Portuguese women's open amateur championship

Anna Arrese from the Costa Brava. Brilliant last round to come through for victory.

Tara Davies (joint 4th) is top British and Irish player

behind 17-year-old Spanish winner Anna Arrese

The 80th Portuguese women's open amateur championship, which ended at Amendoeira Golf Resort on the Algarve today, was a good one for Spain with three players in the top five, including the winner with a brilliant last round, 17-year-old Anna Arrese.
The leading British and Irish performance came from the Welsh champion, Tara Davies (Holyhead) who finished joint fourth.
Arrese birdied most of the par-5 holes in each of her rounds, including the last day when she got a birdie 4 at all four of them, and backed that up with birdies at the short sixth and short 13th. She dropped one shot, at the 10th in halves of 33 and 34 for a 67 - the lowest round of the championship - and a final total of five-under-par 283.
Germany's 20-year-old Lara Katzy from the Berline-Wannsee club, started the final day with a two-shot lead from Tara Davies and, at that stage, was four ahead of joint fourth placed Arrese. Katzy had five birdies in her final par round of 72 - at the fourth, long fifth, eighth, 12th and short 13th - but bogeys at the short sixth, seventh and, in particular, at the 14th and 18th, left the door open for the "flying" Arrese to pip her by a single shot.
Katzy finished on 284 and she was the only other player in the field to get under the testing par of 288 for four circuits of the Christy O'Connor junior-designed course.
Tara Davies lost ground with a closing 75, which included a double bogey 7 at the 12th and bogeys at both the last two holes in halves of 35 and 40 for a 75 and a one-over-par total of 289. Nevertheless, the Welsh champion deserves credit for her performance which looked as if it would earn her a third-place finish until the slips at the 17th and 18th.
Maynooth student Danielle McVeigh, winner of the British open amateur stroke-play championship at Royal Aberdeen last year, saved her best for last - a two-under-par 70 to tie for sixth place on 293. Just like Tara, McVeigh was heading for a better score until the tricky closing holes tripped her up. After birdieing the long first, short sixth, eighth and long 11th, she dropped shots at the 14th and short 17th in halves of 33 and 37.
Pamela Pretswell, playing in her first competition since last September's home internationals, admitted before she left for Portugal that a combination of studies for exams at Glasgow University and the severity of the Scottish winter which closed most courses for a long spell, had raised her enthusiasm for a game of golf but left her desperately short of match-practice.
In the event, Pretswell's scores highlighted that deficiency. She was bang in contention with a sub-par opening round of 71 and then gradually slipped down the field, unable to produce consistent good golf because she was simply too rusty. Subsequent rounds of 74, 77 and 74 gave her a total of eight-over-par 296.
Ireland international Gillian O'Leary and English girls champion Holly Clyburn tied for 24th place on 298. Gillian, a previous winner of the tournament, finished with a 74. Holly ended with a 76.
FINAL TOTALS
Par 288 (4x72)
283 Anna Arrese (Spa) 72 72 72 67.
284 Lara Katzy (Ger) 71 70 71 72.
288 Noemi Jimenez Martin (Spa) 73 70 72 73.
289 Mireia Prat (Spa) 72 76 71 70, Tara Davies (Wal) 71 73 70 75.
293 Danielle McVeigh (Ire) 75 71 77 70, Marion Ricordeau (Fra) 72 78 73 70, Klara Spilkova (Cze) 76 74 69 74.
294 Manon Gidali (Fra) 74 73 73 74, Caroline Karsten (Net) 74 71 71 78, Ha Rang Lee (Spa) 75 75 73 71.
295 Jana Niedballa (Ger) 75 79 70 71, Teresa Hermani (Spa) 73 78 72 72, Camilla Hedberg (Spa) 76 77 73 69, Stephanie Kirchmayr (Ger) 75 75 73 72, Nina Holleder (Ger) 73 74 77 71.
296 Laura-Alexandra Stempfle (Ger) 76 75 78 67, Adriana Zwanck (Spa) 74 77 71 74, Marieke Nivard (Net) 75 72 75 74, Pamela Pretswell (Sco) 71 74 77 74, Audrey Riguelle (Fra) 75 77 76 68.
297 Ainhoa Olarra Mujika (Spa) 75 75 72 75, Margot Ivanoff (Fra) 72 78 73 74.
298 Gillian O'Leary (Ire) 76 73 75 74, Perrine Petit (Fra) 74 76 74 74, Holly Clyburn (Eng) 70 78 74 76.
299 Ines Lescudier (Fra) 75 75 73 76, Maria Parron Alferez (Spa) 81 73 74 71.
300 Julie Yang (SKo) 71 78 79 72, Laure Castelain (Fra)79 72 70 79, Manon Molle (Fra) 76 74 75 75, Jess Wilcox (Eng) 75 78 73 74, Luna Sobron Galmes (Spa) 78 71 78 73, Linda Henriksson (Fin) 77 78 73 72.
301 Anna Kramer (Ger) 76 80 73 72, Amy Boulden (Wal) 75 78 72 76, Karolin Lampert (Ger) 73 77 76 75.
302 Merle Kasperek (Ger) 76 73 78 75.
305 Samantha Birks (Wal) 78 75 75 77, Mathilde Cassaignau (Fra) 76 75 78 76, Laura Murray (Sco) 74 76 76 79.