Giulia Sergas’s penalty may cost her a win, N. Zealand Women’s Open
The Italian player Giulia Sergas is leading the New Zealand Women’s Open despite a late slip and a penalty during the third round. The player was leading by eight shots with just two holes to play when the bearer of bad news came in form of bogeys. Sergas posted bogeys on the seventeenth and eighteenth hole and also incurred a penalty for slow play. The combined mishaps led the player to cut her lead by four strokes and will head into the final round at thirteen under overall.
"I'm upset about the decision," said Sergas. "They said I was a little too slow on the last hole and it could have been, but it was really upsetting because I'm a really fast player and I got penalised for just one hole that went bad for me."
Despite the late mishaps, Sergas is still in a good position to finally attain a victory in her 11 year playing career. About her penalty, the Italian golfer came to tears as she spoke to the media. Things came trembling down on her with the bogeys and the penalty just made it worse. A rules official on the Ladies European Tour, Fraser Munro, said that all the participants were first made aware of the overtime and out of position as they travelled between hole thirteen and fourteenth.
With the lead now reduced, things are looking brighter for the English golfing legend Laura Davies. Davies made a horrible first round of level par 72 but began playing better in the later rounds. The player made a 3 under par in the third round and is currently as nine under par. With being four strokes off the lead, Davies is hoping to overtake Sergas in the final round. Davies, being the defending champion and back in form will try her best to win this 200,000 euro event.
Following Davies by one stroke is the Swedish Linda Wessenberg, Norwegian Cecilie Lundgreen, Italian Diana Luna and Australian Kristie Smith. Smith was actually one of the picks by Davies when she was asked before the tournament who could win the Open. The 22 year old, Kristie, turned professional just three years back and plays on the European tour and the Futures Tour. Having two professional wins so far, Smith is also in a decent position to attain her third professional victory.
With Sergas being paired with Davies tomorrow, the leader is pretty excited about being paired with a player such as Laura. Sergas said that Davies is a very ‘special’ woman to play with. Giulia not having one a single title competing with the winner of 77 individual career titles, it is pretty evident who is more victory hungry. With so much passion in all the players, the final round will surely be an interesting one to follow.
Tags: