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A final round of 70 was good enough for Gwladys Nocera in Morocco .
Gwladys Nocera made amends for the heartbreak of her play-off defeat 12 months ago by coming back to claim a two stroke victory in the Lalla Meryem Cup.
Beginning the final round with a two-shot advantage over South Africa’s Nicole Garcia, Nocera dropped three shots over the final five holes in a one-under 70 but still held on to claim her 14th Ladies European Tour title.
Nocera made a strong start with birdies on the second, third and eighth holes to keep a two stroke lead over Garcia at the turn, but there was plenty of drama on the back nine.
Final Leaderboard
-13 Gwladys Nocera (Fra)
-11 Melissa Reid (Eng)
-11 Felicity Johnson (Eng)
-11 Nicole Garcia (Rsa)
-9 Nanna Madsen (Den)
-8 Celine Herbin (Fra)
Selected Others
-6 Charley Hull (Eng)
-5 Florentyna Parker (Eng)
-3 Ursula Wikstrom (Fin)
After extending her to four with another gain at the 11th, the Frenchwoman posted a double-bogey six on the 14th before dropping another stroke by three-putting the 17th from short range.
“I remember last year when Charley (Hull) kept on getting birdies in the last round, so I knew this morning that it could happen,” Nocera said. “All I kept saying was I need to play my game and make as many birdies as I can. I tried my best.
“It was a tough day towards the end. I took a really stupid double bogey which put me in trouble. I missed one fairway today and I took a double bogey, so that was a shame, but I wanted this tournament really bad. I’ve always said it, and I’m really happy I did it.”
Gwladys Nocera was victorious in the Lalla Meryem Cup as she held off competition from Melissa Reid, Felicity Johnson and Nicole Garcia to finish 13 under
Garcia registered a career best finish in Agadir by being part of a three-way tie for second at 11-under alongside English duo Melissa Reid and Felicity Johnson.
The South African had challenged the leaderboard before three bogeys on her back nine, while Reid fired eight birdies during an impressive final round 66
Johnson also made a front-nine charge, going out in five-under and looking a real danger to Nocera when she birdied 13, only to drop back with two late bogeys in a final round 67.
Steady
Defending champion Charley Hull only just made the cut but the English youngster played brilliantly over the weekend, following Saturday’s 67 with a round of 66 to finish tied-eighth at six-under for her fifth top-10 finish of the season.
“I’m really happy with the way I finished and especially being nine under for the weekend,” Hull said. “I hit all the fairways today and my game is in good shape.
“I think I came back strong after being ill earlier in the week and I’m feeling good about the way I’m hitting it going into the first major of the year.”
Hull had a blemish-free Sunday but Swizterland’s Anais Maggetti carded the round of the day, climbing into a tie with Hull and three others, thanks to a seven-birdie 64.
