Patricia Isabel Schmidt wins her first LET title at the Belgian Ladies Open, whilst Thailand's Pajaree Anannarukarn wins the Bank of Hope LPGA Match-Play after 116 holes

Report by the LET

Patricia Isabel Schmidt fired an excellent final round of 66 (-6) to win the 2023 Belgian Ladies Open by two shots at Naxhelet Golf Club.

Heading into the final day, the German sat three shots behind overnight leader Maria Hernandez on five-under-par after rounds of 71 (-1) and 68 (-4) on the first two days.

Schmidt didn’t get off to the best of starts with bogeys on the third and fifth holes, however, she soon turned around her fortune in Belgium.

Four consecutive birdies on holes six through nine put her a couple of shots off the lead and she was soon co-leader after back-to-back birdies on 12 and 13.

But it was her superb eagle on 14 which put the 27-year-old in pole position on 11-under-par, which was enough to seal her first title on the LET.

“I don’t really have any words to say right now! I was just so nervous on the last tee,” said the rookie, who earned her LET card through the LET Access Series last year. “I really felt like I was shaking when I had to line my putt.

“I wasn’t aware of my position at all. I saw the leaderboard out there once, but I didn’t see it clearly enough. I just saw the colours of a flag and thought it looked like a Spanish flag. The eagle on 14 was nice. I hit a really good drive and then only had an eight-iron in.

“My dad was caddying today. He was joining me for the first time ever since I started playing golf, because I was flying to Brussels and my dad had a week off, so he picked me up and took my bag with me. I guess it all kind of worked out!

“This win will give me a lot of trust and confidence. I came from LETAS last year and played quite well. Then I struggled at the beginning of this year and put myself under a lot of pressure, so I knew okay, I need to show that I belong here instead of just playing. This will help a lot to give me that confidence.”

Two players ended the day in a tie for second place with Germany’s Chiara Noja and Spain’s Maria Hernandez on nine-under-par.

It was a good final day for LET winner Noja, who produced a round of 68 (-4) with six birdies and two bogeys to move up the leaderboard.

It wasn’t the final day overnight leader Hernandez would have hoped for, however, her 71 (-1) ensured she finished on nine-under-par in tie for second.

Germany’s Olivia Cowan had another good week on the LET with a final round of 68 (-4) to finish in outright fourth place on eight-under-par with Italy’s Clara Manzalini one shot further back in fifth.

Six players ended the tournament in a share of sixth place with France’s Agathe Sauzon, Switzerland’s Vanessa Knecht, Belgium’s Manon De Roey, France’s Charlotte Liautier, Spain’s Mireia Prat and India’s Diksha Dagar all on six-under-par.

In the 2023 Race to Costa del Sol, the top four players remain in the same order with Aditi Ashok leading followed by Linn Grant in second, Ana Peláez Trivino in third and Klara Davidson Spilkova in fourth.

Noja moves up to fifth place and now has 745.25 points, England’s Lily May Humphreys is sixth with 623.83 points while France’s Pauline Roussin is seventh with 588 points.

With 500 points for her win, Schmidt has gone from 84th to eighth place and now has 563.48 points to her name with Carlota Ciganda in ninth and Ashleigh Buhai in tenth.

The tour now moves to Sweden and the Helsingborg Open at Allerum Golf Club.

Pajaree Anannarukarn wins Bank of Hope LPGA Match-Play

After 116 holes across five days, Thailand's Pajaree Anannarukarn was crowned Bank of Hope LPGA Match-Play champion. The 23-year-old defeated Ayaka Furue 3 and 1 on Sunday, after beating Sweden's Linn Grant by the same margin in the morning's semi-final.

Japan's Ayaka Furue reached the final after 2 and 1 defeat of Ireland's Leona Maguire.

On what is a gruelling week for competitors, 64 players are divided into 16 groups of four where there are three days of round-robin matches. From which the competition moves to a 16-player, single-elimination rounds. Players were seeded by their world ranking.

