Lee-Anne Pace finished with a flourish on Sunday as she made three birdies in her final four holes to end up in a share of fourth in the Ladies European Tour’s PIF London Championship at Centurion Club.
Her closing five-under-par 68 took her to seven-under for the tournament, and left her three strokes off the winning total. Germany’s Laura Fuefenstueck closed with a one-under-par 72 to reach 10-under and win by one from Daniela Darquea of Ecuador. Anne van Dam of the Netherlands was third on eight-under, and Pace shared fourth with Olivia Cowan, Adela Cernousek, Alice Hewson, Mimi Rhodes, Kim Metraux and Manon De Roey.
Pace picked up two birdies on the front nine, and another on the 13th, before dropping her only shot of the day on the 14th. She followed that with her fine closing flourish, with birdies on 15, 17 and 18.
Fuefenstueck had a three-shot lead overnight but had a tricky start to the day as she was three-over after four holes. However, she recovered well and produced a stunning back nine to leave her with a one-foot birdie to seal her maiden LET title.
“At the beginning of the day, I said I want to earn this today and I did on the back nine,” said Fünfstück. “I was so nervous, I had half a sausage for breakfast. I’m starving now. I’m so happy, I’m so pleased. That was fun.
“Hopefully, we’re just getting started. It’s massively kind of validating because everyone defines themselves if they’re a tour winner or not. There are parts of me that I really backed myself and I can compete in a sense, but I wouldn’t go into tournaments backing myself to win.
“I know that I can be competitive enough to put myself in contention, so now getting it over the line having been close before, is me knowing I can do it and hopefully, I can back myself a bit more in the future.”
Pace’s finish was in contrast to Casandra Alexander’s. Alexander was in a position to challenge for the title, but she had a dreadful start to her final round, with a triple-bogey on the second, and a double-bogey six on the third. She bogeyed the ninth to turn in a deflating six-over 43. But she stormed back superbly on the homeward nine, making birdies on 10, 13 and 16, before eagling the last. Her closing one-over 74 left her at five-under in a share of 14th, and thoughts of what might have been.
