Meghan MacLaren’s tradition of winning in Australia continued as she fired a final round of 69 (-3) to win the Australian Women’s Classic – Bonville.
The Englishwoman secured her third LET title with a one-shot victory at Bonville Golf Resort and it was also her third win Down Under.
With the tournament being shortened to 54 holes, the 27-year-old produced rounds of 67, 70 and 69 and sealed her win with a birdie on 18 to finish at the top of the leaderboard on 10-under-par.
“It means a lot! It is a little bit surreal right now. When that putt went in, it was the best feeling in the world,” she said.
MacLaren had a slow start to her day with bogeys on four and six but a birdie on the seventh put her back on track.
A phenomenal back nine with birdies on 11, 14 and 15 put the English star in a good position before a birdie on 18 clinched the victory.
“I thought I had made the birdie putt on 10. I had a bit of a tricky start, that’s the thing I am most proud of all week was the fact I stayed calm, and I knew I was going to play some good golf at some point and I managed to get it done,” she explained.
“The people are amazing here and it is a place I feel really comfortable. I’m going to keep coming back here for the rest of my career.
“The support was unbelievable! it means the world to me to know people rooting for you and they want to see you do well. It really helps to spur me on, so I owe them a lot.”
Hot on MacLaren’s heels was Sweden’s Maja Stark, who carded a final round of 67 (-5) to finish on nine-under-par.
The 22-year-old led for a while during the afternoon after rolling in four birdies on her front nine, a double bogey on 13 stalled her progress slightly but she bounced back with three birdies in her last five holes to finish second.
“I played very well. I hit better irons today than I have had in a long time, but my putter wasn’t really co-operating at a couple of holes and that hurt my heart. I played pretty well, made some decent length putts and everything was pretty steady,” said Stark.
“I’m happy for Meghan. I just wish I didn’t make that double bogey on 13. I feel good, I’m excited and I want to go and play some more. No doubles next week.”
England’s Hannah Burke produced the joint-best round of the day signing for a 65 (-7) to move up to a share for third place alongside Argentina’s Magdalena Simmermacher and Spain’s Carmen Alonso on seven-under-par.
Australian amateurs Justice Bosio and Sarah Hammett finished in T6 on six-under-par after producing rounds of 68 and 69, respectively.
Rounding out the top 10 was Australian amateur Belinda Ji, who also carded a 65, alongside compatriot Sarah Kemp and England’s Alice Hewson.
With her second-place finish, Stark has moved up to first in the 2022 Race to Costa del Sol and has 887.50 points from three events.
South African Lee-Anne Pace is in second with 681.67, while MacLaren moves up to third place with her victory.
Argentina’s Simmermacher is in fourth (610.50), Sweden’s Linn Grant is fifth (586.25), Georgia Hall and Esther Henseleit are joint-sixth (500), Sweden’s Johanna Gustavsson is eighth (494), Switzerland’s Kim Metraux is ninth (443.60) and Scotland’s Michele Thomson is tenth (409.71).
