Laura Davies won her second Australian Women's Open after a dramatic final day at Metropolitan Golf Club in Melbourne on Sunday.
The English veteran, who last won the title in 2004 at Concorde Golf Club, closed her late challenge with a best-of-the-day, five-under-par 68 to edge out Spain's Tania Elosegui by a shot
But she might not have managed it without a spectacular monster putt for eagle at the 13th and a miscalculation on the Spanish player's part.
Elosegui, a third-year professional who has still to win on the Ladies' European Tour, thought that she needed a birdie to win when she stood on the 18th tee.
Had she known that a par would have been enough to do it when she found herself 20 feet shy of the flag she would surely have hit a lag putt close for an easy par and would not have rammed her first putt four feet past the hole and then missed the return to gift Davies her 72nd career title and the Aus$75,000 first prize.
Davies couldn't believe her luck.
"This has made the whole trip absolutely fantastic. I've enjoyed it but golf-wise it was a struggle up until the last putt, which actually missed. Luckily I tapped the other one in. At the time I thought I'd blown it and Tania would win, but I'm pretty happy now," she admitted.
Davies was 11 shots back going into the weekend after sloppy opening rounds of 74 and 76 but she made a tremendous charge up the leaderboard with a six-under 67 on Saturday.
"When I walked off the course on Friday I was very disappointed and I thought I was out of it. On a normal course you would say that was too far back, but on a course like this it wasn't too far. I'm really pleased.
"What makes this such a good win, is because it's such a good course," she added.
England's hottest young prospect Melissa Reid closed with an excellent 69 to finish just two shots off the pace in a tie for third with Koreans Chang-hee Lee (73) and He-young Choi (71).
Carrie Webb, Australia's leading female golfer who led the first round, finished in a two-way tie with last week's LET winner Katherine Hull, who, like Webb and Davies, plays most of her golf on the LPGA Tour.
Final collated scores:
285 Laura Davies (Eng) 74 76 67 68
286 Tania Elosegui (Spa) 69 72 75 70
287 Chang-hee Lee (Kor) 69 70 75 73, Melissa Reid (Eng) 76 72 70 69, He yong Choi (Kor) 72 73 71 71
290 Karrie Webb 66 75 75 74, Katherine Hull 76 74 70 70
291 Nikki Campbell 79 70 73 69, Marianne Skarpnord (Nor) 71 71 76 73, Hye youn Kim (Kor) 70 73 75 73, Lisa Hall (Eng) 74 73 74 70, Clare Queen (Sco) 70 75 72 74
292 Georgina Simpson (Eng) 73 68 77 74, Christel Boeljon (Ned) 74 71 72 75, Diana D'Alessio (USA) 72 76 69 75
293 Anna-Lise Caudal (Fra) 74 75 69 75, Alison Walshe (USA) 77 69 69 78, Sarah Oh (Kor) 74 75 73 71
294 Joanne Mills 74 69 76 75, Susie Mathews 74 71 74 75, Lynn Kenny (Sco) 72 72 75 75, Nikki Garrett 73 75 71 75, Becky Brewerton (Gbr) 75 73 76 70, Rebecca Hudson (Eng) 72 74 71 77, Gwladys Nocera (Fra) 79 73 71 71
295 Beth Allen (USA) 73 69 73 80, Tamie Durdin 78 74 70 73, Johanna Westerberg (Swe) 73 71 75 76, Aram Cho (USA) 75 77 72 71
296 Vicky Hermina Thomas 76 72 74 74, Dana Lacey 74 74 76 72, Stacy lee Bregman (Rsa) 74 77 72 73, Trish Johnson (USA) 75 74 76 71
297 Beatriz Recari (Spa) 70 77 72 78, Il-hee Lee (Kor) 76 71 75 75, Nina Reis (Swe) 76 76 74 71, Lee Justine 73 70 77 77, Kristie Smith 80 74 73 70
298 Emma Bennett (Aut) 72 71 73 82, Rebecca Flood 71 72 75 80, Diana Luna (Ita) 73 78 74 73
299 Melanie Holmes-Smith 75 78 72 74, Rebecca Coakley (Irl) 77 72 76 74, Florentyna Parker (Eng) 74 77 75 73, Danielle Bowers (Eng) 74 72 75 78, Bomi Suh (USA) 74 76 77 72
300 Martina Eberl (Ger) 72 73 74 81, Anna Knutsson (Swe) 74 76 74 76, Julia Boland 77 71 73 79
301 Samantha Head (Eng) 75 75 74 77
302 Kate Combes 76 73 75 78, Katharina Schallenberg (Ger) 74 73 76 79
303 Lydia Hall (Wal) 73 80 74 76, Bree Arthur (Aut) 74 78 75 76, Melodie Bourdy (Fra) 79 73 74 77, Eleanor Pilgrim (Wal) 77 77 75 74
304 Bing Lim (Mal) 75 74 77 78, Emma Zackrisson (Swe) 76 75 76 77, Titiya Plucksataporn (Tha) 81 73 78 72
305 Tamara Beckett 77 71 79 78
306 Polly Travica 78 76 73 79, Da som Lee (Kor) 78 75 78 75
307 Lisa Jean 76 78 75 78, Karen Lunn 76 77 76 78
308 Verity Knight 77 77 77 77, Lotta Maria Wahlin (Swe) 75 79 74 80
309 Elisabeth Esterl (Ger) 78 72 77 82
310 Carmen Alonso (Spa) 75 77 79 79
315 Rosemary Macdonald 80 74 81 80
317 Stephanie Na 80 74 80 83
DAVIES HOPES FOR CHANGE IN FORTUNES
PERRY WINS FBR OPEN
