MANON DE ROEY WINS IN VALENCIA

Valencia, Spain - July 19, 2019: 

Belgium’s Manon De Roey held on to her one-shot overnight lead, after an up-and-down final round, to take victory at the Santander Golf Tour LETAS Valencia - finishing five under for the tournament. Final day playing partner Carmen Alonso stayed in second place as the duo both posted matching even-par scores of 72 on the final day at the Club de Golf Escorpion.

“I’m happy I won today. It was tough, I had some nerves going through the round. I started very strong and then I had some struggles in the middle, and then I stayed steady throughout the round. So, I’m happy.”

De Roey made a scintillating start to her round with birdies on the opening two holes to move clear of Alonso and the chasing pack. Another birdie at the par-5 fifth propelled the Belgian into a three shot lead and she looked to be cruising to a second LET Access Series title heading into the seventh hole in the Spanish sunshine.

The 27-year-old admitted to being nervous heading into the final day’s play at Club de Golf Escorpion and showed signs of this with a loose shot at seven that led to a first bogey of the round, De Roey’s first since the second hole of round two. The rare dropped shot triggered a wobble for the Belgian with two further bogeys at holes eight and nine meaning she reached the halfway mark back on level par for the day.

Despite the mid-round lapse for the Belgian, she maintained the lead as rival Alonso was a shot further adrift on +1 after nine holes. On the back nine, the experienced Spaniard renowned for her fighting spirit battled back to close on level-par for the day and -4 for the tournament.

This wasn’t enough for Alonso to record a second LET Access Series victory in as many years as De Roey regained her composure down the stretch to stay level for the round and finish -5 for the tournament and clinch a second LET Access Series title after claiming the WPGA International Challenge crown in last year’s Series.

In recent weeks, the Belgian has been in fine form finishing as the highest placed female by some distance at the Saint-Malo Golf Mixed Open – a joint event between the LET Access Series and the Alps Tour.

“Last week was something totally different with the guys of course. I played pretty solid, my iron game, my long game was pretty good. So, I just continued playing like that here and it worked out.”

The win also sees De Roey move up to second position in the Road to LaLargue standings behind only Laura Gomez Ruiz, who finished in fifth-place in Valencia this week, a fourth top-10 finish in a row on the LET Access Series cementing her position at the top of the order of merit.

The LET Access Series now takes a short break before a packed August schedule begins in two weeks’ time. From August 1^st to 3^rd the players will tackle the Amundi Czech Ladies Challenge at the Golf Resort Konopiste, the first of five events in as many weeks, as the race to claim crucial points in the season-defining Road to La Largue Final hots up.

More information and scores at letaccess.com.

Czech Ladies Open makes debut on Ladies European Tour

 

The Ladies European Tour and LET Access Series jointly announced today a new event set to debut on their 2019 schedules. The Tipsport Czech Ladies Open will be played at Golf Resort Karlštejn on from August 23-25 and will become the second dual-ranking event between the LET and LETAS, following the Jabra Ladies Open.

 

Daisy wins last-tournament play-off at LET Access Series

Daisy Nielsen of Denmark and France’s Melodie Bourdy produced a thrilling and tense end to the season’s LET Access Series at Stoke by Nayland Hotel Golf Spa.
Both players ended the 54-hole WPGA International Challenge level on seven-under-par after completing the final round in two-under.
Cue a sudden-death play-off at the par three 18^th in front of a packed gallery.
Both players negotiated it in par at the first attempt and Bourdy, having left her tee shot short of the green and subsequent chip eight feet shy of the hole, followed suit at the second time of asking.
All of which left Nielsen, pictured, to hold her nerve and hole an eight foot putt for a tournament-winning birdie and claim the €4,871 winner’s cheque.
That represents the biggest prize of her short career but an even bigger one is the coveted Tour card courtesy of finishing third in the Order of Merit.
“It means so much to me,” she said. “It’s so nice to have got my card. It’s been amazing to have played on this tour this year. There have been 16 tournaments and they’ve been a great preparation for the Ladies European Tour.”
As well as playing like champion, the 21-year-old daughter of former World speedway champion, Hans Nielsen, displayed the sportsmanship of one following an incident on the par four 10^th hole on the Gainsborough course at the Suffolk resort.
Thinking she may have moved the ball when she lined up a putt but not wholly sure, she still penalised herself a stroke even though her two playing partners had seen nothing untoward.
Recalling the incident she said: “I addressed my putter, looked at the hole and then looked at the ball again. It looked as though it had moved but I didn’t see it move. I wasn’t sure but it seemed to have moved because it wasn’t in the same place. Either that or my putter had moved.
"We ended up by calling the referee and she said I had to decide whether to penalise myself or not. I didn’t know whether it had moved so I thought it was best to give myself a penalty. I would have felt bad if I hadn’t.”
Prior to the hole, Nielsen was level with Bourdy on seven-under while the two others who began the day on five-under, England’s Charlotte Ellis and Tonje Daffinrud of Norway, were beginning to slip out of contention.
And having missed the chance to take an outright lead at the ninth by squandering a birdie opportunity, the incident could have derailed the Dane’s challenge.
She succeeded, however, in putting the setback behind her and repaired the damage caused by the self-inflicted dropped shot with a birdie at the par five 16^th to finish level with Bourdy.
Nielsen will be joined on the European Ladies Tour by the others who occupied the top five places in the Order of Merit.
Three of them are Swedes – Order of Merit winner Emma Westin, Lina Boqvist, who finished fourth at Stoke by Nayland, and Isabella Ramsay.
Completing the quintet is Daffinrud, who moved up from seventh to fifth, thanks to a final round of level par that earned her third place in the tournament.
Meanwhile, Ellis, who finished on one-under for the tournament, shared the distinction of the best placed home player with English compatriot Sarah Attwood; while Italy's Anni Rossi produced the best round of the day – four-under to finish 15^th.