UNIQA Open 2010: Laura Davies takes away her third title; Garret disappoints the crowd
Laura Davies took away her third UNIQA Ladies Open 2010 title shooting a closing 70 at the Foehrenwald Golf Club in Austria on Sunday to earn her 75th career victory. Having won the title in 2007 and 2008 also, the 46-year-old had however, lost to Linda Wessberg in 2009.
Not being able to bag three consecutive wins earlier, Laura sure didn’t miss out a chance this time. The Coventry-born golfer hopes to play well enough to top the Henderson Money list for the eighth time in her career.
Victory rolled right down the last hole that Davies birdied after playing a superb shot which lay out of the greenside bunker to six feet, eventually succeeding in sinking the putt. This success marks her third win of the season as well after Germany and New Zealand.
Davies, who is the oldest tournament winner in Ladies' European Tour history, seemed nervous on the game day. She said her legs were really shaky due to adrenaline but her game would not have been what it is, were it not for the adrenaline rush. The English player was in close competition with the French Virgnie Lagoutte-Clement and Melissa Reid. She entered the final round with just a stroke behind Reid.
Reid closed with a 73 and joined the third position with American Alison Walshe, who shot at 67. Melissa achieved the lead by scoring a second straight round of 67. She was over a one stroke benefit from Davies. Prior to picking three shots over the front nine, Reid made two bogeys and four birdies on the back nine to be in the lead but still she told the media that she needs to improve in certain areas and wants to discuss her performance with her coach.
According to Laura Davies it was hard beating Reid and Lagoutte as conditions were much more difficult than the first two days and the competition was really tough. "There were a lot of players playing well ... it was right down to the wire." said Reid.
Meanwhile, another player in the spotlight was Australia's Nikki Garrett. With an impressive play during the first round, all eyes were on her. In her second round, Garrett scored a 71 and landed herself three shots behind the leader Melissa Reid. She shot a 71 in the last round and finished with a 208 overall but the end didn’t quite work out for her as she wasn’t able to beat Davies.
As for other players, Marina Stutz shot a 72 to be in the fifth position. The French, Julie Greciet shot a great 76 to tie for 26th while the English, Rebecca Hudson was a further two shots back after a 74. The Dutch player, Christel Boeljon was also one shot behind the English pair in outright third. Spain’s Marta Prieto got lucky to win a 10,000 Euro shopping spree after shooting a hole-in one on the par-three second.
After their great performances in Austria, all these talented ladies are set for the Open de France Feminin, which is the next game in the European tour. It will start from September 9th in France. Same as the UNIQA tour, everyone is waiting to see more competition and display of amazing abilities as players try to win once again.
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