Sophie Gustafson back in the winner's circle again
Sweden 's Sophie Gustafson put the seal on a magnificent performance with a final round 71 to claim her first victory in almost three years at the Siemens Ladies Golf Open at Golfclub Föhrenwald in Wiener Neustadt, Austria .
Gustafson claimed her 21 st worldwide victory by two shots over England 's Laura Davies on a total of 17-under-par 271 and deservedly took home a first prize of €37,500.
What a week it was for the 32-year-old, who last won at the Samsung World Championship on the US LPGA Tour in October 2003, the year she won the Ladies' European Tour's order of merit.
She began the tournament with a one-under-par 71 and followed it up with a 64 to lead by three strokes at the halfway stage on nine-under-par. She shot a superb 65 to extend her lead to five strokes by Saturday night, leading on 16-under with 18 holes to play.
After she birdied the first two holes in her final round, she had established a seven stroke lead over Davies and playing partner Anne Marie Knight of Australia, but she dropped her first stroke in 34 holes at the par-four fifth, where her approach shot missed the green and she failed to get up and down.
“I kind of felt I lost a bit of momentum at the fifth where I missed a six footer and it was just difficult from that point,” admitted Gustafson. “Nothing in my game was really working.”
However she holed a long birdie putt from 35 feet at the sixth hole, only to three-putt the seventh for a bogey. She hit the turn in 36, one-under-par, with a seven shot lead.
The back nine proved more treacherous, as Davies, playing in the penultimate match, was mounting a strong challenge. The European number one made the turn in level par 37 but birdied holes 12, 14, 15, 16 and 18 on the back nine for a final round of five-under-par 67, sealing her sixth second place finish of the season.
“I didn't hole quite as may putts as I would have liked but I gave it my best shot. Sophie's a great champion and I knew it was going to be almost impossible to catch her. I turned out to be right,” Davies said.
Gustafson bogeyed holes 10, 15 and 17 on her back nine and birdied the short 14 th to finish two clear of her good friend and Solheim Cup team mate.
The 32-year-old Gustafson admitted that she had been encouraged by hearing of the Englishwoman's win three weeks ago at the SAS Masters in Norway .
“I was reading that it was three years since Laura last won and it kind of spurred me on,” she admitted.
Gustafson won three times in Europe in 2003 but suffered a blood clot in her leg in 2004 so has since been recovering. This year she has been back in form, with her best previous result of 2006 a tie for second in August's Weetabix Women's British Open – her favourite tournament.
Spain 's Ana Belen Sanchez finished third after an excellent final round 69 that took her to 11-under-par. It was Sanchez's best result of the season and took her to 20 th in the New Star Money List, in which Davies and Gustafson remained in first and third places respectively.
Sanchez, a member of the winning 2003 Solheim Cup Team, is the current leader of the Tour's “The 18 Finest” competition, which is set to come to an exciting climax at the next event on the Ladies European Tour's 2006 schedule: the Ladies English Open at Chart Hills Golf Club in Kent , from 6-9 th October.
“The 18 Finest” is a virtual golf course made up of 18 holes at ten different venues on the 2006 LET schedule. In order to stay in the running for the considerable prizes, players have had to make the cut in all ten of the participating tournaments and their scores from the designated golf holes have been added together to create the tournament leaderboard.
There are just five players left in the race with Sanchez leading “The 18 Finest” after 14 holes.
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