An eagle on the last hole was the icing on the cake for Karen Lunn as she sealed a dramatic four-stoke victory at the Ladies Classic at Royal Canberra yesterday.
However the margin of victory hides just how tense the back nine was.
The veteran NSW golfer had to make numerous clutch par putts coming home on the back nine - including a 1.5m on the 14th and an 8m on the 15th - and got up-and-down from a deep greenside bunker on the 17th hole to hold a two-stroke lead heading down the last.
Overnight leader Lunn started with four birdies over her first six holes, and after nine holes had a six-stroke lead. But she admitted to feeling the pressure coming down the stretch.
''I played really solidly for the first 12 or 13 holes and didn't really make any mistakes,'' Lunn said. ''Then I started to leak a little oil coming in.
''I looked on the scoreboard and I was six shots ahead and I didn't quite know what to do.''
Lunn said that the six-shot lead was almost too big.
''When I dropped a couple of shots I started to panic a little [but] I got the job done and that is the most important thing in the end.''
A monster 13m putt on the last was a spectacular end to Lunn's first major ALPG event since she won an event in Cairns in 1990.
''The hard work had been done by then so it was just happy days really,'' she said of her final-hole eagle.
''It is always a nice way to finish, you are always just trying to get it close and not do anything silly like three-putt.''
Lunn rated the victory as one of her best despite having won eight times of the Ladies' European Tour.
''They are all special in their own way but obviously to win a big tournament at home, with a pretty good field with a lot of international players, with my sister [Mardy] caddying for me. It is very special.''
Lunn grew up in Cowra and has had plenty of experience playing at Royal Canberra.
''To win a tournament somewhere two hours from where I grew up, and I've spent a lot of time in Canberra ... is very nice,'' she said.
Another ALPG veteran Vicky Thomas scored a five-under par 68 in the final round to storm into second place.
Victorian Stacey Keating shot a four-under par 69 to earn herself a share of third place alongside England's Kym Larratt [72] a further shot behind Thomas.
The tie for third is Larratt's best result in her three-year professional career but a final-hole disaster cost the Englishwoman, who trailed Lunn by two coming down the 18th, a higher placing.
Larratt found the bunker with her approach, then overshot the green for her third shot. She left a chip short on her fourth before two-putting to finish with a bogey, five strokes behind Lunn.
''Eighteen is going to play on my mind for a bit I think,'' Larratt said.
''But still, overall a fantastic tournament [so] I can't grumble.''
Canberra's Nikki Campbell finished in outright fourth after carding a one-under par 72.
.gif)
