Meghan MacLaren’s tradition of winning in Australia continued as she fired a final round of 69 to win the Australian Women’s Classic in New South Wales.
The 27-year-old from Northamptonshire secured her third LET title with a one-shot victory at Bonville Golf Resort and it was also her third win in Australia during her career.
With the tournament being shortened to 54 holes due to bad weather, the 27-year-old produced rounds of 67, 70 and 69 and sealed her win with a birdie on 18 to finish at the top of the leaderboard on 10-under-par.
MacLaren had a slow start to her final round with bogeys on four and six, but a birdie on the seventh put her back on track. A phenomenal back nine, with birdies on 11, 14 and 15, put the English star in a good position before a birdie on 18 clinched the victory.
“I thought I had made the birdie putt on 10. I had a bit of a tricky start, that’s the thing I am most proud of all week was the fact I stayed calm, and I knew I was going to play some good golf at some point and I managed to get it done,” she explained. “The people are amazing here and it is a place I feel really comfortable. I’m going to keep coming back here for the rest of my career.
Hot on MacLaren’s heels was Sweden’s Maja Stark, who carded a final round of 67 to finish on nine-under. The 22-year-old led for a while during the afternoon after rolling in four birdies on her front nine, a double bogey on 13 stalled her progress slightly, but she bounced back with three birdies in her last five holes to finish second.
England’s Hannah Burke produced the joint-best round of the day signing for a 65 to move up to a share for third place alongside Argentina’s Magdalena Simmermacher and Spain’s Carmen Alonso on seven-under.