SOUTH AFRICAN WOMEN'S OPEN DRAMATIC CLIMAX
LEE-ANNE BEATS HOLLY WITH BIRDIE
AT 2ND HOLE OF PLAY-OFF
NEWS RELEASE FROM LADIES EUROPEAN TOUR
FROM BETHAN CUTLER, LET Media Manager
KwaZulu-Natal – Lee-Anne Pace birdied the second extra hole in a sudden death play-off against Holly Clyburn to claim her ninth Ladies European Tour victory in a dramatic finish to the Cell C South African Women’s Open at San Lameer Golf Club in KwaZulu-Natal.
AT 2ND HOLE OF PLAY-OFF
NEWS RELEASE FROM LADIES EUROPEAN TOUR
FROM BETHAN CUTLER, LET Media Manager
KwaZulu-Natal – Lee-Anne Pace birdied the second extra hole in a sudden death play-off against Holly Clyburn to claim her ninth Ladies European Tour victory in a dramatic finish to the Cell C South African Women’s Open at San Lameer Golf Club in KwaZulu-Natal.
Playing in front of a home crowd in the third last group, the 33-year-old from Mossel Bay birdied the 18th
in a final round of five-under-par 67 to set
the clubhouse target. She then waited before Clyburn, playing in the
last group, sealed her round of 70 to tie at five-under-par.
After the players returned to the 351-yard par-4 18th hole, they both narrowly missed birdie putts from around 10 feet at the first extra hole and returned
to the 18th tee.
On
the second play-off hole, Clyburn hit her second shot heavy and her
ball found the water short of the green and took six to get down,
whereas from 94 yards, Pace
used her 52 degree wedge to hit her ball three feet from the hole.
This
was Pace’s third victory from three play-offs on the LET and she was
aware of her perfect record, having won her last LET title in similar
fashion in the Sanya
Ladies Open in China 11 months ago.
Prior
to the play-off, she told her caddie, Andy Dearden, that she felt
confident. “I mentioned that to Andy, I said: ‘You know I’m two for two,
right.’ The chances
are pretty good on this one.
“I’ve
always wanted to win this tournament. It was definitely one of my goals
this year, so to do it today in front of so many lovely people
supporting me was just
a dream come true.”
Starting
the day four shots off the lead, Pace played the front nine in one
under par but made her presence felt on the leader board when she made
an eagle on the
par-5 13th, after hitting her second shot to the green from 212 yards with a 5-wood and making a 20 foot putt.
She
said: “I was about three shots behind and it was never a lay-up, always
going for it. My caddie made a good call there and a good putt and that
was that.”
She
almost birdied 17, but then made a three foot putt for birdie on 18. “I
saw that Holly was still five under so I knew I had to birdie the last
hole to have a
chance.”
Clyburn,
the winner of the Deloitte Ladies Open as a rookie in 2013, birdied the
first hole to take the lead from the beginning of her final round and
made another
birdie on 13, combined with 16 steady pars.
“I
played solid the first 18 holes. I wasn’t letting anything get away
from me and I was plodding away,” said Clyburn, 23 from Cleethorpes in
Lincolnshire, England.
“I was taking fairways and greens and two putts for the first so many
holes and then I made the turn and I thought, ‘You’ve played well on
this front nine and you liked 10 from Thursday’, so I turned it on and
made a great four on 13 and just made some great
up and downs on 15 and 16.”
Clyburn
almost found the water left of the green on 18 in regulation play but
was just off the edge of the green and made a par. Playing the same hole
for the third
time, she took an extra club, but said: “I thought it was okay but I
caught it slightly heavy.” After the Italian Open, this is her second
runner-up finish on the LET this year.
Two
strokes further behind on three-under-par, Frenchwoman Gwladys Nocera
ended in solo third place, with Florentyna Parker, Ann-Kathrin Lindner,
Valentine Derrey
and Georgina Simpson a stroke behind in fourth.
Second
round leader Leigh Whittaker tied for eighth place with Fabienne
In-Albon and first round leader Charley Hull ended in share of 10th, after a triple
bogey on 11 effectively ended her title hopes in the last round.
FINAL TOTALS
Tournament cut to three rounds by bad weather
Par 216 (3x72)
211 - Lee-Anne Pace (RSA) 71 73 67 – won with a birdie on the second play-off hole
211 - Holly Clyburn (ENG) 71 70 70
213 - Gwladys Nocera (FRA) 73 70 70
214
- Florentyna Parker (ENG) 72 74 68, Ann-Kathrin Lindner (GER) 70 71
73, Valentine Derrey (FRA) 70 73 71, Georgina Simpson (ENG) 73 72 69
215 - Fabienne In-Albon (SUI) 70 72 73, Leigh Whittaker (GER) 73 67 75
217
- Minea Blomqvist (FIN) 74 72 71, Nina Holleder (GER) 72 72 73,
Alexandra Vilatte (FRA) 77 69 71, Charley Hull (ENG) 68 74 75
218 - Stacy Lee Bregman (RSA) 75 74 69, Steffi Kirchmayr (GER) 69 77 72
219
- Julia Davidsson (SWE) 74 70 75, Katie Burnett (USA) 77 71 71,
Sophie Giquel-bettan (FRA) 72 71 76, Caroline Martens (NOR) 73 75 71,
Melissa Reid (ENG)
76 75 68, Ainil Bakar (MYS) 74 73 72
220 - Sahra Hassan (WAL) 72 76 72, Sophie Walker (ENG) 79 70 71
221
- Cathryn Bristow (NZL) 75 72 74, Nicole Broch Larsen (DEN) 75 74 72,
Amy Boulden (WAL) 77 72 72, Christine Wolf (AUT) 74 75 72, Whitney
Hillier (AUS) 76
71 74, Rebecca Hudson (ENG) 69 76 76
222
- Rebecca Codd (IRL) 74 77 71, Paula Reto (RSA) 81 70 71, Chloe
Leurquin (BEL) 75 71 76, Josephine Janson (SWE) 77 74 71, Melissa
Eaton (RSA) 70 80 72, Ashleigh
Simon (RSA) 79 71 72, Marianne Skarpnord (NOR) 77 74 71
223 - Connie Chen (RSA) 73 75 75, Sophia Popov (GER) 71 79 73, Isabelle Boineau (FRA) 74 76 73
224 - Becky Brewerton (WAL) 77 76 71, Eleanor Givens (ENG) 75 76 73, Sally Watson (SCO) 73 78 73
225 - Marion Ricordeau (FRA) 78 74 73, Cheyenne Woods (USA) 76 76 73, Celine Herbin (FRA) 73 78 74
226
- Maha Haddioui (MAR) 73 75 78, Kim Williams (RSA) 75 74 77, Isabell
Gabsa (GER) 77 74 75, Lucy Williams (ENG) 73 75 78, Malene Jorgensen
(DEN) 75 70 81,
Shawnelle De Lange (RSA) 76 77 73, Holly Aitchison (ENG) 81 71 74,
Mathilda Cappeliez (FRA) 75 73 78
227 - Kelsey Macdonald (SCO) 77 73 77
228 - Lucie Andre (FRA) 72 76 80, Lydia Hall (WAL) 74 75 79, Hannah Jun Medlock (USA) 77 74 77, Trish Johnson (ENG) 74 73 81
229 - Elina Nummenpaa (FIN) 75 78 76
230 - Nobuhle Dlamini (SWZ) 73 76 81, Anais Maggetti (SUI) 77 74 79, Rebecca Sorensen (SWE) 77 76 77
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