Home victory for England's Hudson
England’s Rebecca Hudson captured her second title in the space of three weeks with a final round 64 at the weather interrupted Ladies English Open
Hudson came from four shots behind the overnight leader Melissa Reid, also from England, to capture the title by a stroke on a wet and windy day at The Oxfordshire Golf Club in Thame.
The 29-year-old from Doncaster fired eight birdies, with four on the front nine and four on the back, for a ten-under-par 206 total and a first prize of 24,750.
With no tournament scheduled on the Ladies European Tour the previous week, Hudson s win followed her recent triumph at the Tenerife Ladies Open, played in contrasting sunny and dry conditions. It was her third win on the LET after a maiden tour title in Hungary in 2006.
Back to back wins, I can t believe it, said an emotional Hudson. To win in your home country is just fantastic. It s just wonderful. To have two English players at the top is something special as well.
At the beginning of the day I knew that someone would have to shoot low to catch Mel but I didn t think this would happen. I hit some good golf shots and played the golf course the way I wanted to.
As in Tenerife, Hudson employed her good friend and fellow Tour professional Kirsty Fisher as her caddie for the final round. She added: Me and Kirsty lined up the putts well; we worked well together. We didn t fight the wind, we worked with it. Hudson was presented with her trophy by Michael Parkinson, the president of the golf club.
Playing in the final pairing, one group behind Hudson, Reid fired a final round 69 and finished on a nine-under-par total. She missed a 10 foot birdie putt to catch Hudson on the par-five 17th and then had to settle for a regulation par at the last hole after pulling her approach shot into the rough. Her chip stopped two feet short of the hole.
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Reid, the tour s leading rookie player, said: To be honest, I can t take anything away from Rebecca s 64. In these conditions it was phenomenal. She won the tournament. I m pretty gutted right now but I ve got to stay patient and maybe the win will come pretty soon. I still made a couple of mistakes, which I want to erase. I m learning all the time and this was a great challenge in all the conditions.
Australia s Joanne Mills took outright third on six-under-par after a bogey-free 66 while Spain s Marina Arruti was fourth on five-under-par. Denmark s Iben Tinning and Austria s Natascha Fink shared fifth on four-under, while Wales Brewerton, who won last year at Chart Hills, tied for seventh with England s Lora Fairclough.
The Oxfordshire Ladies English Open
The Oxfordshire
4th - 6th July 2008
Final Scoreboard
206 - Rebecca Hudson (ENG) 72 70 64
207 - Melissa Reid (ENG) 68 70 69
210 - Joanne Mills (AUS) 68 76 66
211 - Marina Arruti (ESP) 69 71 71
212 - Natascha Fink (AUT) 72 73 67, Iben Tinning (DEN) 73 72 67
213 - Lora Fairclough (ENG) 72 71 70, Becky Brewerton (WAL) 74 69 70
214 - Leah Hart (AUS) 71 73 70
216 - Martina Gillen (IRE) 70 76 70, Yuki Sakurai (JPN) 73 72 71, Kiran Matharu (ENG) 70 73 73
217 - Emma Zackrisson (SWE) 68 78 71, Valerie Michaud (FRA) 76 70 71, Lisa Holm Sorensen (DEN) 73 71 73, Stephanie Arricau (FRA) 71 72 74
218 - Lisa Hall (ENG) 72 75 71, Nina Reis (SWE) 74 72 72, Kirsty S Taylor (ENG) 70 76 72, Ellen Smets (BEL) 75 69 74
219 - Anna Tybring (SWE) 70 78 71, Georgina Simpson (ENG) 73 75 71, Elisabeth Esterl (GER) 77 71 71, Karen Lunn (AUS) 70 76 73, Claire Coughlan-Ryan (IRE) 73 71 75
220 - Lydia Hall (WAL) 73 76 71, Jo Pritchard (WAL) 72 77 71, Rui Yokomine (JPN) 72 71 77
221 - Carly Booth (Am) (SCO) 70 77 74, Kate Combes (AUS) 73 72 76
222 - Cecilie Lundgreen (NOR) 73 76 73, Lynn Kenny (SCO) 71 77 74, Samantha Head (ENG) 71 77 74, Kathryn Imrie (SCO) 73 75 74, Eva Steinberger (AUT) 75 71 76, Danielle Montgomery (ENG) 71 74 77
223 - Sarah Nicholson (NZ) 74 75 74, Jenna Wilson (SCO) 74 73 76, Zuzana Kamasova (SVK) 71 75 77
224 - Natalie Claire Booth (ENG) 68 83 73, Caroline Afonso (FRA) 73 78 73, Eleanor Pilgrim (WAL) 75 72 77, Cherie Byrnes (AUS) 72 73 79
225 - Hanna-Leena Salonen (FIN) 71 80 74, Mette Buus (DEN) 75 75 75
226 - Bronwyn Mullins-Lane (AUS) 71 79 76, Frederique Seeholzer (SWI) 70 80 76, Lill Kristin Saether (NOR) 79 71 76, Margherita Rigon (ITA) 68 80 78, Julie Greciet (FRA) 70 78 78, Julie Forbes (SCO) 73 75 78, Nathalie David-Mila (FRA) 73 74 79
227 - Ana Larraneta (ESP) 73 78 76, Mianne Bagger (DEN) 73 78 76, Claire Aitken (Am) (ENG) 73 74 80
228 - Henrietta Zuel (ENG) 74 76 78, Camille Fallay (FRA) 74 74 80
229 - Kelly Hutcherson (ENG) 76 74 79, Elizabeth McKinnon (NZ) 69 80 80
230 - Denise-Charlotte Becker (GER) 72 79 79
231 - Laura Cabanillas (ESP) 74 76 81, Morgana Robbertze (SA) 79 71 81
Further information: www.ladieseuropeantour.com