The Ford Women’s NSW Open is ready for a blockbuster finish tomorrow with rookies on the leaderboard looking to break through for their first Ladies European Tour win and all the spoils that come with it.
There’s only one problem. Her name is Nuria Iturrioz, the Spanish La Nina.
It’s an open race for the Jan Stephenson trophy with only one player in the top 10 – 29-year-old Iturrioz – with any previous wins on the LET tour (she has four). How big a factor that will be on the final day here is anyone’s guess, but the words have already been spoken.
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In the lead once again is Britain’s US college star Mimi Rhodes, the ever-smiling assassin who tore apart Wollongong Golf Club yesterday for the course record (62), followed closely by a swag of internationals in great form and poised to take home the only remaining silverware on this Australian swing of the LET and WPGA co-sanctioned schedule.
Rhodes showed her composure with a string of pars to start her round and was rewarded for her patience when the birdies started to come, adding a three-under 68 to her career round yesterday to be at -15 and with the title right in front of her.
“It was really windy at the start, and I just knew that on the tough holes I had to place the ball really nicely on the green to have a chance at birdies and just hope that the putts dropped,” the 22-year-old said.
Of her steady start, she said, “It wasn’t that I was playing for safety. I was still playing as aggressively as I was yesterday. The putts just didn’t drop and I honestly just stayed calm because you never know when putts (would) drop, and at the end, they did.”
The three-time Curtis Cup winner plans to embrace the pressure tomorrow: “I’d say it’s pretty similar,” she said, making the comparison to big-time college golf.
“You’re in a pretty pressurising tournament. Loads of people. There’s so many good players here. You never know who could come out and just shoot a low score. I’ve learnt how to deal with that stuff. Now I just know how to have fun instead of stressing out in those situations. I’m just going to try and do that tomorrow and see if it goes my way.”
Italian Alessandra Fanali lurks ominously in the final group, shooting her career-best round on the LET today – a bogey-free seven-under masterclas that leaves her just one shot back and with a genuine chance of a breakthrough win on tour.
“I must say, until the last putt I was really calm,” said Fanali, 25. “I feel like I’ve been in this position a couple of times now, so I’m kind of used to it and I’m enjoying it.
“(Caddy) Julio has given me a little speech before going out, and it’s very helpful. It’s just think about your goals, about your all-year-round goals, because we want to go and try LPGA this year, so that’s the main goal. And if something else good happens, then I’ll take it.”
To go bogey-free she said felt like “I finally made it. It was just very solid and nice. I’m excited, really excited for tomorrow. Finally, I’m back there again, so we’ll see.”
Iturrioz is perhaps the greatest threat to all this ambition and hope; the powerful Spaniard is also bogey-free (six-under) to be at -12 and only three shots back. On reflection, the 29-year-old said it could have been a super-low round… “I had a lot of opportunities. I hit the ball great with the drivers and the irons. I made some good putts and I missed some but I think it was a good problem. Maybe I could have had five more birdies; I’d miss short or lip out, so I’m happy with the game.”
Iturrioz is relishing the prospect of chasing down the rookies to add her fifth LET title. “I want to be there. I want to feel that I can be there,” she said.
“Experience always helps. When you are in the zone, it doesn’t matter (about the challengers); you are in the zone. And of course there is also rookie luck. So you never know. I’m just trying to be there and to play my best game that I can and trust.”
