Golf Update: AIB Ladies Irish Open- Sophie Gustafson shines at Killeen Castle
The Swedish lady Sophie Gustafson won the AIB Ladies Irish Open at Killeen Castle on Sunday. This is her 4th consecutive victory for the title.
Sophie Gustafson wrapped the closing round with 6-under 66 to finish with a net total of 12-under 204 to claim her defending champion title. In Kyung Kim and Marianne Skarpnord were the runners-up who shared the second position. They lost by a single stroke. The 4th on the leader board was England's Melissa Reid, who posted a score of 66 was only 2 shots behind.
Sophie Gustafson will be coming back to the Killeen Castle, as she ensured her place on the European team for Solheim Cup by winning the title. The Solheim cup is due in September with 15,000 expected spectators and this will be the 7th time for Sophie to be the part of the team. As for the Irish cup is concerned, her last victories were in 1998 at Ballyliffin, 2000 at Faithlegg and 2003 at Killarney. Altogether, this was her 6th title in Ireland.
Just as a token of remembrance, this winner prize worth of €75,000 is the first one after a long break since April, when Sophie Gustafson won the Comunitat Valenciana European Nations Cup. There she teamed up with Anna Nordqvist. More over, this was her 24th individual victory worldwide which has helped her in making the cut into Alison Nicholas' tournament which is taking place next year.
According to the media reports , the 36-year –old Swedish is really excited over her victory in the Irish cup, as it has ensured her way into the Solheim Cup 2011,which is yet another achievement.
Sophie Gustafson was playing in the second group behind In Kyung Kim, when she decided to pull in a victory .She stroke the wedge from 130 yards to 10 feet at the 18th hole of par four. The ball scrolled straight down the hill into the hole and there she was celebrating her victory.
As far as In Kyung Kim is concerned, she would have entered a playoff if she would not have missed the birdie putt at the 18th hole. Her overall stats showed 66-69-70 in three rounds, which was identical to that of Marianne Skarpnord. The Norwegian is a two time winner on the Ladies European Tour.
According to the experts, Sophie Gustafson was excellent at putting especially at the last hole despite the fact that she has been struggling throughout the season because of it. Although when she entered the third round, she was lagging behind by three shots and it seemed that she was going to lose her trophy, but to every one’s surprise, she delivered a birdie putt at the 9th hole, which brought a sigh of relief for the lady. Not to forget that the 9th is the toughest hole of the course. Moreover, Sophie Gustafson entered the second half with a 32, she eagled the 12th hole and birdied the 14th and the 18th.
Moving forward, Katherine Hull from Australia shot 64 in the final round and took the 5th position and the prize money of $21,200.Her first two rounds ended with 73 and 70. After her, was Anna Nordqvist at the 6th position with 8 under par. Brittany Lang from USA took the 7th place with 73-68-68.
The final round of the AIB Ladies Irish Open which took place between 3rd August and 8th August at the Killeen Castle has been wrapped up with Sophie Gustafson in the lead, followed by In Kyung Kim and Marianne Skarpnord in the second and Melissa Reid in the 4th. According to the experts, the tournament went well, but there were very few low scores which indicated the complications faced by the players on the course. As far as Sophie Gustafson’s game is concerned, she performed really well. Her putting has improved and she has matured as a player and this is the reason that she has made the cut into the Solheim Cup 2011.
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