St Michael’s Steph Kyriacou has walked away with outright second place and a cheque for EUR 18,000 after a thrilling final round at the 2020 VP Bank Swiss Ladies Open.
The 2020 Geoff King Motors Australian Ladies Classic Champion left nothing behind, firing a bogey-free final round 65, but could only look on as Wales’ Amy Boulden produced the final round of her life, a stunning bogey-free 64 (-8) at the Golfpark Holzhäusern to finish the week at 17-under-par to claim a three-shot victory.
“Amy played really well, so I am happy for her, ” Kyriacou said post-round. I am really happy with my result; my aim was to come top 10, and I am pleased to achieve it.”
.@Stephkyriacou2 signs off the week with a superb 6⃣5⃣#SwissLadiesOpen | #RaiseOurGame pic.twitter.com/CwrGKNpKGV
— Ladies European Tour (@LETgolf) September 12, 2020
Starting the day two behind, Kyriacou signalled her intentions early with a birdie on the first. Boulden, playing in the group behind Kyriacou, responded with one of her own quickly. The part traded birdies throughout the front nine, both turning in four under.
Turning for home it was all but a race in two. The pair matched birdies on 10 and 11, but it was Boulden who grabbed a decisive four-shot buffer with back-to-back birdies on 13 and 14 to stretch the lead to four.
A birdie by Kyriacou on the Par-five 16th brought the lead back to three, but by then it was all Boulden who held her nerve over the final two holes to claim the title by three.
It was an impressive effort from Boulden, who had managed to keep her card bogey-free in the final two rounds, For Kyriacou, however, it was a case of a few too many missed chances early in the week.
“I think my first round was a slow start with the putter, but it fired up the last few days,” Kyriacou smiled.
FINAL SCORES
The win was surprisingly the first in 87 attempts for the Wesh star who was the LET rookie of the year in 2014. A loss of form over the last few years, where she had failed to record a top ten since 2017, meant a couple of trips to the tour school to maintain her exempt status.
The second placing now has Kyriacou up to 8th on the LET Tour’s Race to Costa Del Sol, and well on track for the 2020 ‘Rookie of the Year’ spoils, edging her closer to the lead currently held by England’s Alice Hewson.
Next up for Kyriacou on the LET is the Lacoste Ladies Open De France at Golf Du Medoc which gets underway on Thursday.
