French golfers' double whammy in Scotland

It's been a good seven days in Scotland for French golfers. Amateur Barbara Genuini won the Helen Holm Scottish women's open amateur stroke-play at Troon last Sunday ... and today professional Gwladys Nocera won the Ladies Scottish Open.

Gwladys Nocera wins Ladies

Scottish Open by 2 strokes

FROM THE LADIES' EUROPEAN TOUR WEBSITE

France’s Gwladys Nocera claimed a two-shot victory at the €200,000 Aberdeen Asset Management Ladies Scottish Open today.
The 32-year-old from Biarritz shot rounds of 69, 70 and 69 at The Carrick at Cameron House, Loch Lomond for a five-under-par total of 208.
It was her sixth Ladies European Tour victory inside two years after three wins in 2006 and a further two titles in 2007.
Sweden’s Maria Boden recorded a career best finish of second on three-under after a final round of 69.

England’s Rebecca Hudson had a 68 and tied for third on two-under with Austria’s Nicole Gergely, who shot 69.

Nocera tied for the lead with Boden after the first round and was a stroke clear of the field going into the final day. She birdied the second hole to take a two-stroke advantage and maintained her lead in dry but cold conditions.

Nocera carded back-to-back birdies at the seventh and eighth holes and after a three-putt bogey at the ninth she held a three-stroke lead over five players at the turn. Coming in, she birdied the tenth but then bogeyed 12 and 14 to move back to four-under-par and her lead was narrowed to a stroke with one hole to play.

She sealed the victory and the €30,000 first prize with an impressive birdie at the 407-yard par-4 last, where she hit her drive 317 yards and then holed from 20 feet for a 3.

“It’s great. Winning is one of the best things in life, I think. I’m really happy. I had a really good day,” said Nocera, who now has her base in Lausanne, Switzerland.

“I started off steady, making putts. Then I had two three putts in a row and that kind of hit me a little bit but I kept on playing and thought, “Just do your best.”

After the close finish, Nocera said that she had been pushed to play better by keeping an eye on the leader boards.

“There were a lot of good scores. The thing that was hard was that they were done playing and I had to deal with the situation. I just thought about doing the best I could.”

Having finished in second and third place on the LET’s money rankings over the last two seasons, Nocera added: “My goal when I started the season was to win the New Star Money List because I haven’t won it yet. That’s the plan this year.”

Boden, who was 79th on the New Star Money List last year, was delighted to better her previous career best finish of third at the 2002 Irish Open and thanked her caddie Emma Zackrisson, who won the Spanish Open a fortnight ago.

Zackrisson missed the 36-hole cut and carried her friend’s bag on the last day. “I’m very happy and so happy Emma was on the bag to keep me calm,” said Boden.

“She is so relaxed and we were talking about normal girlie stuff. She really helped me out.” Hudson, the 2006 OTP Bank Ladies Central European Open champion, recorded her third top-ten finish in three starts this year, excluding her win in the European Cup, which was a team event.

Slightly disappointed to have missed a three-foot par putt for a share of second, she said: “I had to go for that putt. It’s one of those things. I hit 18 greens in regulation and can’t fault that. I hadn’t holed any putts until the back nine then I got another good run going.

“I am playing well. I’ve hit the ball tee to green really well. Another top ten and I’ll keep working away, trying to win an event to get into Evian and look towards Solheim next year. I missed out last year and I want to be in that team next year.”

Scots Clare Queen and Kathryn Imrie finished joint sixth, which will please both players, on 213, only five shots behind winner Nocera.
FINAL TOTALS

Par 213 (3 x 71)

208 Gwladys Nocera (Fra) 69 70 69
210 Maria Boden (Swe) 69 72 69
211 Rebecca Hudson (Eng) 72 71 68, Nicole Gergely (Aut) 70 72 69
212 Amy Yang (Kor) 70 70 72
213 Clare Queen (Sco) 72 71 70, Kathryn Imrie (Sco) 73 69 71, Stacy Lee Bregman (Rsa) 75 67 71, Tania Elosegui (Spa) 70 71 72
214 Melissa Reid (Eng) 77 71 66, Caroline Afonso (Fra) 77 70 67, Martina Eberl (Ger) 74 72 68, Becky Brewerton (Wal) 74 70 70, Emma Cabrera-Bello (Spa) 72 72 70, Melodie Bourdy (Fra) 71 73 70
215 Sophie Gustafson (Swe) 75 67 73
216 Mhairi McKay (Sco) 74 74 68, Johanna Westerberg (Swe) 71 73 72, Lee-Anne Pace (Rsa) 75 67 74
217 Lisa Hall (Eng) 74 76 67, Samantha Head (Eng) 73 75 69, Ellen Smets (Bel) 75 72 70, Marina Arruti (Spa) 77 70 70, Nikki Garrett (Aus) 70 75 72, Lotta Wahlin (Swe) 73 71 73
218 Danielle Masters (Eng) 78 71 69, Nathalie David-Mila (Fra) 73 74 71, Anna Knutsson (Swe) 74 73 71, Cecilia Ekelundh (Swe) 75 71 72, Sophie Walker (Eng) 73 72 73
219 Natalie Claire Booth (Eng) 76 75 68, Anne-Lise Caudal (Fra) 81 70 68, Beatriz Recari (Spa) 76 74 69, Katharina Schallenberg (Ger) 79 70 70, Zuzana Kamasova (Svk) 72 75 72, Ursula Wikstrom (Fin) 73 73 73
220 Stefanie Michl (Aut) 76 73 71, Margherita Rigon (Ita) 78 71 71, Lill Kristin Saether (Nor) 77 71 72, Marjet van der Graaff (Ned) 76 70 74, Felicity Johnson (Eng) 71 74 75
221 Laurette Maritz (Rsa) 73 77 71, Lynn Kenny (Sco) 75 75 71, Karen Lunn (Aus) 73 75 73, Karen-Margrethe Juul (Den) 74 73 74, Fame More (Eng) 74 73 74, Sofia Renell (Swe) 76 68 77
222 Florence Luscher (Swi) 75 75 72, Marianne Skarpnord (Nor) 78 70 74, Lara Tadiotto (Bel) 75 71 76
223 Georgina Simpson (Eng) 80 71 72
224 Trish Johnson (Eng) 77 73 74, Jade Schaeffer (Fra) 74 72 78
225 Yuki Sakurai (Jpn) 76 75 74, Isabella Maconi (Ita) 76 74 75, Ludivine Kreutz (Fra) 77 73 75
226 Janice Olivencia (Pue) 73 78 75, Vittoria Valvassori (Ita) 77 74 75, Diana Luna (Ita) 79 72 75, Jenna Wilson (Sco) 80 71 75, Olof Maria Jonsdottir (Ice) 73 77 76
227 Kylie Walker (Sco) (am) 78 72 77
228 Kiran Matharu (Eng) 77 74 77
230 Eva Steinberger (Aut) 77 74 79
235 Stephanie Arricau (Fra) 74 75 86