Switzerland’s Caroline Sturdza rolled in a 25-foot birdie putt on the last to seal her maiden LET Access Series (LETAS) victory at the 2026 Madaëf Golfs Ladies Open by MSE.
On a sunny day at Royal Golf de Fes, the leaderboard was stacked with low scores aplenty in Morocco as Sturdza began the day three strokes behind leader Cecilie Leth-Nissen. She made bogeys on the fourth and fifth holes but soon found momentum.
The Swiss star rolled in her first birdie of the day on the seventh before adding another on the ninth to still be in contention in Fez in a tightly-packed leaderboard.
The Stanford graduate finished in style with a birdie at 16 to tie for the lead, before rolling in her birdie on the last to win by one stroke with a score of seven-under-par.
“I feel super happy, super grateful and super thankful of everything I’ve done so far. It’s been a long journey and I’m glad I’m here where I am today with this trophy,” said Sturdza.
“I came in today with the simple goal of focusing on myself and being in the present, and bringing myself back as much as I can. Trying to focus on my process and my behaviour on the course because that’s the only thing I could control. Cecilie [Leth-Nissen] was playing pretty good and making birdies, but I couldn’t really control it, so I was just focusing on myself and being present on the course.
“My putting today was average, I gave myself a lot of chances and didn’t really convert anything, but on the last. I saved the best for the last [hole]. It could have been better, but my ball-striking was really solid.
“I felt really prepared coming here. I was here to show up and not just be here and play golf. I really wanted to do something good for myself, and try to do all the things I’ve been working on in competition because I didn’t have that before. It was nice to transfer that into competition. It led to winning this week!”
Switzerland’s Natalie Armbruester ended the week in solo second place after a final round of 69 (-3) to miss out on the trophy by one shot.
Armbruester made a double bogey on the fourth but then rolled in back-to-back birdies on holes eight and nine before another on 11 to put her name into the mix.
The 26-year-old, who turned professional one year ago, had a good finish with birdies on 16 and 18 to end the week on six-under-par.
“I wasn’t aware of the scores, I was just playing for myself. I was two-over after four and just trying to get back into it. I was surprised at the end of the round,” said Armbruester.
“At the moment, I feel like I can rely on all areas of my game. I made a long putt; I was able to reach the green in two on a par-5. There wasn’t one standout part of my game, so I can rely on everything at the moment which is nice.
“I knew the girl [Maria] in my group was trailing my score by one and she was the only score I could measure myself against. We both stiffed it close to the pin on 18, my mentality was about making the putt to beat her and hoping that it would be enough to maybe end in third place.”
Denmark’s Cecilie Leth-Nissen, who led at the 18-hole and 36-hole marks, ended the week in third place on five-under-par.
Spain’s Maria Villanueva was fourth, Wales’ Ffion Tynan was fifth after a round of 68 (-4) with Sweden’s Lovisa Gunnar and England’s Bel Wardle in a share of sixth place.
Five players rounded out the top 10 with Finland’s Anna Backman, Ireland’s Canice Screene, Iceland’s Hulda Gestsdottir, Slovakia’s Michaela Vavrova and Canada’s Ashley Chow all on level par.
In the LETAS Order of Merit, Sturdza leads the rankings with 500 points, Armbruester is second with 320 and Leth-Nissen is third with 230 points.
The LET Access Series takes a break for a few weeks, but next up is the Allegria Stegersbach Ladies Open taking place from May 20-22 at Sudburgenland of the Allegria Golf Resort.
Keep up with all the action on the LETAS on our socials – @LETAccess on Instagram and X and LET Access Series on Facebook.
