England’s Cara Gainer secured her first Ladies European Tour (LET) victory after defeating India’s Diksha Dagar in a playoff at Lalla Meryem Cup in Morocco.
Going into the final day, only a two-shot difference separated the top 10, making it a tight leaderboard with lots of players in contention to win the season opener.
Gainer started the day in T5 and produced a solid final round of 69 (-4) at Royal Golf Dar Es Salam. This marked her third visit to the tournament having previously come T30 in 2024 and T49 in 2023. The maiden LET winner will take the full 500 points to sit top of the Order of Merit.
The 29-year-old rolled in birdies on holes two, four, and eight, before another three off the bounce on the back nine. She dropped her only two shots of the day on the front nine.
“First tournament back of the year, you can’t really ask for any better,” said Gainer. “I was aware when we started how many people were in with a shout, but I knew there’s a lot of good players. I knew people were going to be shooting low scores, so I just wanted to keep in my own bubble, and I thought if I had shot, maybe three or four under, there could be a chance. Then, when I started to birdie the last few, I thought hold on a minute, this could really be real.”
Talking about her final round, the 29-year-old said: “I missed short putts on 11, 12, 13, and 14 which were all makeable putts, so was getting frustrated. Then we got to the par-five, where my caddy [Seb Brock] and I said we could still win this if we birdie. Then from there I just kept racking them up, hitting really great iron shots, with straight up the hill putts so that was great.”
Gainer had her fiancé Seb Brock on the bag this week. She continued: “He’s come with me to caddy this week. It’s really special to have him here and celebrate my first win with me.”
During the offseason, she analysed last season. Gainer had a bit of wrist injury during 2024 so was a tricky year but focused on what she needed to do to hit the perfect shot during the break.
Diksha Dagar came just short in the playoff to claim second place at the season opener. This still makes a very good start to Dagar’s 2025 campaign, which saw her also set the clubhouse record on -9 with a stunning final round of 67 (-6).
Having started the day in T14, she made seven birdies across the last 18 holes, and dropped her only shot of the day on hole 14.
The 24-year-old has two LET victories to her name and will also be playing in next week’s PIF Saudi Ladies International, along with Gainer.
Sweden’s Kajsa Arwefjall finished the highest rookie and marks a solid start to her first LET season. The Swede clinched LETAS Order of Merit winner and Rookie of the Year last year so will be one to watch.
Tan, who came into the final round with a one-shot lead, finished eight-under-par after 54 holes. The Singaporean, who won the season opener last year in Kenya, had back-to-back birdies on the 11th and 12th holes, with a further birdie on 15. The 20-year-old dropped two shots on the front and back nine to finish in third place in a close leaderboard.
Two players finished in a share of fourth place on seven-under-par after the three rounds. Ireland’s Lauren Walsh and Spain’s Nuria Iturrioz.
Walsh had a stunning round of 68 (-5), one shot behind the clubhouse record, as she climbed 17 places on the final day.
“I got off a pretty solid start. I made a lot of nice pars, one or two birdies on the front nine,” said Ireland’s 23-year-old. “A little slip up on the par-five, but I got it going on the back nine, had a lot of really nice iron shots. I hit a lot of shots inside 10 feet and managed to convert three of them, left one or two out there.”
She continued: “I’m really happy with how this week has gone, first week back in the office and to get in contention is always nice so very pleased with the week’s work. I was sick to start out the week, so happy to be able fight back.”
Speaking about her offseason, Walsh said: “My coach and I always look at the end of the year and how it’s all gone – things I can improve on. For me, my putting was a huge part of that, my wedges also. I hit some really nice wedges today and this week so my coach will be happy with that. The putting has been coming along nice as well, held some nice ones this week. I just took some time off and worked hard.”
Iturrioz is familiar with this course and has a good track record with this tournament having won in 2016 and 2019. A top four finish for the Spaniard makes it another successful tournament in the books.
France’s Nastasia Nadaud and England’s Annabell Fuller both came in a tie for sixth place, having carded rounds of six-under-par across the three days at Royal Golf Dar Es Salam.
England’s Bronte Law, who won the 2024 edition, finished in a tie for eighth place alongside seven other players including France’s Celine Herbin, Singapore’s Aunchisa, Spain’s Luna Sobron Galmes and Teresa Toscano, Sweden’s Kajsa Arwefjall and Lisa Pettersson, and Germany’s Aline Karuter.
Next week, the LET heads to Riyadh for the PIF Saudi Ladies International which takes place from February 13-15.
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