Coakley one short as Pace wins back-to-back
Ireland’s Rebecca Coakley put in a storming back nine performance but still came up one stroke shy of making a four-way playoff for the Suzhou Taihu Ladies Open in China.
South Africa’s Lee-Anne Pace clinched the title, just a week after winning the Sanya Ladies Open, when she came from six shots back thanks to a final round 68 to force sudden death with Christel Boeljon, Hannah Jun and Julieta Granada.
The quartet finished tied on five-under-par at the Suzhou Taihu International Golf Course in Jiangsu Province befor Pace defeated Boeljon and Jun on the second tie hole to claim her fifth title in five months on the Ladies European Tour.
Coakley began the day two shots adrift of Dewi Claire Schreefel of the Netherlands but carded a one-over par 73 to share fifth place with the Dutch girl and Wales’ Becky Brewerton on four under.
The damage was done on the front nine as the Carlow player went to the turn in three over 39 and while she came home in two under, finishing with a birdie at the 18th, she is still waiting for her maiden LET victory.
Pace said: “I actually feel like I stole it today. After nine holes I looked at the leader board and saw that the leaders were dropping shots. I was level par at that stage and knew that if I could make five or six birdies that I would have a pretty good chance to be up there, so that was the goal.
“Then I had four holes left and my caddie said, ‘Come on: four in a row and you’re going to be up there and I birdied three out of four, so that proved to be pretty good.”
Pace won €30,000 and extended her lead of the LET’s 2010 Henderson Money List (order of merit).
Coakley is still set for her best ever season on tour with a cheque for €7,160 moving her up four places to 34th in the money list with €60,306 from 20 starts.
Final scores:
211 - Lee-Anne Pace (SA) 71 72 68
211 - Hannah Jun (USA) 74 69 68, Julieta Granada (PAR) 72 71 68, Christel Boeljon (NL) 68 70 73
212 - Becky Brewerton (WAL) 73 71 68, Rebecca Coakley (IRE) 69 70 73, Dewi-Claire Schreefel (NL) 69 68 75
213 - Pornanong Phatlum (THA) 76 67 70, Florentyna Parker (ENG) 70 72 71, Jeehae Lee (KOR) 71 70 72, Kylie Walker (SCO) 70 70 73
214 - Marjet van der Graaff (NL) 76 67 71, Nikki Garrett (AUS) 70 71 73, Vikki Laing (SCO) 69 71 74
215 - Bo-Mi Suh (KOR) 75 71 69, Louise Stahle (SWE) 71 74 70, Ursula Wikstrom (FIN) 74 70 71, Yan Jing (Am) (CHN) 72 71 72
216 - Georgina Simpson (ENG) 75 73 68, Tania Elosegui (ESP) 73 74 69, Wang Xin (Am) (CHN) 72 74 70, Jessica Ji (KOR) 75 70 71, Patcharajutar Kongkraphan (THA) 73 72 71, Danielle Bowers (ENG) 73 71 72, Nontaya Srisawang (THA) 68 75 73, Huang Ping (CHN) 75 67 74
217 - Beth Allen (USA) 74 72 71, Diana D’Alessio (USA) 71 74 72, Katherine Kempter (USA) 73 71 73, Frances Bondad (AUS) 67 75 75
218 - Tian Hong (CHN) 74 74 70, Tiffany Tavee (USA) 75 72 71, Lidya Ivana Jaya (IDN) 74 72 72, Russamee Gulyanamitta (THA) 74 71 73, Veronica Zorzi (ITA) 75 69 74, Carmen Alonso (ESP) 73 71 74, Ashleigh Simon (SA) 72 72 74, Stefanie Michl (AUT) 73 71 74, Sophie Walker (ENG) 70 73 75, Margherita Rigon (ITA) 72 70 76
219 - Gao Shuang (CHN) 73 75 71, Caroline Rominger (SWI) 74 73 72, Li Wei (CHN) 74 72 73, Virada Nirapathpongporn (THA) 72 74 73, Carly Booth (SCO) 72 73 74, Zhang Na (CHN) 72 72 75
220 - Elizabeth Smith (USA) 74 74 72, Yang Tao Li (CHN) 71 76 73, Narisara Kerdrit (THA) 74 67 79
221 - Melissa Reid (ENG) 73 75 73, Kate Combes (AUS) 75 73 73, Lin Tzu Chi (TPE) 75 71 75, Felicity Johnson (ENG) 70 76 75, Becky Morgan (WAL) 75 70 76
222 - Trish Johnson (ENG) 75 74 73, Zhong Xiao Long (CHN) 73 75 74, Karen Lunn (AUS) 74 73 75, Smriti Mehra (IN) 73 74 75
223 - Yang Hong Mei (CHN) 72 77 74, Stacy Lee Bregman (SA) 72 77 74, Pan Yan Hong (CHN) 72 77 74, Laurette Maritz (SA) 76 72 75, Jenni Kuosa (FIN) 74 73 76, Shang Lin Yan (CHN) 74 72 77
225 - Samantha Richdale (CAN) 75 74 76, Hanna-Leena Salonen (FIN) 76 73 76
226 - Ana Larraneta (ESP) 76 72 78