Marti, playing in the group ahead, must have known it would be her lucky day
as she made an unlikely birdie at the 11th to lead at nine under when she
holed from a greenside trap.
But Dibnah clawed a shot back at the same hole and Carriedo drew level with
a birdie at the par five 13th. And with Marti dropping a shot at the 14th,
Dibnah, the 38-year-old veteran, responded with another red figure at the
318-yard 15th.
The three players tied for the lead on eight under after the par three 16th
when Carriedo could not get up and down from the greenside bunker. The
29-year-old from Zaragoza knew she needed a birdie to catch Marti, who
chipped close enough on the par five 18th for a final birdie to post nine
under.
Dibnah threw caution to the wind at the last hole in a desperate effort, but
she thinned her three-wood second shot into the deep greenside bunker. She
splashed out to forty feet and two putted to finish one shy.
Carriedo narrowly missed her birdie on the 17th and chose to lay up at the
last hole. Her sand wedge approach stopped six feet away and she bravely
rattled it in to set up an all Spanish playoff.
Marti made the first error in extra time, finding the fairway trap off the
tee and Carriedo played safe to the fairway. But Marti, daughter of a
portrait artist, drew on her nerve and made it back to the fairway. Despite
catching her sand wedge approach heavy, her ball scuttled up to fifteen
feet.
Carriedo wedged short of Marti's ball and putted to two feet. Marti had the
chance to win but the putt narrowly missed on the left. She tapped in for
par, leaving Carriedo to finish.
However, nothing can be taken for granted on the slick greens here as her
ball bounced out of a pitchmark and slipped agonisingly by the hole, leaving
her the runner up for the seventh time on Tour.
"I was thinking if I could shoot a good round, I knew I could do it, I
wanted to stay calm and focussed for the whole round," said Marti, who
climbed to third on the Solheim Cup rankings.
"The start really gave me the confidence to shoot a low score."
"I was thinking in the playoff that if I didn't make my putt, I wanted
to
leave it as close as I can and put the pressure on. It's a shame for Raquel,
she has won once already but it was my turn this time. There is so much
pressure in a playoff, you just don't know what is going to happen," she
added.
"I hope this will be something good for Spanish women's golf. Lately,
we
have been doing good, so I hope we can have more sponsors and maybe we can
have an Open, who knows?"
Defending champion, Swede Sophie Gustafson summed her week up as
"disappointing" after falling out of the hunt with her third round 76
in a
tough swirling wind. With a final round 70, the reigning Evian Tour Order of
Merit winner climbed to fourth spot ahead of Denmark's Iben Tinning.
The Dane fired four consistent rounds of 73,71,73 and 72 to grab equal fifth
place with local favourite Sophie Sandolo who fell to a final round 75.
England's Kirsty Taylor wrapped her week on two under par, thanks to a final
round 71 to tie for seventh spot alongside Chorley's Lora Fairclough who
closed with a 73.
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