Lauren Walsh birdied two of her final six holes to climb into a share of eighth place in the Dutch Ladies Open at Goyer Golf and Country Club in the Netherlands, but once again the day belonged to Mimi Rhodes.
Walsh, who represents Carton House, began the day just three shots back but couldn’t get anything going and found herself turning at three-under for the tournament after nine straight pars. Three more followed on the back, but with two par-5s in the final six holes, she was able to find birdies on each of those and fought her way to -5 at the week’s end.
Anna Foster had the round of the day from an Irish perspective and her bogey-free three-under 69 – with birdies on three, seven and 18 – lifted her to -3 for the tournament and into a tie for 12th which is her best finish of her rookie season to date.
Canice Screene shot a 74 to fall back to level-par and end her LET debut in a share of 32nd, while Annabel Wilson took one stroke less on the day but one stroke more overall to finish tied for 38th.
But, once again, it was England’s Mimi Rhodes who found herself in the spotlight at the sharp end of affairs. She continued her sensational rookie season and claimed her third Ladies European Tour title, finishing two shots clear.
This marks a remarkable hat-trick of victories in the last four starts for the 23-year-old, further solidifying her lead at the top of the Order of Merit standings.
Rhodes entered the final round tied at the top of the leaderboard alongside Spain’s Nuria Iturrioz and Italy’s Alessia Nobilio.
“It’s unbelievable”, said the now three-time LET winner. “It’s really hard to put into words how happy I am right now. It’s very exciting for the future and for my career.”
The 23-year-old had a solid round on the final day, with three birdies on her scorecard at the end of the day. “On the 18th green I was actually thinking about what I was going have for dinner so I wasn’t overly stressed about it. I knew I was two shots ahead, so just knew I needed to hold par. It’s all a bit of a dream still”, she said.
Walsh sits in eighth place in the Order of Merit, while Foster leapfrogs Annabel Wilson – the former climbing to 48th with Wilson in 52nd. Screene enters at 113th and will make her second appearance of the season alongside the aforementioned trio at next week’s Jabra Ladies Open at Evian Resort in France.
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