Coffey defends double in style

The seminal moment in the Lancome Irish Ladies Close Championship final at the European Club came at the 12th hole. Alison Coffey, the defending champion, was bunkered off her tee-shot. Her opponent, Claire Coughlan had split the fairway with a fine drive and although one down at that juncture, looked like levelling the match.

Coffey extricated herself from the bunker but was still some 30 yards short of the green. Coughlan pitched to about 18 feet and then watched as Coffey played a fine pitch and run but was still some 15 feet from the hole in three. Coughlan lagged her putt to two feet. Her opponent had to hole the putt and the Warrenpoint golfer did so in splendid fashion.

Coffey admitted: "It was a turning point. I knew that the putt had to go in to get a half so in a sense there wasn't a lot of pressure. It was pretty tough on Claire who must have thought that she was going to square the match."

It was a crushing blow for Coughlan, the Cork golfer trading on memories of a sensational start when she was three up after four holes. Now one down, the pressure was tangible and Coughlan was ruthlessly punished over the next three holes for a couple of loose shots: it would culminate, on the 15th green in a four and three defeat.

The quality of Coffey's golf was exceptional at times. She never afforded her opponent a modicum of respite after clawing her way back from three down. The Ulster girl won the sixth with a birdie, was eventually conceded the eighth after Coughlan drove into trouble and had levelled matters by the turn, winning the ninth with an eagle to a birdie.

The pair halved the 10th in regulation figures before Coffey went ahead at the 11th, hitting a glorious long iron to 12 feet. Having survived the 12th, the Irish international, hit a superb drive on the par five 13th and although through the back in two - she mishit a three wood - left her 40 foot putt from the apron stone dead.

Two down, Coughlan, the 1999 Irish Close champion, could ill afford her pulled tee shot on the par three 14th that her buried in the hill to the left of the green. Coffey caressed a "soft eight iron" to 25 feet, her putt finished inches short. Coughlan could not get up and down. "I knew at that stage that the match was all but over," Coffey conceded.

"I was confident that I could par my way in and that should have been enough." As it transpired she required just one more hole, closing out the match on the 15th. It represents a remarkable week for the Belfast engineer, having successfully defended both the Leitrim Cup - it is awarded to the leading qualifier over 36 holes for the matchplay stages - and the Irish Close title itself.

Semi-finals

A Coffey (Warrenpoint) bt M Dowling (New Ross) 4 and 3; C Coughlan (Cork) bt J Black (Knock) 4 and 3.

Final

Coffey bt Coughlan 4 and 3.

Scottish international Vikki Laing won the Welsh Women's Open Strokeplay Championship at Royal Porthcawl yesterday thanks to a display of sheer consistency.

The 20-year-old from Musselburgh was one of only a handful of players to complete three rounds in the 70s.

Laing finished with a 54-hole aggregate of 229 - four over par - for a three-stroke victory over a group of four.