Sunday, July 6, 2008

HUDSON AT THE DOUBLE

HUDSON AT THE DOUBLE

England's Rebecca Hudson captured her second title in the space of three weeks with a final round 64 at the weather-interrupted 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 10-under-par 206 total and a first prize of almost Ј20,000.

Hudson's win, which followed her recent triumph at the Tenerife Open, was her third win on the LET after a maiden tour title in Hungary in 2006.

She said: "Back-to-back wins, I can't believe it. To win in your home country is just fantastic. It's wonderful.

"And 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 shots and played the 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: "We lined up the putts well, we worked well together. We didn't fight the wind, we worked with it."

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.

Reid 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.

Wales' Becky Brewerton, who won last year at Chart Hills, tied for seventh with England's Lora Fairclough.

Collated third round scores & totals (Par 72)

206 Rebecca Hudson (Eng) 72 70 64

207 Melissa Reid (Eng) 68 70 69

210 Joanne Mills (Aus) 68 76 66

211 Marina Arruti (Spa) 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 (Nzl) 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 (Spa) 73 78 76, Mianne Bagger (Den) 73 78 76, Claire Aitken (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 (Nzl) 69 80 80

230 Denise-Charlotte Becker (Ger) 72 79 79

231 Laura Cabanillas (Spa) 74 76 81, Morgana Robbertze (Sa) 79 71 81


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