England’s Meghan MacLaren claimed her first victory of the Ladies European Tour when wining the New South Wales Open in Australia.
The 23 year old from Northamptonshire carded a level par final round in hot and humid conditions to finish on 10-under-par at Coffs Harbour Golf Club.
America’s Casey Danielson, Marita Engzelius from Norway and Silvia Bañon from Spain finished two shots behind in the tie for second.
MacLaren’s first LET win comes in her 11th event, but she had previously won two titles on the LET Access Series, as well as the circuit’s order of merit in 2017.
The second-season professional looked on course for the win after making two birdies in her first three holes to build a four-stroke lead. Although she bogeyed the seventh, she made another gain at the ninth, to hold four-shot lead through the turn.
Danielson had four birdies on the front nine and added another at the 12th, but there were no further gains and it wasn’t enough to beat MacLaren, who dropped shots at 13 and 17, but still had a two-shot cushion.
“It feels incredible!” said MacLaren, who thanked her father, Staysure Tour CEO David MacLaren, for carrying the bag over the weekend. “All parts of my game were good. To go out there today and to still feel in control of my ball striking and all of that, it gave me a little bit of margin for error towards the end.”
She added: “I played well in the few events that I played last year, but you’ve got to be patient. It can take some players years before they get over the line. To do it now gives me a lot of confidence.
“I’ve struggled a little bit out here in Australia, and had a few ups and downs with my game, but you only have to look at the pictures back home to know that England is not the place to be right now as far as golf is concerned.”