Final result:

Pajaree Anannarukarn (36) def. Ayaka Furue (6), 3 and 1

Semi-final result:

Pajaree Anannarukarn (36) def. Linn Grant (8), 3 and 1
Ayaka Furue (6) def. Leona Maguire (7), 2 and 1

Quarter-final result:

Pajaree Anannarukarn (36) def. Carlota Ciganda (12), 3 and 2
Linn Grant (8) def. Albane Valenzuela (33), 3 and 1
Ayaka Furue (6) def. Celine Boutier (3), 2 and 1
Leona Maguire (7) def. Lindsey Weaver-Wright (50), 3 and 2

Like last year's champion Eun-Hee Ji, Anannarukarn was ranked 36 going into the tournament.

This is Anannarukarn's second LPGA victory adding to her ISPS HANDA World Invitational win in 2021. It's been a tough time for the 23-year-old since that win, which is something she reflected upon in her post round press conference:

"When I won my Northern Ireland I continue playing some great golf until 2022, early of the year, and then started going down. I feel like I'm trying to figure out golf, sometimes it's hard to just come back up.

"And then I just, you know, tried every possible way just to improve my game and just keep believing, and I'm lucky that I have everyone around me that helped me and support me along the way just since day one. So I'm really grateful for that."

Linn Grant made her first LPGA Tour appearance on American soil as a professional. It was a solid performance and there were lots of positives to take way ahead of her title defence at the Scandinavian Mixed in two weeks time.

"Well, I had so much fun. I feel like my game is solid. Even though I started off the week and I wasn't too confident about it, I feel like now I am, so going into next week and the weeks to come I'm excited for that.

"Also, really fun to play match play again, and I feel like I got a bit more confidence hopefully going into this Solheim Cup."

This week there is a new event on the LPGA - Mizuho Americas Open at Liberty National Golf Club in Jersey City.

Win two of the season for Larrazabal

Pablo Larrazabal has added a second DP World Tour victory for the season to his resume after winning the KLM Open by two shots over fellow Spaniard Adrian Otaegui. After winning the Korean Championship at the end of April and turning 40 on May 15 - it's been a month of celebrations for Larrazabal.

It wasn't all plain sailing even though Larrazabal started the day with a one-shot lead. A double-bogey on the second hole could have been his undoing but the Spaniard still managed a three-under-par round to finish on 13-under-par.

Talking on his victoryLarrazabal said:

"It was a battle with myself. I didn't play well. I managed myself out there, holed a few great putts on the front nine and did my best to keep myself in position.

"To win golf tournaments, you have to make birdies at the end. It doesn't matter how fast you run at the beginning, you have to run faster at the end to win the race.

"I'm so proud of myself and so proud of my team. We struggled big time through Covid but here we are - four wins in the last 15 months. It means too much to me."

The DP World Tour is in Germany this week for the Porsche European Open at Green Eagle Golf Courses, in Hamburg.

Grillo back in the winner's circle

After over seven and half year, Emailiano Grillo was back in the winner's circle after defeating Adam Schenk in a play-off to win the Charles Schwab Challenge and claim is second PGA Tour victory.

It wasn't meant to be for England's Harry Hall who was in search of his first tour victory and had led by one-shot heading into the final round. The 25-year-old could have made it a three-way play-off if it weren't for a final hole bogey after his tee shot found water.

Argentina's Grillo started the final round four shots behind Hall while America's Schenk was one shot back.

A bride on the second play-off hole was enough to secure the win for the 30-year-old, who last won a PGA Tour event at the Frys.com Open in October 2015.

Commenting on his victory, Grillo said:

"Obviously it's great. It made everything worth it. The playing, all the hours practicing, the effort from my family. It makes you think when you started playing all the emotions come through your head.

"It's been tough, but it's worth every second. People ask me if I would have done something different, obviously looking back, I wouldn't. This is just worth it."

The next event on the PGA Tour is the Memorial Tournament presented by Workday at Muirfield Village Golf Club.

One final note: Steve Stricker defeated Padraig Harrington in a play-off to win the KitchenAid Senior PGA Championship, with his daughter Izzi Stricker on his bag. The was a second Major victory in two weeks for 56-year-old Stricker. A special moment for the father and daughter.

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