Germany has got another winner this year after Patricia Isabel Schmidt defeated the Netherlands’ Lauren Holmey in the Big Green Egg Swedish Match Play Championship.
The semifinals – played on the front nine of the Edenhof Course in GolfUppsala, took place this morning and saw two great matches where all four players barely made any errors.
First up was Schmidt against English rookie Amy Taylor and after an up-and-down match, the German won after holing a long downhill putt on the ninth green.
“It was a big fight with Amy which I think is how matchplay should be. The score kept changing from 1UP to all square and back and forth, so it was a really tough match,” said Schmidt.
While in the other contest, Holmey secured a 2&1 victory over the LETAS Order of Merit leader Chiara Noja from Germany.
The afternoon finale which was played on the back nine saw Schmidt take charge on the second green and she did not let go of her lead.
The 26-year-old then won three consecutive holes to clinch her maiden professional win on the seventh hole with a final score of 4&2.
The champion said: “I think it will take some time to realize I have won but it feels great. I played some solid golf the last couple of days.
“I was happy to play with Lauren, we are good friends, and I was looking forward to the final match with her. I was hitting it solid off the tee, giving myself good positions into the green, and made some good putts.”
On her way to today’s semifinals and to securing her first win on LETAS, Schmidt placed T4 in the qualifier, carding rounds of 71 and 70 (-3).
In the round of 32, she beat her compatriot, amateur Helen Briem 2&1, then won 4&2 over Sweden’s Sandra Kagstrom in the last 16 before defeating another Swede and amateur Ellen Hutchinson-kay 2&1 in the quarterfinals.
“The key this week was hitting long balls from the tee on the front nine and giving yourself shorter approach shots since you really need to hit the right spots on the greens,” commented the victor on her strategy.
Runner-up Lauren Holmey produced a great performance in Sweden as the best amateur, placing T15 in the qualifier.
The Dutch player then defeated Spain’s Teresa Diez Moliner in the round of 32, Denmark’s Fie Olsen in the last 16, and New Zealand’s Momoka Kobori in the quarterfinals.
Holmey said: “I’m really proud of myself because the matches I had against Momoka and then Chiara were really tough but also exciting, they are great players.
“Playing matchplay on only nine holes makes everything go fast and you need to have a good game from the beginning. I tried my best against Patricia, she was simply better, and I am still satisfied with my result here.”
Schmidt moves up one spot on the LETAS Order of Merit to second place with 1,678.21 points, having Germany lead the top two positions as Chiara Noja remains in first with 1,939.65 points.
Amateur Holmey moves to third with 1,461.30 points while Kobori is in fourth with 1,446.50 points.
The LETAS schedule takes a week off and comes back to Sweden with the Goteborg Open from 24–26 August at Kungsbacka Golfklubb.
Follow all the action @LETAccess on Instagram and Twitter – #RaiseOurGame.
