Olivia Mehaffey picked up her first top-20 finish since last year’s ISPS HANDA World Invitational as he finished in a share of 18th at the Investec South African Women’s Open in Cape Town.
The Tandragee woman finished the tournament with her best round of the week, a one-over 73, which left her nine-over-par for the week and, in the end, only nine shots off eventual winner Lee-Anne Pace at Steenberg Golf Club.
She will take plenty of confidence from this week, however, particularly how she battled back from making the cut with only a shot to spare but managing to secure a very respectable result.
Still only a year into her professional career, Mehaffey is still learning her trade at this level and she will hope this is the kind of performance that she can use to kick on on the Ladies European Tour as her final round saw her mix three birdies with two bogeys and a double-bogey.
Meanwhile, Pace triumphed in a nail-biting play-off over Magdalena Simmermacher after both finished at level-par for the tournament to win the title for a record fifth time.
The pair both signed for two-under 70s in their final round to set the clubhouse target and it would need extra holes to separate the two after an agonising final round collapse from overnight leader Becky Brewerton.
The Welsh woman took a five-shot lead into the final round but she could only card a six-over 78 which saw her miss the play-off by one and, even more painfully, she still held a one-shot lead with two holes left to play but bogeyed the 17th and 18th.
In the end it needed six play-off holes to separate Pace and Simmermacher, the South African claiming her fifth home crown when she birdied the 18th after a marathon decider that saw them inseparable until they moved the tees up on the par-five.
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