ILGU STROKEPLAY:Irish Women's Close Champion Lisa Maguire birdied the seventh extra tie hole to win the 3 Irish Women's Open Strokeplay at Douglas GC yesterday following a play-off with England's Hannah Burke after both finished on five-under-par 214.
In blustery but dry conditions, Maguire parred the first to establish a five-shot lead over second place Scotland’s Jane Turner, but it narrowed to four when Turner birdied the second. Steady play over the outward nine saw the lead increase to five at the turn as England’s Hannah Burke took up the running from Turner.
Burke went on to birdie the 10th, 11th, 15th and 18th to stage an amazing comeback and force tie holes with the Cavan teenager. Burke signed for a 67, while Maguire carded 75.
Both players thrilled the crowd matching each other par-for-par until Maguire overshot the seventh hole.
Burke missed her birdie effort from 25 feet and Maguire cooly slotted her downhill left to righter from just off the edge to tumultuous applause from the sizeable crowd.
EUROPEAN TOUR:Christian Nilsson stormed to the Saint-Omer Open title with a six-stroke victory in northern France yesterday.
The Swede went one better than his runner-up finish last year as a final bogie-free round of 69 left him on 13-under-par 271 for the tournament and earned him his first European Tour triumph.
Nilsson, who held a four-shot lead after the third round, never came under any pressure as the challenge of England’s James Morrison was wrecked by an awful 76 in the final round.
The man from Surrey looked to be the only threat to Nilsson going into the final day’s play, but ended up 11 shots back.
Portugal’s Jose-Filipe Lima finished second on seven under par thanks to a three-under 68 yesterday.
Four players, including Englishman Richard McEvoy after an excellent final-round 67, tied for third on three under.
Spaniard Javier Colombo produced the joint-lowest final round, his five-under 66 giving him a share of third as well.
Italian Lorenzo Gagli and another Swede, Ake Nilsson, were the other two players on three under.
Nilsson said after sealing victory: “It feels great. I’m still in shock at the moment, I think.
“It’s obviously a massive win for me, so it might take a while to realise just what it means.
“I was very nervous this morning and I didn’t sleep that well last night either. I was just trying to focus on how I was going to play, but so many thoughts were going round my head at the same time.
“I had a tough start to the year, but now that’s in the past, and I can look to the future.”
SENIORS TOUR:South African Bertus Smit held off the challenge of home favourite Ian Woosnam to win a maiden title in the Ryder Cup Wales Seniors Open at Royal Porthcawl and become the first Qualifying School graduate to win on the European Senior Tour in four years.
Smit holed a 25ft birdie putt on the last hole for a final round 69 to finish on five-under-par 211 to capture his first title in his 49th Senior Tour appearance.
Smith carded six birdies to finish four strokes clear of Australian David Merriman, who recorded his best Senior Tour finish, while Woosnam’s two-over-par 74 meant he had to settle for a share of third place with Ross Drummond, Bobby Lincoln and Ireland’s Des Smyth, a shot further back on level par.
Joint overnight leader Woosnam missed out on a home victory for the second consecutive year, 12 months after finishing runner-up to Peter Mitchell at Conwy (Caernarvonshire) GC.
The former World number one never fully recovered after starting with three straight bogeys and while he steadied the ship with birdies on the fifth, eighth and 10th holes his fight-back faltered with a hat-trick of dropped shots from the 14th to put pay to his challenge.
