(17 March 2006) Celebrated teen amateur Ashleigh Simon has done it again, winning the final event on the 2006 Nedbank Women’s Golf Tour, the Nedbank Women’s SA Masters, at Killarney Golf Club.
After making her first birdie of the final day on the par-five 5th, Simon settled into her round, and went on to birdie the 6th and 7th holes, but bogeyed the 8th where she hit the ball right off the tee, and then regrouped to birdie the tough par-four 9th to go 3-under at the turn. Simon felt she then just had to grind out the back nine and make one or two birdies, after joint overnight leader Florence Luscher of Switzerland started to stage a comeback with three consecutive birdies.
Striking the ball really well, Simon went on to play the back nine better than she had the whole week. She played a strategic game, holding her round together until the 17th when she dropped a shot and it began to look as though she was facing a playoff. But it was Luscher who stumbled on the last, allowing Simon the relatively simple task of making par for victory. Earlier Luscher had picked up only one birdie on the front nine and had double dropped on the 6th. After a birdie and a par on the 11th and 12th holes, things started to look up for Luscher, as she birdied the next three holes. Then the nerves set in, and she dropped on the 16th and double-bogeyed the final hole, leaving her in fourth place, 5-under par for the tournament.
South Africa’s Mandy Adamson, who has played the entire Tour with a broken toe, carded four birdies and two eagles in the final round, to finish tied second with England’s Kirsty Fisher just one shot back from Simon on 6-under par for the tournament.
England’s Rebecca Hudson who had finished second at the Pam Golding Ladies International and the Telkom Women’s Classic, with her rookie win at the Acer Women’s SA Open, now tops the 2006 Order of Merit. Hudson finished the tournament tied fifth with South Africa’s Laurette Maritz on 4-under par.
Amateur and member of the Ernie Els & Fancourt Foundation Kelli Shean, who led the field after the first round of the Acer Women’s SA Open two weeks ago, had the best round of the day today with a 67, to finish the tournament in seventh position.
Helena Alterby finished top of the Kingswood Golf Estate Birdie Table, with 59 points and took home a further R2 000.
Nedbank Women’s SA Masters
Killarney Golf Club, Johannesburg
Final Round Scores
Par 72
(*denotes amateur, SA unless otherwise noted)
209 – * Ashleigh Simon 70 69 70
210 – Kirsty Fisher (Eng) 72 69 69, Mandy Adamson 72 70 68
211 – Florence Luscher (Swi) 71 68 72
212 – Laurette Maritz 70 71 71, Rebecca Hudson (Eng) 70 71 71
213 – * Kelli Shean 74 72 67
214 – Anne-Sophie Le Nalio (Fra) 73 68 73, Helena Alterby (Swe) 68 75 71
215 – Lotta Wahlin (Swe) 73 70 72, Carina Vagner (Den) 73 73 69, Marianne Skarpnord (Nor) 73 71 71, Eliza Serramia (Spa) 73 72 70, Lauren Hamilton Diggle (wal) 69 73 73
216 – Nuria Clau (Spa) 71 73 72
217 – Beatriz Minchiotti Fabregas (Spa) 72 76 69, Andrea Hirschhorn 74 71 72, Francis Botha 74 71 72
218 – Emma Zackrisson (Swe) 74 74 70, Lee-Anne Pace 71 75 72, Karen Margrethe Juul (Den) 71 76 71, Sophie Giquel (Fra) 68 73 77, Nathalie David-Mila (Fra) 78 73 67
219 – Maria Boden (Swe) 74 73 72, Patricia Beliard (Fra) 70 74 75, Nora Angehrn (Swi) 68 77 74
220 – Hanna-Sophia Svenningsson (Swe) 74 73 73, Sofia Renell (Swe) 73 70 77, Rikke Rasmussen (Den) 75 75 70, Clare Lipscombe (Eng) 70 73 77, Nina Hansson (Swe) 71 78 71
221 – Shayne Wild (Zim) 76 74 71, Costanza Trussoni (ita) 75 75 71, Frederique Seeholzer (Swi) 73 76 72, Kareen Qually (can) 75 72 74, Vanessa Bell (Eng) 76 73 72
222 – Johanna Waldh (Swe) 71 77 74, Elin Ohlsson (Swe) 74 73 75, Salimah Mussani (can) 80 72 70, * Stacey Bregman 75 74 73
223 – Cecilie Lundgreen (Nor) 71 74 78, * Lumien Lausberg 76 72 75, Sara Jelander (Swe) 70 74 79
224 – Kelly Hutcherson (Eng) 71 78 75
225 – Natou Soro (Cdi) 74 75 76, Zuzana Kamasova (Svk) 75 76 74
226 – Laura Wright (Eng) 75 77 74, Morgana Robbertze 73 75 78, Clare Queen (Sco) 70 75 81, Sandra Carlborg (Swe) 72 78 76, Carmen Alonso (Spa) 76 76 74
227 – Caryn Louw 73 77 77, Sophie Hunter (Eng) 73 78 76, Maria Beautell (Spa) 75 76 76
228 – * Gilly Tebbutt 73 78 77, Lill Kristin Saether (Nor) 77 69 82, Sofia Johansson (Swe) 73 78 77, Elin Brask (Swe) 73 79 76
229 – Frederique Dorbes (Fra) 74 75 80
231 – * Suzette Venter 76 76 79, Emelie Svenningsson (Swe) 76 72 83, * Tsebo Betty Mokoena 75 75 81
232 – Vanessa Smith 69 79 84, Emma Brown (Eng) 77 74 81
