Ainil Bakar
Malaysia’s Ainil Bakar battled windy conditions to claim her first LETAS title at the EVLI Ladies Finnish Open at Hillside Golf Club in Vihti.
On a day when winds were gusting up to 50 kilometres an hour, players were tested by the difficult conditions.
Bakar, with bogeys on the 1st and 2nd, fought back to record birdies on the 6th and 7th holes, for an outward nine of even par. The six-year professional took a one stroke lead, as overnight leader Sarah Schober of Austria dropped down to 3 under par with bogeys on the 4th and 9th.
Bakar then took a commanding four shot lead as Schober bogeyed the 10th and double-bogeyed the par three 12th. But it was Bakar who then struggled over the last 5 holes, with bogeys on the 14th and 17th, and a double bogey on the 18th.
The Austrian was unable to make inroads into Bakar’s lead, recording a birdie on the 15th, followed by bogeys on the 17th and 18th but managed to maintain her 2nd place by one shot from Finland’s Sanna Nuutinen, Piti Martinez Bernal of Spain and England’s Emma Goddard, finishing at one over, 214.
Nuutinen was one of only three players who scored a par round on the final day. Martinez Bernal closed with a one over par, 72 and Goddard a 4 over par, 75, to all finish in third place on a 2 over total, 215.
