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Durban - South Africa's Lee-Anne Pace built her season around this week, and it paid off when she beat England's Holly Clyburn in a playoff to win the Cell C South African Women's Open at San Lameer Country Club in KwaZulu Natal on Sunday.
Pace closed with a strong back nine including an eagle and birdies at two of her final three holes to finish with a 67 and tied for the lead with Clyburn on five under par.
Then she birdied the par-four 18th, the second hole of a sudden-death playoff, to claim her ninth victory on the Ladies European Tour, but by far her most special.
"I am so proud to be South African today," said an emotional Pace.
"I'm so happy that I could've won in front of such wonderful supporters." Pace went into the final round four strokes off the lead, and by the turn still had some work to do.
"We came up short on some of the holes and then thought, 'Well, let's just go for it'. So I started playing more aggressively," she said.
Her run began with an eagle on the par-five 13th when she hit a five wood to 20 feet and made the putt.
"I don't think a lot of people went for that green, and it turned out great."
On the short 16th, Pace hit a seven iron to 12 feet for birdie. Then she lipped out for a birdie on 17, but closed with a birdie on 18 to force the playoff.
Both golfers parred the 18th the first time around. And then as Clyburn hit a poor approach, Pace put hers three feet from the hole for a birdie to take the title.
"I was just trying to have fun in the playoff. I thought to myself, 'You've won two playoffs in your career already'. So I was feeling quite confident out there."
The Jackie Mercer Trophy for the leading amateur was shared by South Africa's Shawnelle de Lange and France's Mathilda Cappeliez on a total of 10 over par.
Final scores from the Cell C SA Women's Open, played at the par-72 San Lameer Country Club in KwaZulu-Natal on Sunday (all players RSA unless otherwise specified and amateurs indicated as (AMA)
*211 - Lee-Anne Pace 71 73 67 (*won second play-off hole)
211 - Holly Clyburn ENG 71 70 70
213 - Gwladys Nocera FRA 73 70 70
214 - Florentyna Parker ENG 72 74 68; Ann-Kathrin Lindner GER 70 71 73; Valentine Derrey FRA 70 73 71; Georgina Simpson ENG 73 72 69
215 - Fabienne In-albon SUI 70 72 73; Leigh Whittaker GER 73 67 75
217 - Minea Blomqvist FIN 74 72 71; Nina Holleder GER 72 72 73; Alexandra Vilatte FRA 77 69 71; Charley Hull ENG 68 74 75
218 - Stacy Lee Bregman 75 74 69; Steffi Kirchmayr GER 69 77 72
219 - Julia Davidsson SWE 74 70 75; Katie Burnett USA 77 71 71; Sophie Giquel-bettan FRA 72 71 76; Caroline Martens NOR 73 75 71; Melissa Reid ENG 76 75 68; Ainil Bakar MYS 74 73 72
220 - Sahra Hassan WAL 72 76 72; Sophie Walker ENG 79 70 71
221 - Cathryn Bristow NZL 75 72 74; Nicole Broch Larsen DEN 75 74 72; Amy Boulden WAL 77 72 72; Christine Wolf AUT 74 75 72; Whitney Hillier AUS 76 71 74; Rebecca Hudson ENG 69 76 76
222 - Rebecca Codd IRL 74 77 71; Paula Reto 81 70 71; Chloe Leurquin BEL 75 71 76; Josephine Janson SWE 77 74 71; Melissa Eaton 70 80 72; Ashleigh Simon 79 71 72; Marianne Skarpnord NOR 77 74 71
223 - Connie Chen 73 75 75; Sophia Popov GER 71 79 73; Isabelle Boineau FRA 74 76 73
224 - Becky Brewerton WAL 77 76 71; Eleanor Givens ENG 75 76 73; Sally Watson SCO 73 78 73
225 - Marion Ricordeau FRA 78 74 73; Cheyenne Woods USA 76 76 73; Celine Herbin FRA 73 78 74
226 - Maha Haddioui MAR 73 75 78; Kim Williams 75 74 77; Isabell Gabsa GER 77 74 75; Lucy Williams ENG 73 75 78; Malene Jorgensen DEN 75 70 81; Shawnelle De Lange (AMA) 76 77 73; Holly Aitchison ENG 81 71 74; Mathilda Cappeliez (AMA) FRA 75 73 78
227 - Kelsey Macdonald SCO 77 73 77
228 - Lucie Andre FRA 72 76 80; Lydia Hall WAL 74 75 79; Hannah Jun Medlock USA 77 74 77; Trish Johnson ENG 74 73 81
229 - Elina Nummenpaa FIN 75 78 76
230 - Nobuhle Dlamini SWZ 73 76 81; Anais Maggetti SUI 77 74 79; Rebecca Sorensen SWE 77 76 77
