Muñoz Retains Title

Azahara Muñoz of Spain came from four strokes behind the overnight leader Maria Hernández to retain her Lacoste Ladies Open de France title at Golf de Chantaco.

The 26-year-old from San Pedro de Alcántara, near Malaga, birdied the last two holes to end a stroke clear of Hernández and Amy Boulden.

Welsh Ladies European Tour rookie Boulden, playing in the penultimate group, set the target at 10 under par and watched as Hernández missed her birdie putt before Muñoz expertly sent her ball into the middle of the hole from three metres.

“I just love this place, you know. I’ve been playing well all week but putts weren’t dropping and when it came to the last two I knew I needed at least one birdie to go to the play-off,” said Muñoz. “When I dropped that one at 17 I thought I had a really good chance and on 18 too, I just focused on hitting a good putt. Putts haven’t dropped all week so I guess it was my time and I’m just really happy. On 11, 12, 13 and 14 I made pretty good par putts and that kept me going and then three birdies in the last four.”

Muñoz birdied the second, but slipped down the leader board with a double bogey on the third hole. She recovered with birdies on seven and nine before dropping another on the 10th hole. She began her birdie run with an up and down from beside the 15th green and then holed putts of 2.5 and 3 metres on the 17th and 18th holes respectively for a final round of 67 and a total of 11 under.

Hernández, who led after each of the first three rounds, went to the turn in one under par with a three stroke cushion but made three bogeys on holes 10, 13 and 16. She said: “I was hitting the ball consistent but not as close as the last few days and I missed three short putts and made three bogeys and didn’t make any birdie putts.”

With a final round of 66, containing a double bogey and six birdies, Boulden earned her career best finish of equal second on the Ladies European Tour and her third top five finish this year.

Boulden said: “I got off to a rough start with a double bogey on the third but made my way back up and made quite a few birdies coming in. I gave it my best shot over the last few holes and Aza just made two great birdies on the last two holes so fair play, well deserved.”

England’s Florentyna Parker finished in fourth place on nine-under-par while French rookie professional Isabelle Boineau from Marseille earned a career best finish of fifth place.

Solheim Cup stars Charley Hull and Carlota Ciganda tied for sixth, while Frenchwoman Gwladys Nocera was eighth. Swiss amateur Albane Valenzuela, 16, from Geneva finished ninth on four-under-par and local player Anne-Lise Caudal from St Jean de Luz, England’s Hannah Burke and Sweden’s Sophie Gustafson ended in a share of 10th on three under par.

Collated final scores:

269 - Azahara Munoz (ESP) 67 68 67 67

270 - Maria Hernandez (ESP) 65 67 66 72, Amy Boulden (WAL) 69 69 66 66

271 - Florentyna Parker (ENG) 66 67 70 68

272 - Isabelle Boineau (FRA) 67 68 69 68

274 - Carlota Ciganda (ESP) 66 67 70 71, Charley Hull (ENG) 68 67 71 68

275 - Gwladys Nocera (FRA) 70 71 68 66

276 - Albane Valenzuela (SWI) 69 64 70 73

277 - Anne-Lise Caudal (FRA) 73 70 66 68, Hannah Burke (ENG) 68 70 70 69, Sophie Gustafson (SWE) 73 66 69 69

279 - Beth Allen (USA) 73 69 66 71, Noora Tamminen (FIN) 68 72 67 72, Jade Schaeffer (FRA) 70 70 71 68

280 - Klara Spilkova (CZE) 68 68 73 71, Liz Young (ENG) 69 70 72 69, Malene Jorgensen (DEN) 70 67 68 75

281 - Felicity Johnson (ENG) 68 68 73 72, Titiya Plucksataporn (THA) 74 68 70 69, Ariane Provot (FRA) 71 67 71 72

282 - Nikki Campbell (AUS) 67 70 76 69, Bree Arthur (AUS) 69 69 73 71, Sahra Hassan (WAL) 71 70 69 72, Minea Blomqvist (FIN) 69 69 69 75, Maha Haddioui (MAR) 66 73 72 71, Lydia Hall (WAL) 73 69 69 71

283 - Georgina Simpson (ENG) 70 68 74 71, Caroline Afonso (FRA) 72 67 73 71, Chloe Leurquin (BEL) 70 72 71 70

284 - Nicole Broch Larsen (DEN) 74 71 70 69, Ann-Kathrin Lindner (GER) 73 69 71 71, Alexandra Vilatte (FRA) 70 68 73 73, Sophie Walker (ENG) 73 72 70 69

285 - Sophie Sandolo (ITA) 67 71 74 73, Sally Watson (SCO) 74 70 74 67, Christine Wolf (AUT) 69 69 69 78

286 - Lucie Andre (FRA) 70 75 70 71, Rebecca Hudson (ENG) 73 69 71 73, Diana Luna (ITA) 71 68 75 72, Cassandra Kirkland (FRA) 70 75 68 73, Lucy Williams (ENG) 72 71 73 70

287 - Marion Veysseyre (FRA) 70 73 73 71, Eleanor Givens (ENG) 70 73 71 73, Louise Larsson (SWE) 70 72 72 73, Margherita Rigon (ITA) 73 71 70 73, Caroline Martens (NOR) 73 71 69 74

288 - Cathryn Bristow (NZL) 69 75 72 72, Krista Bakker (FIN) 69 74 73 72, Tania Elosegui (ESP) 73 70 71 74

289 - Marta Silva Zamora (ESP) 68 74 74 73

290 - Maria Salinas (PER) 72 73 70 75, Nikki Garrett (AUS) 72 71 71 76

291 - Isabell Gabsa (GER) 71 69 76 75

292 - Elina Nummenpaa (FIN) 76 69 67 80

293 - Anais Maggetti (SUI) 67 72 78 76

294 - Karolin Lampert (GER) 71 74 77 72, Astrid Vayson De Pradenne (FRA) 76 68 72 78