Lauren Walsh impressed on her Ladies European Tour (LET) debut with a solid final round of 70 at the VP Bank Swiss Open which gave the young Irishwoman a share for 13th place on seven under par, eight shots back from Alexandra Forsterling who won the tournament on -15.
Walsh’s impressive second-round performance put her in a strong position to claim a top-10 finish in Switzerland but she will surely be happy with her efforts across the weekend and finishing inside the top 15.
The 23-year-old began her round in solid fashion and claimed her first birdie of the day on the par-three fourth. She would follow this up with another birdie a few holes later, again capitalising on the par-three eighth as she started the back nine on two-under-par.
That would be the Castlewarden golfer’s final birdie of the day but she would go on to have a consistent final nine holes apart from a bogey on the 11th, dropping Walsh to one-under-par for the day which was how she would finish.
Alexandra Forsterling overtook clubhouse leader Madelene Stavnar on the final day of action at the Golfpark Holzhäusern course with a blemish-free third round, claiming her maiden victory on the tour.
Three consecutive rounds of 66 by Forsterling exhibited the consistency of the German’s play at the Swiss Open, cutting back on her bogeys each day as she remained a mainstay near the top of the leaderboard.
Forsterling’s opening nine holes were as solid as they come, parring eight of the nine first holes in her final round with the only break from this slew of pars a birdie on the par-three eighth.
The back nine was where Forsterling did most of her damage though and she started off with a birdie on the 10th. She sunk another birdie two holes later on the par-four 12th, sending the German native onto -13 for the competition.
With Madelene Stavnar and Anne-Charlotte Mora for company for Forsterling in the final round, she was acutely aware of how her nearest competitors were doing, and heading into the last five holes her playing partners were on -12 and -13 respectively.
But as Mora faltered with bogeys on the 15th and 16th and Stavnar was unable to make ground on the tournament leader, it all came down to the final two holes.
Forsterling birdied the 17th creating distance between herself and the Norwegian and although Stavnar birdied the final hole, Forsterling did likewise, winning the tournament with a two-stroke margin.
The recently crowned Swiss Open Champion talked about her first win on the tour and the aforementioned competitions with Stavnar and Mora.
“I can’t quite believe it,” the 23-year-old Försterling said. “It feels so strange in a way. Obviously, you always work for it, but then when it happens you can’t quite believe it.
“The two girls I was playing with [Mora and Stavnar] played awesome, I think we all putted great so it was a great battle for sure.”
The Ladies European Tour returns after the Solheim Cup with the Lacoste Ladies Open de France at Golf Barrière, Deuville (28th – 30th of September.)
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