The dust settles on the opening tournament of the Ladies European Tour season which saw Lee-Anne Pace clinch the title.
At Westlake Golf Club, Pace headed into the tournament as the one of the favourites thanks to her consistent form and previous results – winning the competition in 2014, 2015 and 2017.
True to form Pace got off to a flying start and had a share of the lead at the end of the first round, sitting at two-under-par alongside Wales’ Lydia Hall.
A solid round saw the South African bogey the 12th but she immediately bounced back with a birdie on 13, but it was an impressive eagle on 7 which put Pace at the top of the leaderboard.
After a sunny and still start to the tournament, the second round saw a change in the weather as the wind produced gusts of up to 35 km per hour.
With early morning starters getting the best of the conditions, another home heroine stepped up to the plate as Nicole Garcia led after 36 holes. Spain’s Silvia Banon recorded the round of the day shooting a 71 (-1) – the only under par round on Friday.
However, Pace was only one shot behind the leader, despite carding a 75 which included four bogeys and a birdie. Sitting alongside Germany’s Leonie Harm on one-over-par, it was all to play for, but the weather was set to take a turn for the worse.
Saturday had always looked to be the day where the weather might impact the play and the forecasters were correct in their predictions. On top of the strong wind, the players also had rain to contend with.
Play was initially suspended at 13.24 local time on Saturday with the inclement weather proving to be an added edge, but the clouds cleared, and the players returned only for further downpours to leave the greens unplayable. A second suspension saw play the conclusion of the third round delayed until Sunday morning.
The last group of Pace, Harm and Garcia had 28 holes of golf to complete on the final day, as they looked to wrap up the tournament.
It was Slovenia’s Pia Babnik, the youngest member of LET, who led at the end of the third round having carded a 69 to give her a two-shot lead over Pace with Harm and Garcia one shot further back.
After heading out on to the course for the second time on Sunday, Babnik extended her lead on the first hole with a birdie but a doble bogey on the second meant Pace was just one shot behind.
It was the 2010 LET Order of Merit winner who kept her cool with two birdies and a bogey on the front nine to stay in the lead. Harm followed suit and kept herself in contention, while Babnik had a mixed round, and it was the bogey on 14 which saw her title challenge end.
With just Pace and Harm vying for the title a bogey on 14 for the German gave the South African a two-shot lead down the stretch.
Both players made a bogey on 17 but Pace had done enough, despite another bogey on 18, to record her tenth LET victory and first since 2014.
After clinching a record fourth SA Women’s Open, Pace said: “I felt good going into this week. I was striking the ball really well. Not a lot of things could go wrong, even though I did bogey the last two holes, I got through it because I played really well for the rest of the tournament. Level-par today and the final round I’m very happy with. It was very exciting out there.”
