Laura Davies at the Open de España Femenino
Laura Davies claimed her 75th title of the Open de Espana Femennoni at the course of Costa del Sol on Sunday by posting 71 in the final round. She was followed by her compatriot Rebecca Hudson, Frances Bondad and Christina Kim.
Only two weeks back after her last victory in Austria, Laura finished at 11-under-par for the tournament to vault a two stroke victory over the trio. Although, the round started out fine for the four-time major champion, she faced a couple of problems down
the lane. Here is a quick summary of her game; Laura was already three –under- par, when she came across the 13th hole. However, when she took a tee shot, the ball flew right into the steep rocky slope. The issue which she had to deal with was the
par-4 and the hazards that were surrounding the tee.
Davies and her caddie Johnny Scott went up hill to search for the ball and they found it. Davies decided to change her strategy and took out a wedge to deal with the slippery and dangerous hill. However, to her horror she twice hit a rock while trying to
hit her shot. After the fourth shot she succeeded and the ball went right into the fairway. The English girl walked away from the green with a quadruple bogey and a joint lead with compatriot Lisa Hall on ten-under-par.
However, Davies scored two successive birdies at the 14th and 15th hole to claim a safe edge. Meanwhile, Hall double bogeyed the 16th hole to fall into a four-way tie for fifth spot. This knockout was somehow similar to the
event, Open de France, where Davies fell out of contention after triple bogeying the 11th hole.
Talking to the press, Davies explained, that the tee shot at the 13th, was by far the worst she had ever hit. She further added that she was too quick while aiming for the second shot as she did not notice that there were rocks lying behind her
as well. Every time she would swing the wedge, it would hit the rock and by the time she decided to slow down, the damage had been done. She was already four shots behind.
According to experts, if Hall would not have bogeyed the 16th hole and Davies would not have birdied the 14th, the current scenario would have been different. As for Davies, she started out fine and if she would not have found the cart
path she would have certainly knocked a sand iron into the greens. Moreover, the birdie at the 15th hole was by far her best shot of the day. Although, it was a critical decision, her up-hill tee shot left her with the advantage of 100 yards. The
rest of the game belonged to an iron play and Davies showed her skill.
Furthermore, Davies has moved up the Henderson Money List by claiming back to back victories at four majors. First it was New Zealand, Germany, Austria and now it is Spain where she has won the winners prize of €52,500. This victory has put her to past South
African Lee-Anne Pace with an edge of €4,038 but can she top the Henderson Money List for the eighth time is a question yet to be answered?
Davies will be appearing in five events to vault her place into the highest spot of the Henderson Money List. She will bypass Lee Anne Pace and Melissa Reid if she wins the Sanya Ladies Open in China, Suzhou Taihu Ladies Open, the Korean Ladies Masters,
the Hero Honda Indian Women's Open and the Omega Dubai Ladies Masters. Currently, she holds the record of being the oldest winner at the Ladies European Tour. She is only one month away from being 47 years-old.
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